Hey, I'm not dead!
A moon passed, but not much had changed. Ashenpaw was still distant and an apprentice, Magnepelt remained crazy. Tadpolepaw had finally returned to the apprentices den. Meanwhile, Reedpaw and Puddlepaw had become Reedstrike and Puddleshine. However, Willowstorm's kits, Jaykit, Robinkit, and Cardinalkit had all became apprentices, earning the names Jaypaw, Robinpaw, and Cardinalpaw. Unfortunately, Tansyfoot had been given Cardinalpaw as her apprentice. As such, with Tadpolepaw constantly busy with her own training, and Tansyfoot busy mentoring her own apprentice, Tadpolepaw was never able to find an OK time to talk to her about her missing siblings. So, for a while, life was normal. Almost boring.
Tadpolepaw and Shadepaw were sharing a frog when Owlheart and Honeypaw, who had been on a patrol together sat down beside them, bringing their own chaffinch to share.
"Hey Tadpolepaw." Owlheart said, letting out a purr as the two saw each other. Tadpolepaw let out a purr as well, and then let blinked in surprise as she felt Owlheart lick her head.
"How was the patrol?" asked Shadepaw.
"A waste of time, if you ask me," mewed Honeypaw. "We were checking the ThunderClan border and remarking the scent markers. Shouldn't have really bothered, as Seedstar knows Swiftstar is too kind hearted to ever launch an attack on us. Anyway, it was quiet. Nothing happened. We marked the border, and went home. Boring."
There was a moment of awkward silence, before Owlheart let out a bemused mew.
"You're not going to tell them about the big news?" he asked
"What about the big news?" Tadpolepaw said, letting out a confused meow.
"I was hoping to surprise them, Owlheart!" Honeypaw crossly mewed, as she flicked a pebble at him. "Anyway, I got told that my warrior assessments are going to start tommorow. And I'll be doing them alongside Ashenpaw, as she is having her delayed assessments now."
"That's good, I think?" said Shadepaw slowly. "You will be able to sit your warrior vigil together now, right? Neither of you will have to do it alone. Although, I do wonder why they did not have Ashenpaw did not have her assessment with Reedstrike and Puddleshine."
"You think anyone, much less Ashenpaw, would want to do an assessment with those two annoying fur balls!" mewed Honeypaw incredulously
"Good point. I wonder if that is why Seedstar delayed her apprenticeship."
"You may be right." came a voice from behind them.
The four cats all turned to see Seedstar standing behind them.
"How long have you been standing there mother?" asked Owlheart
"Long enough," mewed the clan leader quickly. "Now, I was hoping to speak to Tadpolepaw and Shadepaw."
Tadpolepaw shared a confused glance with her brother.
"It's time for the two of you to have your trip to the Moonstone. We'll be leaving in the early morning tommorow, so make sure you get a good amount of sleep tonight." With that, the clan leader sauntered away.
"Wow," mewed Shadepaw. "We are going to the moonstone! To talk to StarClan! To meet our warrior ancestors! This is so cool!"
Tadpolepaw felt shock and surprise trickle down her spine. StarClan? The Moonstone? What would they say to her? Would they give her the advice? How to deal with Thornleap? Who, if they existed, were Tansyfoot's siblings? Could they tell her that? Or would StarClan do what she always heard about? Be vague, and just give a prophecy that she wouldn't figure out what it meant until after the events happened? Now, a trickle of nervousness went down her spine. StarClan were above her, more powerful than her. They were entirely unpredictable.
"Tadpolepaw?" Tadpolepaw blinked and shook herself. She saw Owlheart staring at her, a bit of concern in his eyes. "You alright?"
"Yeah." mewed Tadpolepaw. "Uh, yeah. Just… StarClan. Wow."
"Heh." purred Honeypaw. "I know how you feel. It's big. I mean, these guys are pretty much all powerful."
All powerful wondered Tadpolepaw But are they? Where were they when cats like Thornleap needed stopping?
"What happened when you guys visited the moonstone?" asked Shadepaw
"I don't think you are supposed to say." said Honeypaw quietly. Beside her, Owlheart nodded his head, before letting out a loud yawn.
"Great StarClan," he murmured "I best be getting some sleep. I'll see you all in the morning."
As he moved towards the warriors den, the apprentices headed to their own den, and before long, the three apprentices had slipped into a comfortable sleep.
"Tadpolepaw!"
Tadpolepaw jerked awake, her ears pricked and eyes scanning the dark den. They quickly fell onto Weaselfoot, who was standing at the entrance to the den.
"Weaselfoot, it's so early," Said Tadpolepaw blearily before letting out a giant yawn.
"Tadpolepaw, if you hadn't noticed, Ashenpaw, Cardinalpaw, Robinpaw, Shadepaw and Honeypaw are already out, and several patrols have already left. Don't know why you are so tired today."
"Didn't sleep well," muttered Tadpolepaw as she stretched and walked out of the den. "How can you, knowing you are going to meet your warrior ancestors?"
"Fair," commented Weaselfoot. "Quickly get yourself something to eat, and then join me, Seedstar, Shadepaw and Frogeyes."
Tadpolepaw nodded, quickly wolfed down a shrew, and then joined the patrol at the edge of the exit to the outside of the camp.
"Here's the thunderpath." mewed Seedstar as they stared across the gray barrier between them, highstones and the moonstone.
Well, that's obvious. Tadpolepaw thought.
