Badgerpaw's Moonstone Journey

A heavy dusting of snow drenched the Leafbare-barren moorland, the weak early morning sunlight throwing dazzling reflections off of the crisp and unbroken snowfall that laid upon the earth. A frigid wind rattled its way across WindClan's desolate territory, bringing only the cool scents that promised more snowfall later in the day. Fluffing out her fur and ignoring the profuse stinging in her nose and exposed ears, Brindlewhisker did her best to chase away the bitter chill that gathered within the core of her being as she finished off the pitiful amount of traveling herbs that Mottleheart and Featherpaw had prepared for her- although it did little to sate the rumbling within her belly. Exhaling a visible breathe, and feeling her teeth chatter in response, the Deputy crouched down low to the brittle earth as waited, seeking to find shelter against the brisk breeze.

After confiding with Ashstar and Hollowbranch, she was pleased to find out that another apprentice was nearing the end of their training; with Leafbare already being so cruel this early in the season, they were definitely going to need all the Warriors they could get their paws on. Wrapping her tail around herself in another futile attempt to keep warm, Brindlewhisker tucked Badgerpaw's traveling herbs safely beneath her as she waited for the young tom to join her out in the unpleasant weather. It was reassuring that another apprentice was ready to wrap up their training in the form of trekking to the Highstones, but did they really have to do so in such nasty weather?

The tom had to convince himself to leave the warm rabbit den that was the apprentices' temporary home against the bad weather. He really didn't want to go out in this cold, but he had no choice. There was only a little bit more training he had left to do, and he needed to get it done. The charcoal bengal tom pushed his way out of the den, and out into the cold. His ears instantly going flat against his head. Ugh.. of course they had to travel in this.

The tom slowly trudged over to Brindlewhisker. His yellow amber eyes looking at the deputy. "I wanna get there as soon as possible, and leave as soon as possible. I don't want to be in this cold." He stated bluntly. He would do it because of training, but as far as that went he didn't want to remain for a long time.

"I don't blame you," Brindlewhisker mewed in response, a tinge of goodnatured humor evident in her brisk words, "Traveling during Leafbare is always irksome to put it lightly." A sharp shiver crept down her spine in response to her own words, but the brindled she-cat forced herself to rise up from the crouch she had fallen into. Using a careful forepaw, the Deputy gently pushed the small bundle of herbs towards the darkly-colored Apprentice, taking extra caution to avoid damaging the precious traveling herbs. "Make sure to eat all of these- they'll keep you from becoming hungry or exhausted during the journey." Brindlewhisker quickly mewed, ears flattening against her skull at a particularly sharp gust of wind, eyes trained upon the charcoal-colored tom as she spoke.

Badgerpaw lifted one ear as Brindlewhisker spoke up, though every time a gust of wind past, he had to fight the urge to put it back down. It was way to cold for this. The apprentice nodded once she finished the explanation of the herbs, and he quickly scooped them up in his mouth and ate them, preferring to deal with the taste instead of complaining so that way they could get out of the cold faster.

"Ready to get out of this cold?" The apprentice asked in his way of asking her if she was ready. "Cause I sure am." The tom said to his deputy.

Tossing her head back and letting out a soft trill of agreement to Badgerpaw's words, Brindlewhisker blinked back several crystalline tears that arose in response to the bitter chill that wreathed around the unfortunate pair of WindClan cats. How unfortunate- they likely would spend all day and night out of the warmth of camp and exposed to the harsh Leafbare weather of the day. Fantastic! A slight grimace twisted the Deputy's face at the realization, but she quickly swallowed down the irritation as she nodded towards the camp's entrance.

"Hopefully StarClan's kind to us for this journey- I don't think it'd be very enjoyable to spend the duration of your Warrior Ceremony with some sort of cold." Brindlewhisker hummed, her teeth chattering once more as she spoke to the charcoal-colored Apprentice, her gaze briefly darting up towards the cool and crisp sky high above them as they quickly departed from the safety of camp.

No. Badgerpaw didn't want to have a cold during his ceremony. As long as they moved swiftly they could possibly avoid it. The charcoal tom silently prayed himself for kindness on the journey before padding off after his deputy. Ignoring the harsh cold on his paws, and flattened his ears against his head to protect them from the cold. Sometimes he wished he had the fluffy fur of the Skyclan leader.

