Darkpaw's Moonstone Journey

Exhausted, the medicine cat hauled herself out of the den, pushing through reeds on shaking limbs. She huffed, snorted, bit a little too hard agains the herb bundle, and kicked her way gracelessly through the snow towards the apprentice den. Her head spun, and she was weary; sleep had been failing to her, and the exhaustion of restless nights and not remembering to eat was slowly catching up to her. Another Moonstone was the last thing she wanted to do; at least tonight it was Darkpaw. The little she-cat would make good company.

Shouldering into the den, the pale molly found the pelt she was looking for and dropped the herbs by her nose. "Darkpaw," She rasped, gently nudging her with a loose paw. "Darkpaw, it's time to wake up. Eat your herbs, and I'm going to take you to the Moonstone, okay?"


The trip had worn through her, and Cloverheart was cold and irritable by the time they reached Highstones. Little Darkpaw though, eyes always as wide as moons, somehow managed to keep her spirits a little high. With a cough to chase away a biting tone, she announced: "We're here! Follow me into Mothermouth, and stay close. The tunnels are dark, and you could get lost." With that and one final look at her charge, she descended. Well-versed paws found the grooves left by generations of cats before her with ease, and carefully– and not without a fair bit of spitting about the decline –Cloverheart lead them through the dark passages until brilliant light spilled over them. "This is the Moonstone, Darkpaw. Get comfortable, and touch your nose to it. You'll fall asleep like that; StarClan will come find you then. I'll be right here all night." She nodded as she settled into place, blinking curiously before pressing her own nose to the smooth surface.

A tentative speed had overtaken the she-cat. Darkpaw was used to being restless, tossed and turned by an unconscious world that sapped her energy as much as the waking one. However, with recent events taking an overwhelming toll, it seemed that both her mind and physical body had reached their limit. The peaceful sleep was a frail creature and condemned to end. This time it was in the form of Cloverheart. She blinked slowly, saddened to leave behind a place of genuine rest. But a smile touched her maw as she looked up at the medicine cat. Cloverheart had always been a favorite of hers since early kithood.

At the mention of the moonstone she stiffened slightly, managing to nod as she rose to her paws. A sensation like a bitter piece of freshkill stuck to her tongue as she looked at the medicine cat. Tentatively, she dipped her head to swallow back the herbs. They caught in her throat for a moment before she managed to fully gulp them down. Somewhere in the back of the apprentice's mind, she recognized their bitter and unpleasant tastes, but it was the last thing flickering through her racing thoughts at the time. She then followed after the medicine cat. Something akin to worry seemed to etch itself into her features but she forced it away.
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The journey had worn her through to the bone. Each muscle ached from never having traveled such a great distance before. But the exhausting wasn't purely physical. Although she had enjoyed getting to spend time with Cloverheart, there was something far more pressing clouding the encounter. Each little prick of the uneven ground or snow against her pads was jarring; it shocked her back into the path in front of her. Honestly, it was needed, it was the very thing that kept her going. As she pushed against the creeping darkness of the long tunnel, Darkpaw started to tell herself this was nothing to worry about. It was illogical to fret over such a marvelous secret. Another cat would feel blessed, surely.

She turned with one last look to Cloverheart, a longing look, one that silently willed for this to be over swiftly and without any questions. Taking a deep breath, the little calico cat settled down on her stomach. Her nose pressed to the moonstone whose dazzling gleam she had not even spared a moment to revel in. One moment passed, two, and then the world plunged into darkness.
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When she woke, the oddly light sensation that flowed through her in dreams seemed to radiated through her body. Eyes flickered around digesting the scenery. Slowly a puzzled look began to cross over her maw. This wasn't Starclan. There was no ethereal glow or star-speckled scenery that she was used to. She stood and turned a few times, finally parting her maw in a pressing a soft and prying question, "Sageleaf?" She dared to speak but only quietly. This place looked like the forest, plain and simple. There was nothing very impressing or remarkable. Little trees twisted this way and that. A greenery she had never seen in life tangled and twisted at the base of the aspens. Was this what it was like to dream interrupted? Without her paws wandering to places they were not meant to?

"You seem lost."

The words caused her ears to prick and her fur to stand on end. There stood a tom, his eyes were curious, and his smile kind. He looked like he had just slipped from the riverbank with the way his coat dripped, slicked back. His pelt was certainly handsome, something she did not recognize often. Most of it was gray, with a splash of white on his chest and on his paws. Although the presence of a strange cat immediately caused worry to bud up within her, the way he carried himself offered a contrasting sensation. It only took a moment for her fur to relax and her limbs to unstiffen. Something was familiar about him but she could not place what it was. After a moment, Darkpaw nodded. She sat back on her haunches and drew her feathery tail around herself, keeping to the natural distance between them.

"I have to say, I don't mind the company, it has been a long time since a cat has come to visit me. What is your name?"

