Just a quick look [C]

Falconmoon's curiosity had gotten the better of him. Maybe it was the fact that he felt empowered now, being a warrior and all, but shortly before his silent vigil was supposed to end, the warrior found himself wandering out toward the twoleg place. He could scent other cats, rogues certainly, but he had yet to find any. The days were getting warmer and the nights were getting shorter. The rain however... Falconmoon kept his eyes on the black clouds in the distance. They weren't here yet, but they would likely cut his little adventure short and then he'd have to go home. He was going to be going to bed right after this anyway, what did it matter if he used some of his newfound energy to explore now that he could?

Falconmoon ran across the limbs of a tree, hopped the great stone wall, and landed in the Great Garden. Was this what it was supposed to look like? It didn't exactly look like it had a lot of plants yet. A few of the cold hardy herbs were still faring well, but the others were either nonexistent or unrecognizable. Falconmoon doubted there would be predators out. Not here at least. Twolegs did a good job of scaring them away. He made sure he kept an eye on the twoleg nest nearby while he explored, but so far, everything seemed fairly quiet. He walked around the garden and sniffed curiously at the herbs, but aside from a pungent odor he didn't know anything about them. A medicine cat's job it may be, but it didn't mean he couldn't familiarize himself with what Skyclan's borders touched.

He wanted to be as helpful as he could be. He needed his clan to know that they could always count on him.

Beechfang carefully nipped at the stalk of one of the coneflower plants, for a moment remembering when she had found the strange purple plant with Basilbloom. It had colder then, and with companions she hadn't liked. It was cold now, and Beechfang couldn't say she liked herself very much, and the one companion she had left home with was now back in Skyclan where he belonged.

Movement in the distance caught her eye, and the ex-Skyclan cat silently slunk back into the shadows, casting a wary glare at the twoleg in the distance. It didn't notice her and walked on. That was good. Beechfang returned to the coneflower plants, taking care to harvest one more for herself. The plant was good for staving off sickness and infection and had a few other uses... And perhaps she would leave them on the Skyclan border for a patrol to pick up. The clan was likely to need them more than she did, even though leafbare was beginning to loosen the icy claws it had around the forest.

Movement once again had the weary rogue's head snapping up, then slinking back toward her hiding place. She watched as a young tom cleared the stone fence and landed in the garden. One she recognized, and he seemed quite curious about his new surroundings, sniffing around at the herbs.

Wolfblossom would kill her if something happened to her son out here. This was no place for an apprentice... Even one that made her stomach twist and hackles rise in alarm. In much the same way Smokefeather had once reacted to her golden-furred nieces. Beechfang shook her head. I told her they were just kits. So is he. Beechfang told herself. She recalled her father's warning... Her father, who she still wasn't sure was sane, after all. But he'd tried to warn her... And it had stuck, in her mind. The apprentice - warrior by now, surely? - looked so hauntingly familiar.

Starclan hadn't finished messing with her, that was it. The scarred tabby shook the thoughts away.

"You walk around like the twolegs don't bring their dogs here often, like the twolegs themselves aren't a threat... Like rogues aren't just waiting for an unsuspecting forest cat to step out of line, grandson." Beechfang's voice sounded from the shadows where she had watching, single yellow-green eye taking in the familiar golden and white tom who carried the scent of family on him. And he looked like family, even if she hadn't seen him and his siblings that day she had visited camp after being freed from fourtrees and the twoleg traps. "You ought to pay more attention to your surroundings. Are you lost, or do I need to bring Skyclan another wayward cat?" Her tone wasn't outright hostile, but she could not help the unease and wariness she felt.

Falconmoon whirled around at the sound of a voice. The sight of the half-faced rogue had him arch his back and his fur stand on end. He was ready to fight if he needed to. But then she kept talking... and then he realized he'd met this cat before. Falconmoon's back slunk down and straightened out upon the realization that this was Birdstar's mother. He retracted his claws and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Stars, you scared me." He said with a laugh. His grandmother... what a concept. What had happened to Skyclan so long ago that his great grandfather and his grandmother looked so horrible? He wanted to ask, but he decided against it.

"I'm not lost I just got bored on my vigil. It was almost over anyway." Then he realized what she said. Wayward Skyclan cat? Did Skyclan cats leave often? The more he studied her, the more he felt like he had seen her somewhere else too. His eyes stared at the part of her face that didn't look like a monster had gotten ahold of it. Foreign and familiar at the same time.

"I'm Falconmoon. I was Falconpaw when I first saw you... I think." He actually had been so excited to see Birdstar return that he paid almost no attention to the silver rogue. Now that he was... It drove him crazy to try to place where else he may have seen this cat. Maybe he was imagining it. His eyes traveled over to the coneflowers that she had somewhat stashed away.

"Were you a medicine cat once?" He asked, curious. He'd like to know a little more about herbs himself. Not that he had any interest in being a medicine cat, but knowledge was knowledge. It always came in handy.

