CW/Author's Note: Discussion of a Miscarriage (Personally think I could have handled this better, maybe present Ferretstar's attitude here a little more unusual/utilitarian/Girboss TM, I do think most parents dealing with a miscarriage would be more emotionally affected)

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Ferretstar decides to talk to Gingerleaf.

As she approaches the larger tom, his ears twitch and he turns to look at her.

"Hey boss," He greets with a grin, "what's up?"

Ferretstar quickly masks the odd look she was going to give him. It was jarring for one of her warriors to address her so casually. She reminded herself Gingerleaf was still somewhat of an outsider, and he still had a strange manner of speaking.

"I'm fine, Gingerleaf," Ferretstar replies, "But are you?"

She gives the medicine cat a look of concern, but he only shakes his head as if it wasn't a big deal.

"Please, please, lady," Gingerleaf starts, "This wouldn't be the first time an angry mob has wanted to take me out."

Before Ferretstar could think about the implications of that, Gingerleaf continues quickly.

"But it is my first time having you as a camping buddy- did you come to help me pack? Ooh, you shouldn't have. Well, after you, boss."

Gingerleaf nods at the entrance of medicine den and bows slightly, inviting her to go in first.

Ferretstar sighs. "I suppose it's the least I could do to help."

As the two cats walk into the den, they are immediately greeted by three things, the cool, smooth stone ground, the overwhelming smell of different plants and herbs, and the sound of paws clawing at moss.

"Puddleclaw?"

The small gray tom barely looks up from what he was doing. He circles around and plops down in Gingerleaf's nest.

"What's he doing in my nest?" Gingerleaf whispers to Ferretstar loudly, before deciding just to ask Puddleclaw himself.

"Something wrong, buddy?" Gingerleaf's grin widens playfully, "Or did you just want to sleep next to me?"

Puddleclaw's face twists with a flare of anger for a moment. However it seemed as though he didn't have the energy to bother being angry. Mostly he just looked tired. He doesn't look to Gingerleaf when he gives his answer.

"Well, if I'm going to be the new medicine cat, I may as well get comfortable in here." Puddleclaw says.

Gingerleaf and Ferretstar exchange a look.

Gingerleaf seems confused at first, then bemused, then unable to stop himself from bursting out laughing.

"Neheheh-! Oh my- my sides! Is he serious?"

Puddleclaw looks taken aback.

"Wha.. What are you- Of course I'm serious!" He snaps.

Much to Puddleclaw's dismay, Gingerleaf was on the ground, rolling with laughter now.

"What's so funny? Stop laughing!"

Gingerleaf wheezes, trying to stop, but failing badly.

Puddleclaw's glare flicks to Ferretstar.

"Did you not tell him the plan?" He asks angrily.

Ferretstar shakes her head, grinning a little herself now.

"I was kidding. We're not using your plan."

Puddleclaw looks absolutely floored.

"But you said.."

"Come on Puddleclaw, think. Make you, a cat with a mate and kits the medicine cat? I'm no fool."

"You're sick." Puddleclaw hisses.

"Well, good thing we're in the medicine den," Ferretstar says, feeling pleased with herself. She flicks her tail, "Since you're in here anyway, you may as well help us pack."

"Pack?" Puddleclaw asks.

"Yeah, I'm leaving Puddles, get with the program." Gingerleaf says, immediately getting swatted in the face with Ferretstar's tail. "Would you miss me?" the medicine cat continues to joke.

"I've decided to hide him out in the territory, he's taking anything he needs with him." Ferretstar explains.

"Don't know if that'll do much good honestly. I'll just drop it all over the place if I'm going to be moving around as much as you say." Gingerleaf points out. Ferretstar considers this, and tries to think of a solution.

"Well maybe you could set aside some herbs that are more likely to be used, and we'll give you temporary assistants to help out if we can't find you. We'll call on you for any major emergencies though."

Ferretstar suggests. Puddleclaw pushes in before Gingerleaf can say anything.

"Let me guess, is one of these assistants going to be me?" Puddleclaw asks in annoyance.

Ferretstar smirks.

"Actually, I wasn't even thinking about you, but now that you mention it..."

Gingerleaf nods vigorously in agreement. Puddleclaw sighs in defeat.

"At least let me go and talk to Birchtail first," Puddleclaw says, I told him the old news and he's still pretty upset about it."