"Darkpaw." Her low meow came, not wanting to say anything more but finding her curiosity far from sated. Besides, he seemed like the kind of cat that would be more than willing to answer any questions that might cross her mind. The apprentice was shocked to find the thought flickering through her head and further more once she spoke up once again, "Where am I? What is this place? I-I expected Starclan."

The tom looked puzzled and shrugged, "I wish I had an answer for you, Darkpaw. You seem like a lovely cat. Riverclan, I assume?" His eyes had briefly raked her pelt, no doubt seeking the powerful muscles of her little, lean frame, and the sleekness of her fish-touched fur. Another nod. At this, he brightened, "Me too! Can't you tell?" As he stood, she began to inspect his coat further. He did not seem as bulky but it was evident. Perhaps that was why he had seemed familiar. And the water on his coat - it was like her clanmates fresh from a swim. Maybe she would have something to tell Cloverheart after all. Although, it would share the very thing Starclan had asked her not to share. Conflict rose in her chest and her expression turned slightly downwards. He looked concerned and rose to pad slightly closer. She noticed this in the brief second before her eyes flitted to the ground.

"Hey, now, no need to be sad. We could go for a swim if you like?"

It sounded nice but she could feel the warmth fading away - it was almost time to wake up. Darkpaw had grown to notice the sensation, the few times she had slipped in and out of the dream world. She looked at him, eyes touched with sadness and her tail tightening around her. As her head shook slightly back and forth, her tail flickered in farewell, "I have to go. I don't control where my paws go, or when I leave." It made her further saddened by the disappointment in her new friend's eyes. This had been new, different from every time that she had walked with the ancestors. Part of her ever wondered if she would ever stumble upon him again. Maybe Sageleaf would know? Her chin tipped downwards. No, Starclan didn't know this either. Perhaps it was her perplexing existence that gave her such little to cling onto, fears that no cat could ever understand, and something she had been instructed not to share. Darkpaw was truly alone in the world. Although, Sageleaf had always been nice, providing guidance in the midst of their peculiar situation. And now she had this tom too.

"I hope you come visit again someday."

Her maw parted, perhaps to provide an explanation, but the world faded away and her eyes blinked. She was staring at the moonstone once again. The memory was a nice one but she had hadn't even gotten his name. Darkpaw slowly rose and leaned against the cold stone. Her thoughts drifted and her mind twisted. If it hadn't left her so exhausted, she would have fallen asleep once more in an attempt to reach Sageleaf. But for now, resting was nice. Eyes drifted to find the sleeping form of Cloverheart. It felt wrong to wake the medicine cat when she looked so peaceful, so Darkpaw was resigned to wait.
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Before Cloverheart sat a gray and white she-cat. Green eyes were tinged with worry as she addressed the Riverclan medicine cat. It bothered her to be of the stars, with no answer. She cursed herself for not previously walking Cloverheart's dreams, for trying to rely on her own strength for guidance. Only a few moons had passed since her first encounter with Darkpaw. The young she-cat was sweet, kind, confused. All Sageleaf could do do was be a friend. Nothing, no one, seem to knew what had caused an apprentice to walk unannounced through the stars. This power she possessed was unprecedented. This had filled the former Windclan medicine cat with dread, confused by what she did not know, overwhelmed with the mysteries of the universe - something beyond the power of her starry paws. As she spoke, Sageleaf struggled to keep her voice even, "Cloverheart, we need to talk about Darkpaw. She's not here. She's not with Starclan."

Cloverheart woke up tail whipping and rocking forward, nearly tipping over before she steadied herself. For some reason, this transition to StarClan had left her body especially cold-shocked, and as she came to in the dusky field she felt considerably out of it. Usually, StarClan didn't have anything important to say to her on these little Moonstone trips– nothing they couldn't have said to her from her nest, anyway –so the sight of one of her ancestors, confusion streaked across her features, made the little medicine cat's fur rise, unease mounting. Then she spoke, and Cloverheart's stomach twisted. "What do you mean she's not with StarClan?" She spat, accusatory, jerking forward to half-close the distance between them. "She couldn't have wandered off or anything. I know she's with me down there, touching her nose to the same stone I am. So where'd she go?" With the last words, her voice wavered, hints of confusion and worry breaking through the sharpness. Apprentices didn't just... not wake up in StarClan, at least not the ones she had dragged out to Highstones, and StarClan didn't just lose track of cats. Cloverheart wilted, ire slowly burning off as she focused on Sageleaf, searching for an answer.

Maybe Darkpaw really had wandered off, gotten curious and decided to poke her nose through the rest of the caves– but no, she was a good cat. Curious, definitely, but she was a good listener, and probably too nervous about the world to just venture off like that. Cloverheart's ears lowered. "Well... well, whatever, we can find her right? I mean... you are StarClan, after all. Maybe she's just dreaming, like normal." She laughed, a little bitter, then muttered, "Maybe I can wake up and shove her closer to the Moonstone, will that help?"

