Robinpaw's Moonstone Journey

The sound of chirping heralded the dawn before it had begun to light the edges of the sky, and Mossbloom rose with them. Recent rain made the morning misty, a dense fog visible among the trees and undergrowth that was slowly starting to fill back out in the forest. ThunderClan had swelled in apprentice numbers in recent moons, and now the time had come for at least one of them to make the same journey that those before her had - and as the call of the bird she was named after sounded in the early morning, Mossbloom collected the herb bundles and made her way to the apprentice's den. Setting them gingerly on the slightly damp ground, careful that none of the herbs got exposed to the mud, she poked her head inside the den. "Robinpaw, it's time to get up - today is the day, I hope you got a good rest last night?" Pulling back, she lowered her head and ate her herbs while patiently awaiting the she-cat's arrival. They had a long journey ahead of them, but hopefully the bright morning sun would burn the fog away before sunhigh.

Robinpaw groaned and opened one sleepy eye to see the tip of Mossbloom's tail leave the den. She sunk back into her nest. Oh, how she hated mornings. She knew that today was the day that she was going to Highstones, and that excited her, but that didn't mean she wanted to get out of her nest. Letting out a sigh, she stretched her legs and rose to her feet. She exited the apprentice's den, seeing Mossbloom standing there with a pile of herbs. "It's awful early, don't you think?" She yawned, sleep still clouding her mind. She looked at the ground and saw a pile of herbs. Probably for herself, she presumed. She swallowed the leaves and scrunched up her nose, as they left a not-so-great taste in her mouth. She turned to Mossbloom. "I think i'm ready." Now that the feeling of tiredness was almost gone from her body, she was starting to feel quite excited about the trip. Maybe she would meet someone fun while she was at the moonstone? She hadn't heard much about Highstones, but she knew enough to know that it's the main place that Starclan communicates with the clans.

Mossbloom's ear flicked lightly as Robinpaw yawned, a small smile lighting her expression. "It is quite early, but we have a long way to travel and if we wait much longer we'll be late - and I don't think either of us want to have to make the trip more than once." There had been a time where the early mornings had made the medicine cat wish she could stay in her nest, especially in the cold weather, but with newleaf reclaiming the forest and the promise of a beautiful day she was excited, and with every heartbeat that Robinpaw seemed to wake further it seemed the apprentice's excitement grew as well. "Wonderful," Mossbloom purred, "Then let's get going." Turning, Mossbloom led the way from camp on determined, steady paws. Hopefully StarClan would speak to the apprentice that she brought forth to them today, instead of the heart-wrenching silence they had been treating her to.

~Time Skip~

They had made decent time, only getting held up slightly at the Thunderpath as they waited for a chance to cross. It seemed that the monsters liked the sunshine too, and it had seemed that the path was crawling with them almost constantly. Regardless, the pair made it through safely, and the sun was just setting as they reached the gaping opening of Mothermouth. Mossbloom paused, allowing them both to catch their breaths for a moment, before looking to Robinpaw. "It will be dark, of course, when we go into the tunnels. Just follow my scent and stay close, and even though you'll feel the sides of the tunnel on your whiskers I promise that it will open up. There will be a cavern that holds the Moonstone, when it's time the Moonstone will light up the whole cavern. Then you will lay next to it and press your nose to the stone, and StarClan will send your dream and message. If you have any questions, I'll be right there beside you to answer them, okay?"

With that, Mossbloom turned and led the way into the dark depths of the tunnels, her paws falling into the routine path that she had walked for many moons now. When the tunnel finally did open up, the cavern was still dark. Mossbloom's heart rose into her throat, was StarClan really denying the apprentices the chance to speak with them now too? Just then, the cavern was lit with the blinding light of the Moonstone, and Mossbloom sighed quietly in relief. Nodding to the apprentice, she settled at the edge of the cavern, resisting the urge to try to speak to StarClan herself. She would never forgive herself if her attempts to make contact ruined an apprentice's Moonstone journey.

Though Mossbloom had said that the journey would take a while, it seemed to go by quite fast for Robinpaw, of course, with the exception of the Thunderpath. Her attention was kept by watching butterflies and bugs fly by along the way. Surprisingly, it wasn't long after they'd crossed the Thunderpath that she saw Highstones in the distance, and what seemed even shorter until they'd reached it.

