Disclaimer : I don't own Warriors.
OS 5/10.
The weirdest medicine cats
He had the most important mission ever.
Pawstep by pawstep, Meadowpaw was moving closer to ThunderClan territory. He was as stealthy as a hunter stalking a mouse: his paws touched the ground without making any noise, his tail was slightly raised to not betray him, he crawled against the ground, making himself as small as possible... even if he couldn't stop his whiskers from shivering with pride. Who would have thought that, after all these moons, he would remember so well his mentor's teachings? Especially since he decided to follow the medicine cat path–before dying in a storm.
Well, you couldn't say he wasn't disappointed–that was his destiny?–but death didn't stifle his desire to learn. On the contrary. In StarClan, he spent time with the greatest medicine cats of all time! Their knowledge was within reach. He couldn't become medicine cat inside the living clans, but nothing prevented him from storing their knowledge. All their knowledge. He would become the wisestvmedicine cat ever!
He had not yet managed to approach the illustrious Moth Flight, but it was only a matter of time.
Meadowpaw was on the lookout for anything to do with cat medicine. He had heard of Leafpool's argument–to be honest, the whole StarClan had certainly heard about it. It had been an exceptional event, and novelty was so rare for them. Anyway. Leafpool's actions were bad. Very bad. But who would have thought a medicine cat could be so bad-ass! Her replies had been worthy of the most imperturbable of warriors!
But his actions were wrong. Very wrong.
When she arrived, StarClan cats remembered her story: she had betrayed the medicine cat code by having kits, the warrior code by choosing a mate from another Clan and had deceived her whole Clan pretending her kits were her sister's. StarClan was divided on what should have happened to her. A cat had had enough of these incessant debates. He said this prey had been eaten, Leafpool was judged StarClan worthy and "the current medicine cats are all weird anyway".
It was this sentence that triggered Meadowpaw's quest.
He was convinced all medicine cats were alike: infinite patience to learn everything they had to and to follow a longer training than warriors, compassionate towards their patients, neutral in the face of conflict. Meadowpaw knew medicine cats had different personalities, but the main traits of their character were the same. At least that's what he believed until he had heard this sentence. Medicine cats seemed strange to warriors, because far from their battle and territory preoccupations, but medicine cats weird according to other medicine cat ?
He had to see it with his own eyes.
Meadowpaw had sneaked out StarClan's hunting grounds. It wasn't bad. Not really. After all, if he wanted to hold the knowledge of every medicine cat, he had to witness these quirks with his own eyes, right?
Meadowpaw had begun his search by the Moonpool. He had never been to the lake and was afraid of getting lost. He had waited for the half-moon meeting and had suffered his first shock.
While five medicine cats settled around the Moonpool to share with their ancestors, the sixth–a golden furred she-cat–remained peacefully seated away. She stretched her muscles, groomed, to sum up: waited for the others to finish their visions. Meadowpaw had heard of her–Mothwing, a medicine cat who didn't believe in StarClan–but he thought it was just a rumor. A medicine cat not believing in StarClan was like... was like... a warrior fearing to fight! How could she serve her Clan right?
But it did exist. She was there, right before his eyes.
Meadowpaw had attended the discussion between the medicine cats and had seen them disperse. To elucidate the mystery of the weirdest medicine cats, he decided to follow the RiverClan's and observe their daily lives. After all, what could be more strange than a medicine cat who didn't believe in StarClan?
His stay at the RiverClan had disappointed him. Mothwing had acted pretty much like any medicine cat: she treated wounds, explained things to Willowshine and listened to her ideas, advised her Clan leader, was getting annoyed when warriors face again the same problem because they forgot all of her advice in the heat of action... A medicine cat like others. Not enough to tear your whiskers off.
Meadowpaw had continued his tour of the lake. He had spied on–sorry! observed–the WindClan's medicine cat, which was also normal. Meadowpaw was begining to think his fellow StarClanmates had exaggerated. He didn't bear grudges: every day looked the same up there, and a tiny detail could take on absurd proportions The existence of a medicine cat not believing in StarClan was certainly enough to classify all contemporary medicine cats as strange. It was hard to distinguish live cats when you had no direct connection to them.
