CHAPTER FOUR

"Moonkit, you have reached the age of six moons and from this moment on, you will be known as Moonpaw. Frecklewish, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You will be mentor to Moonpaw." There was a pause for Frecklewish to pad next to Moonpaw. "Frecklewish, you have shown yourself to be an intelligent and courageous medicine cat. Do all that you can to pass on what you know to Moonpaw," Sharpstar finished and Frecklewish touched her nose to Moonpaw's.

Her excitement soared as the Clan began cheering for her, "Moonpaw! Moonpaw!"

Frecklewish smiled down at her. "Finally, we can start on serious things. Let's go explore the territory, shall we?"

The territory! Where she'd be collecting her herbs to help heal the cats of SkyClan. She'd almost forgotten one of the most important duties of a medicine cat!

Happily, Moonpaw hurried after Frecklewish as the Clan broke up from her apprenticeship ceremony and Frecklewish led them away to start her training.

They padded towards the forest where she knew the border with IvyClan was just placed. Moonpaw wasn't sure how she felt about the new Clan moving in. They already had to deal with StrikeClan, and that was bad enough.

"The forest is where you will find the lushest herbs. The catmint is over by the twoleg place which will be your most important herb, and there are some wound helping ones by the rat barn, but the forest produces most of them," Frecklewish was explaining as Moonpaw looked up at the canopy of treetops above them.

"It's beautiful! I feel like I'm in a giant den!" Moonpaw exclaimed and suddenly got an odd smell as the forest began to thin out. "What is that?"

Her mentor glanced over at her sadly. "That would be IvyClan. They smell of rogues. The difference between IvyClan and StrikeClan's smell is StrikeClan usually smell unwashed and dirty. It's sad I will not be able to show you the small meadow that comes after this forest. It really was a sight to see." Frecklewish gazed out at IvyClan territory.

"Greetings!" a deep voice mewed and Moonpaw jumped, her fur prickling as she gazed at a grayish-blue tom, a ginger-and-black tom, and a flamey-ginger she-cat. "Looking at the new border?" He didn't seem hostile, but he didn't seem extremely happy to see them.

Frecklewish nodded, her face grim. "Yes, sorry. I am Frecklewish and this is my newly made apprentice, Moonpaw. We're medicine cats. I was just telling her about the meadow IvyClan has claimed."

The tom nodded thoughtfully. "I'm Riverfur, this is my 'paw Robinpaw, and that is Fireysun. And yes, our medicine cat, Poppyleaf, loves the meadow, she often talks highly about the herbs grown there. Hey, I'm sure if we ask her she'd be willing to share some since you're all medicine cats?" he suggested carefully.

My mentor seemed hesitant about the offer. "We'll see. Send her to SkyClan territory if she decides that's what she wants to do. Moonpaw would love to learn about the herbs there. There are some you can only find in that meadow."

Fireysun spoke for Riverfur now, "We must get marking our border. It was nice to meet you both." She was less welcoming then Riverfur and Robinpaw waved his tail at them as she stomped away.

Moonpaw could see where they got firey for her name, both for her pelt and personality.

"Come on, let's head just beyond the fallen log, by StrikeClan territory." Frecklewish seemed nervous about this and Moonpaw knew it was because of Parsleypaw's death.

They padded through the forest at a surprisingly fast pace and down towards the fallen log, padding just beyond it to the StrikeClan border.

"We got lucky when StrikeClan moved in since their territory starts just after the herbs start getting lush in this area. Some of them are pretty close to the border. StrikeClan, although they've proven me wrong before, shouldn't attack a medicine cat getting herbs," Frecklewish told her in a shaky voice.

She nodded and gazed at the StrikeClan border. They were near where Parsleypaw had died.

"Let's get back to camp then?" Moonpaw suggested and could see the sadness plastered on her face. "Quickly." She gently nudged Frecklewish back towards camp and her mentor began walking in a slow dazed state.

"Moonpaw, what's going on?" Suddenly, Yellowcloud was standing behind them, his eyes wide and gazing at Frecklewish. "What're you doing up here?" He slipped next to Frecklewish, his pelt gently brushing hers as he began to lead her away.

"We were just exploring the territory." Moonpaw was highly annoyed that Yellowcloud showed up. This was her apprenticeship and she had it under control. He was around Frecklewish far too often for her liking. This was her mentor; they were supposed to have a special bond. "What're you doing?" she hissed under her breath.

He brought them back into camp and Moonpaw watched Acornfur, Songbird, and Whitefeet all give him an odd look, but none of them said anything. She wished they would have.

Yellowcloud led them to the medicine den and went with Frecklewish to the back den while Moonpaw stayed in the front, glaring at the lichen that separated her and her new mentor.

"Moonpaw?" Whitefeet's voice frightened her, and she jumped up in fear, looking at the black-and-white she-cat. "Sorry to startle you… I just wanted to know what's going on with Frecklewish?"

