Hear on the wind how the pendulum swings
Feel how the winter succumbs to the spring
Over the palisade morning will break
Rise up to meet it, oh sleeper awake.
-"Caesar" by The Oh Hellos
Chapter 1: Bravepaw
The black and white tom sighed at the kit by his feet. Halfshine's tail brushed her nose, receiving no reaction. "Poor little scrap."
Her chest rose and fell rapidly and her mouth gaped as air burst from her mouth in rapid pants. She hadn't wakened since yesterday's accident, and Halfshine felt it was for the best. Let her slip peacefully away while she could.
The kit was a patchwork of gorse branches and poultices, held together by spiderwebs. There was barely any of her brown and white tabby fur to be seen under his administrations. He couldn't be confident she'd make it through another day. If she did, she would likely be paralyzed. Having suffered a fall like she had, it would be a miracle if she were able to walk. What a short life it would be, to waken in the medicine den in pain, only to die from lung infection not many days hence. What kind of life was that?
Halfshine glanced at his herbstore. It was moments like this that made him question himself once more. It had been seasons since he'd seriously considered the berries. Was it time to use them once more to end this kit's suffering? He stared down at the scrap of fur, reaching one paw out to rest it against her bandaged side.
"Run free in StarClan, Bravekit."
The little eyes flickered.
-Line-
The lean brown-tabby she-cat shifted on her white paws. Her tail tucked close to her side as she sat in the medicine den. It stirred the dust with each impatient twitch. Bravekit's heart pounded as swift as quail wings as her yellow eyes darted to the entrance of the dirt den. Light gleamed inward from the WindClan camp. She could hear her clanmates returning from a sunhigh patrol. Newleaf had brought an abundance of prey. For the first time in moons, the Clan would be sharing tongues and resting in the heat of the day. Moor runners and tunnelers welcomed the respite between their duties. Everyone should have returned to camp, and yet the one cat Bravekit wanted to see was nowhere in sight.
The nests were empty, and even the herbstore smelled dull and dry. The medicine den had always felt warmer somehow during the colder moons, but now there was a chill in the soil, coiling through the brown kit's pawpads. Bravekit shivered, wishing to be in the warm sunlight, but she didn't dare let any of her clanmates to see her. Especially not Cedarberry, her mother.
A shadow darkened the entry. Bravekit rose to her feet. "There you are!"
Halfshine paused, the plant sprigs in his mouth tilting as he stared at the she-cat. His face, half black and half white, resembled the distant moon even more as it rotated in the dim light.
The kit folded her ears down and lowered her head, realizing too late the disrespect her exclamation must sound directed to a cat older than she. "Sorry. Where were you?"
"You speak as though I were a prisoner of this den. Not allowed to leave at my pleasure, am I?"
The tom entered the den and placed the herbs at his feet. When Bravekit realized he would not scold her for her outburst, the kit's tail lifted.
"I've been waiting for you for so long!" she meowed.
"What is the urgency? No one is ill, are they?"
She could tell by his tone he didn't think so. It wasn't unusual for Bravekit to be in his den. Although he still didn't like for her to be there alone, she wasn't a tiny kit anymore. It wasn't like she was hare-brained to carelessly devour his herbs. She'd never been so foolish.
"Does your mother know where you are?"
"No. It's important." Pause. Her next words came out in a rush. "I-wanted-to-ask-you-something!" She circled impatiently, the words burning at her tongue.
His blue eyes narrowed in amusement, the white half of his face showing the curve of his smile. "And what did you want to ask?"
"Cedarberry went to Harestar," Bravekit meowed. "I know what she's going to ask him, but I don't want to be a warrior. I want to be a medicine cat!"
Bravekit and her siblings were six moons now. That meant it was time for her to leave the nursery and become an apprentice, but Bravekit had no intentions of being a moor runner or a tunneler.
"And why do you want to be a medicine cat?" Halfshine meowed. He left the sprigs by the entrance and sat beside the little she-cat.
"I-I just. . ." For once, she fell silent. Her twitching fur stilled and her gaze fell to her paws.
