Dewpaw's Moonstone Journey

The night was coming slowly as a few snowflakes fell from the sky. The deputy didn't even bother of shaking the snow from his fur and he just continued walking to the apprentice den with herbs on his mouth. Carefully, the tom placed the travelling herbs in a spot where the snow and cold won't harm them and then, he entered the den. His green eyes searched for the young she-cat that was now going to meet her ancestors.

"Dewpaw, it's time. Meet at the entrance when you're ready." He mewed loud enough so the apprentice would hear him clearly. Jaystream, like he used to do, already told her that today it was the day for her Moonstone journey but he never told her when until now. The handsome deputy left the den and sat down outside, looking at the snow falling slowly in the camp. With a kind smile, he thought: Even if leaf-bare is a harsh season... I have to admit that it's also a beautiful one....

Dewpaw roused from her sleep with a yawn. Her peaceful dream of swimming in a river of endless fish and soft moss ended as a voice called her to reality. She stood and shook moss from her pelt before slipping out of the apprentices den to where Jaystream was waiting. She glanced around camp for Lilytail before she remembered her mentor wasn't coming. This was something the deputy did. She smiled at him politely before sniffing the bundle of herbs.

"Do we need to take these now, or carry them with us?" She asked him curiously. They smelled horrible and bitter. Not at all like the wonderful fish in her dream.

Returning to reality, the deputy glanced at the she-cat by his side, who was already interested in the bitter herbs. "We have to eat them now for our travel. Like this." The handsome tom picked one of the packs of herbs and he swallowed the plants quickly, trying to avoid the taste. Fish was still way better than this. How Goldeneye managed to smell these things all day? Of course, he was used to travelling herbs but they still had a nasty and unpleasant taste.

He licked the last rests that were left on his fangs and then stood up, looking at Dewpaw. "Are you ready to go?" He asked after she finished eating.

She grimaced at Jaystream as she picked up her bundle of herbs. The stalks broke on her teeth and the disgusting taste didn't bode well with her tongue at all. Choking back the urge to spit them out on the ground she tried to eat them as fast as possible and tried hard to envision the taste of the fish from her dream, the shrew from last night, even the taste of water from the stream. Anything to get rid of the foulness that seemed to stay in her mouth even after she swallowed them down.

"Those are awful." She meowed as she brushed a paw over her muzzle to brush off any remnants. There was no way she would eat those again. "I'm ready... thank starclan I'm not a medicine cat." She shuddered at the thought. If all herbs tasted this bad, she didn't want anything to do with them. Ever. Goldeneye and Cloudstone could keep them all to themselves. She followed Jaystream through the entrance, and as they began to travel her mind began to wander. What would she see? What was the moonstone like? Was it scary and large... what if something got in their way?

The tom started the journey and he left the camp with the she-cat right next to him. A few snowflakes kept falling from the sky as they walked through the already known groups of reeds, beech trees and streams. This land was probably still familiar to Dewpaw so the warrior didn't worry too much about her safety. The apprentice already should know her own territory and their dangers. This place was still their home. But eventually... they had to leave it.

Soon, the two RiverClanners were standing in front of the river. Thanks to Ivystar's orders, there was no ice covering the water because the warriors and apprentices had been breaking it everytime they could. With a leap, the deputy placed himself on the first rock of the natural rock bridge that they were going to use. "Come, Dewpaw. Use only the stones where I step and be careful. The water and ice make the surface slippery and I don't want to have you hurt if you fall." As a Riverclan apprentice, the she-cat knew how to swim. That's why Jaystream wasn't concerned about herself getting drowned. What really worried him was the idea of her getting frozen by the cold water or hitting herself with a rock.

Jaystream started jumping from one stone to another, destroying any piece of ice with his claws so the she-cat won't fall. Once he was on the ground again, he waited for the apprentice, watching her carefully.

The she-cat stopped when Jaystream paused to instruct her. She nodded and waited patiently for him to make the first leap, before following him with care. She had no desire to get cold from the river. The stones beneath her paws made her shiver as patches where Jaystream had just smashed the ice were still left cold and slightly wet in it's absence. Her fluffy tail worked to help her keep balance as she made it through without a single slip and smiled at him, then looked around. Even though the journey was protected by clan laws, she dug her paws into the ground uneasily at the thought of crossing lands claimed by other clans.

