"You're doing great!" Jayfeather said encouragingly. "Not much farther!"

"What are you talking about? We still have to go halfway across camp," Briarlight huffed. Jayfeather was trying out a new exercise with her. It was like her usual endurance exercise where she had to drag herself in a lap around camp but Jayfeather had set down a few stones and sticks on the path that she had to avoid. He didn't expect it to be that much more of a challenge but apparently it was.

"Maybe we should stop," Jayfeather said, listening to her breathing. His own was doing better but her's was starting to sound almost as bad as his had been.

"No! I can still do this," Briarlight said.

"You shouldn't overdo it," Graystripe called from the elders den where he and Sandstrom were listening to another one of Purdy's endless tales.

"If I don't push myself I'll never get better," Briarlight responded. "I can't give up!"

"I'm not telling you to," Jayfeather said soothingly, running his tail across her back. "This was an experiment. Maybe we should try something else."

"What was wrong with her old exercise?" Graystripe asked padding over.

"Nothing. She was just getting to good at it. Like she said, she has to push herself," Jayfeather told him. "But I think this one will take some working up to."

"So do you want me to keep doing the other one?" Briarlight asked.

"No, give me a moment to think," Jayfeather said. He looked around, wishing that he could see. If he could maybe he could spot something to help but he had to rely on his other senses. Specifically, hearing.

"... mice around that old oak," Stormcloud was saying.

"We should send a hunting patrol."

"WindClan is up to no good," Berrynose was growling a few tail-lengths away.

"You always say that," Mousewhisker sighed.

Lionblaze and Crane's Wing were laughing. They'd been doing that a lot lately.

"... and then this young cat named Cal ran up to 'im, claws out and teeth bared even though that dog had got a nasty bite in on 'er," Purdy was rumbling, deep into a story.

Sight suddenly filled Jayfeather's eyes but he wasn't in the camp.

Jay's Wing was sharing a rabbit with Falling Rain. Fish Leap came running towards them.

"Fallen Rain!" Fish Leap called and skidded to a stop in front of them. Dirt flew into their faces and into their fresh-kill.

"Hey!" Jay's Wing growled and blinked dirt away from his eyes. He swiped his tongue over his paw and wiped it away. "Watch it!"

"Sorry," Fish Leap apologized then looked back to Fallen Rain. "Lapping Wave had me and Fallen Leaves help Rising Moon with her exercises but she fell and can't get up and I can't find Lapping Wave! She said to look for Running Horse since he taught her so much about healing and she thought he'd be able to help but I can't find him either! Can you help us?"

"It's too soon for her to be walking on that broken leg," Falling Rain said but got to his paws. He looked to his son. "Jay's Wing, go look for Running Horse."

Jay's Wing nodded. He took one last bite of rabbit before darting off to look for the elder as Falling Rain and Fish Leap headed off.

Jay's Wing raced around. He ran up to Dark Whiskers. "Have you seen Running Horse?"

"No."

"Have you seen Running Horse?" Jay's Wing asked Owl Feather.

"Nope. Sorry."

Jay's Wing asked just about every cat he could find around where he'd been eating but no cat seemed to know where Running Horse was.

"You look like a queen who can't find her kit," a voice rumbled.

Jay's Wing spun around and saw Cloudy Sun behind him.

"I'm looking for Running Horse. Have you seen him?"

"He told me he was going out this morning but he didn't tell me where," Cloudy Sun told him. Jay's Wing pawed the ground in agitation. He had one job! Cloudy Sun saw his frustration. "What do you need him for? Maybe I can help."

"Rising Moon fell," Jay's Wing told him. "Her leg is still broken."

"You don't need herbs for that," Cloudy Sun scoffed. "Take me to her, I'll get her going again."

Jay's Wing looked doubtful, he didn't think Cloudy Sun knew about healing, but lead Cloudy Sun to where Fish Leap had said Rising Moon was.

"Jay's Wing!" Fish Leap exclaimed as he approached. Falling Rain and Fallen Leaves were on either side of Rising Moon, easing her up back to her paws. "Did you find Running Horse?"

Jay's Wing shook his head. "Cloudy Sun things he can help."

"I don't just think," Cloudy Sun said. He looked to Fallen Leaves and Falling Rain. "Move aside."

Falling Rain and Fallen Leaves stepped away from Rising Moon. She tottered a bit but found her balance. Cloudy Sun circled her.

"Your leg is healed, you just need to learn to walk again," Cloudy Sun said. He beckoned her with his tail. "That means you've just got to take it slow. Not all strong and reckless like a young cat, nice and slow like an old cat like me. Follow me."

