"This is Spottedleaf!" Stormpaw told Rusty. "She'll help you."
Rusty felt like collapsing after the long trip to the "medicine cat", whatever that was. His paws were sore and worn, unused to walking so much. Or so fast, he thought, wincing as he remembered the great speed he'd had to keep up with on the way.
"I'm sure Bluestar already knows you're here from Darkstripe and Graypaw, so I'll go tell her that you're ready to talk," Lionheart meowed. He dipped his head to Spottedleaf before leaving the den.
Spottedleaf watched him go before turning to Rusty with a kind smile. "Greetings," she mewed. "Graypaw tells me he did quite a number on you."
"Yeah, he did," Rusty admitted, smiling awkwardly. He tried not to flinch when she began sniffing him over, looking at his wounds. "Can you fix me?" he asked nervously.
"Of course," Spottedleaf replied as she walked away. She began pawing through multiple different plants that were organized in such a unique way.
"Stormpaw?" Rusty mewed. His friend looked at him. "Er, did you plan to join them when you left?"
"No," Stormpaw snorted, shaking his head. "I thought they were rumors, so I decided I'd just live in the woods they were said to be. Turns out, cats actually inhabit this place."
"What happened to your collar?" Rusty asked him, tilting his head. The spot where his green collar normally was, was replaced with mottled fur. "And your name?" he added.
"I had to get rid of anything that symbolized my kittypet life," Stormpaw explained. "Clan cats have a specific lifestyle that I needed to follow if I were to stay. That included changing my name and burying my collar."
"You'll have to do the same, young Rusty," Spottedleaf warned the kittypet as she approached him again, this time carrying herbs in her mouth and bundles of white stuff on her pelt.
"If you stay, that is," Stormpaw reminded him. "Bluestar might not want another outsider in her Clan."
"You can go, Stormpaw," Spottedleaf told the apprentice, setting her herbs down. "After all, I'm sure you have duties that need done."
As the bicolored tom left the den with a cheerful goodbye, Spottedleaf began pressing some of the white bundles to Rusty's wounds. They quickly turned a reddish color, soaking up the blood. It stung a little each time one touched him, but the pain eased within heartbeats.
"What are those things?" Rusty asked her curiously.
"Cobweb," Spottedleaf replied. "Alright, now I'm going to put a poultice on. This is what'll really help."
Rusty waited as Spottedleaf pulled away and began chewing up the herbs she'd brought over. When she was finished, she applied it to his wounds. This stung as well, but it was a sharper sting than the cobweb. He couldn't count the amount of times he flinched.
"Bluestar, you can come in now," Spottedleaf meowed once they were finished. "I'm done with him."
Rusty's mouth gaped as a blue-gray she-cat with a silver tinged muzzle entered the den. "How'd you know she was waiting outside?" he asked, amazed.
"She smelled my scent," Bluestar replied for the medicine cat. "Hello, Rusty. I hear you want to join us."
"I-I do," he stuttered nervously. He hadn't thought of what he'd do or say when interacting with who he assumed was their leader.
"You're aware that this life is much, much harder than your current one," Bluestar explained. "You must hunt for your own food; there's no twoleg here to feed you. You must perform duties, which include caring for our elders and queens. You must learn to defend yourself."
"Yeah, I know!" Rusty mewed, not wanting to admit his real hesitance. After all, wasn't he only joining because of some squirrel? "I really wanna join your… er, Clan."
Bluestar raised a brow and exchanged a glance with Spottedleaf. "Please excuse us, Rusty," she meowed, leading the medicine cat to the back of the den where he couldn't hear them.
Rusty was suddenly insecure. What if they were talking about how foolish he was to try joining? What if they were quietly laughing at how scared he was? He didn't think friendly Spottedleaf would do that, but stoic Bluestar might.
They kept looking at him. Just glancing over. Rusty shrunk down, his ears flattened. Bluestar kept motioning with her muzzle at him, and Spottedleaf seemed indecisive about something. The tortoiseshell she-cat nodded slowly after assumably being asked something; then they both padded back over.
"I'll have to discuss it with Redtail, but you might be joining us," Bluestar told him right before leaving.
"It's greenleaf, so we have more prey than we know what to do with," Spottedleaf meowed. "Surely you're hungry. Would you like some?"
"Yeah, alright," Rusty hesitantly responded, unsure if he actually did. It was only because of his empty stomach that he'd even replied in the affirmative. Curse his refusal to eat when he woke up!
"I'm hungry too," Spottedleaf mewed, getting to her paws. "I had to deliver kits earlier this morning, so I haven't eaten. You might be able to visit them later." She started walking out. "I'll be right back. You stay there."
Rusty watched her leave. He clambered up onto his paws slowly. He wasn't sure what drove him to - curiosity? - but he began going through the herb store. Each type seemed to have their own little spot. He sniffed everything he saw.
Rusty was in the back of the den now, where Spottedleaf's nest was neatly tucked into a corner. It seemed stuffed with brown and white feathers. He began taking a few out, having never felt a feather before, when he came across something tiny. One side was a pink color, while the other was two shades of gray.
That's when he realized that it was a piece of an ear. An ear, as in a cat's. He gasped and dropped the piece. That's when he heard someone enter. He shoved the feathers back in, ignoring Spottedleaf calling for him. He didn't have time to put the ear tip back before she came back and saw him.
"What is this, Spottedleaf?" Rusty asked before she could speak, deciding to find out since he'd been caught.
Spottedleaf sighed, "It's… a reminder. Of someone I lost."
"Who was it?" Rusty mewed, ignoring the feeling that he was invading her privacy. His young curiosity was too strong.
"His name was Thistleclaw," she told him. "He was like an older brother to me. He died last leaf-fall in a battle with RiverClan. I know it's kinda weird, but I hunted down the ear tip he'd lost in that battle and I kept it."
Rusty was reminded of the silver bell that he'd stuffed into his own bed back at home. He often turned to it for comfort, jingling it with his paw quietly, whenever he especially missed Stormpaw. He nodded slowly.
"I understand," Rusty told her. "I'm sorry that he died."
"It's alright," Spottedleaf meowed. "He watches us from StarClan now. Come along."
The two cats padded back to the front. Two different kinds of birds lay there. He sat and took one, staring at it. He felt hesitant to take a bite, so he decided to ask something he started wondering from her statement.
"What's StarClan?" Rusty inquired.
"It's where we go when we pass," Spottedleaf explained. "An afterlife. It's our ancestors. Medicine cats heal their Clanmates, but we're also the ones who communicate with them. We go to a place once every moon to do so. Normal cats can see them from Silverpelt, the cluster of stars in the sky."
Rusty was about to ask something else, but he was interrupted by Bluestar coming back in - this time with a small tortoiseshell tom at her side. His distinctive ginger tail told him that this was the Redtail she'd mentioned before leaving. He jumped to his paws, his prey forgotten.
"We've made a decision," Bluestar informed him. She exchanged glances with the other two cats before looking back down at him. "Welcome to ThunderClan, Rusty."