The confusion that radiated from the medicine cat's pelt was palpable, streaked with frustrations. It was understandable. Sageleaf had been trying to protect the young cat by keeping her abilities hidden and in the meantime searching the depths of knowledge from cats who were old enough to have begun fading from Starclan. Her efforts had proven fruitless and it appeared there was indeed more to the curious nature of Darkpaw's abilities. Originally, it was believed that her paws simply guided her to Starclan, a strange and curious connection beyond their control. But if she wandered past the boundaries... who know where it could lead. Beyond the territories, these skies were endless.

Her green eyes flashed with several emotions. Cloverheart's words caused her ears to flicker before falling back slightly. No words would make this right, everything was simply batting at an invisible foe without knowledge of the beast that they faced. She let out an exasperated sigh, "It won't do you any good to move her, not ever Starclan can control her paws. Stars, the kit hardly can herself. This... thing, whatever it is, not even the ancestors know. I've been searching for moons for an answer but this apprentice - she can walk the skies of her own accord. Starclan never called her and yet she came. I've done what I can to guide her and reassure her but-" The oddly helpless look that crossed her maw seemed unfitting for an otherworldly being.

"There has to be a reason for this, and if it is something that no cat dead or alive knows about, it's dangerous. When I first met Darkpaw, I told her not to tell any cat for the fear someone would find out but she needs some cat to walk with her. Find out where she went when she wakes, talk to her... and don't tell another soul. Who knows what would happen to her, what could happen, if this information fell into the wrong paws." Sageleaf's voice grew more serious as she spoke, fixing Cloverheart in a stare that left no room for argument. To tell the Riverclan medicine cat would have been a relief if there weren't so many other questions left unanswered. She shook her head slightly, this would require digging deeper than even she knew.

"She's waking up now. Go, guide her paws."

"There's a cat– not even a fully grown warrior, an apprentice –in my Clan who's been walking around StarClan and not one of you thought to tell me?"

Cloverheart's voice rose against Sageleaf, hackles bristling. The absolute audacity! StarClan had plenty of times to haunt her dreams with vague flickers of dead cats, with the feeling of blood sticking to her paws, to rattle her brain with sounds of birds crying and water surging, but they didn't have the time to, not even once, tell her that one of her Clanmates could walk the stars freely? Her tail snapped side to side, and tattered ears lay flat against her skull. It was probably uncouth to threaten the all-knowing, ever-benevolent StarClan, but Cloverheart didn't put in any effort to keep her lip from curling to show teeth.

Sageleaf went on, and everything she had to say just made the smaller cat bristle further. "Don't dismiss me!" She barked, marching even closer. Almost, Sageleaf's hard gaze made her quail, but Cloverheart pushed forward with a sharp hiss. "You told her not to tell anyone? You expected to just handle this all on your own? I don't care how smart StarClan thinks they all! You're all dead and rotten somewhere, and I'm right here, running around RiverClan like a lost hare! Here! Alive, living, in the real world! All your great and dead wisdom, and not one of you thought it might be a good idea to tell her Clan's medicine cat? To tell the one cat that's actually supposed to talk to StarClan?" The argument felt hollow and selfish as she shouted at the starry she-cat. As justified as her fury might have been, her screeching sounded more like a petulant kit, burned that she'd been left out of her littermates games. Cloverheart's eyes narrowed to thin, burning slits.

"What good is that going to do for Darkpaw? Have you seen her? She walks around like a lost duck half the time! She balks when the wind blows too hard, and you thought it was a great idea to leave StarClan in her paws? I– she's a great cat, such a sweetheart, but how is she supposed to be figuring this out alone? How dare you demand her to stay quiet? What gives you the right to put her in that position?" Had Darkpaw always been able to walk with the stars? Had she been wandering StarClan alone for the entire length of her little life? The thought that this whole time, there had been fears beyond what cat to try to talk to plaguing the little molly... "You're absolutely unbelievable. I can't believe you waited until you lost her to tell me. What, were you going to just leave it go? Was she more convenient than waiting for every medicine cat to march up here every moon? Was it easier for you? How easy do you think it is for her? That's pathetic. Insolent, frog-brained worms, whichever ones of you decided that was a good idea."

Cloverheart wobbled, and any coherent argument had devolved into a messy spill of emotion-wreaked questions and unnecessarily insults. Dimness crept into the corner of her vision, and she knew that she would be waking again in that cold cavern soon. Her claws flexed, catching onto what she could. She was determined to hold fast as long as she could, wring as much out of Sageleaf as she could. Tiredness crept up through her limbs, and she feared she would spin back into the waking world before she could even get a breath of response. To make her point clear, whether or not Sageleaf had time to reply, she hissed, "You better be lucky I care about her. Someone needs to."