Meadowpaw had decided to continue his investigation. Since he came all the way up to the lake, best to make the most of it. So that's how he ended up on the ThunderClan territory. He was moving slowly, pawstep by pawstep, looking for their camp. His ears twitched when he heard meowing. He approached them, crawling even closer to the ground, and stopped, on the look-out. A patrol of three cats was marching resolutely: a dark cream she-cat was leading, followed by a younger she-cat and by a white and orange tom. They were chatting and their posture was relaxed, so Meadowpaw assumed they had completed the task they had to do. They were looking like a border patrol.
Meadowpaw followed in their pawsteps. It would be more effective than wandering the whole territory until falling on the camp. Or in the camp.
He followed them through a thorn barrier and got into a vast rocky trough. He swept it with his glanced and immediately dismiss the two largest dens, one housing warriors and the other apprentices. He noticed a smaller one but the two kits playing in front–one black and one tortoiseshell–under the watchful eye of a soft cream she-cat made him guess it was the nursery. A long-haired grey elder was sunning itself in front of another den, leaving only one option.
Meadowpaw went to a crack in the rock. He was still several tail lengths away when he heard a furious howl. He froze, taken aback, before running toward the den, forgetting all caution. Who could push a kind of cry in a medicine cat den? Medicine cats were respected by all, regardless of their clan of origin. They were the heart and the protectors of Clan cats, watching over them before they were kitted until they join StarClan.
"How can you be that mouse-brained? Didn't you notice it wasn't a mouse? A kit in the nursery wouldn't mistake one for the other!"
Meadowpaw stopped. The screaming cat was applying medicinal herbs to the stings on the fur of a cat in a nest. This cat winced when the poultice touched his wounds, but didn't protest and listened the reproaches with astonishing docility. They didn't even make him twitch to whisker.
"You're not even a 'paw anymore! You have absolutely no excuse for your behavior." The cat stopped to chew other herbs. He spit the pulp on his patient's front leg. "Turn around." The patient obeyed and dropped on the nest. The other one–who seemed to be medicine cat– put the poultice on his other side. "And how did you do that? Have you decided to roll over it to defeat it? Is this a new hunting technique?"
Meadowpaw watched the scene without being able to react. What kind of medicine cat poured so much reproach on a patient? They all ran out of patience–they were still cats, after all–but hounding somecat? Even most warriors weren't so cranky. A wounded or sick cat needed comfort. Any mouse-brain knew that.
The medicine cat thoroughly sniffed his patient. "I didn't forget anything?"
The other cat sat down and stretched his front legs. "You treated all my cuts. Thanks Jayfeather."
And he thanked him? But what was wrong with this cat?!
Jayfeather? The name was familiar to him, but where did he hear it. Jayfeather, Jayfeather... oh! Wasn't he one of Leafpool's kits?
Meadowpaw glanced at him. That was a medicine cat's kit? No wonder it was forbidden.
The warrior went out. Meadowpaw moved to let him pass. He was so covered with poultice he was greenish.
"Come tomorrow, as soon as you're awake," Jayfeather called after him. "I want to make sure nothing gets infected. And for StarClan's sake, don't ever pick up a fight with a hedgehog again."
"Sure!" replied the warrior joyfully.
Meadowpaw followed him with his eyes, stunned. How could he endure such a treatment so well?
He saw a dark red cat cross path with the warrior and look at him with surprise, but he carried on his way to the medicine den. "What happened to... ?"
Jayfeather snorted grumpily. He started rummaging in the stock. "He had the great idea to hunt a hedgehog. He didn't think there was a good reason not to learn to hunt them. No. He said, what if I tried to catch one. That would be a good addition to the fresh-kill pile." His tail lashed angrily. "As if any cat would want a bite of hedgehog," he started muttering again. " He hasn't even a mouse brain, but only fluff between his ears."
"It must have hurt," whispered the ginger cat with compassion.
"At least it should stop him from doing it again." Jayfeather dropped a bundle of herbs at the ginger cat's paws. "Can you take this to Brightheart and Cloudtail? Take the opportunity to go to the nursery to check on the kits. I'm going to stand guard. If a warrior tried to attack a hedgehog, who knows what the rest of the day has in store for us."
"Sure," purred the ginger cat before picking up the bundle.
