Jayfeather padded over to Mothwing and prodded her with a paw, waking her up, as the other medicine cats began to open their eyes and pull their muzzles out of the Moonpool. Mothwing gave a big yawn and got to her paws. Jayfeather turned to face his fellow medicine cats.
"Did StarClan speak to you?" Leafpool asked him immediately.
Jayfeather didn't know how to respond to that. One of the most important parts of being a medicine cat was to have faith in StarClan. How would the others react when they learned there were cats above StarClan? They already knew of the Tribe of Endless Hunting and the Ancients but from what he gathered from the dream and what little he heard from Crane's Wing, these cats were beyond that.
"In a way," he decided to say.
"What's that supposed to mean? Did they or did they not speak to you?" Leafpool demanded.
Jayfeather glared. Why is she being so rude?
Leafpool seemed to notice Jayfeather's displeasure. "Sorry. Can you tell me what's going on on our way back to camp?"
Jayfeather's fur pricked in surprise. "Who said I'm going back to camp with you?"
Now it was Leafpool's turn to be surprised. "Why wouldn't you come back to camp?"
"Same reason I haven't been there for the past half-moon," Jayfeather responded.
The other medicine cats exchanged glances, not knowing if they should interfere or not.
"Leafpool, get off his back," Littlecloud said. "Clearly our ancestors have told him something, he's just doing his job as a medicine cat."
Jayfeather dipped his head gratefully to the older tom then looked back to Leafpool. "I just need some more time."
Leafpool didn't accept this. "Jayfeather, I understand you have a responsibility to StarClan but you also have a responsibility to your own clan. I can't believe I'm saying this but you need to focus on what living cats need more than what StarClan wants you to do."
"Who are you to tell me that?" Jayfeather growled. "And I'm sure ThunderClan's fine. You could handle the clan on your own long before I was kitted."
"I can handle the clan, it's Briarlight who needs you," Leafpool responded.
Jayfeather's anger faded and was replaced with concern. "Is she alright?"
"She's not sick or anything, it's just harder on her without you helping her."
Jayfeather felt guilty. He'd forgotten how much the paralyzed she-cat relied on him. "Tell her I'm sorry… Tell her I'll be back in a quarter-moon."
"You're going to be gone a whole quarter-moon? Why?"
"I need to… deal with what I learned from the Moonpool."
"From the Moonpool?" Willowshine questioned. "Not StarClan?"
"If you two are done, can you move away from the entrance so the rest of us can leave?" Littlecloud asked irritably. Jayfeather have his chest a few embarrassed licks and backed away muttering an apology. Littlecloud walked past him. "Thank you."
Jayfeather clawed at the ground in frustration. Dirt gathered under his claws. Downside of being in the tunnels, there was dirt everywhere.
Tomorrow was the day of three-quarter moon, the day he said he'd return to the clan. Jayfeather still didn't feel like he'd wrapped his head around everything that was going on. He'd had several more memory flashes. He'd been getting used to them but they still weren't very welcome.
All of his memory flashes were about Jay's Wing as a kit or softpaw. He saw nothing like what he did at the Moonpool. He didn't know if that was good or not. Learning anything more about the Astral Plane would probably confuse him even more but it wasn't like the memory flashes he was getting now were helping him any.
Jayfeather's thoughts had been going in circles for days. As drowsiness began to get in, he decided now be as well a time as any to escape it.
Jayfeather curled up and fell asleep. When he opened his eyes a moment later, he opened them in a dream. He looked around, not recognizing the peaceful field he was standing in.
"Jay's Wing."
Jayfeather whipped around and saw a familiar white she-cat standing behind him. He purred at the sight of her after all this time. "Half Moon!"
The two moved closer to each other and pressed against each other. Both were purring loudly. After a few moments, they broke apart from their greeting.
Once again, Jayfeather took in the sight of her. Her beautiful white pelt. Those emerald-green eyes. Her compact form. The way her tail whisked behind her. That expression she always had etched on her face when she looked at him. That expression of pure and utter love. He loved it when she looked at him like that.