"You can tell me," he coaxed. "Before I accept an apprentice, I need to know how dedicated she'll be."
"Haven't I trailed you for moons now?"
"It needs more than that. I've only shown you the softer side of my tasks, Bravekit. There is much more to being a medicine cat than removing ticks, mashing berries together, and easing sore muscles. I deal with disease. Loss. Arguments even. A medicine cat is forbidden from taking a mate and having kits. Why would you choose that life?"
Bravekit looked down at her white paws. "B-because you saved my life. I wouldn't have one if not for you."
Moons ago she'd been foolish to leave the nursery and sneak out of camp. She, and the one sibling she'd convinced to come with her, had stalked imaginary prey in the yellowed grass. They'd wandered further and further away from the gully. Leaf-bare had barely begun, and with the new season, gusty winds scoured the moorland with cold blasts, flattening her fur and forcing her and Hunterkit to huddle together so they wouldn't tumble across the open plains to the forest below. Although many animals had started to hibernate, predators had not. A hawk spotted Bravekit and her sibling.
The Shadow swooped down. She saw the darkness against the ground, spreading around her. Then the ground lurched under her. Her paws scrambled, but she could not hold on, not to the dirt, not to the strands of grass. She was snatched into the air. Her mind believed for a moment the wind had carried her away, but then the throbbing started in her gut. She felt the grip of something hard all around her and the burning scratch across her neck. The feathers rattled in the wind as the Shadow thrust its self upward.
A moor runner had spotted the kits as the hawk dived. He was bounding to their rescue when Bravekit was taken. He'd been too late to keep Bravekit from being lifted into the air, but she saw him as he leapt upward, paws outstretched. She reached toward him. The moor runner's claws tore into the red and gray wings. The bird lurched, but the warrior's claws tore out, and the tom tumbled from the sky. Bravekit could still remember his devastated face as he fell back to earth. Below her, the ground fell farther and farther away. To the south the trees thrust up from the earth, a place that Bravekit was certain had to be Fourtrees.
Even as the moor runner descended, the fear of her situation overcame Bravekit. She'd wailed and jerked in the talons, scratching with her tiny claws at the scaled skin that gripped her. The hawk, already off balance from the warrior's wounds and the uncertain gusts of wind, must have thought she was not worth the trouble, or lost its grip, for the next moment she was falling from the sky the ground growing larger and larger. She didn't remember anything after that. Nothing except. . .
"When I finally woke up, I saw you standing over me. And for a moment, I was terrified. It wasn't the pain, it wasn't that I thought I was still caught by the hawk, it was fear of you. I was scared for that moment you would let me die."
Halfshine's ears went back and his blue eyes widened.
"I mean," Bravekit continued, hastily, "I knew you wouldn't, but I was rattled after the fall. I wasn't thinking clearly. It probably was the poppy seeds, but ever since that moment, I kept thinking about waking up to see you standing over me. You were the only one with the ability to heal me. I would have died without you. I think from that moment I realized a medicine cat has the power of life and death over the Clan. Without you, we'd all perish."
Later Bravekit had been told that Cedarberry hadn't left her side until that morning. The pair had been up all night listening to Bravekit's harsh breathing. Halfshine had finally convinced Cedarberry to stretch her legs and get something to eat. When Bravekit opened her eyes for the first time after the accident, she and Halfshine were the only cats in the quiet medicine cat den. His blue eyes had gazed at her with such emptiness, as though he were not staring at a cat, but a thing, like a rock or a blade of grass. Terror had gripped her heart. Then in the next moment, he'd smiled. His icy eyes softened into the glow of a blue morning sky.
"Harestar ought to change your name to Luckykit," he'd meowed.
Bravekit's fear had evaporated with the joke.
She'd lived in the medicine den while her bones set. She'd done stretches as often as she could under Halfshine's directions. To keep her occupied when she wasn't exercising, he'd given her herbs to sort through and taught her how to mash poultices and identify herbs. When the day came Bravekit was allowed back into the nursery, she returned to his den. She followed Halfshine and gathered herbs from his stock or helped him clean the den when he had no task for her. She would work until her mother retrieved her.
