Sunpaw's Moonstone Journey

Burdockroot made it to the in-progress version of the apprentice den to find her target: Sunpaw. Prodding the apprentice in the shoulder, she waited for him to wake. "Come." She said simply before exiting the den and returning to hers. There, a single pile of traveling herbs sat. With a flick of her tail, she waited for the apprentice to join her.

Sunpaw wasn’t exactly a fan of the half-made den. It was better than the makeshift one at Highstones, but there were still some gaps in the ceiling that led to him waking up with snow on his face. Tonight, though, he pushed that thought aside. Stretching out his long limbs, the young cat slipped out of the apprentice den after Burdockroot. He followed her to the medicine den and saw the traveling herbs. Just as he’d thought, his moonstone trip would be tonight. The cinnamon tom wrinkled his nose as he gingerly picked up the bitter herbs. Not quite as bad as he’d thought, but still not his favorite.

Burdockroot studied the apprentice closely before taking a stand. "Let's go. Before it gets dark." She herself did not take any herbs, and she hoped the apprentice didn't notice. It wasn't up to him to worry about what the state of the herbs would be. With a nod, she turned sharpy and started stalking to the entrance of the camp, expecting to Sunpaw to follow. Once they were traveling, she glanced down to the apprentice. "What do you expect to see?" She asked flatly, but not rudely. Apparently, her own Moonstone dream was unusual, so she was curious what the youth expected out of this.

“I suppose I expect what all the others speak of. To meet with a StarClan cat, and hopefully learn something important to take with me into warriorhood.” Sunpaw’s answer was only half of the truth, a recitation of things he’d been told rather than anything deeply personal. To the apprentice, expectations weren’t what mattered. What mattered was what he hoped for. Respect. He wanted to come back to Highstones and show Applepaw and all of ShadowClan that he was anything but a soft kittypet, despite his time spent in captivity.

"Hmm." Burdockroot said simply, pondering his response. "Mine was interesting. I didn't talk to StarClan at mine. I had a vision instead." She glanced over to her travel companion, looking for any facial expression that showed curiosity to hear more.

Sunpaw’s jaw dropped. “A vision?” he mewed in awe. “Like, an honest-to-goodness vision? Is that why you ended up becoming a medicine cat? Not to pry, of course. I’m sorry, I was caught off guard.”

Burdockroot nodded. They were nearly there, but may have some to chat once they made it to the mouth of the cave. "Yes, and Fuzzybelly had never heard of that before. I was just running and running through the swamp as whispers behind me turned to screams." She'd be lying if she said the whispers she had heard her whole life had stopped. They hadn't. It was her only remaining question if needing to be a medicine cat was what the vision meant. She just got better at ignoring them.

Sunpaw stared off into the distance for a moment. “So you had a destiny, huh? I wonder… I wonder if everyone does, if the path for my paws is already laid out for me. If the future is certain, or if it changes with every choice we make.” With that thought, Sunpaw blinked a little and shook off the strange feeling he had, a feeling of being such a small cat in such a big world. “Are we getting close?”

"There is no such thing as destiny. Only guided choices." She turned to look up at the range coming into view. "Yes. All we have to do is climb up like we did before and go into the cave. It's not that far for us." Their paws began to hit the more rocky terrain and narrowed paths, so the medicine cat took up lead to guide the apprentice up.

No such thing as destiny. Only choices. The thought stuck with Sunpaw as his paws found familiar places on the stones, following behind the medicine cat to Mothermouth. Destiny or not, now was his time to shine.

Soon enough, Sunpaw and herself stood in front of the cave entrance. Moonpaw would be familiar with this area, but not what lays inside. "Follow my tail. It's dark." Plunging into the darkness, Burdockroot didn't hesitate and followed her paws through the winding cave. At this point, it was sheer habit. Eventually, they emerged into the large cave, where the Moonstone had just started to shine.

"Lay down and touch your nose to it. Wake me when you wake up." With another yawn, the mottled cat walked to her usual spot and plopped down, curling into a ball with her tail over her nose. She kept her mismatched eyes open to make sure Sunpaw did as he was told.

Only slightly apprehensive, the cinnamon tom slipped over to the glowing stone. Here he was, on the precipice of his future. He laid down, giving Burdockroot a nod, and gently touched the stone.

Sitting alongside his family and friends, Mudfoot's dark amber pelt shimmered among the stars. Death was never a good thing per say, but being able to be reunited with his mother and father, kits, and other friends and family made it all worth it to the former ShadowClanner. Alive or not, StarClan was a truly wonderful place.

Noticing a shape begin to appear not far away from where they all laid sharing-tongues under a clump of trees, he focused his gaze on what seemed to be an apprentice. The young tom's pelt didn't shimmer with sparkling stars like those of deceased cats, which meant he was probably just visiting. Standing up, he gave his fluffy pelt a shake, sending specks of stardust falling back onto the misty ground.

"Hello there," Mudfoot mewed as he trotted over to the stranger. "Here for your Moonstone journey, I suppose?" he asked, slowing his pace and stopping in front of the tom, his tail swishing back and forth gently.

Sunpaw eagerly drank in the sight of the starry landscape. So this was StarClan! A strange feeling began to stir inside him, as if he belonged here. His paws felt at home on the soft grass, and he hoped he’d somehow be back before he died. His amazement only grew at the sight of one of the starry cats approaching him, and even speaking to him! Sure, he knew this would happen, but not that it was all so beautiful! Putting on a façade of confidence, Sunpaw spoke. “Yep, Sunpaw of ShadowClan at your service! And, uh, who might you be?”

"I'm Mudfoot of ShadowClan," the tom mewed with a smile and a dip of his head at the young tom's enthusiasm. He assumed that he'd better get started in sharing some wisdom before the young cat woke up back to the world of the living. "It may seem self explanatory, but stay true and just to your clanmates. I've watched too many cats make decisions that in the end didn't serve their clan, and more often than not their choices ended up being nothing more than mistakes," Mudfoot shared, thinking back to all of the events that he'd watched transpire from up in the stars. If those cats had just stayed true to on their path of warriorhood, life surely would've been much easier for everyone.