This was his Half Moon. Not the one he kept seeing in those visions. This was the cat who he'd fallen for, who'd looked at him when she cast her stone to leave, who lead the Ancients into the mountains, who he'd appointed the Teller of Pointed Stones…
The cat I left behind… Jayfeather told himself solemnly. As much as he loved it when he saw her or visited him, the visits always brought guilt and regret.
He shook his head to clear those thoughts. There were more important things right now.
"I'm guessing you know why I'm here," Half Moon said.
Jayfeather nodded. "You're going to tell me about the Astral Plane."
"What?"
"What?"
"What's the Astral Plane?" Half Moon asked.
"You know, that place you and StarClan sent that vision of to me."
Half Moon shook her head. "StarClan has sent you no visions or dreams. Other than this one, of course."
Jayfeather was even more alarmed. Part of his had hoped that all those memory flashes had been sent by StarClan. Then there would be a reason. And an explanation that he could understand.
"Remember when the two of us and the other softpaws played in that river?" Jayfeather asked randomly.
She nodded. "Fallen Leaves taught us how to catch fish. I didn't like it much but your sister seemed to."
Jayfeather nodded. "So did Fallen Leaves. We still never found out how he learned to do that.
"He told me he'd spent days watching the birds pluck fish out of the water."
"As a softpaw?"
She shook her head. "As a kit."
Jayfeather recalled the ways of the Ancients. Cats hunting for themselves, no cats knowing how to heal, the treacherous trail to earn respect and become a sharpclaw, kits going off on their own, learning to hunt and fight for yourself. It sounded pretty bad compared to clan life.
"So why did you come to me?" Jayfeather changed the subject.
"Last time you went to the Moonpool we sensed your presence but when you touched the Moonpool, you went to some place StarClan couldn't see," Half Moon explained. "We feared you went to the Dark Forest."
"Oh. Well, I didn't," Jayfeather said. "But I am glad to see you."
"And I as well," she purred and pressed back against him. His purr joined hers and their tails intertwined. "I wish we could stay like this forever but you must return to your clan and I must return to StarClan."
"Right," Jayfeather said and the two parted. "When you go back to StarClan, can you ask around about the Astral Plane?"
"What is it?"
"I don't know. That's why I'm asking you to get information about it."
"You're as sharp as ever, Jay's Wing," Half Moon smiled. "Of course I will ask. When I hear of something, I will tell you."
"Thank you," Jayfeather dipped his head. His vision began to fade an he was soon thrown into the darkness of the waking world.
Author's Note: So Jayfeather will be returning to the clan soon as confused as ever.
If you too are confused, review or PM me for an explanation of what's happening in the story. I don't really know how clear the story is. It can't be too clear or there's no build up but if you're completely lost, let me know and I'll try to clear things up.
As promised, here are my review responses. I'll try to respond to them more frequently.
Darth Jay (1)- Thanks. This is the first review. You have no idea how much this helps push the story along.
Wormy- Yeah, I always imagined something like this happening but there's no evidence in the books. And don't worry about it not finishing. As stated in my profile, I don't upload stories unless the story is finished or sure to be finished.
Panemat- I'm a mind reader! I actually wrote this story with the intention of something like that happening. I always do the same thing but I can never find what I'm looking for. I'm glad to have saved someone from that.
Genric Cat 5001- I'm surprised there's nothing like this. I couldn't find a story like this either. I'm really glad you've enjoyed it.
Darth Jay (2)- As I told Wormy, don't worry about this story being discontinued. I too hate it when stories are abandoned and when they're so old, I have little hope of them returning.
Darth Jay (3)- Not actually two in one day but I'm glad you were excited by the idea of that. Would you guys like to see more than one chapter in one day? I was planning on pushing them out a bit but I could do more than one in a day if you'd like. I feel like its easier for people to keep track of them if there's one a day since the chapter's aren't titled but I could leave a reminder or something. idk
Darth Jay (4)- Thanks for all your reviewing! It lets me know you are enjoying the story.
Wormy again- Thanks. The beginning was kinda slow just because I needed to build the story up slowly but from here on out it should speed up a bit.