Chapter 3

"What?" Mistkit stared at Coldflower, dumbfounded. "WHO?!"

"Um," Coldflower stammered. "Um, it was, uh... well, Mistkit, I am so sorry. It was Acornpelt."

"No!" Mistkit wailed in grief. Why couldn't she have saved him? She had the chance. Waking up a bunch of grumpy warriors and having her ears practically ripped off was better than her father dying.

She ran into the nursery, lay down, and curled her tail over her nose. She could have saved him. She would have saved him. Those dreams had been too vivid to be normal dreams. Even nightmares. Why couldn't she have listened to StarClan?

LINE-

"Cats of ShadowClan, I will not be young and alive forever, as some of you may believe. It's time I took on an apprentice. I have chosen a cat that has stayed strong through rough times, shown an interest in healing herbs, does not flinch at the sight of wounds. All good qualities for a future medicine cat. Your next medicine cat will be Mistpaw!" Aspentail stood on the HighTree.

"Mistpaw, do you accept the post of apprentice to Aspentail?" Briarstar addressed the newly named Mistpaw.

"I do." Mistpaw was nearly bouncing up and down with excitement.

"Then tonight, at the half moon, you must travel to the Moonpool to be accepted by StarClan before the other medicine cats." Aspentail spoke again.

"The good wishes of all ShadowClan go with you," Briarstar mewed.

"Yay! Let's go, let's go!" Mistpaw leaped down from the HighTree. It was very late sunhigh and they would be making the journey to the Moonpool very soon. "Aspentail, I know what the traveling herbs are! Sorrel, daisy, burnet, and juniper. Right?"

"Yep," meowed Aspentail. He purred. "Nice job. I can see you'll be a great medicine cat for ShadowClan one day."

"One day?!" Mistpaw mewed, mock outraged. "I'm a great medicine cat now!"

Aspentail twitched his whiskers in amusement. "Sorry. Slip of the tongue, O Great Medicine Cat. Will you be so kind as to forgive me of my sin?"

Mistpaw pranced around the camp. "Of course, but only if we leave for the Moonpool right now."

"Humor her," she heard Briarstar whisper to Aspentail as she walked past. She could hear the smile in her voice. "Hey! I heard that!"

Aspentail mrrowed in laughter. "You caught me! Okay, let's go." He headed out of camp without giving her a chance to get another word in.

Mistpaw followed him enthusiastically. She was so excited to finally become a medicine cat apprentice. She felt like this was what she was meant to do - heal. She had always flinched on the inside when a cat got hurt, yet as Aspentail said, she pushed down her fear and concentrated on what she could do to help. She had only seen wounds twice, once when Bayflight got a thorn stuck in her paw, and twice in the battle when her father - he - well, he - she didn't even want to think about it. She missed him so much, but she had Foxpaw, and that had to count for something.

Sooner than she had expected, they arrived at the Moonpool. They were the last ones there. Mistpaw was mesmerized by the way waves gently lapped at the shore and the way the stars glimmered in the pool.

She shook herself out of her daze and listened to what Aspentail was saying.

" - got an apprentice today," he was meowing. "I expect she'll be a fantastic medicine cat when I'm gone.

"Mistpaw, is it your wish to enter the mysteries of StarClan as a medicine cat?" Aspentail turned to Mistpaw.

"It is."

"Then come forward."

Mistpaw padded forward to the edge of the pool.

"Cats of StarClan, I present to you this apprentice. She has chosen the path of a medicine cat. Grant her your insight and wisdom so that she may learn your will and heal her Clanmates in accordance with your ways. Dip your head and touch your nose to the surface of the Moonpool," he instructed.

Mistpaw blinked. "Now?"

Aspentail purred. "Yes, now."

Mistpaw hesitantly did what he told her to do. Almost instantly she was enveloped by a swirl of images and voices.

