Jayfeather lay under a bush with his head on his paws and his blind eyes closed. Crane's Wing sat upright beside him, chattering excitedly.

"So medicine cats have a ton of training, right?" Crane's Wing was asking. "Like you have to memorize every herb on your territory and how to use it."

"It shouldn't be any harder than what you do in your tribe," Jayfeather murmured absentmindedly. "From what you tell me, each individual cat has more to learn than an entire clan of clan cats."

"Yeah but it's not, like, useful stuff," Crane's Wing waved him off. "You have to know all that healing stuff so you can save your clanmates. We don't even really learn how to fight, we just learn about a bunch of dead cats."

Jayfeather didn't respond. He couldn't really get used to Crane's Wing's disrespect for his ancestors.

Crane's Wing seemed to notice. "I mean, it's important to know our past but some of the stuff is kind of unnecessary. Like I really don't need to know who Timid Mouse or Stone Talon are."

"Who?"

"Exactly."

Jayfeather paused. His ears pricked. "They're back."

"Who's back?"

"We're back!" Dovewing huffed as she padded up to the pair.

Crane's Wing looked impressed. "How do you do that?"

Jayfeather gave a small smile.

"You're the wild cat!" an unknown voice exclaimed. Jayfeather looked in the cat's direction then at Lionblaze with confusion. Of all the cats they had to pick, they had to pick one with moss in his brain.

Lionblaze glanced to the side and shuffled his paws. "Jayfeather, Crane's Wing, this is Smudge."

"Oh, Smudge," Jayfeather remembered him. A plump black and white tom. Firestar used to dream of him often though the medicine cat was sure that if he wasn't blind, the kittypet would look much older than Firestar remembered him. Afterall, many seasons had passed. Smudge was probably the same age as Sandstorm and Graystripe who had retired moons ago.

"You know who I am?" Smudge asked.

"Sure," Jayfeather shrugged and got to his paws. He looked to his brother again. "He can help us?"

Lionblaze nodded. "He says he knows where Ravenpaw and Barley's farm is."

Smudge nodded enthusiastically. "It's really far! It took all day. My housefolk were really worried when I didn't come back by supper."

Jayfeather sighed. Crane's Wing looked confused but didn't say anything. The younger of the two look alikes padded to the edge of the bush and beckoned the others to follow. "Shall we?"

Smudge was out of breath by the time the group reached the edge of the twoleg place. Jayfeather didn't know if he should be concerned or not. The kittypet was probably just more out of shape than he thought but his medicine cat instinct were telling him otherwise. Smudge said nothing though, he continued to lead them towards the farm.

The sun was setting by the time the group had eyes on the barn.

"See that right there?" Smudge pointed with his tail to a structure in the distance. "That's the barn. I hear that's where you find those cats you're looking for."

"You hear?" Jayfeather questioned.

Smudge shrugged. "I've never been there myself." He waved his tail and turned around. "See you around?"

The four cats waved back and watch the tom pad away then turned their attention back to the barn. It didn't take long for them to cross the open land and reach the door.

"I'm going in first," Lionblaze announced. "There might be twolegs."

No cat objected. Jayfeather already had more than his fair share of twoleg, Crane's Wing seemed uneasy around them, and Dovewing was more than happy to let Lionblaze do his job and be the fighter.

Jayfeather felt Lionblaze leave his side and Crane's Wing press closer. Jayfeather could feel the grey tom tense. They were all very nervous, Jayfeather didn't know why. It wasn't like they'd never been in a barn before.

"Who's there?" a voice echoed. Jayfeather jumped slightly then flushed in embarrassment. He heard a cat drop down and pad up to them.

"Are you Barley or Ravenpaw?" Lionblaze asked.

The cat nodded. "I'm Barley. Ravenpaw… isn't here anymore."

"Oh, where is he?" Dovewing asked.

Jayfeather suddenly remembered something. "Ravenpaw died a few moons ago."

His clanmates stared at him. "What? You didn't say anything earlier."

"I know, I forgot," Jayfeather apologize then looked at the farmcat. "I saw him a few moons ago. He's not in StarClan, he wanted to wait for you."