-time skip for my sanity-

The sky was bleeding red behind the imposing outline of the Highstones and the faint light of Silverpelt was barely visible in the early night sky that unfolded around them. The gaping wound in the Earth that hungrily swallowed what little light remained in the late dusk of day eagerly awaiting their approach with an eerie calmness. They had finally arrived to the Highstones a few hours earlier and spent the majority of the day lingering in the shade of nearby trees and brittle undergrowth to escape the light snowfall that had fallen upon them halfway through their journey. The ground was growing stiff beneath the two WindClan cat's paws due to the tendrils of frost that were clawing their way across the sparse forest floor, signaling another brutally cold evening. Brindlewhisker's short fur was fluffed out as she huddled close by Badgerpaw in an attempt to chase away the incessantly cruel chill, although her gaze remained trained on the rapidly darkening sky countless tail-lengths above them. Thankfully the Leafbare days were so short- she didn't know if the pair could handle waiting in the cold for very much longer.

Rising to her paws and giving herself a brief shake to free her fur of the light coating of snow, the Deputy strode away from where she had been previously resting. Twitching her tail in a signal for Badgerpaw to follow suit, she continued to silently tread towards the Mothermouth. The frost-brittle ground was unprotected here, so large clumps of snow dotted the open territory here- forcing the pair to practically bound through the swathes. Clumps of snow clung to her belly, causing the Deputy to shiver violently- if she thought it was cold out here, just how cold was the Moonstone's cavern going to be? Finally pausing at the entrance to the sacred cavern, Brindlewhisker turned to look back at the dark form of Badgerpaw with intent eyes that gleamed sharply in the rapidly weakening light of dusk before finally speaking. "Are you ready to meet StarClan, Badgerpaw?"

Badgerpaw couldn't help but having to stop and shake out his fur every so often. He didn't like the cold in the slightest. He was ready for Newleaf to come around or just a warm sunny day. He couldn't take this much longer. The apprentice was happy when they finally reached mother mouth, but he wasn't going to wait outside much longer. "I'm ready." He said to his deputy. There wasn't a need to comment on the cold anymore.

"Good." Brindlewhisker mewed softly, nodding to emphasize her brisk words, a faint hint of relief evident on her face as she gazed at the smokey tom. Several of the other apprentice's that she had taken upon this journey had balked at the fact that they were actually about to speak with the cats who had come before them. Sweeping her tail in a wide arc, the Deputy fluffed out her fur in anticipation before speaking once more. "The tunnel we are about to go through is very dark and it will feel like you might get stuck in the passage, but just remember to breathe and keep walking- the tunnel does open back up towards the end." She warned briskly, turning to eye the dark opening in front of them, her voice reassuring, "Just remember, this is the most difficult part of our journey." Turning around with a soft chirp, Brindlewhisker plunged down into the gaping entrance of the Mothermouth, her pupils dilating as she tried to find an adequate light source within the dark depths of the tunnel.

For several long heartbeats as the little WindClan duo continued further and further into the passage, it began to grow tighter and tighter around them until the stony walls were pressing against their sides in a menacing manner. Her ears were pricked in an attempt to check on Badgerpaw, but she didn't dare halt their progress. The tight tunnel around them slowly began to widen with every step the pair took and there was the faintest hint of fresh air wafting from deep within the darkness. The soft muddy earth beneath their paws was softly sloping upwards towards an unseen destination. After several moments of walking, the tunnel finally widened out into spacious cavern that was already lit by the dazzling light of the moon. Halting several steps away from the glittering Moonstone, Brindlewhisker nudged Badgerpaw towards the sacred stone with a gentle push, "Lay down next to the stone and press your nose against it- from there, StarClan will be able to speak to you."

As soon as Brindlewhisker went into the cave Badgerpaw followed shortly after. His mouth open taking in her scent, and following close. There were many old scents in the cave but he didn't let it stray him from hers. He began to feel a bit of panic well inside him as the cave seemed to get tighter and tighter but as soon as it became unbearable for him they reached it.