Ferretstar nods at him. "Very well. That works out fine, I wanted to speak with Gingerleaf alone anyway."

A trace of some dark emotion, crosses Gingerleaf's face. Was it.. Guilt?

After Puddleclaw leaves, Gingerleaf speaks up. "Is this... Is this about your kits?" He asks hesitantly, "They came earlier than expected, I don't know if I could have done anything for them if I had been here."

Ferretstar blinks, confused for a moment, then surprised that was what he was worried about.

Ferretstar remembered Gingerleaf had thought Silvercloud would have given birth tomorrow but instead it happened while they were at the gathering. So there was more than just Mistkit? Birchtail had said "one of" her kits had "made it" when he told her the news. The others must not have survived.

"Gingerleaf, don't concern yourself with dead kits. Lots of them don't make it, but that's life. Focus on what you can do for the living." Ferretstar tells him. Gingerleaf hesitates for a moment, then nods.

"Right.."

Ferretstar tries to bring the conversation back to what she had been getting at.

"Speaking of assistants, I was hoping you might find a more... Permanent one soon."

"Uh... Permanent?" Gingerleaf echos, looking clueless. That wasn't a good sign.

"Yes. You need to start training an apprentice as soon as possible. HailClan can't afford to have another Medicine cat die without a successor." Ferretstar says, looking to Gingerleaf with serious gaze.

"Then just don't let me die. Problem solved, neheh..." Gingerleaf jokes with a small laugh. It doesn't last long.

Good, he can tell how important this is at least.

"Have you had any signs from StarClan? Is there potential in any of the kits- or maybe one of the apprentices?" Ferretstar prods, secretly hoping he had a sign about something- anything to prove he really did have a connection to StarClan.

Gingerleaf takes a step back at her intensity.

"Jeez boss, hold your horses," He says, and then grins again, "Of course I've had a sign."

"Well? What Was it about?" She asks expectantly.

"Its uh... It was about my apprentice. Definitely a kiddo alright." Gingerleaf says.

Ferretstar holds back her sigh of relief. That seemed almost too straightforward for StarClan.

"But what exactly did they say?" She presses.

"They said: The chosen one will come from the cold and have a light we have yet to see."

Ferretstar freezes in her tracks. This was the real deal. "So... Do you have any idea who the prophecy is about?" She asks quietly.

"Oh, isn't it obvious?" Gingerleaf says, taking her by surprise.

"You.. Already figured it out?" Ferretstar asks. This was certainly unorthodox. She was so confused. How could he already know?

"Yep."

"Then tell me."

"No, no, no I want to see if you can figure it out."

"Gingerleaf-"

"Come on, guess."

Ferretstar sighs.

"Fine, fine."

Well, it couldn't hurt. If she didn't get it right, then she would make him tell her.

She considers the young cats in her clan. If the "light" meant a hidden talent, it only made sense for it to be a cat who was still growing. "Coming from the cold" had to mean a HailClan cat, right?

There were Dustclaw's kits, Sandpaw and Frecklepaw. Both of them had only just begun training, so if it was one of them, they would be able to make the switch without much issue.

Ferretstar couldn't say the same for her own daughter. Molepaw already had two moons worth of warrior training- she hoped for the apprentice's sake it wasn't about her.

Then there was her second kit, Mistkit. Who knew what they would be like when they got older? But then, who knew what any newborn would be like? Perhaps the cat hadn't been born yet. Perhaps "coming from the cold" meant the cat would be born during LeafBare.

Maybe it was more obvious than She thought. Puddleclaw's two daughters were both quite gentle hearted. Perhaps one of them would make a good medicine cat.

A light they had yet to see.. Surely that didn't mean this cat would be another outsider? Ferretstar doubted StarClan would have HailClan have two former rouges as medicine cat at once. But then, StarClan did work in mysterious ways...

"Fine.. I think this cat..."

Original Poll Options:

18 Votes

1. Is one of Dustclaw's kits - 0%

2. Is one of my kits - 33.3% (Second Poll was hosted to tie-break, so this won)

3. Is one of Puddleclaw's kits - 27.8%

4. Isn't from HailClan - 33.3%

5. Hasn't been born yet - 5.6%

Note: I'm not counting my own vote, I just need to be able to see the results.