The tom whirled, back arched, fur lifting, and it took everything Beechfang had not to react in kind at the sight. Just a kit, just a kit, she reminded herself. Not another young warrior that had whirled on her in the same way, claws tearing at wherever they could reach. Beechfang's ears flattened, her tail lashing involuntarily as he spoke. Even that was familiar. The words weren't, but his voice made her claws dig into the grass. He was startled- he was furious- no.

Just a kit...

He wasn't lost, but had simply gotten bored at the end of his vigil. "Good." She bit out reproachfully, "Be careful where you wander off to. Being outside of your territory tends to attract trouble you don't want." Beechfang's tone was rougher than she would have intended for one of Wolfblossom's kits. Beechfang fought to smooth her fur, fought to still the agitated lash of her tail. He should have been scared of her appearance. Of the fact that she'd caught him so unaware. Could've leapt on him before he had time to react. Like Beechfang had never been able to do to-

Just a kit... He's dead. Wolfblossom's kit.

Falconmoon, his name was. Did her daughters realize the similarity, she wondered? Did Bloodstrike? Starclan had made this happen on purpose, she was sure of it. "Congratulations." Her grandkits were becoming warriors, great Starclan. She had missed the warrior ceremonies of all of her kits, had missed Wolfblossom and Birdchaser named deputy and leader. They lived their own lives that she knew so little about despite her efforts to keep tabs on them from a distance. She hadn't known of her grandkits' existence until seeing them in camp that day, and at least one of them was already a warrior. Cloverheart must have been laughing from the stars. And her littermate with her, from the dark pit he'd been sent back to. Beechfang could almost hear them, feel their baleful eyes upon her. They had lived to see her suffer, they had died to see her suffer.

The tabby gave herself a mental shake, clawing her way past the threatening emotions, trying to find some semblance of clarity. The kit - just a kit, she reminded herself - spoke again, a question.

"I- yes. I was a medicine cat." Beechfang sighed. "I became a warrior later." Sort of the opposite trajectory of those she knew to hold both ranks. She half-expected to hear the old jabs about not being able to cut it as a warrior, about being chosen for a fate she never wanted. None came.

Or maybe he was simply curious about the herbs at her paws. That did tend to make non-medicine cats confused. Her eye never left Falconmoon as she nudged the harvested coneflower with a paw. "It's coneflower. The seeds help prevent whitecough and similar illness, the roots and leaves can help ease injuries and prevent infection." She had never held an issue with sharing her knowledge, and if the kit was asking questions, he might as well learn something.

Falconmoon wasn't entirely sure where the barely contained hostility was coming from. What did he do? Between this cat and Bloodstrike you'd think he'd done something unforgivable. He was about to excuse himself and head back home, not wanting to deal with his grandmother after all. That was... until she began talking about her herbs. A coneflower? He leaned forward and gave it a quick sniff, even if it was from a distance. Cat noses were sharp enough they didn't need to be right up on something to smell it. He logged the information away in his head.

"I don't know that I'd want to be a medicine cat necessarily but this is still good stuff to know. Its why I came out here... not that I had any medicine cats coming to help me learn." Then a thought occurred to him. His mind went to his moonstone journey and what Flowerthorn told him about a hawk. If anyone would know what Flowerthorn was talking about it would be this old rogue. .... Rogue. A rogue with a familiar face... Half of it at least.

Falconmoon thought very carefully about what he wanted to say. "Well, I went to the moonstone a few weeks ago and the Starclan cat had something weird to say. It almost sounded like a prophecy? I don't know. Anyway, she said "watch out for the path the hawk takes in the morning. It's laced with dangers I'm sure you don't want to face." She also said mentioning the name Flowerthorn might help. I've already tried watching a literal hawk to see where it went in the morning. After it was done launching poop and puking up balls of hair it flew off." His nose wrinkled at the memory. Nasty creature. He paused a moment, debating whether or not he wanted to tell her much else. He supposed he would, though he was just as embarassed to talk with a stranger about his dreams as he was with his own mom.

"This got brought up because of dreams I've been having that I thought were from them. Sometimes they're pointless, okay dreams, and sometimes they're nightmares. I have dreams all of the time. She denied that they were from Starclan."

Now to see if this was the rogue that Flowerthorn spoke of. He'd seen this cat once and only briefly... yet it felt like he had seen her somewhere else to somehow. He dreamed of Shrikestar after all before seeing him... had he had a dream about this cat too and couldn't recall it at the moment?

Beechfang nodded, "More cats than just a select few should have that information, honestly." She thought back to Sagelight's death and the overwhelming sense of panic that had fueled the days after. If some of her clanmates had known about herbs, it would have made things easier than having to wait for the gathering to ask someone she had never met before for help. Mossbloom had been a wonderful mentor, the best Beechfang could have asked for, but having to go to someone of another clan had been difficult all the same. "No clan should be wholly dependent on two cats at most for their health. It's not like warrior training where anyone can pitch in if your mentor is lost early into your training, or the clan is suddenly left without a medicine cat and has to find some poor kit to throw into the chaos. Medicine cats are obligated to help each other regardless of clan borders, but still." She shook her head. Falconmoon hadn't come here to hear her disparage the way things in the clan worked.

