Jayfeather sat beside the underground river. With a flash of his paw, he scooped a fish up onto the land. He killed it with a swift bite and settled down to eat.
He ate slowly. He was distracted. Tonight was the half-moon, the night medicine cats went to the Moonpool to speak with their warrior ancestors. He hadn't been with his clan in over a half-moon and tonight only reminded him of his duty to his clan. He'd been ignoring it.
As he ate the fish, he realized that while he could ignore his duty to his clan, he couldn't ignore his duty to StarClan and as much as he squabbled with Yellowfang whenever he visited them, he knew she would scold him for skipping the half-moon medicine cat gathering the next time he saw her.
Now decided, Jayfeather finished his fish with a few bites and raced down the tunnel in the direction of the Moonpool.
Jayfeather walked up the hillside without his usual confidence. He knew that the other medicine cats were there, surely they knew of his disappearance. He didn't really know how he would face them. He decided he'd deal with it when the time came.
As he approached their meeting place, Jayfeather heard the voices of Kestrelflight, Mothwing, and Willowshine.
"Do you think anyone from ThunderClan is going show up?" Willowsine was saying.
"It's not like ThunderClan to skip out on a meeting," Littlecloud said walking up.
Jayfeather took a deep breath and stepped forward. "You're right, it's not."
"Jayfeather!" Willowsine exclaimed. "We've been so worried about you!"
"I'm sorry," Jayfeather said. "I just needed some time."
"Is something wrong?" Mothflight asked.
Of course there's something wrong! For StarClan's sake, why else would I leave the clan for a half-moon?
"What do you think?" he grumbled.
"Did StarClan send you a message?" Littlecloud asked.
Jayfeather paused. There was definitely something abnormal going on and usually abnormal meant StarClan but he knew that whatever was happening to him had nothing to do with StarClan. Probably the Ancients or maybe even the Tribe of Endless Hunting, they were closer to the Ancients than StarClan was, but he didn't have any idea why they would send him memories that were not his own.
"Crane's Wing?" a voice questions. Jayfeather turned and recognized Leafpool's pawsteps and voice. "Jayfeather? Jayfeather! It's really you!"
Leafpool rushed forward to press against him. Jayfeather backed up uncomfortably. He'd forgiven his mother and accepted her back as a medicine cat but he still wasn't ready for that kind of contact.
Leafpool seemed to get the wrong message. "Wait, don't run!"
Wasn't planning on it.
"Where were you?" Mothwing asked.
"A place," he said stupidly. He didn't really want to tell them.
"Why did you run off?" Leafpool asked. "That's so unlike you."
"It's hard to explain…" Jayfeather said. How am I supposed to explain I lived in a time before the clans? I should've told her the first time it happened. Actually, it's a good thing I didn't. She'd think I dreamed it or call me a beebrain.
"Then explain it," she demanded.
"No," Jayfeather stated before he could stop himself. Even he was surprised with himself. He had a reputation for being stubborn but this may have been the first time he outright defied his former mentor.
"No?"
"Leafpool, don't pressure him," Littlecloud told her. "Clearly something's wrong."
"That's why I'm asking!" Leafpool said.
"I need to speak with StarClan about this, this is important," Jayfeather told her. "I'll tell you afterward." Maybe.
Leafpool seemed to accept this. "Just tell me, does this have anything to do with Crane's Wing? And the fact that you're a medicine cat?"
"What?" Jayfeather was confused.
"He looks just like you."
Jayfeather realized what she was getting at. "No! Do you really think I'd make the same mistake as you? And besides, I've never met him and from what I gathered, I think he's older than me."
Leafpool nodded. "Sorry. I just had to be sure."
Jayfeather said nothing. His pelt was burning with embarrassment. How could she think something like that? Is that what the others back at camp are saying? Then he realized that her theory may not be so crazy. I did love once. But I would never take a mate! After what she did, I can't believe she'd accuse me of doing the same.
"Can we just go to the Moonpool?" he asked. "We're wasting moonlight."
"He's right," Willowshine said. "You two can talk about… that after we share tongues with StarClan. It'll probably be good for you."
"Lead the way," Jayfeather said.
The cats settled around the Moonpool with Mothwing off to the side. She didn't even try to hide the fact she didn't believe in StarClan anymore, she just curled up and took a nap next to the pool while all the other cats dreamed.