She saw a dark gray cat with distinct white markings on her flanks - it looked like a grown up Mistpaw. Was this what she would look like when she grew up? She saw a silver tom - Frostpaw, she wondered? - and a black one that she didn't recognize because of all his battle scars. "Mist will... havoc... murderer is found... one will perish..." She heard mutterings. She heard a shriek, then it was abruptly cut off. Every hair on Mistpaw's pelt stood up. She didn't like this one bit. The whispers continued, solidifying until she it was a continuous roar in her ears. Now she could hear what they were saying. "Mist will rise up against the darkness that is not who they seem. One will perish, havoc will wreak among the Clans until the murderer is found, and mist will choose between power and death." What? That had sounded like a prophecy. Images continued to flash - a broken body lying in the middle of the camp, cats running about, that scarred tom again, then Frostpaw. Frostpaw again. More Frostpaw. Then Frostpaw's narrowed glare zeroed in on her.

She woke up with chills running down her back. Wow.

She saw that she had been the first to wake up. Mistpaw used the time to try to piece together what she'd seen.

Who was the battle-scarred black tom she had seen? And why had Frostpaw appeared so much? What effect did this have on her future? She was pretty sure that had been a prophecy she'd heard. Questions were buzzing in her head. Why her?

Mistpaw pondered all of this for a while until the other medicine cats woke up. Aspentail had told her not to share her dreams with anyone unless it concerned the well-being of a Clan or a life.

The next morning, she yawned and stumbled out of the medicine den. Mistpaw bumped into Aspentail coming into the den. "Oh, there you are," he mewed. Mistpaw bit back a sarcastic reply - yes, where in the name of StarClan else would she be? Fishing with RiverClan? - and trudged back into the den.

"Today, we're going to get you to learn and memorize the basic herbs. Juniper, marigold, goldenrod, cobweb - I assume you know what those are for?"

Mistpaw replied, "Juniper is for bellyaches, marigold for healing infection, goldenrod for healing wounds, and cobweb to stop bleeding."

Aspentail nodded. "Very good. Can you tell me what this is?" He hooked a fuzzy green leaf with his claws.

"Uh... um... parsley?"

"Nope, good guess. This is catmint, easily distinguished by its scent."

"Oh yes, I remember now. What's next?"

Aspentail hooked a small white flower. "What's this?"

Just as Mistpaw was going to say "chervil", she got interrupted by paws pattering into the den. "Aspentail," she heard a voice meow, "I've got a thorn in my paw."

Mistpaw turned around to see Frostpaw standing there holding his paw out gingerly. His eyes flitted to the side as if he had only just noticed she were there. "Hey, Mistpaw." He nodded. "We miss you out there." Mistpaw had been close friends with him, Darkkit, Cloudkit, and Duskkit.

"We were out patrolling for the first time, exploring the territory with our mentors and we were walking by a bramble bush." Frostpaw winced. "It hurts."

Mistpaw purred. "Well, of course it hurts. You've got a thorn stuck in your pad." She looked over to Aspentail. "Can I handle this? You've showed me how." He nodded, and she started cleaning the area around the thorn with her tongue and he tensed for just a second then relaxed again like nothing had happened. I wonder what that was about. Oh well. It probably was just nothing.

She grasped the thorn in her jaws and tugged. It came out, followed by a rush of blood.

"Ow!" He started licking the pad fiercely.

"Don't lick it too hard," Mistpaw cautioned. "That might make it worse."

Reluctantly he licked it gentler. "Well, thanks, I guess. See you later." He took a couple of steps and then added, "Good luck doing whatever medicine cats do."

After he was gone, Mistpaw snorted. He was an interesting cat. It would take some time to figure him out.

ooh so she's figured out that things are most likely going to heat up soon... IN TWO WAYS ;D YAY IT'S A WHOLE FOUR PAGESSSS Question of the day~ who's she going to fall for initially? I'm having a lot of fun writing this right now, I just wrote like two thirds of this chapter tonight, it's 3:50 AM right now so I'm having great fun thinking of how this story could go... I mean, I've got it mostly blocked out by now but still LITTLE DETAILS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT ;3 Okay now I'm kinda ranting, this is what happens when I stay up this late... Or early, or whatever you want to call it. NOTE: I wrote this at 3:50 AM and not uploaded it at the same time because our wifi goes to sleep at 10.