She narrowed her eyes but kept her irritation down. "We were near where her old apprentice, Parsleypaw, was murdered. We were lucky Yellowcloud showed up, she's in rough shape. And, you know, they're like best friends." She offered a small smile, but it was fake. Frecklewish was supposed to be Moonpaw's best friend.

Whitefeet seemed relieved to hear this from her. "Oh, okay. Thank you." She glanced back at the back den. "Just tell Yellowcloud to come see me when he's done…"

She nodded and Whitefeet left. Her irritation soared now as she inched to the back den and pricked her ears to listen.

"...no worries Frecklewish," Yellowcloud was saying. "I'm here for you."

Frecklewish was crying quietly. "Thank you, Yellowcloud. I thank StarClan I have you."

"I'll always be here for you, you're my moon and my stars." There was a moment of silence and then some rustling.

Now anger rushed through her. What was that supposed to mean? Frecklewish was a medicine cat and medicine cats can't have mates! And Yellowcloud was already Whitefeet's mate! What was going on? Had Frecklewish gone mad?

Quickly, she stalked out of the den before she said something to them she'd regret and into the clearing, which was busy with activity.

Rockshade was talking to Ebonyclaw, Creekfeather, Sandynose, and Pebblepaw about something, Acornfur and Songbird were whispering quietly near the edge of camp, Tinycloud was eating with Birdwing and Plumwillow while Marshpaw, Spiderpaw, Timberpaw, and Smokepaw were all eating around a rock. She'd never really spoken to the other apprentices since they were older, but now she was an apprentice too.

Clearing her head of what she heard before, she padded up to them and was instantly greeted with warm smiles.

"Hi, Moonpaw!" Marshpaw mewed, scooting over to make room for her. "How's your first day as an apprentice?"

She gave a small smile to all the warm faces. "Oh, it's great," she lied easily and looked over at Timberpaw. "How's your apprenticeship going?"

The she-cat shrugged slightly. "Good. Dewcloud is a good mentor, kind of forgetful, but good otherwise," she responded slowly. "Fineyes is the one you want to look out for. He's crazy when it comes to water!"

Smokepaw nodded in agreement. "He loves to try and get my paws wet! It's awful!" He rolled his eyes and looked down at the ground. "SkyClan cats don't like water."

Moonpaw giggled a little. "Apparently Fineyes is the exception to that!"

"Reedheart likes water too!" Marshpaw chimed in. "I don't mind it as much, but I still prefer trees over water."

"Hey guys!" Pebblepaw padded up with a grin across her face. She seemed happy. "What're we talking about?"

Spiderpaw spoke up now, "About how Reedheart, Marshpaw, and Fineyes like water." He stuck his tongue out at Marshpaw.

Pebblepaw shrugged at them. "Water isn't half bad. You just have to get used to it," she mewed and sat down in between Spiderpaw and Timberpaw.

She felt herself being drawn back to the medicine den and looked at the other 'paws. "I'm going to get Frecklewish some prey and head back. Thanks for the talk." She hurried to the pile and picked out a starling. The apprentices were much different than she thought.

The sun was disappearing from the sky when Moonpaw entered the den, seeing Yellowcloud in the main part of the den now.

"This is for Frecklewish," she stated after dropping the bird on the ground, trying to keep herself calm. "Whitefeet wants you."

He nodded in understanding, moving past her slowly and exiting the den. She knew he wanted to stay with Frecklewish, but to Whitefeet that was suspicious, and to her.

Quickly, Moonpaw picked up the starling and went to the back den where Frecklewish had her head on the edge of the nest and was gazing tiredly at her.

"You brought me some prey?" Frecklewish asked and gave a small smile. "Share it with me."

The actual last thing she wanted to do was be alone with Frecklewish, but she agreed and settled down outside her nest, putting the bird in between them so they could both enjoy it.

Moonpaw took the first bite and chewed quickly, hoping to get this over with as soon as possible. She didn't want to slip up and tell Frecklewish that she knew Yellowcloud was mooning over her. That would only make things complicated, and the last thing she wanted was it to be awkward between the two of them.

"Despite what happened, your first day was okay, right?" Frecklewish asked with a nervous voice as she took a bite.

Moonpaw knew that she was lucky Frecklewish accepted her as her medicine cat apprentice, so she had to pretend everything was okay. "Of course. Seeing the territory was great! And meeting those IvyClan cats was interesting." She recalled the three IvyClan cats from earlier. They did seem interesting.

"Yes, I hope Poppyleaf agrees to let us use the herbs in the meadow. It'll create a sense of peace between us both. Maybe we could do something about StrikeClan then," Frecklewish mewed thoughtfully and stifled a yawn. "Let's get some rest for tomorrow. Goodnight, Moonpaw."

Her eyes narrowed, but she nodded. "Goodnight, Frecklewish."