Jayfeather lay down and lapped at the water. His eyes closed at once.
He opened them a moment later. He expected to be in StarClan talking to Yellowfang but he found that he was still beside the Moonpool. For a moment he thought that he hadn't fallen asleep then he remembered he could only see in dreams and he could very clearly see his fellow medicine cats.
Jayfeather looked around confused. He didn't see any StarClan cat. He poked Kestrelflight with one paw. He didn't wake up.
What am I supposed to do?
Still confused, Jayfeather turned back to the Moonpool to try again. When he did, the water began moving. He jumped back in surprise. The water calmed soon after. Cautiously, he looked into it.
Instead of seeing the usual sparkling water of the Moonpool, he could see three cats sitting around a tree stump as if he was a bird gazing down on them from the sky through the water.
They look just like Lionblaze, Dovewing, and me, he thought. After a moment, he realized they had stars in their pelts. These were StarClan cats. Or Tribe of Endless Hunting cats. Or Ancients. He really had no way of telling.
Jayfeather recalled his memory flashes and suddenly it made sense. I'm looking at Jay's Wing and Dove's Wing. And that golden cat is Lion's Roar.
Before he could dwell on it any longer, the cats began talking though they didn't take notice of him. This must've happened a while ago.
Jay's Wing and Dove's Wing were standing closest to the stump. Lion's Roar padded up to them.
"Why did you ask me to come here?" Lion's Roar asked. "And what are we doing at the Sacred Stump?"
"Can't you hear it?" Jay's Wing asked. Jayfeather listened closer. He couldn't hear anything but it looked like Lion's Roar could.
"It's like there are a thousand spirits trapped in it and they're all whispering something to me," Dove's Wing murmured. Lion's Roar nodded.
"Are we being summoned to join them?" Lion's Roar asked. Jayfeather didn't know who 'them' was but he was pretty sure he wasn't talking about the voices they supposedly were hearing.
"I don't know," Jay's Wing said. "Maybe."
"I say we touch it," Dove's Wing said. The two toms looked at her. "When we lived in the tunnels, I heard that cats would go to this pool of water and lap it to communicate with our ancestors."
"We are the ancestors now," Jay's Wing pointed out.
Lion's Roar took a step towards the stump. "Maybe this is the dead cats equivalent of the Moonpool or the Cave of Pointed Stones?"
"Touch it then," Jay's Wing encouraged. Lion's Roar leaned forward and tapped his nose against it. Nothing happened. "Maybe try jumping on top of it?"
Lion's Roar bunched up his muscles and took a leap. He landed on top of the Sacred Stump. When his paws made contact, a bright light flashed. When it died down, the golden tom was gone.
"Lion's Roar!" Dove's Wing cried in alarm. Jay's Wing bunched up his muscles as well as if he was planning on jumping after him but Dove's Wing stopped him. "What are you doing?"
"Are you going to let him go alone?" Jay's Wing asked with a gleam of adventure in his eyes. He leaped onto the stump and he too disappeared.
Dove's Wing rolled her eyes and jumped after him.
The Moonpool suddenly started moving and Jayfeather lost sight of the cats for a moment. When the water settled once more, the three cats were sitting in a place where colors swirled in the space behind them. There was ground but no sky and nothing in the distance, just colors. Jayfeather knew they weren't in the Silverpelt like StarClan cats. They were somewhere else, somewhere beyond StarClan or the Tribe of Endless Hunting's hunting grounds.
The word Astral Plane slid into the medicine cat's mind. Jayfeather recalled that Crane's Wing mentioned that his cats honored the 'sacred cats', whoever they were. He sensed he was about to get an idea. This place must be where those sacred cats lived. They were beyond the other ancestors and it seemed that Jay's Wing, Dove's Wing, and Lion's Roar lived among them.
The three cats looked calm. Jayfeather assumed that the Moonpool had skipped ahead in time. This was much later.
Lion's Roar, Jay's Wing, and Dove's Wing were laying around talking with some other cats. None of them had stars in their pelts. They had markings that matched the patterns of the space in the Astral Plane faintly flowing through them.
Suddenly, the three cats stiffened and told the other cats they had to go. They ran until there were no more cats in sight.
