Shadepaw's Moonstone Journey

Mothglow gathered up the traveling herbs - she'd found it easier to carry just one bundle, and so still ate hers before leaving her den - and stopped outside the apprentice's den. "Shadepaw!" she called, wondering if she'd woken any of the other apprentices with her voice. It was still fairly early, after all.

Shadepaw was sound asleep when she heard a cat call her name, her ear flicked and she woke up. She was still a little sleepy as she stretched but she felt good, turning her head towards the sound she saw Mothglow. She yawned as she came out. "What is it?" She mewed before seeing the bundle. "Oh." She smiled softly, sniffing the herbs before carefully pulling them towards her. "I think I know what." She then bent down to eat them. After she was finished she looked up, "I don't know what I was expecting from herbs, but those were bitter!"

"They're not the most pleasant, are they?" Mothglow agreed. "Be grateful you'll likely only need to eat them once. I have to eat them every half-moon, and every Moonstone trip on top of that. Now that you've taken care of it, though, we can get going, so long as you're ready."

With that, ShadowClan's sole medicine cat began to lead the way. It was a path she had tread countless times now, but each cat that accompanied her was different. Unique, maybe that was it? They were all special in their own ways. "What's your training like?" she asked her niece. "I must admit I wonder if it's changed since I was training to be a warrior." Stars, that was along time ago now, wasn't it? The last time she'd trained as a warrior was on the lake shore, during the flood...

Sometimes it felt so recent, when her dreams were filled with dogs and cats and sharptooth and the battle in the mountains, and sometimes it seemed like a lifetime had come and gone since. Maybe that would never change. But so many important things had followed even after that was over and done (the memory of her sister made her recall Burntstag, and how whatever it was that connected the two sisters had finally snapped, though they had tried to rebuild it since), and she tried not to dwell on those days too often now. And how could she, when there was so much left to do, and family to spend her time with besides?

"Yuck!" She growled, playfully. She started following her, needing to walk faster every few steps to keep up. She almost didn't hear the question. "Uh, well. I caught some things, I uh, fought a cat near the thunderpath once." She smiled. "That was fun, they thought I was stealing prey but they chased it over the thunderpath, I assume, I wasn't looking up."

As she trotted along her fluffy, grey tail was dragging on the ground, so when a rock came she got an unpleasant surprise and her tail lifted up. She looked back but a question sparked in her mind so she looked back at Mossglow. "Uh, now I wasn't exactly clan born was I?" She mewed. "Do you think Starclan would treat me differently?" She looked to the ground. "I-It feels like I should, um, Mothglow. But it's not my fault is it?"

She looked back but the only thing she could remember when she was a kit was her sister dying, Shadowclan taking over. She felt a shiver down her spine. "I don't have pleasant memories, from kit-hood." She meowed. She kept her pace but her tail was obviously shaking and fluffing up.

"Whether or not you're Clanborn doesn't matter," Mothglow said firmly, pausing just a moment to emphasize her point. It was important, she thought, because so many cats seemed to care about where they came from, when it didn't really matter at all. "And where you come from will never be your fault. What matters is you're here now. I don't think StarClan cares all that much where you come from. They care where your loyalties lie now. We protect and care for each other. So long as you believe in that, I'm sure you'll be fine."

She frowned, looking over to her niece with concern. "Well, Shadepaw... I don't have any really bad memories from my kithood, but... Do you want to hear about the first really big mistake I ever made? Your mother was there, too."

Memories of icy snow and injuries as she and Silent Snows had stumbled blindly in the direction of what they hoped was home occurred to her. But Shadepaw was nearly a warrior, and she could just gloss over the parts that raised the hair on her neck even now. With stories, she could erase the parts she wanted to forget.

Shadepaw looked up. "Yeah, you're right, Mothglow." She purred, smiling. Her slow walk turned back into that cheerful trot. She turned her head towards the medicine cat. "Alright then, what is it?" ~Yeah, no-one's perfect.~ "Was it embarrassing?" She had a cheeky, bit friendly, grin on her face.