Wordlessly, the patrol crossed the thunderpath.
On the other side, Shadepaw stared off to a different side to the thunderpath, the part that bordered WindClan territory.
"Do you think we will have another battle?" he asked
"Yes," responded Seedstar, "but I hope it won't be for a long time."
"Hope?" mewed Shadepaw "But when do you think the next battle will happen?"
But Seedstar seemed not to hear, as she had upped the pace.
By Sunhigh, the patrol had reached highstones, and Shadepaw and Tadpolepaw stared into the Mothermouth.
"Looks dark in there." commented Shadepaw
"Why do our ancestors have to choose really inconvenient places to meet with us?" wondered Tadpolepaw.
"Come on," sighed Seedstar as she led the patrol inside.
They walked in silence and in single file, through the dark and damp tunnel. Tadpolepaw could hardly see despite the small sprinkling of light which had somehow managed to simmer through the Mothermouth. Finally, after what could have either been moons or heartbeats, Tadpolepaw saw a glowing rock ahead of them. The Moonstone.
"Whoa." mewed Shadepaw, his mouth hanging open.
"Touch your nose to the stone, and then close your eyes, and try to get some sleep. StarClan will come to you when they are ready," instructed Seedstar
Tadpolepaw lent before jerking back as pain spread through her nose. I don't think that is how you are supposed to do it she thought crossly. Fortunately, in the dark, no one had seen her mistake. Finally, Tadpolepaw curled up and lay down next to the Moonstone, and sleep took her far away.
Tadpolepaw was standing in a clearing in a dense forest.
"Hello?" she mewed loudly
"Greetings." a voice came from behind her.
Tadpolepaw spun around to see a patchy brown she cat standing behind her.
"Er, hi there," stammered Tadpolepaw. "I don't think I know you."
"Wouldn't expect you to," mewed the brown she cat shortly. "My name is Acaciastar."
"Acaciastar," mewed Tadpolepaw softly staring at the former clan leader in awe "Wow, I get to be visited by a clan leader."
"You do." commented Acaciastar
"So, uh what advice do you have for me?" asked Tadpolepaw.
"What do you want to know?"
"We'll, I want to know what I should do about figuring out who Tansyfoot's siblings are, and what I should do about Thornleap. But what I don't want to happen is that all the advice I get is a vague prophecy."
"What makes you think you would get a prophecy about you?" queried Acaciastar
"I don't know, in all of the nursery stories we were told as kits whenever the protagonist, the one who was struggling, went to the moonstone for advice all StarClan would tell him or her would be a vague prophecy."
"You're not a protagonist, and you're not important enough to waste a prophecy on."
Tadpolepaw blinked. "What?" she said, as her knees began to quiver ever so slightly.
"Not every struggle a cat goes through means they get to have their own legend, their own story, about them. You're not special, Tadpolepaw."
As Acaciastar said this a dense fog suddenly and quickly rolled in. A heartbeat later, and Tadpolepaw woke up, lying on the moonstone. Beside her, everyone was waking up.
Seedstar was first to her feet and quickly beckoned everyone else to follow suit.
"Come on," she briskly mewed. "Let's get back to our territory."
Tadpolepaw couldn't stop thinking about what Acaciastar had said as the patrol headed back to ShadowClan territory. She was entirely engrossed in her thoughts. StarClan wasn't helping her. She was on her own. This was problematic. In all the stories, the hero was always helped by StarClan! And yet Acaciastar had signaled that no help, not even a vague omen or a bizarre prophecy. She was on her own. The stars would not help her try to figure out what to do.
"Coming in to camp?" asked Shadepaw, snapping Tadpolepaw out of her thoughts. She hadn't realized that they were already at camp.
"I'll be there soon," mewed Tadpolepaw. "Just need to go make dirt first."
"See you soon." mewed Shadepaw.
In truth, Tadpolepaw didn't need to make dirt. She needed to pace. She continued to do that, walking. She was sad that StarClan had abandoned her. She had to do it all on her own. It sucked.
After a while, Tadpolepaw finally found her self at the thunderpath, with ThunderClan territory on the other side. She stood there, for a while simply gazing over into the forest that ThunderClan called home. Then, all of a sudden, her eyes widened in shock. The scent hit her nose. Her brain froze up. Terror struck her.
"Oh no," she whispered, barely daring to breathe. She found herself quaking in fear…
So… Yeah. It's been over a month since I last managed to update this story. Sorry about that. Long story short, although you've heard it all before, is that life just got really busy, I had a huge lack of motivation to write.
Reviews!
Exploding Quasar: Lol. The timing! Tadpolepaw's personality before the attack was a curious and friendly, yet obnoxious and self-absorbed kit. Not too different from most kits really. Ashenpaw is a little snappish. She's become slightly more distant from the rest of the group for reasons. All explanations to come soon! As per your second review, well yeah. Life just got hectic, and I wasn't really feeling up to writing.
I-really-hope-not: Yes, she is fine thank god. We were worried about her for a while. Thanks for your concern. And we will return to Tansyfoot's siblings before too long…
A Sky of Blazing Stars: Good question on whether she will trust Magnepelt. Time will tell.
SomeoneI'mSure: Hah, yeah. I loved writing Magnepelt. She's a great character. And thanks for your concern about my mum, she appreciates it.
That's it! We'll hopefully see you soon, stay cool, stay tuned!
Thanks!
- Willowstorm
