Egretpaw's Moonstone Journey

A soft sigh escaped Mistlepaw's maw as she forced herself out of her nest. Quickly licking her pelt to free it of some stubborn moss, she padded towards the herb bundles she prepared earlier that day. She ate hers, and held Egretpaw's in her mouth. The apprentice had been training to be a warrior a while before she was born, and it was finally her turn to witness the wonder of the Moonstone. Although that wonder had worn off for the medicine cat apprentice, she adored seeing the awestruck faces of those who saw it for the first time. She purred, imagining the look of pure shock and amazement striking the senior apprentice's features.

She stepped through the sleeping forms of the other apprentices, until she finally came to Egretpaw. "Egretpaw," she meowed, nudging the apprentice, "time to wake up."

Egretpaw had been enjoying a blissful, dreamless sleep in the center of the apprentice's den, warmed by the softly snoring forms of the denmates around her. Though one nest now lay empty. At Mistlepaw's prodding the grey she-cat let out a soft, indignant mrr before raising her head, eyes bleary. A brief moment passed in which she forgot the difference between dreams and reality. "Mistlepaw? What..." her voice came soft and perhaps a bit hoarse. A yank on her heartstrings signaled the end of her brief delusion; her brother wasn't sleeping beside her. The medicine cat apprentice held a packet of leaves in her maw. The young she-cat shook her head. The soft flapping of her ears echoed in the otherwise silent den. She offered Mistlepaw a polite but confused smile. "Is there something up?" What did she want?

The gray and white medicine cat apprentice blinked, a little surprised. Was she kidding, or did she genuinely forget tonight was her moonstone journey? Ah, it didn't matter. Perhaps it was the grogginess from sleep; whatever it was, Mistlepaw wouldn't hold her accountable. "It's your Moonstone Journey, remember? Where you go to the Moonstone and Starclan shares some advice or some kind of warning.." she meowed gently,  amusement twinkling in her green gaze. "Come on, Egretpaw. We have a lot of ground to cover," with a flick of her tail, she left the apprentices' den, careful not to wake the others.

When Mistlepaw’s words’ meanings registered in her ears, the warrior apprentice shook her head to wake herself up. “Ah. Right. Thank you.” Egretpaw quickly groomed her chest to free it of any clinging moss before setting her eyes on the little packet of herbs the young medicine cat had brought. With a small grimace she ate it. Just as apprentices before her had mentioned, very bitter. Briefly sticking out her tongue at the taste, she moved to start their journey. Indeed, they had a lot of ground to cover, and a limited amount of time to do it.

Walking there felt like an eternity, and she mumbled a half-baked wish. “If only there were a stream that could carry us the whole way there and back.” She gave the younger she-cat a wry smile. RiverClan cats were meant to swim, so help her StarClan! Not walk like all the other clans had to. She could feel rough stones beneath her pawpads, though whether or not they were close to the Moonstone was unclear. She didn’t know where it was. ‘Mistlepaw has to do this for every apprentice, and at every half-moon? Great StarClan, when she gets her name it should be Mistlefoot, or Mistleleg. This is too much.’

