Wildpaw’s Moonstone Journey

Scorchfang sat by the entrance to the camp with a leaf wrap at his paws. The second one had been gulped down as quickly as he could manage, and he was still dragging his tongue over his paw to get rid of the awful taste. Today he would take his younger brother and apprentice Wildpaw up to Highstones to dream with StarClan at the Moonstone.

(OOC: Short and crappy, sorry. XD)

Wildpaw trotted over to Scorchfang and smiled "Hey brother! Are we ready to leave now?" he asked. He glanced at the herbs but hoped that he didn't have to take them since he had heard that they had a awful taste.

Scorchfang chuckled and nudged the leaf wrap closer to his younger brother. "Just about. I know you saw these when you came over just now, and yes, you do need to eat them. They'll help you keep your strength up on our journey."

"Weeell I'm already strong" he objected and looked at his brother, but could tell by the look that he gave him that he had to take them if he wanted to leave. He sighed loudly and ate the herbs, he hissed and spit a little bit on the ground "EWW! I. WILL. NEVER. EAT. THIS. AGAIN!".
He glared at Scorchfang "Why would you make me eat this!?".

Scorchfang just couldn't hold back a loud mrrow of laughter. "Sorry, little brother! But all apprentices need to eat these herbs before traveling to the Moonstone. It'll be worth it in the end, I promise. Besides, at least you aren't a deputy who needs to eat these every single time you take an apprentice to the Moonstone; I'm surprised I haven't gotten used to the awful taste by now."

"Well I guess I have to get use to it then because I'm gonna be the best deputy ever! And then the best leader ever!" he meowed happly and smiled at his brother. "But still... Eww" he looked at his brother and laughed a little.
Then he took a step towards the camp entrance "Shall we leave? Or do I need to eat more of thoses disgusting and absloutly horrible herbs?" he meowed with excitement in his voice.

"We'll see about that," Scorchfang teased with a smirk before nodding. "Yes, let's go. We've got a lot of ground to cover."

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TIME SKIP

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Scorchfang and Wildpaw approached the wide entrance of Mothermouth just as the sun was about to set behind the horizon. Scorchfang turned to Wildpaw and sat down before him with a smile. "Alright, we have a little bit before we can go it, so I would like to ask you what I ask all the apprentices I bring up to the Moonstone: are you satisfied with your training? I don't want you to be biased or anything just because we're brothers now. Do you feel I have taught you all you needed to know?"

Wildpaw sat down and looked at his brother "Yup! You have taught me everything I need to know to be a good warrior! Aaand I have had fun while training, you're not boring" he smiled brightly "I can't think of anything bad, not what I can think of atleast" he meowed with satisfaction in his voice, it was true, he couldn't think of a single bad thing about the training.

"Well, I'm very glad to hear that," Scorchfang purred happily after a brief nuzzle to his apprentice's cheek. He stood up when he saw how dark it was becoming. "Well, it looks like it's now time to enter. Stay very close to me so you don't get lost."

The ShadowClan deputy led Wildpaw deep into Mothermouth, guiding him with his tail, making sure the tip always touched his nose or muzzle. Once inside the large cave, the moon was already shining its light through the cavern's ceiling, causing the Moonstone to glow brilliantly. He turned to his brother and smiled, then gestured with his tail to the large magical rock. "It is now time for you to dream by the Moonstone and share dreams with StarClan."

Wildpaw smiled with excitment and then walked up to the Moonstone. He layed down and pressed his nose onto the rock.
He fell asleep and a starry cat appered infront of him.
When Wildpaw realized that the cat from Starclan was Echofall, the cat he had killed. "I-I d-did-did not t-think I w-w-ould talk t-to.. erm you.." he trembeled.

The light grey tabby looked at the young cat "You where young, you still are Wildpaw. You didn't mean to kill me and I know that" he meowed calmly.

"That’s no excuse!! I killed you and I could have started a war between our clans!
" Wildpaw cried out.

Echofall shook his head "I have also killed, a senior warrior from Shadowclan. You did the right thing and told you’r leader, I didn’t, you’r medicine cat told my leader after he got told by Starclan. Don’t end up like me, I stayed quiet and were scared each time our leader looked at me. I felt guilt, only my mate knew what I had done, not my kits, not my friends, not my leader, just Frostfeathter." he continued just as calmly as before.

"I didn’t do the right thing I killed you! I’m the reason you’re here! You should hate me!" he sighed sadly.

"I don’t blame you Wildpaw nor do I hate you. Remember, Starclan takes what it wants, it does what it wants and it has a path in mind for everyone. Starclan may not be the fairest but it does what it has to" he meowed before disappearing.

Wildpaw woke up and quickly threw himself up and backed away from then Moonstone, breathing heavily shaking his head "No, no, no, no...".
He looked at Scorchfang "I-I'm r-ready to l-leave" he meowed nervously.

Scorchfang slowly woke up at the sound of his apprentice’s voice. Unfortunately, his grogginess made him miss the nervousness Wildpaw showed in his voice, so he smiled, assuming all went well. ”Wonderful. I’m so proud of you, Wildpaw. Let us return to camp, then Littlestar can organize your warrior ceremony.” He licked his little brother between his ears once before standing back up, stretching the stiffness out of his legs, and leading the way back out of Mothermouth.

He faked a smiled towards his brother "Err... Yeah, great.." he mumbled and followed his brother out of the Mothermouth. He glanced nervously over at the Windclan "Has anyone from our clan died here? A senior warrior?.. In a border fight..?" he asked and glanced up at his brother.

Scorchfang looked down at Wildpaw in surprise, unsure of where this question came from. However, he decided to answer anyway, as the rest of the Clan knew about the incident anyway. ”Yes. I believe I was one of the younger warriors when it happened, and you weren’t even born yet. A WindClan cat had killed a warrior named Silentstorm in a border skirmish.” The same WindClan cat you killed. The deputy was contemplating adding that bit, but he didn’t want his brother feeling worse than he already did about his own accidental murder. It would be akin to someone tormenting him about his affair with Sweet, or how he was Shadefang’s true father.

"So that's who he killed.." he mumbled to himself and looked up at the sky.
"Is Littlestar still mad at me for killing that cat?.." he asked. hoping that the answer would be know but then he could have been the reason for a war to break out so she had a good reason to still be mad at him.

”Well, I’m not her, so I can’t be certain, and she doesn’t bring it up during our private meetings,” Scorchfang meowed in response, his tone soft and assuring, ”but I don’t think she’s mad. She certainly won’t ever be happy about it, but... we all make mistakes. We will sometimes even break the warrior code. But no cat is perfect. Rather, we get just a little closer to perfection with each mistake we make. You know what you had done to cause Echofall’s death, and now you know never to do it again. Think of this more as an experience to learn from rather than a sin to weigh you down with.”