The three cats were standing shoulder to shoulder and looking up where the sky should be. The colors continued to swirl. Jay's Wing threw his head back and yowled. One of the streaks of color spiraled out of space and rushed down towards him.
Lion's Roar shoved him aside. He grunted as the streak hit him. Dove's Wing came to his side and touched her muzzle to the streak. Soon after, it faded.
"What just happened?" Lion's Roar asked. He looked a bit shaky after that ordeal despite how quickly it happened.
"The universe was speaking with us," Jay's Wing murmured. He looked to his sister. "What did you hear?"
Dove's Wing closed her eyes. "In many, many season cycles, something terrible will happen to the clans."
"Those cats that left the mountains?" Lion's Roar confirmed. Dove's Wing nodded. "What do you mean something terrible will happen?"
"Pay attention and find out," Jay's Wing growled and he looked back to where the streak had come from. The space colors shifted again until only a bright orange was seen. The colors moved into the shape of a cat.
"It's the cat with flames in his pelt," Lion's Roar noted. "The other cats have said the skies show him to them occasionally. He must be important."
The colors shifted again. They moved so fast that Jayfeather couldn't follow what the Plane was telling them but the three sacred cats seemed to understand. A cat with flames in his pelt... were they speaking of Firestar? Were they seeing the clans? Maybe the future? Or maybe even the prophecy itself?
"We must do something," Jay's Wing stated.
"No cat deserves that," Dove's Wing agreed. "But what can we do?"
"We have more power than the clan's ancestors and the Tribe's ancestors combined," Lion's Roar pointed out. "We could eliminate the Dark Forest before they can plot against the clans and the cat with flames in his pelt."
"We may have more power than the clans' and tribes' ancestors but we can't do that," Dove's Wing said. "We can't go to the Dark Forest."
"And if we could, what would we do? Ask them nicely?" Jay's Wing added sarcastically. "We can't destroy them. No matter how evil they are, we don't have the right to do that."
"Downside of being dead, we can't directly do anything to help the cats," Dove's Wing said.
"Or can we?" Lion's Roar responded cryptically.
"What are you saying?"
"Our cats send prophecies to StarClan who passes them off to the medicine cats," Lion's Roar said. "Our cats have the power to create those prophecies so what if we gave some of our power to future cats?"
"Can we even do that?" Jay's Wing questioned.
Lion's Roar shrugged. "Why not?"
"This seems like a quick and rash decision," Dove's Wing said. "We should discuss this."
"Hey, you two are the thinkers and I'm the doer," Lion's Roar said good naturedly. He looked back to the colors. The space shifted back so it looked like an orange cat. "Prophecies got to be worded good right? And this has got to happen at the right time. And we also need to figure out a way to make sure that our power ends up in the paws of good cats."
Jay's Wing thought a moment. "Who better than to have our power than us?"
Lion's Roar and Dove's Wing looked at him in surprise and confusion.
"Don't act like you don't miss the land of the living," Jay's Wing said. "If we're going to send some of our power, we may as well tag along too."
Slowly, Dove's Wing and Lion's Roar nodded in agreement.
"Okay, now that we know what we're going to do, we just need to create the prophecy," Lion's Roar said.
"I think I've got it," Dove's Wing said and looked to the image of the cat with flames in his pelt. "There will be three kin of your kin, who hold the power of the stars in their paws."
"When the darkness of your ancestors returns, the sharp eyed jay, the roaring lion and the gentle dove will save the clans," Jay's Wing added.
"Using the powers of the mind, the body, and the senses granted by the Astral Plane, so the clans can walk another day," Lion's Roar finished.
Jayfeather realized that the prophecy that he knew from walking in Firestar's dreams all those seasons ago wasn't the whole thing. That's why StarClan cats were so always so vague. They didn't know the whole thing. The original had been so much more specific. Slightly vague but still, much clearer.
The Moonpool suddenly began moving again. Jayfeather expected another scene to appear but instead, he found his vision fading. A few moments later, he found himself truly beside the Moonpool. He had woken up.
Jayfeather got to his paws and saw the other medicine cats awakening. He looked at Leafpool and his mind began racing to figure out what to tell her.
Author's Note: *Excited shouts* Finally! Some good stuff! Jayfeather just saw the prophecy being made and all that stuff Crane's Wing was talking about is starting to make a bit more sense.