Mistlepaw nodded at the apprentice, waiting patiently until she finished the herbs and the taste wore off a bit. Once she was done, she beckoned her with a flick of her tail. There was no time to waste: Starclan was waiting for them.

~~~

Mothermouth was not that far now. Egretpaw had done a wonderful job at keeping the medicine cat entertained during the usually boring journey, making it pass quicker. For what, she was grateful. At the warrior apprentice's most recent comment, she chuckled, and offered a small smile. "Ahaha, you're right. If only there was a river that would take us right to it. My job would be so much easier, especially with the webbed paws. They're made for swimming, not walking." The medicine cat apprentice looked down at her paws and examined the webbing between her toes: a trait that all cats of Riverclan shared. She placed her paw back down and continued taking the the last strides they needed before they would be in the presence of Starclan. Before they descended into the cave, Mistlepaw spoke again, her tone a bit more serious, "all right, we're almost there. It's really dark in the cave, so feel free to call out to me if I'm going to fast or to grab onto my tail. Oh, and what Starclan tells you is up to you to share. But if it is impending doom, it'd be wise to inform me." With that out of the way, the gray and white she-cat crept into the cave, using muscle memory to guide her through the confusing tunnels. After walking through the darkness for some time, a pale light pierced the air. Now, they truly arrived. She padded into the cavern and stepped out of the way, allowing Egretpaw full view of the luminous stone. "I'll be waiting here for you, Egretpaw."

Egretpaw followed warily, her eyes no doubt pure black pits as they struggled to drink any pinprick of light there may have been. The rock wasn't rough anymore, more smoothed by the seasons of pawsteps along this apparently well-worn path, though one she probably would never set foot on ever again. With no eyes upon her, the she-cat's face dropped to a stark blank. No thoughts ran through her head. She simply followed Mistlepaw's scent like a strand of spider silk in the wind. Flowing and uneasy, but hard to break. Eventually they came across their quarry: a cavern with a hole in the ceiling, from which a stream of moonlight poured out and onto the Moonstone below. It was bright and cold; not unlike a shard of ice in the rising sun. The medicine cat apprentice's words floated by her, and the grey tabby could barely respond with a quiet nod as the stone drew her forward. She stood before it for a brief moment, feeling the chill of stone radiate into her, the reflecting light making her look like a statue herself. Then she kneeled and placed her nose to it.


Nothing felt different. Furrowing her brow she backed away slightly, scrunching her eyes until they felt clearer. She was wrong. Her dark gaze moved across the star-speckled reeds around her, the pebbles that glittered by their own light, the little beetles with whole constellations across the backs. Was this what StarClan was? Egretpaw stood and looked around further, her heart in disbelief, and yet still a bit cold. She could only speak to one cat tonight, right? But she wanted to talk to so many. Finchstream, Sparkfrost, Jaystar, Cranepaw, Raggedpaw, Ospreypaw, Magpiepaw... there were too many! A quiet thought lingered in the back of her mind. 'I could stay here, if I wanted. With everyone.' A cold and unwelcome thought. And yet still it clung. Like spider silk. Unbearable mental silence followed until she shook her head. RiverClan needed as many warriors as possible before Leafbare came. She needed to serve her purpose, for the good of her Clanmates.

But why did that chill linger in her chest still?

The sleek-bodied white tom moving gracefully, soundlessly along the water line knew that of all the cats that Egretpaw dearly missed and longed to see, he was not one of them. As the glittering starscape that sprawled around him opened from reeds to river rocks, Lightstep's eyes landed on a distinct silver tabby with a look of forlorn anticipation on her face. His pale yellow eyes softened as they focused on her. He purposefully scuffed a heavy white paw over the earth to alert the apprentice to his arrival, and he watched her response and the shadows on her face. Lightstep took a deep breath and asked in his bright, clear voice, "Your first journey into the stars... What do you think?"

Ears flicked at the sudden noise and she warily turned to face it, a white pelt catching her eye. When the StarClan cat came into full view, Egretpaw's claws dug into the earth (Should she call it that? Where was StarClan, physically?), but this was not from aggression; the mangled and bloodied form of this tom briefly flashed in her mind. Circumstance had lead her to miss the dog battle along the lakeshore, but not from its aftermath. The painful reminder was this tom's greeting, before the words he spoke even left his mouth. Indeed his fur was spotless, like freshly fallen snow. An odd look for Lightstep.

"It's so... bright." Indeed light came from everywhere, even though the sun and moon were notably absent. The stars themselves lay about her paws. A million thoughts ran through her mind. How big was StarClan? Surely large enough for all the clans to feel at home. How many cats were here? The thought of hundreds, no, perhaps thousands of ancestors all around her was absolutely terrifying. But she settled on one. Hopefully... hopefully he could shed some light on it. Heh. Lightstep. Light.

Anyway. Egretpaw raised her head and looked him straight in the eye - however discernable that was, given how near-black her eyes were - and spoke, "Can I ask you something?" She was more serious than at any other point in her life. "Could you tell me what it's like... to die?" By the stars, she needed to know. She needed to know what they all felt in those last moments.

Lightstep knew Egretpaw was on edge, so he brought no attention to the way that she regarded him upon viewing him for the first time since his death. Her answer to his question was simple, and Lightstep chuckled ever so slightly at the observation, nodding and letting his pale yellow eyes cast around the landscape with a look of wistfulness. "It certainly is," Lightstep replied, his gaze slowly moving back towards Egretpaw. "Bright and clear, the perfect weather for swimming and hunting." The she-cat's eyes found his then, and it was clear that she knew what she wanted to discuss. "Can I ask you something?" Egretpaw asked solemnly. Lightstep's tail waved, and he nodded. "That's what I'm here for. I'll do my best to answer."

He didn't anticipate her question. Lightstep's gaze flicked away from her dark pools, towards the line of reeds along the bank. He took in a deep breath and let it out as a heavy sigh. "I... can do my best, yes." The warrior remembered the scene: the abandoned twoleg nests in the pasture, the dogs and the twoleg threatening the wayward Clan cats. He remembered his own body, yowling at it and begging to go back and be given a chance to help. In they end they had still beaten back the enemies - one brave ThunderClan apprentice even taking one of the dog's life in the process - and so perhaps Lightstep wasn't needed after all. He had not been sent back. He had been brought to the stars to watch and want and wait. Now, Egretpaw was here.

Lightstep looked back to her. "Death was easy. It was instant, for me; the dog snapped me like I snap a fish, and then it was like waking from a dream into... this." He waved his tail vaguely to their surroundings. "Dying, though... was the hardest part. I didn't want to. Stars, I wanted to live to see the forest again more than anything I'd ever wanted. It hurt. I don't know how long it took for that mongrel to kill me, but it felt like half a lifetime before everything was just... gone." He shrugged a little, and he watched her face with a look of concern and uneasiness. "Are you sure you don't want to know something different?" he asked.