Meadowpaw followed the ginger cat out, relieved to be with a caring medicine cat–just as he was supposed to be. The ginger cat walked toward the nursery. Both kits stopped their play-fighting and squealed happily. They ran toward him.
"Alderheart! Alderheart! Did you bring something for us?"
Alderheard purred, amused. He put down his bundle and put his paw on it, protecting him from the kits' curiosity. "These are herbs for Brightheart and Cloudtail."
The black kit took a precautious sniff. He leaped back. "It stinks!"
"Good thing it's not for us," added the tortoiseshell.
Alderheart purred louder. Having satisfied their curiosity, the kits began chasing each other again. Alderheart recovered his load and made his way to the queen.
"How is Sparkpelt?"
"Fine. The kits played with her until she fell from exhaustion. They're at an age where they have energy and no limits."
"I remember when Twigkit was like this," replied Alderheart, a wistful note in his voice.
"Every kit knows this phase."
Alderheart nodded. After a friendly greeting, he left the queen and walked to the elders den. He delivered his herbs and spoke nicely to them before returning to the medicine den. His face lit up. He made a friendly sign of the tail. "Twigbranch!"
A grey she-cat, accompanied by a brown tom, changed course to walk toward the medicine cat. "Alderheart!" she greeted him. "How are you?"
"Fine, and you?"
They were gazing at each other with such fondness Meadowpaw was sure they were kin.
The brown tom padded toward them proudly. "Twigbranch and I caught a rabbit, but she caught several pieces of prey by herself. She was a whole hunting patrol all by herself."
The grey she-cat shivered with pride and embarrassment. She groomed her chest. "I did my best, like every warrior."
"ThunderClan is lucky to have you."
Twigbranch seemed to shine of happiness.
A snort sounded. The trio froze. Every muscle of Alderheart seemed to tense. He turned his head slowly, like a hungry predator on the lookout for prey. A feeling of uneasiness hardened in Meadowpaw's belly.
Not him too!
Alderheart had a perfect track record so far. Was he really going to turn into another Jayfeather?
The ginger medicine cat looked around him with suspicion. His amber eyes stopped on a cream colored tom with a stumpy tail. His pupils narrowed. He showed his teeth and his tail whipped the air. "What was that?" he growled.
The cream-colored cat looked alarmed. The cats next to him surreptitiously moved away.
"Nothing?"
"Really?" asked Alderheart with an undisguised anger.
An image passed through Meadowpaw's mind. A distant memory, of the time when he was alive–when he was a kit, that's to say! He saw again his mother's expression, full of a protective anger, after a warrior had watched with disdain his attempts at battling technics.
Alderheart's current expression was strangely similar.
Medicine cats are crazy here!
Something touched his shoulder and Meadowpaw couldn't hold back a cry of surprise. He turned around, so bristly he must have looked like a fur ball with legs. His relief was such, when he encountered a familiar green look, he almost wavered. It was Stormwing, a motled grey tom, and his medicine cat mentor when he was alive. Stars glittered on his coat. His eyes were hard. Meadowpaw's relief was replaced by discomfort. His shoulders and tail collapsed. He dropped his gaze.
"I take it you know what you did."
"I shouldn't have come," Meadowpaw whispered, staring self-consciously at his paws.
How could he hope to be worthy of the greatest medicine cats when he made a mistake that most 'paws and kits would avoid.
"Why did you do it then?"
Meadowpaw pricked his ears. Stormwing sounded curious, and no more angry. Meadowpaw gingerly raised his head. Stormwing's voice reflected on his face.
"I've heard other StarClan cats say that the weirdest medicine cats were actually living beside the lake." Meadowpaw's words were bubbling out his mouth in his eagerness to explain himself. "But no cat gave any details. I needed to know if the real medical cats were really weird and why."
"And your conclusion?"
"They're super weird!" Meadowpaw lowered his eyes. "But I shouldn't have come here without autorisation."
Stormwing ran his tail along his back. "Your curiosity is what made you an excellent medicine cat apprentice, but don't let it take the best of you."
Meadowpaw nodded.
"Let's go back home."
Meadowpaw followed his former mentor outside ThunderClan's camp. He wouldn't sneak out of StarClan's hunting ground again...
...but the actual medicine cats were indeed weird!
THE END
Note: The patrolling cats were Rosepetal, Bristlepaw and Steamleaf.