"D-do you think they'll honour the code?" She asked softly in worry. With all that Thunderclan had done recently, she felt the fear was valid as she scented the air for any enemy patrols. Both Thunderclan and Windclan working together... it chilled her to think about the potential hostlity.

He didn't have to ask who was Dewpaw referring when she asked that question. Jaystream sighed, a bit saddened and concerned about the unknown future of his clan. "I don't know what to think anymore, to be honest. At least, until now, they had not attacked me or any apprentice during these journeys but we can't let our guard down after what happened to Rowanpaw, Fawnsong and to Goldeneye. Thunderclan and Windclan are quite dangerous now... but don't worry. I'll protect you if something bad happens. That's why I'm here." For now, they were safe and in neutral territory. However, they would soon have to step in Windclan's lands and Dewpaw could get nervous. Who wouldn't be after they claimed to form an alliance with Thunderclan? The deputy understood the worries of the young she-cat and he tried to calm her down a bit with his words. She didn't have to worry about that stuff. For now, what was really important was her Moonstone journey and nothing else.

Together, the two RiverClanners crossed the Fourtrees and adventured further away from there, reaching the large grey path that all the cats knew as the Thunderpath. "You probably hasn't seen this place before but this is the Thunderpath, Dewpaw. It crosses Windclan, Shadowclan and Thunderclan's land and, thanks to Starclan, we're not related to it. Monsters cross this place and murder everything that dares to lay a paw in front of them. However, they don't follow any cat. They stay on the grey road and that's we must be extremely careful right now to cross. Windclan's moors are on the other side, as well as the sacred mountains. Follow me when I say so and run as fast as you can to the other side, not looking back or stopping." After he gave Dewpaw the proper instructions, Jaystream watched the Thunderpath with piercing green eyes and waited patiently until the only thing he could hear was the breeze and their own breathing. Nothing was coming... "Now!" He yowled, running as fast as his long legs allowed him. Thanks to his muscular body, the tom didn't have any problem to arrive at his destination in just a few seconds. He turned his head, breathing fastly, to see if the she-cat was coming too.

Dewpaw nodded seriously at Jaystream's words. She padded cautiously beside him, slightly closer as they crossed fortress. The large looming shape of high rock looked completely different in the daytime, and Dewpaw felt slightly thrown off by the sudden difference. She glanced around at where other territories met the mighty oaks with wonder. How old were the trees? What stories could they tell? She tilted her head curiously as if she hoped they would simply answer the question. Of course, they didn't and she followed Jaystream dutifully onto the rolling moors of Windclan with trepidation. The sudden wide vastness surrounding them felt unnerving.

The only non-white part was the sleek grey thunderpath. She blinked, then coughed as the stench of it reached her nose. What was it? She watched and listened to Jaystream intently, her tail twitched nervously as they waited for a gap between the strange sleek monsters. Her eyes confused by the different colours and patterns of the things. She took deep breaths, winced as the acrid taste burned her tongue, but held firm until he yowled and lurched forward full-pelt. The strange texture of the thunderpath scraped her paws and she bit back any complaints until her paws were safely submerged into the cool snow.
"That thing is awful!" She meowed bitterly. Dewpaw grimaced at the thought of how much of the scent wouldn't leave her coat. A dip in the river would get rid of it, but the cold...

The warrior checked his own paws to see if there was a wound caused by the hard path that they just crossed before continuing the trip. "It's awful and uncomfortable but we'll not have to use it again until we come back home. For now, we will walk in Windclan's territory until we arrive at our final destination." And just like he said, the deputy and the apprentice walked together in the solitary snowy moors.

(Time skip)

The grass was gone from a while ago and they had been walking over a rocky ground that announced how close they were to the sacred mountains. The deputy passed over a big rock and when he landed on the ground once again, the dark cave was in front of him. "We're here, Dewpaw. This cave is the Mothermouth. An entrance to the Moonstone, where your ancestors are waiting to speak to you this night. Come. The path inside is dark and since you don't know the way, you have to stay close to me and don't get behind or you might get lost in the tunnels." Jaystream didn't wait for an answer because he was sure that the she-cat would follow his order.