"I suppose it was," Mothglow mused, reflecting on it now. "But more than that, it was terrifying. You see, your mother and I were newly named apprentices, and I'd gotten the mouse-brained idea that I wanted to see Fourtrees for myself. So we set out, trying to find it... Only, neither of us had ever been there. We found it, eventually - along with some cats from other Clans - but then..." She paused then, taking a few silent steps forward for dramatic effect. "We were captured by Twolegs! All of us. We had to work together to get home, and travel through the Twolegplace... But I made several good friends then, too. I don't know what my life would be like if I hadn't... ShadowClan was different when we got back."

She'd returned to a Clan without Poppyheart. Without her brother, and without her first mentor.

(Much like she had after the war, but this time without the lingering hope that he would someday come home.)

"It was my mistake that got us into that mess, but Silent and I both got home safely. StarClan was watching out for us, I think... Maybe they knew the path I'd take someday - I certainly didn't - but then again, maybe it wasn't because of that at all. Maybe they just thought Silent Snows shouldn't suffer because of my own mistake. But my mentor had disappeared in the time we were gone, and Thornstar was assigned as my mentor shortly after we returned. Of course, I never did become a warrior... But that's not due to a lack of effort on her part."

As the story approached its end, the two cats approached the entrance to the Moonstone.

The calico was barely listening as they came closer. She came to a stop peering inside the small cave. "I- I think- are we here, Mothglow?" Her whiskers twitched in sudden excitement. "Also I never thought a medicine cat could be so silly. Even if you were training to be a warrior beforehand." She smiled at her aunt. "But... you were younger back then." She mewed, her fluffy tail waving. "And I could only imagine how scary it would've been." She was already looking back at the cave, stepping aside to let Mothglow go first.

"I was young, true. But I was old enough to know better, at least in theory. And... Yes, it was pretty scary. We encountered foxes and thunderpaths and other awful things... But we made it home," Mothglow said softly.

Well. Most of us did, she thought, recalling the SkyClan apprentice she'd never seen again after that. She ignored the comment on silliness, though, firmly believing that silliness was something that was simply part of her and thus something she kept despite her position as a medicine cat. The ability to not take things seriously was, after all, just as important as the ability to do so.

"You're right, we're here. Stay close as we go through this tunnel, alright? It can be dangerous if you don't know the way."

She began to lead the way, slower than one might have expected her to. Each step was practiced, and she let her paws linger on the stone for a moment each time. Just long enough to make sure Shadepaw was still behind her. Had she been alone, she would have lightly danced across the familiar path, challenging herself to touch the ground as little as possible; but there was no way any apprentice could be expected to follow her precise steps in complete darkness without guidance.

Eventually, they emerged into the Moonstone's cavern.

"Oh.." She mewed listening. "Well atleast you're home now." She meowed. She looked back at the tunnel and followed Mothglow inside.

It was dark, really dark. It was uncomfortable, squished and wet. But it wasn't long before the tight space opened up. She noticed Mothglow stop walking so Shadepaw followed. "Are we here?" She mewed, quietly. She looked up through a hole and saw the moon glide across the sky. She looked around the dark place before a flash of light hit her in the eyes, she couldn't help but close them.

When she opened them her yellow eyes with almost white and the stone she didn't see before was shining blue. She looked at Mothglow, her orange eyes were now a peachy color. "Woah.." She whispered in awe, turning back to the stone. "So, this is it, huh?" She meowed. "It's so pretty, Mothglow..."

I'm home, Mothglow thought, a hint of wonder flowing through her at how simply Shadepaw accepted that reality. "I'm home, and I have been for a long time now," she agreed out loud. Home was ShadowClan's camp, and the medicine den, but home was here, too. It was the spot in the marsh where fireflies gathered and flowers grew, and the path she often treaded to the Moonstone; but it was more than that.

(Anywhere she was happy, surrounded by love. That was home, wasn't it?)