Amber eyes widened at the sight of the shining stone. He felt the deputy nudge him forward to the stone unsure of what to do until she told him. The apprentice looked down at the ground for a moment before finally settling down on the cold ground and pressing his nose to the cold surface. A chill went through him because of the cold, but it all soon faded from vision as sleep took him.

The charcoal colored tom woke up in the grassy plans, with star shining brightly above. His eyes scanned all of the area around him. He didn't quite understand what was happening but he was here.. Wasn't there supposed to be someone waiting on him? The tom's eyes flicked over as he saw a gray starry striped tail disappear behind a set of bushes and vanish without leaving a trace. Who was that? The tom tilted his head unsure of who he just saw, it wouldn't be til later that he would find out it was his true mother.

"Hello, Badgerpaw." The starry grey and white pelted she-cat began to take shape as she passed up from the opposite direction. A smile edged up the corners of her maw. She loved having the privilege of speaking to young cats when they met with Starclan. Once upon a time, she had longed for knowing what it felt like to care for her own kits. But, given her role as a medicine cat, the beautiful she-cat had never gotten the chance. Sageleaf blinked her forest green eyes as she stood across from Badgerpaw. Another fine young Windclan cat was almost ready to receive their warrior name. As much as she had longed for such a day to come in her own life, the Starclan cat was now satisfied just to watch it happen for the cats on the moors.

"My name is Sageleaf. Before you were born, I was the medicine cat of Windclan." She meowed in a brief introduction. The young tom had likely at least heard her name before, but there was no need to leave him wondering who the ancestors had chosen for him to speak to. She waited patiently for him to speak up before diving into the message she was to pass on today. Besides, after all, it wasn't every day a cat had the chance to speak with Starclan.

OCC: you'll have to remind me what you wanted her to say because I lost all my pms :(

The apprentice tilted his head. "Medicine Cat?" He was confused. Why would a medicine cat visit him? Was this a sign that he was actually supposed to be Medicine Cat instead of Featherpaw? No.. That couldn't be it. He wasn't meant to be a medicine cat he liked fighting and hunting and all of that mess not those icky herbs!

"Why are you visiting me?" He wanted to know. He was just some random cat he wasn't special enough to be visited by medicine cats.. but here he was. "I thought I was supposed to talk to someone related to me?" There were cats related to Nightheart, so why weren't they here? Especially the one called Breezeheart? Nightheart talked of her often.

"Don't worry, Badgerpaw," Sageleaf's whiskers twitched in amusement at his confusion, "I am not here to change your destiny or anything of the sort. In fact, I used to dream of being a warrior just like you and even trained for it under Brindlewhisker." The memories of her training sessions with the deputy caused a soft smile to come across her maw. Those had been good times. Her training with Beetlewing had not been so bad either, despite how much she longed to be out learning to fight alongside her brother.

"Starclan does not always send your relatives. But rather the best cat to speak to you. I hope I'm qualified enough." She narrowed her eyes at him before laughing softly to herself. As she padded a little closer and flicked her tail across his nose, Sageleaf continued, "Besides, I think any cat would just as well pass on the message I have to give. You need to learn to think things out before you act, Badgerpaw. I smacked many wreckless warriors in my time for being mousebrains. Don't disappoint me." The she-cat waited for his reply. Their short time together seemed to not be enough. But, the tom had to return to his deputy and clan.

OCC: is there a specific reason they're supposed to be meeting?? also, lemme know if there is anything else you needed from me I can edit this

Think before he acted? Didn't he already do that? He thought he did but he didn't know for sure. "Uhh.. Okay." Badgerpaw replied. She was the medicine cat of course she would set other warriors straight. He didn't know that any cat could visit him though, he always thought it was relatives. At least that was what he was told.

"I will try to think before acting from now on." Even though he thought he already did that. The charcoal tom looked around Sageleaf for a moment trying to see if he spotted the cat from earlier. "Do you know who that cat was that disappeared earlier?" He asked the she-cat.

Sageleaf's ear twitched at his question, "Her name is Thistleblaze. She was just passing through." The grey and white nodded, giving away no further information to the young tom. Their time was now coming to an end. She realized he did not pay much attention to her words and reiterated, "Remember to think, Badgerpaw. Your clan will thank you." With that, the former medicine cat faded into the starry landscape and the world around the apprentice blackened. It was time for him to return to Windclan.