Barley blinked. "So your clan cats?"

The three nodded. Crane's Wing stood quietly off to the side, letting the others speak.

Barley looked to Jayfeather. "I take it your a medicine cat?"

Jayfeather nodded.

"So… um… when did you see Ravenpaw?"

Jayfeather blinked at Barley's sudden change in tone. "There was a battle awhile ago, Firestar got killed. I took Bramblestar to the moonpool to receive his lives, Ravenpaw was there."

Barley nodded. "I don't know much about the leader ceremony other than what Ravenpaw told me, what'd he do?"

Jayfeather shifted his paws. "I'm really not supposed to talk about that…"

"Please?" Barley pleaded. Jayfeather heard something in his voice that he'd heard in his own many times before. He felt a great sorrow in his chest and gave in.

Jayfeather inhaled deeply. "He says he misses you and that he can still see you. He gave Bramblestar a life for speaking out against injustice."

Barley nodded, his eyes clouded. "Thank you… what was your name?"

"Jayfeather," the blind tom told him. "And this is Lionblaze, Dovewing, and Crane's Wing."

"Jayfeather… Lionblaze…. Dovewing… Crane's Wing…" Barley murmured, nodding to each of them. "Welcome to my barn. What can I do for you? Are the clans alright?"

"They're fine," Jayfeather assured. "We're just here to look at the clans' old territory and visit the Moonstone."

Barley nodded. "I think I can help with that. Ravenpaw showed me around a little while before he died and I used to let clan cats stay here on their journey to the moonstone."

Jayfeather dipped his head. "Thank you."

It was past nightfall by the time Lionblaze, Dovewing, and Crane's Wing had gone out hunting. Jayfeather didn't know where exactly Barley was. He was alone in the barn.

Jayfeather padded away from the nests and decided to explore the barn. His sharp nose caught the scent of mouse. Why did the others want to hunt outside? There are mice literally everywhere.

Jayfeather stood in the open part of the barn. He caught a whiff of a scent trail. He half expected to be thrown back into another memory of Jay's Wing but nothing happened.

"Are you okay?"

Jayfeather jumped when Barley's voice snapped him out of his empty trance. "Fine. I'm fine. Just thinking."

Barley nodded. "Do you know where your clanmates are? They've been gone awhile."

Jayfeather shrugged. "I don't know why they didn't just hunt here. There are plenty of mice."

"Maybe we should go look for them?" Barley suggested.

"They'll probably be back soon."

"There are dogs around here sometimes," Barley said. A flash of worry struck Jayfeather. "I haven't heard or smelled any in awhile… There have been a lot of monsters around lately though."

Jayfeather gave Barley a sideways glance. "They're warriors. Well, Lionblaze and Dovewing are and I'm sure Crane's Wing knows how to take care of himself."

"He's not a warrior?"

Jayfeather shook his head. "He comes from a distant group of cats. History keepers. They don't really fight but Crane's Wing has traveled for a long time and he probably picked up some warrior skills from Lionblaze."

Barley didn't say anything for a few moments. "I think we should go look for them."

Jayfeather sighed. "I'll come to."

"You don't have to," Barley said quickly.

"I'm a medicine cat, if there actually is anything wrong I'll be able to help them more than you," Jayfeather said. "Besides, I want to claw Lionblaze for taking so long."

Barley purred in amusement as he padded towards the door. "I take it you two are close?"

"He's my brother," Jayfeather told him.

"And the other two? Dovewing and Crane's Wing?"

"Dovewing was Lionblaze's apprentice and Crane's Wing is…" Jayfeather trailed off. "Distant kin, I guess."

Barely looked at him oddly but didn't say anything. He pushed out through the barn door and padded into the night with Jayfeather trailing after him.

Author's Note: Back when I wrote this, I was planning out another story and playing around with BarleyxRavenpaw in my head. Not everyone's thing and you can decide if that's why Barley got so quiet or not.

Reviews-

Fala, Guest, Darling spider- Thanks a lot guys. People like you keep this story going. I'm glad you're liking the story.