She wondered what home was to Shadepaw. She'd have to ask later, but not now; there was ceremony to be done, and she was reminded of where they were when Shadepaw commented on how pretty the Moonstone was. "Isn't it? I feel so lucky that I get to see it so often... As for you, just touch your nose to the stone and close your eyes; StarClan will speak with you once you're ready."

Shadepaw nodded, taking a deep breath as she gazed at the stone. Her grey pelt looked white in the sharp light. "So.. I just..." She bent down and touched her nose against the stone she felt tired suddenly and layed down, her nose still against the slightly rough surface.

She fell asleep, there was darkness, a warm darkness that turned cool. She opened her eyes but instead of the harsh light of the stone she saw only a starry territory, similar to her own, except, hers was not starry, of course.

Shadepaw looked around and began to panic. "Mothglow? Mothglow?!" She shouted. In the real world her tail was flopping around in panic. "Starclan?" She meowed. "Oh I wish Mothglow came with me..." She was unaware of a starry feline watching her as Shadepaw moved around, looking at all the things Starclan had to offer.

A pair of pale green eyes watched the small, dark tabby she-cat as she paced the clearing in a panic. It took almost all of Frog's restraint not to scoff at her and the kittish display. She was in StarClan; what was there to be so uneasy about? Very quickly the dark gray StarClan cat grew bored of watching Shadepaw spin in circles, and so Frog - or Frogmarsh, as she had been properly named by Scorchstar - stepped into existence (more or less), her star-speckled pelt appearing seemingly from thin air as she began to move towards the living ShadowClan cat. "Why? Relax; there's nothing here that's stranger than a journey with Mothglow," Frog announced. She did find Mothglow strange, but Frog both admired and respected the medicine cat. She was fun.

Frog's eyes glimmered as she looked over Shadepaw, taking in the sight. "You know, I would have thought Burntstag's kits would have been more... colorful," she said, and she chuckled. With a smirk on her face, she asked, "Well, would you like to introduce yourself to me to make this feel less weird, or do you want to skip it 'cause I already know? It's up to you."

Shadepaw swiveled her ears back. "Well I just.. This is new to me." She mewed, but hearing the next thing she said made her angry.

She turned her head around towards the rude cat. Her tail tapped the ground in anger. "Hey, that was rude to Mothglow, I think she did well leading me here! I would've thought Starclan would've been nicer and I'm colourful!" She growled, turning her whole body towards her. "I'm Shadepaw, but you clearly know who I am already!" She hissed. "Why if I didn't know better I'd think that you're a Dark Forest cat!" Her claws scraped the ground impatiently, "so are we gonna have a chat or is that all?" She would think this cat would be a little nicer to her, but then again, she was born outside a 'proper' clan.

At the apprentice's outburst in defense of Mothglow, Frog raised a little brow and smirked, looking perfectly cool and unchastised. It was a way to learn, after all; this meant Shadepaw was loyal. That didn't surprise Frog in the least. Not after everything the apprentice had been through. The StarClan cat was, however, a bit surprised at how quickly and fiercely defensive the young she-cat became at the slightest provocation. When Shadepaw suggested that Frog was from the Dark Forest, however, the melodrama became too much. Frog rolled her green eyes dramatically before looking at Shadepaw again. "We are gonna have a chat, Shadepaw, and it's about not letting your fur get so ruffled about every little thing," Frog answered. "I'm not insulting Mothglow; she's the Magnificent Mothglow. She's unusual and she knows it, and she's proud of it. She wouldn't be ruffled, and neither should you."

The scenery around them changed. StarClan's hunting grounds swirled and shifted and faded like clouds of mist until, suddenly, a sight that would be very familiar to Shadepaw settled: StagClan. It was ShadowClan's camp now, and it had been before, but once - a very important once - it had belonged to Burnt and Silent of StagClan and all of their followers. Wispy shadows of the cats Shadepaw knew moved in and out of focus, blurs of murky color. Frog looked around with a faint smile before she looked back at Shadepaw, and she asked, "This was where you grew up - your home, right? StagClan?"