Now at six moons old, Bravekit desired to continue her training.
He couldn't refuse her, could he? For a moment she was frightened Halfshine might find her reason not good enough. Just because she recognized the importance of a medicine cat didn't mean she would get the position. She looked at him, wanting to gauge his reaction.
He wasn't even looking at her. His ears were still lowered and he was silent.
"What's wrong?" Bravekit meowed. "Am I not good enough to be a medicine cat?"
"I-I thought you'd die," Halfshine meowed, voice as quiet as owl wings. "I didn't want to tell you. I couldn't until now. I was so sure you wouldn't make it. You were just a scrap of fur and blood when Leapfoot brought you in. More bones broken than I could even see to set. I knew your lungs hadn't been punctured by how clear your breath sounded, but you probably had internal bleeding. And I knew—or I thought I knew—that if you did recover, you might be paralyzed. It would have been a cruel fate to force a kit to live in such a state.
"But then you woke up and I thought maybe StarClan wanted you alive for a reason. If you'd made it this far, maybe I ought to respect StarClan's wishes and do my utmost to keep you from joining their ranks. No matter what state you were in when you recovered. Even Twistedbriar served this Clan despite her disability. By some miracle you healed completely. I guess the saying is true that young bones heal faster. StarClan must have guided my paws to place them correctly."
Bravekit wasn't unscarred from the incident. She had patches of fur that grew wrong, and one of her cheeks was flatter than the other. The coldest nights made her ache along her spine. She knew she'd never be as swift as the moor runners, but she could function as a warrior—had that been her desire.
"I want to help other cats," Bravekit meowed. "I want to heal them, like you."
Halfshine lifted a paw and placed it on her shoulder. "Bravekit, I would be honored to have you as an apprentice. This Clan will be in good paws."
Bravekit felt a warmth spread through into her chest. Then her heart fluttered like a fallen feather. "Could you tell my mother?" she meowed.
"I'm surprised you haven't already," Halfshine meowed. He rose to his feet to retrieve the sprigs by the entry as though the decision were over.
"I-I wanted you to. Can we tell her StarClan gave you a prophecy?" Bravekit knew her mother had never even let the thought that Bravekit could be a medicine cat enter her head. No matter how many times the queen brought Bravekit back to the nursery, it was always, "Don't bother Halfshine," and never, "What new thing did you learn today?"
"And abuse StarClan's powers so readily?" Halfshine meowed, pulling his head from the store room. "You'd want me to lie about a prophecy?"
Despite the teasing in his tone, Bravekit felt her ears and nose grow warm. "I don't think Cedarberry will accept any other answer. Please, Halfshine?"
When they left the den, Bravekit trailed after Halfshine. Cats were lounging about the hollow in the warm sunlight. Some ate fresh-kill while others groomed. By the Rock Pile Harestar lay beside his mate Purplethistle. Near both, the deputy rested, gnawing at part of a rabbit.
The leader opened his eyes, glancing at her and then Halfshine. The medicine cat lifted his tail in greeting and Bravekit was certain she saw Harestar smile before the brown tom closed his eyes again. His mate shifted closer and started to lick his ears.
Bravekit trotted closer to Halfshine as they neared the nursery. The small bramble bush pressed against the gully wall, its protective tangle of branches enclosing kits and queens, keeping the scorching sun and cold winds from the inhabitants. The WindClan camp was an indent in the rolling hills, full of boulders and gorse bushes. WindClan, or so Bravekit had heard, was the only camp that didn't officially have dens. Unlike the other cats who shut themselves off from the starlight and StarClan's gaze, WindClan embraced the fresh air. Perhaps only the tunnelers were as strange as the forest Clans to welcome being enclosed in dirt. When it rained or snowed, WindClan would retreat to the burrows and the bushes, but the warriors tended to sleep in groups around the hollow, only the kits and elders using the protection of the bushes. Halfshine's medicine den was the only "proper" den. The tunnel had been carved out many moons ago, long before Halfshine's time. It wasn't deep, but it was adequate.
