Mistleshine's Elder Ceremony

Ivystar's heart and mind were still reeling from the events of sunrises ago, and the discussion that had taken place mere moments before. Her entire life, Mistleshine had been in the medicine cat den- partially as an apprentice, and then as a full medicine cat. She didn't want to- couldn't- imagine life without the she-cat there to patch up her wounds, to offer her poppy seeds when the pain was too much. The silver tabby didn't want to imagine her poor son, Spiderpaw, having to care for the entire Clan on his own, to raise up an apprentice of his own... He was growing up, and she didn't like it.

As her paws departed from the medicine cat den for the first time in days, the she-cat took a moment before leaping onto the Willow Branch, watching her Clanmates as they went about their lives as normal. She wished that she could have that same sense of normalcy, but with tensions rising between the living and StarClan, and with what she was about to do... It was clear to her that that was completely impossible, at least for the time being. Her wounds were still sore, so she took her time when taking her place on the Willow Branch, making sure not to ruin any of the cobweb patches Spiderpaw had prepared. "All cats old enough to catch their own prey, gather beneath the Willow Branch for a Clan meeting!" Her voice portrayed the sadness she felt behind her stone-cold facade, as she was unable to cover it for this meeting.

Spiderpaw knew what this was about. He sighed deeply, following his mo- uh, his leader out of the medicine den. His heart beat a melancholy rhythm in his chest as he sat by the Willow Branch. He looked up at Ivystar, knowing and somewhat dreading what would come next.

Stormbringer moved away from the prey pile as soon as Ivystar had called out for a clan meeting. The gray she-cat certainly didn't like having Ivystar not sharing the giant nest with her and Honeytongue, but she understood the leader had to recover from her wounds. Maybe sometimes soon they would all be able to share a nest again, when she was healed of course. Of course she took the time to step into the medicine den when she could outside of her deputy duties.

The gray warrior settled beside the medicine cat apprentice, trying to comfort the young tom considering all that has happened. Maybe things would start to get better now?

Shocking though the Gathering had been, it hadn’t concerned Snowpaw at first. The power to take nine or eight or however many lives at once was scary, but if he set that fact aside, the rest was simpler than his own training. Torrentstar had betrayed RiverClan; StarClan had punished him for it. Snowpaw had no plans to cross borders or run off to Twolegplace, so he’d be fine. RiverClan would be fine, too. (And if that thought came easily only because Torrentstar had been buried for a moon, well, did it really matter?) Then Ivystar had staggered into camp with a barely-breathing Mistleshine, and Snowpaw hadn’t seen them since. Sometimes, being worried about one thing opened the way to worrying about another.

He didn’t really know Mistleshine. At the same time, he did, in the same way he’d known Torrentstar: from a distance, yet attached like any set of RiverClanners. When Ivystar had brought her back, she’d looked like Torrentstar, too. He had yet to admit it, but the sight had shaken him; it wasn’t laziness that had kept him from the medicine cats' den.

The white-furred tom lay a short distance from his mentor, letting his mind wander as he chewed on a freshly-caught fish. When Stormbringer got up, he followed. His attention drifted to the Willow Branch, where Ivystar stood, patches of webbing bright against her gray fur. Maybe another of his siblings was becoming a warrior? Snowpaw took in his Clanmates’ somber expressions. His heart sank. Definitely not a ceremony. Maybe news about Mistleshine…? He sat on Spiderpaw’s other side, head tilted.