Brushpaw’s Moonstone Journey

Another day, another journey. Not that the ShadowClan deputy minded. He knew he would have to teach Morningpaw the route to Highstones eventually; even if he didn’t mind the travel, it was beginning to take a heavy toll on his stamina. He wasn’t exactly young anymore after all.

Scorchfang waited patiently by the camp entrance with a bundle of herbs made by their medicine cat, the other offered eaten already, the stinging, bitter taste still plaguing his tongue. He rasped his tongue over his lips many times as he waited for Brushpaw to arrive so he could accompany her to the Moonstone for her rite of passage with StarClan.

Brushpaw padded out of the apprentices' den in the still, quiet morning, bits of moss still clinging to her pelt. She was beginning to despise her old nest, and her place in it. It was high time she became a warrior; just because Firestone was too busy and important to train her didn't mean she wasn't ready for promotion. She was just as good as all the other cats, and being a warrior was the best way to serve her Clan... and a better way to be trusted by Littlestar and Scorchfang. Not that she wanted their trust- but Lichenmask needed her to help him with his plans, and this seemed like the best way for now.

She didn't say a word as she went up to the deputy, swallowing the bitter traveling herbs with only a mild expression of distaste. She was too old to mewl like a kit over something tasting bad- though eating them definitely wasn't pleasant. Her pale green eyes gazed up at Scorchfang, seeming to go right through his fluffy black pelt as she remembered everything she knew about him- especially his former RiverClan mate, who had been exiled for her affair. Somehow, he hadn't been punished for breaking the code... instead, he remained in a high position. Disgusting. This was why all the Clans were poisoned. However, none of her feelings showed on her face, just a stone-blank expression with mild, thoughtless pleasantness. "Are we going?"

(OOC: Sorry for the long wait! And sorry for not going straight into the StarClan meeting yet, I just really like learning how well the mentors have trained their apprentices so that it makes choosing mentors for future apprentices a bit easier for me in hindsight. :3)

”Yes, we are. Don’t worry, Highstones won’t be going anywhere anytime soon,” Scorchfang joked with a smile. He padded out of the camp entrance and began leading Brushpaw down the usual route towards their destination.

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(TIME SKIP)

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It took all day, but the two of them had finally reached Highstones. Now, they stood by the entrance of Mothermouth, waiting for the sun to finish setting in the distance. The deputy settled down on a flat rock by the entrance and directed his attention to Brushpaw. ”We still have a few moments before we can enter. Tell me, Brushpaw, do you feel your training was satisfactory, and was your mentor’s ways of teaching effective? Do you feel you’re ready to become a warrior soon?”

Brushpaw blinked slowly at the tom's question. Ought she to speak her mind?... Well, that's obviously what he was expecting. "What Firestone did teach me, he taught well," she said slowly. "However, he was very busy and didn't end up spending much time with me during training. I mostly ended up teaching myself and learning from other warriors. But am I ready? Yes, yes I am. I've been ready to be a warrior for at least two moons." Her tail-tip flicked in slight irritation, wanting the conversation to be over so she could speak with StarClan. As Lichenmask's follower, they were sure to tell her something important.

”I apologize that you had to wait for as long as you did. Perhaps Firestone is growing too old to continue training younger cats?...” Scorchfang shook his head. ”But I digress. Let’s go ahead and get you ready to speak to StarClan, shall we?”

Now that the sun had disappeared over the horizon, the large tom stood up and began leading the apprentice behind him into the darkness of Mothermouth. After several moments of precise paw placement, the two ShadowClanners reached the cave where the now brightly glowing Moonstone stood. He turned to Brushpaw and smiled. ”Touch your nose to the Moonstone’s surface and you will be whisked away to StarClan’s hunting grounds in your dreams. I’ll be here when you wake.”

Brushpaw listened with only half an ear to the deputy, just continuing to walk, eyes on the destination ahead. The Moonstone, sacred place of StarClan. She didn't have a very high opinion of many StarClan cats, letting the forest get as out of paw as it was, but she knew that they had made the right decision in choosing Lichenmask to be the tom to take care of the problem. And she would help him along the way- and StarClan would help her. She knew they would have important things to tell her. Padding through the dark tunnels, following her instincts as much as Scorchfang, she felt only a small tinge of apprehension, but shook it away with a slight flick of her tail. She had no reason to feel any emotion as kitlike and mouse-brained as fear. Only confidence and determination showed in the apprentice's bearing as she finally made it to the Moonstone. She felt like she should have been impressed by its beauty- tall and imperious, glittering coldly down on the mere mortal cats below- but she wasn't. It was just a piece of rock, illuminated by the moon above. Its glimmering lights danced in her otherwise uninterested pale green eyes, and she nodded at the deputy's words, only half paying attention. The moment of truth. She lay down and touched her nose to its cold stone surface.