Halfshine paused, his ears lifting. The scent of Bravekit's mother and siblings reached them from the other side of the bramble bush, indicating all were inside. Halfshine brushed his tail against Bravekit and pushed through the brambles. Bravekit took a deep breath and followed him.
-Line-
"Bravekit can't be a medicine cat," Cedarberry shook her head.
"Did Harestar not even discuss the idea with you when you talked to him?" Halfshine meowed.
Bravekit watched her mother scowl. Cedarberry had sent Bravekit's siblings to visit the elders on the other side of camp. Bloomfur had taken her young kits on a brisk stroll when she'd seen Halfshine and Bravekit enter. The ginger queen had given Bravekit a smile before calling the youngsters with her to explore the hollow.
"He asked me if I had preferred mentors," Cedarberry meowed. "I didn't think he meant you. My kits are going to be warriors, and maybe one will be leader. They are not a medicine cats."
Bravekit blinked at her mother's sharp words. "Yes, I am! I want to be!"
"After all you've been through, you'll throw away this chance at becoming a hunter and defender to look for herbs?" Cedarberry growled.
Bravekit lowered her ears. "This was why I never asked you. You always think I survived to be some great leader sent from StarClan! But I didn't."
"It's what's best for you!"
Bravekit lowered her brow, glaring at the bramble leaves beside her mother.
"So many warriors fail to respect medicine cats," Halfshine meowed.
Mother and daughter turned to him. Cedarberry at least looked ashamed at having put down his position in front of him.
"I am aware every apprentice wishes to be leader one day," Halfshine meowed. "It is an ambition that helps them do their best. And as a mother, I expect you have the same ambitions for your kits. You want them to succeeded, but think, Cedarberry. Who does a leader turn to? Harestar doesn't just consult his deputy. He speaks to me. I speak to StarClan. And the three of us together guide this Clan."
Cedarberry's mouth slowly fell open. "But medicine cats aren't leaders."
"We are advisors on spiritual matters. Clan matters. I often have warriors come to me with questions and doubts. They wonder if it is time for them to retire. They come to me, wanting to talk to another cat they may have a disagreement with, or they want advice how to woo a mate. As your daughter well knows, medicine cats hold the power of life and death with the very herbs we use to treat injuries. A medicine cat holds a respectable position. It may not have the glory of clawing enemy Clans back to their territories, or becoming the leader of the Clan one day, but without a medicine cat, a Clan is not strong. My position is very important and your daughter is eager to provide the safety and help the warriors need to continue defending WindClan. She will be a medicine cat, but Bravekit would like to know you have no ill will against her for defying your carefully laid out plans for her life."
"He's right, Cedarberry," Bravekit meowed. She shouldn't have argued with her mother. They weren't here to do that. This was only going to go one way. She wanted Cedarberry to be happy for her and to accept her wish, but if that didn't happen, Bravekit was still determined. "Are you going to support me as a medicine cat, or not? We are going to Harestar and that's final."
Cedarberry lowered her silver tabby head. "I can't do anything to stop you, can I?"
"You have three other kits, Cedarberry," Halfshine meowed. "Help them be the best they can be and help Bravekit be the best she can be. They'll all make you proud."
"But she had so much more in her future!"
"And are you a medicine cat to know what StarClan has planned for her life?"
Cedarberry swallowed. Then she exhaled. As she spoke, she refused to look at her kit. "Bravekit, be a medicine cat. I don't like it but, I do want you to be happy. StarClan gave you to me. Gave me one last chance to raise you and I guess I had my moment, but you are right, it is your life."
"Thank you, Cedarberry," Bravekit came close and licked her mother's cheek. She felt her heartbeat quicken in gratitude. "You'll be proud of me. I'll show you."
"You do that. I suppose you can tell Harestar the news, Halfshine."
"Something tells me he won't be surprised," Halfshine meowed.
Bravekit thought he was right. Everyone but Cedarberry had seen it. At least Harestar had respected her mother to not go behind her back in the matter. The leader hadn't protested when he'd seen them earlier, but he had respected all their wishes, letting them work out Bravekit's training on their own.