The large tom entered the wet and black tunnel, leading the apprentice through the right places so she wouldn't enter a wrong cave. Slowly but steady, he guided Dewpaw in the darkness and they finally reached the end of the path, where the shiny rock was waiting in silence for the she-cat. With a relieved smile, the deputy made his way to his usual rock covered with moss and he laid down there, glancing at Dewpaw who was probably admiring the Moonstone. "Touch the stone with your nose as you close your eyes. Don't be surprised when you wake up in a different place. You will be in Starclan and one Starclan cat will talk to you. Be respectful and good luck in your journey, Dewpaw."

Again? Dewpaw lamented the thought of touching the thunderpath again, but perked up at the mention of their final destination. At least, she'd finally get to see it. The Moonstone. She followed Jaystream closely the entire way through the moors. Her blue eyes observing the vast white space with caution and waiting for potential enemy patrols to come their way. Her pelt brushed close to his when she saw a streak of fur in the distance, only to realise it was a rabbit by the time they caught up to the tracks it had made.
"Why do they live in such a open place?" She wondered openly. Though the wind whipped away her words as they came up to the mountains.

She stared at the massive rocks with fear and awe. They were huge. The entrance to the cave seemed dark and foreboding, and she braced herself against the smooth rock just outside of it with caution. For a moment, Dewpaw wanted to ask if it was safe, but Jaystream was already moving in and so she followed carefully. Her paws felt every step and her nose kept close to his tail. When her whiskers brushed the walls she froze at first, then moved a tiny bit to get used to the sensation before she slowly resumed after him. Her nose and scent glands working overtime to find and follow his scent into the large cavern where the shining stone waited.

Her eyes widened in awe at the glistening stone. The pale moonlight seemed to shine from within it and left her awed and amazed until he spoke again. She blinked, then looked at Jaystream, then back to the stone. Countless apprentices had done this same journey, had reached the same stone, and none of them had been injured. She took a deep breath, readying herself before she crouched down and closed her eyes, the cold stone was a bit of a shock, but nothing compared to the sudden appearance of a forest around her.

Dewpaw knew she had been in the cave. Now she was... somewhere, starclan. She blinked in amazement as she looked around. She was in starclan! She had made it here, and now she would get to speak to one of her ancestors! Dewpaw smiled and sat calmly, patiently as she waited for the Starclan cat to come and speak to her. She didn't want to move from where she stood in case she ruined something, yet in the background, she could see the soft white pelt long forgotten of her mother. The deep grey pelt of her father next to her, both of them smiled back but did not speak or come forward to offer sage wisdom. They were simply there to observe how their kit had grown in their absence.

The starry landscape around Dewpaw seemed endless. Reeds swayed and whispered around the young apprentice, almost as if they had secrets of their own. The stars up in the sky were moving. Slowly but surely, one of them moved more than the rest, picking up pace until it was hurtling towards the ground. It was a cat. A silver tabby, with one blue and one amber eye. He touched the ground as lightly as if he had just stepped forwards. ”Dewpaw.” Brightpaw mewed, his eyes showing wisdom beyond his age. It would seem that nothing at all changed about him, but if one were to look closely, they could see the stars swirling around his pelt. His usual sarcastic, knowing smile was upon his face. ”Is there anything you’d like to ask?”

Dewpaw's eyes widened at the cat that stood before her. She had just seen him, mourned him, and now she stepped forward to greet him a final time.
"Brightpaw..." Her throat felt tight. He didn't have any wounds on him anymore. He didn't seem miserable either, and she could only be thankful for that. "D-do you think I deserve to be a warrior?" She asked softly. Her own doubts and insecurity rising to the surface under his sarcastic smile. Dewpaw shifted her paws nervously on the starry grass. "I-is there anything... you want me to tell anyone? S-spotpaw was..." Sad, angry at himself, yet none of those words fit quite well enough. She looked at Brightpaw hopefully, as if his answers held the power to solve all her life's mysteries.