Fallen Leaves, Jay's Wing, Fish Leap, and Falling Rain watched as Cloudy Sun walked away. Rising Moon took a few steps after him. Cloudy Sun just walked at a normal pace. Rising Moon stumbled as she tried to catch up but eventually she fell in step beside him.

"See? Just try and keep up with me and you'll be running around in no time," Cloudy Sun told her.

"This is still really hard," Rising Moon huffed.

"You haven't spent seasons on creaking joints," Cloudy Sun responded. "This is as much for you as it is for me."

"Jayfeather? You alright?"

Jayfeather shook his head clear as he snapped back to the present. Unlike the previous incidents of being pulled out of a memory, this one was smooth and painless.

"Purdy!" Jayfeather called, interrupting the older tom. "How are your joints?"

"As stiff as you'd expect of an old cat like me," Purdy said. "You have some borage for me?"

"No, I've got something better," Jayfeather said. He walked forward and beckoned Briarlight with his tail. "You're going to walk around camp."

Purdy tilted his head with confusion. "How's that going to help my joints?"

"Exercise fixes everything," Jayfeather said. "And you get to help Briarlight. Briarlight, try going faster than Purdy."

The two cats exchanged a glance.

"This'll help both of you. Both of you get some exercise and you're around the same speed but you can both try to go faster," Jayfeather told them.

"Jayfeather!" some cat called from across the camp.

"Well go," Jayfeather told them. As he walked away to respond to whatever cat was yowling for him, he leaned over to whisper into Briarlight's ear. "Try not to go to hard on him but try pushing the two of you a bit."

He told Purdy the same thing then told Graystripe his idea. The two were around the same speed, they were going to both get stronger by pushing each other. Graystripe was going to supervise. Graystripe seemed to like this idea.

Jayfeather walked across camp. The cat calling for him was Birchfall. A patrol stood behind him as well as Willowshine, Littlecloud, and Kestrelflight.

"What bring you here?" Jayfeather asked.

Birchfall answered for them. "We found them at the border. They were asking for you."

"We all have received omens of-" Willowshine started then cut off and looked at Birchfall. "Can you leave? This is medicine cat business. Go back to patrol or whatever you were doing."

Birchfall stepped back. "We'll wait for you. We'll escort you out."

"We're medicine cats, we can escort ourselves," Littlecloud said. "You warriors should understand that by now."

"Ignore them," Jayfeather said. "So you received omens. Together?"

"No," Willowshine shook her head. "I received mine then I came here to tell you and I ran into Kestrelflight and Littlecloud."

"If I knew you two received the omen too I wouldn't have come here," Littlecloud grunted. "I'm getting too old for this."

"Maybe it's time you take an apprentice," Kestrelflight suggested.

"No ShadowClan kits seem promising," Littlecloud said.

"Leafpool had to go help you, you should at least think about it," Jayfeather said, remembering his displeasure of Leafpool's return. He'd hoped their time apart would cool things off between them but they still weren't getting along very well.

Littlecloud didn't say anything.

"The omen?" Jayfeather questioned, switching the subject off the ShadowClan cat.

"Right," Willowshine said. "Did we all received the same one?"

"I was collecting herbs and this jay flew from the ThunderClan border," Littlecloud said. "It stopped and circled me before flying off again. A feather flew off of it and blew in the wind. I followed it and it landed on this large stick. Then the breeze blew it off again. I tried following it but it was blown off into the sky."

Kestrelflight and Willowshine nodded.

"I saw the same thing."

"Me too."

"Does this mean anything to you?" Littlecloud asked. "The jay's feather, it made me think of you."

"It does, thank you," Jayfeather nodded.

"Care to share or does this involve what you didn't want to tell us?"

Jayfeather glanced around and lowered his voice. "I can't tell you because it would ruin one of the most important parts of being a medicine cat for you. But I can tell you that nothing bad is happening, we're just tying off some of the loose ends of the prophecy."

"Of the three?"

Jayfeather nodded.

"I thought that ended with the Dark Forest."

"It did."

Willowshine and Littlecloud looked like they wanted to ask more but Kestrelflight wore a look of acceptance. "I understand. Just tell us if you need anything?"

Jayfeather nodded. "Of course. Now you better go before Birchfall's staring burns a hole in your pelts."

The three foreign medicine cats turned to look at the ThunderClan patrol.

"Great StarClan! Any cat would think you four are kits who've never seen a cat outside of their own clan."

Jayfeather purred as the patrol led the medicine cats back to their own territories but his amusement faded once they were gone and his face hardened.

He padded out of camp. Thornclaw was on guard duty. He told him he was going out. Thornclaw seemed hesitant to let him go but let him leave.

Making sure no cat was following him, Jayfeather headed down into the tunnels. He knew what he had to do.

Author's Note: Flashback and story progression. It was about time.