Cedarberry refused to look at either of them as they left. Bravekit could feel her mother's disappointment, but she refused to let that deflate her joy.
She was still thrumming with excitement when Harestar announced her apprenticeship. Sharing tongues ended with the leader summoning the Clan together. Harestar smiled at his clan from the Rock Pile. The light brown tom was a handsome warrior with grizzled muzzle and scars that parted his fur. Seeing him stand up there, he reminded Bravekit a little of Halfshine. There was a similar tilt to the ears, and the playful way his eyes glittered in the sun. She could understand why so many warriors wanted to be like Harestar one day. He radiated confidence and power.
The WindClan leader announced her siblings' names and mentors before finally reaching Bravekit.
"And now I have an uncommon ceremony to conduct," Harestar meowed.
Bravekit felt her heart pound as she looked up at the WindClan leader. He looked so strong up there. It was hard to keep looking him in the eye.
"Halfshine has decided to take on an apprentice. It has been a long while since Twistedbriar died," Harestar lowered his head briefly. Bravekit watched as many of the senior warriors did the same. "Our Clan could benefit from another trained medicine cat. Our lucky Bravekit has expressed interest in the position and as a leader I congratulate her on choosing a path rarely taken by cats. It will be hard, but rewarding. Bravekit."
Bravekit looked up at Harestar. She wasn't sure how it was possible, but her heart beat quickened as though it might leap from her chest like a rabbit.
"You have reached the age of six moons and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Bravepaw. You have survived much in your young life and the Clan and StarClan expects much of you, but remember it is your path you choose to follow and no one else's. Sometimes it is hard to walk alone, but you are bold and I know you will succeed whatever you choose. Halfshine will be your mentor. He has much to teach you."
Bravepaw nodded quickly, but Harestar had already moved on.
"Halfshine."
The black and white tom, who sat at the base of the Rock Pile beside Gorsepath, the deputy, got to his feet. Bravekit shared a smile with the medicine cat, but her face felt crooked and she panted. Halfshine should no signs of nervousness. She felt jealous of his calm demeanor. Age must make all warriors (and medicine cats) not so frightened of these ceremonies.
"You are ready to take on an apprentice," Harestar continued. "You are intelligent and have learned compassion from your former mentor. I expect you to pass on all you know and more to Bravepaw. While this is only a preliminary ceremony, the rest of Bravepaw's acceptance as a medicine cat apprentice will take place on the half-moon at the Moonstone before all of StarClan. Halfshine you may touch noses with your apprentice."
Bravepaw took several quick steps forward to meet her nose with Halfshine's.
"Hunterpaw, Flickpaw, Hedgepaw, Bravepaw!"
The Clan shouted the names of their newest apprentices. With leaf-bare over, new life had begun and the Clan was strong. Bravepaw looked at her siblings where they sat near their mentors. She looked at her mother. Cedarberry smiled proudly, chest out and ears lifted as the chant continued. Warriors gathered around to congratulate the new mentors. Even Halfshine was caught up in it. A few warriors praised him for snatching Bravepaw. She couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. All her life it had felt like she had eyes on her. As a medicine cat, that might not be any different.
"Do you really want to be a medicine cat?" Hedgepaw meowed.
She looked at her siblings gathered by her side. The new apprentices peered at their sister curiously.
"Yes," she meowed. "I'll be here to bind your wounds."
"Yeah, we're going to need it," Hunterpaw meowed. "We are going to win so many battles!"
"I don't envy you," Hedgepaw meowed, ignoring their brother. "You have so many things to have to memorize."
"Being a tunneler can't be easy," Bravepaw protested. "Digging all the time and having to remember what tunnels to take without guidance from the sun. I can't even imagine what that'll be like."
"Well," Hedgepaw suggested, "if you change your mind, you can always join us before the half moon. You aren't an official apprentice yet."