He continued, and Beechfang's tattered ears flattened. Flowerthorn, that was a name she had not heard spoken aloud in some time. The last time she had seen the warrior before Dawnhawk's lackeys had dragged her away for speaking her mind... Bloodstrike had told her what he had done while raving mad, but Beechfang had never once seen the pretty golden she-cat in the stars. She hadn't wanted to believe her father, of course, but deep down she had known the truth of it. Not her burden to share, perhaps she should have, after seeing Foxfire suffer as he had. It was too late to change the past, she knew.

Watch out for the path the hawk takes in the morning.

Beechfang froze, staring at Falconmoon with a wide eye. Her ears felt like they were ringing. Hawk, morning... Dawn. Staring her in the face with bright blue eyes and a silvered, golden and white pelt.

"I don't... I don't believe Flowerthorn meant a literal hawk, no. They like wordplay. Why they can't just speak plainly, I don't know and never will. How perfectly reasonable cats like Flowerthorn become cryptic in death I'll never understand either. She was always truthful, always blunt. Maybe to a fault, sometimes, but I liked that about her. Even to her own detriment she spoke her mind." She was rambling, she was aware of that. And this message... This had not been cryptic. Perhaps to the youth who didn't know any better, it was. Ice seemed to grip her paws, freezing them in place.

Her father's paranoia, her own nightmares, jumping at shadows... They had been right. They had been right and Smokefeather had failed them all. Again. Failed to raise her son on the right path. Failed to protect her kits. Failed to bring the threat down with her. Beechfang had failed too. Failed to recognize her faults until it was much too late. Failed to do the right thing, over and over.

Too late to change the past. And here it stood in front of her, confused and wrong. Seemingly unknowing. Was that a lie too, she wondered? Was he waiting to strike?

Wolfblossom's son. The thought was weak, but there. Beechfang struggled to cling to it. Wolfblossom, who Beechfang was absolutely certain had no idea of the potential snake in her own family. Who had never known the destruction it had wrought. Who only knew nightmarish nursery tales as horrors before her time.

But the cat in front of her was a kit. A kit, like he had been.

"You..." Beechfang shook her head, voice dying in her throat. It took her a moment to find it again. She didn't realize she had taken a step back until her back was against something woven and cold, a shock against her skin.

"She was right. Be careful, kit." It was not an insult, rather, a reminder to herself. "Treasure your family, your siblings. Your parents who care about you." Wolfblossom, she thought, was a far different cat than Smokefeather. Beechfang had been largely absent from her daughter's life, but even at a distance it was so clear that she cared. That she wouldn't take out frustration at squabbling kits on them. Maybe that would help. "Never let hatred and jealousy blind you. Never raise your claws against them, do you hear me? Whatever anyone tells you, your loyalty is to your clan and only them." Stay away from me. For both of us.

It was too late to change the past, but maybe they could change the future. Too late, fool, whispered the voice in the back of her head. He's found you. He's won.

Just a kit... Wolfblossom's kit.

The tension was not unnoticed. Falconmoon felt his fur trying to rise, but he forced it to lay flat. What was this she-cat's problem? As she began to talk more, he only got more confused. Never let hatred and jealousy blind him? Never raise claws against his family? As if he would ever do that! His ears rotated back and nearly sat flat on his head. Only the fact that his tail curled close to a hind leg and fluffed a bit betrayed that he was beginning to get scared.

Why was he scared? Even he wasn't sure. He stared at the she-cat's eye... in her silver fur...

Falconmoon's dream came back to the forefront of his mind and he felt like he'd been struck by a monster. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. There was no stopped his fur standing on end now.

"Beechpaw..." He said once as his heart began to race. "It was you! We were fighting... then we stopped and we buried our fur and our blood and we peed on it to kill the smell. Why would we do that? I mean... it was just a dream. It was vivid... no, just a dream. It's just a coincidence! Like dreaming about Shrikestar before I met him. It's not real." Even he knew he was lying to himself now. Frustrations surged forward and brought a hard, icy look to his eyes.

"Why won't anyone tell me why this is happening?! Even from you I can't get a straight answer and you were a medicine cat! I hate this cryptic foxdung! I've had enough!" And just like that, a jolt of fear shot through him. His eyes were suddenly wide with terror while his heart thundered in his ribs. He didn't know what was going on.

All he knew was that he needed to run. Get away from this silver she-cat. Go home.

Falconmoon pivoted on his heel and bolted for the trees. He zipped up and over the wall and landed on the nearest branch back into Skyclan territory. He had no intention of stopping until he was back in the warrior's den. He didn't know why this was happening, only that he wanted it to stop.