When she opened her eyes, she sat in a starry field, glittering with as many lights as the sky above it. There was nothing but a field for as far as she could see- except, she felt like someone was watching her. A chill ran down her spine as she whipped around, only to see a StarClan she-cat sitting behind her. The she-cat was slim and golden, dappled with darker spots. Stars glowed in her pelt, and her amber eyes were slightly sorrowful as they stared into Brushpaw's own. It wasn't until she noticed the thin line of a scar on the StarClanner's throat that she realized who it was. Honeydrop. Distaste immediately blossomed in her throat. It was Firestone's mother, and Gingerstripe's. It was the medicine cat who had broken the code, then been exiled, and then been killed by her own son- the root cast out and destroyed by the seed. One of the biggest reasons that she'd discovered her dreams aligned with Lichenmask's. And there she sat, just looking at her with those big, sad eyes.

Brushpaw's face stayed flat and emotionless, but her eyes burned with an emotion stronger than dislike. Hatred. Not just for the she-cat, but for what she represented. The evil that was choking the forest, and ShadowClan. "What do you want with me?" she finally asked when the medicine cat said nothing, lip curled with distaste.

The golden she-cat closed her eyes and let out a little sigh, then opened them. They were still full of sorrow- but not for herself, the apprentice realized. For her. "You're in serious danger of making a costly mistake, Brushpaw," Honeydrop replied quietly.

The apprentice bristled. "What's it to you? I thought StarClan was on Lichenmask's side! The forest is full of cats like you, tainting blood and breaking the Code and ruining everything that every warrior before us has worked for. It needs to be fixed, like a pine tree with sick branches. Those branches-" her eyes left no doubt as to who she considered a sick branch- "those branches corrupt the entire tree, and soon it falls. Do you want that, Honeydrop? Do you want your former Clan to collapse to the ground like crowfood?"

"No, of course not!" Honeydrop's eyes widened, and she shook her head. "That's not what I'm talking about. I don't agree with Lichenmask and his methods, but I'm not talking about that. You are in danger of a far more serious mistake- the kind that you are denouncing yourself. If you don't learn how to feel emotions and control yourse-"

"Control myself?" Brushpaw's hackles raised farther, and she bared her teeth in a snarl. How dare this cat?! "I can control myself just fine! In case you haven't noticed, I can keep control of any emotion I want. I can be quiet while I'm angry, I can keep opinions to myself, I can even suppress the desire to claw codebreakers like you across the face. But wait, your son already did that to you, didn't he?"

Gingerstripe. Honeydrop flinched with visible pain, then shook herself and continued. "Brushpaw, listen! You shouldn't be keeping your emotions inside like this! One of these days, you'll get a feeling that you don't know how to deal with- and then what? You'll make a mistake that you'll regret for the rest of your life, one that will wrest any control that you have over your life and do to you what my own mistake did to me!" Silence hung in the air for a few moments.

"What, you think I'll get in a forbidden relationship?" Brushpaw blinked, then laughed with derision. "For a StarClan cat, you sure are mouse-brained. If you knew anything about me at all, you'd know that that's the least likely problem for me to have. Not only do I live by the Code, unlike some cats, I also have absolutely no interest in getting a mate. Toms are stupid, and none of them would ever be interested in me anyways. Is that the 'mistake' you're pretending to be so concerned about?!" Her pale green eyes narrowed in anger and disdain, ignoring the slight pang to her heart as she spoke aloud the reason that she knew kept her from ever getting love from any cat- whether she wanted it or not. She was no great beauty, no flirt- there was no reason a tom would ever like her. And besides, the only tom that she did like- but not in that way- couldn't afford a mate to distract him. "I'm perfectly safe from that type of problem. Unlike you, Honeydrop. Tell me, was Flamestrike too mouse-brained to realize that you're a horrible catch as well as a medicine cat, or did he just want to play with your emotions for fun?"

The medicine cat took a step back, blinking tears out of her eyes, and continued in desperation. "Brushpaw, if you don't listen to me, bad things will happen! Please! Don't do it for me, do it for Lichenmask!"

The apprentice stopped short for a second in shock, then shook her head. "Yeah, right. Like I'd listen to an exiled code-breaker like you. Nothing bad will happen to me, and I will never- never- break the Code." She stood up and turned around, flicking her tail in the exiled she-cat's face before walking away, not letting her see the slight indecision on her face. She could control her emotions just fine.

Honeydrop just sat there, stunned, sorrowing. The poor apprentice had no idea what she was in for... it had been her last chance to change the sad destiny that awaited for her. A single, starlit tear slid down her cheek before she vanished in a swirl of light.

Brushpaw awoke and sat up, shaking her head slightly. She wouldn't let that she-cat get inside her head. Pushing everything that Honeydrop had told her to the back of her mind, she padded back over to Scorchfang, signaling with a nod of her head that everything was all right. It would always be.