The others laughed at the thought and Bravepaw took a playful swipe at her sister. That was only in five days wasn't it? So soon. She shivered at the thought. She'd only heard tales of the Moonstone, but she wanted to see what that glowing rock looked like. She couldn't imagine the Rock Pile aglow. Nor could she imagine the moon resting on the earth like a stone.
"Halfshine, do you want to take Bravepaw around the territory with us?"
Bravepaw looked up as Pheasant-tail, Hunterpaw's mentor, spoke to Halfshine. With the ceremony done, the Clan had dispersed. There was still much to do before evening.
Halfshine tilted his head, eyeing the angle of the sun before accepting, Pheasant-tail's offer. "We'll travel a little way with you. Bravepaw might enjoy it."
He flicked his tail and Bravepaw hurried to his side. Of the group, only Hedgepaw and Newfang waited behind. Since they were tunnelers, knowing the territory above ground was less important, but Bravepaw imagined they still benefited from the information. Perhaps Newfang would show Hedgepaw later. Bravepaw and the patrol headed for the tunnel. She felt her legs bound forward with delight. She and her siblings were going on a patrol like they'd always pretended!
Her steps slowed when they reached the top of the slope. The wind tickled the grass and when it found her, it pushed and tugged at her fur. She blinked as she stared at the vast territory that spread in every direction. It had been moons since she left camp. A little frightened of doing so and doubly forbidden by her mother. Now was the first time since her accident she was returning to the moorland.
The grass was short and yellow as it had been before, but now there were dots of color here and there: a sprig of green, a glimmer of purple as the thistles and heather pushed through the warming dirt. The sky was a dusty haze with fluffy white clouds. One or two dark shadows drifted along the wind. She felt her fur on her back lift, disliking the sudden darkness as it reminded her of the hawk.
The patrol made their way to the RiverClan border. To one side the ground fell away, looming into a stream of water. Leanstep called it a gorge, and the thundering of water than fed into the depth was a waterfall. The RiverClan border started here, just on this side instead of the other, something Bravepaw could not understand. Why patrol this narrow strip of land, while the rest of the territory was on the other side of the gorge?
"Why do you think we should know borders, Bravepaw?" Halfshine asked her.
She tore her skittering gaze from the cliff on one side and the endless sky above where the sun edged the horizon. Little more than a whisker of gold was gone alone the curved base.
"Because we need to keep the other Clans on their territories," she meowed.
"That is not our job," Halfshine reminded her.
Bravepaw had to admit, she'd never heard of a medicine cat fighting before. She scrunched her nose as they continued to walk along the border.
"The warriors aren't allowed to fight us, are they?" she meowed. "So, do borders not matter for us?"
"Not as much as for warriors," Halfshine admitted. "We still should not cross without permission. No, we do not fight and warriors are not allowed to attack us, but that doesn't mean some won't leap before they look. It is our duty to make sure we don't cross the border so we aren't put in that situation."
Suddenly, Pheasant-tail signaled the patrol to stop.
"Flickpaw," Leanstep whispered as the patrol paused. "What do you smell?"
Flickpaw tilted his head and sniffed. Bravepaw did the same, wondering what the white tom was supposed to smell. The wind was blowing from WindClan, bringing the familiar scent of heather toward them. Something familiar, but different, tickled her nose. It trailed to them on the breeze and made her heart quicken and mouth water.
"Is that rabbit?" Flickpaw meowed.
"Can you tell where?"
While Leanstep helped Flickpaw find the rabbit hiding in the long grass, Bravepaw leaned over to Halfshine to whisper, "Do we hunt as medicine cats?"
"We can," Halfshine meowed. "I will show you a little, but it is not our primary task. We don't go after difficult prey if we don't have to. I'm not saying you can't. If you want to run after a rabbit, go ahead, but it is a waste of energy better spent on looking for herbs or reading signs from StarClan."
"Signs from StarClan?" Bravepaw's eyes widened. While she understood that a medicine cat was sent signs from StarClan, the actual thought of receiving a message invigorated her. She would read signs from the ancestors!
"Later," Halfshine grunted, looking away with a stiff wave of his tail. "Let's leave the patrol. Pheasant-tail, we'll be off now."
"We didn't even get to Fourtrees," Bravepaw meowed in protest.
"There will be plenty of time for that later. Come now."
Bravepaw reluctantly followed, glancing over her shoulder as Flickpaw steered the rabbit toward his mentor's paws. Leanstep rose from the grass and, like a fox, sprang upon the creature. Bravepaw reluctantly turned around and followed her mentor. They headed toward another hillock in the distance. The sun continued to fall.
As she was still unfamiliar to the territory, she did not know where Halfshine led her. They came to another hollow similar to their camp. At the base of the gully was a splash of green she did not expect. She and Halfshine paused on a rock that jutted out, looking down into the curving terrain. She quickly realized the green glob was a tree. A tree on the moorland?
Halfshine flicked his tail and she followed him down a narrow slope to the bottom of the hollow. They were closer to the tree now. The 'leaves' looked more like fur; little straight sprigs like on a bristling tail. Bright red berries hung in twos and threes, standing out brightly in the dark foliage. Oddly, they looked like little eyes, watching her approach. The limbs of the tree brushed low on the ground, and the roots twisted in the dirt, making mounds that twisted hither and thither. There was shade from the sun below the tree. It was a pleasant feeling, although it grew chilly the longer she stood in the darkness.
Halfshine paid no mind to the tree, instead his nose pointed to the roots. Now that Bravepaw looked, she saw many different plants growing in the shady dirt.
"My herbs," Halfshine meowed. "What do you see?"
"It's a lot," Brave confessed. She walked closer, sniffing the plants. "Is this catmint?" She recognized the strong, attractive smell.
"Yes," he smiled. "I have borage, garlic, and feverfew as well. It is my garden. Not every medicine cat has one."
"Why not?"
He paused. "I suppose you don't understand the importance. Not having trained yet. But being a medicine cat is an effort of managing resources. Often we must search for herbs. We must locate where the plants grow and return time after time, careful not to take too much so there is some remaining come the need. No other cat can claim to have many of their herbs in one location."
"How did they get here?" she asked.
"I planted them," Halfshine meowed. His chest puffed out and for a moment he reminded her of Hunterpaw when he was a kit. Her brother had been so proud when he'd caught the mossball out of the air after their mother tossed it to them.
"And they grew," Halfshine continued, "because of this tree."
He turned his eyes upward. For a moment the proud look faded. His face grew regretful as his gaze followed the branches and hanging berries.
"This yew tree protects the plants. In the winter it keeps them warm and heavy snow off of them. In the summer it keeps them cool. It keeps the moisture in the earth. I was inspired when I saw it protect herbs during a particularly bad leafbare. They did not die even when other plants withered and blackened around our territory."
"It does all that?" Bravepaw stared at the tree with open mouth.
She had never thought of trees fondly. The stories always had the enemy Clans live below trees as though trees themselves were nasty, horrid things blocking out the starlight and sun, keeping a cat from running long distances as they should.
"It is a medicine tree," he meowed. "The berries are a strong herb. They are only to be used as a last resort when all other cures fail. Promise me you will never touch them."
"Why?"
"Just don't. I will tell you about the tree another day. For now, do not touch it, or the berries. If they fall, avoid them. If you touch one, do not lick your paws. Find a stream and rinse them off as you would with mousebile. Promise me."
He looked at her, his blue eyes resting intently on her own. She wanted to crawl and hide in the grass. He had never been this stern before and she felt intimidated under the cold gaze.
"Y-yes, Halfshine."
He must have seen her unease because he closed his eyes and looked away. "I will tell you about the herbs here another day, let's get traveling herbs back at camp. It's time we start for the Moonstone."
They had almost reached camp, when a cat rushed from the tall grass to meet them.
"Halfshine hurry—there's been an accident!"
I thought you should have one more chapter to interest you all. Upload may be once a week. I hope. We'll see how busy I get with school. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Where do you think this story is going and most importantly, what should Bravepaw's medicine cat name be? Give me some suggestions. I will make a poll soon enough, but I need some good ideas to add. Not Braveheart, please no. Something creative, but pleasant.