She gasped as Highstones stood before her. Just the mere size was stunning! As she stood before the mountain she tried looking at the top, but it was so tall it seemed as though it touched the clouds! "Heh, I bet i could climb it" She said to herself with a smirk. She knew that she could never climb it, but the thought that she could be able to made her think. What if a cat could fly to the top? The thought immediately made her laugh, but she composed herself as Mossbloom began giving her directions of what to do. She nodded, and followed the medicine cat through the cave. She was actually somewhat grateful that she could feel the cave walls with her whiskers at some point because it was so dark that she couldn't see where she was going, and if she could feel the walls she at least knew she wasn't running into anything.

Just a moment later, the cave opened up to a cavern, just as Mossbloom said it would. For a few heartbeats Robinpaw couldn't see anything, as the cavern was dark, until light instantly shone through a hole in the roof, reflecting off of a stone in the middle of the cave. She squinted her eyes with a frown. She hated bright light. Trying to ignore it the best she could, she walked up to the stone and pressed her nose to it, closing her eyes...

---

Robinpaw opened her eyes. Both Mossbloom and the moonstone were missing, and instead of being in a brightly lit cavern, she now stood in the middle of a thin pine forest. The ground was slightly muddy, but it felt kinda nice underneath of her worn feet. She sniffed the air. It smelled slightly of Shadowclan? Looking around, her eyes caught a pelt among the trees. There stood a cat, maybe around her age, his pelt dark brown and beige. He didn't seem to be doing something in particular. He was kinda just.. there. Lucky for Robinpaw, he was facing the other direction. 'a perfect target...' She thought. She silently walked up behind the tom and jumped out, yelling, "BOO!" She fell to the ground laughing. "Did i scare you?" She asked between laughs.

Sparkling glitters scattered throughout the atmosphere as the tom shook out his unruly pelt; starlight seemed to twinkle around them, briefly bringing forth illuminination. The warm aura of the stars seemed to flicker, the scintillating glimmers gradually fading, replaced by the intense light of the tom's fiery gaze. He exchanged a nonchalant glance with the ThunderClanner, raising a nonexistant eyebrow at her fit of laughter. "In fact, your pranks have become so predictable that I wanted to test you. Why else would I have greeted you with my back? Turns out, you really couldn't resist the opportunity, huh?" It was perhaps less of reprimanding scoff, but rather an unamused grumble. Belligerence may only communicate a reversed effect, especially when it came to this she-cat... so the tom tried to suppress any signs of blatant vexation. Although, it was proving quite difficult to restrain his irked disapproval when Robinpaw procceeded to keep chortling at herself. Her youthful nature was, in some form, endearing... and while he envied her blissful attitude to life, how her optimism was something he wished he could have possessed, that wasn't the point of this evening. No... he had been chosen for this Moonstone meeting to discuss maturity - a characteristic that Robinpaw evidently did not understand. He wasn't here for a bunch of light-hearted giggling about 'seeing the light in everything', or any other form of meaningless chatter. If that would've been the case, he would have been the wrong cat for the job.

Distinctly portraying his no-nonsense expectations to how this encounter was going to play out, he loomed coolly over Robinpaw. It was not at all his intention to intimidate - however, for now, he would keep up the temporarily strict display, simply to attain her attention. In all hopes, she would actually listen to his advice... clearly, he wasn't very impressed with how she had conducted herself thus far. "Hollowpaw, former apprentice of ShadowClan. Although, we're not here to talk about me. I've got a few things I'd like to share with you, and I'm going to try to keep it brisk..." His eyes bore needles into her skin; piercing amber sparking in the dim light. His typical nature, curt and somber, was reflected in his disinterested demeanor. Whether she was going to comply or not, Hollowpaw was going to assure that Robinpaw realised the importance of this moral. He had been honoured with this rare chance of to teaching this young cat a lesson... and he was not going to make waste of it.

The Thunderclan apprentice looked up from where she was laying on the ground. This cat seemed so mature and serious, especially for an apprentice. Most apprentices she knew were more optimistic and jubilant. He reminded her a bit of Icepaw. Not that Icepaw wasn't fun and enjoyable to be around, it's just that she liked sticking to the rules and often scolded Robinpaw for pranking the other apprentices. " Awh, have a little bit of fun" she huffed, a hint of agitation in her voice. She pulled herself up from the ground, giving her pelt a shake to rid herself of the dirt and dust, though mud and pine needles still stuck to her fur. She was going to have to wash it off later. " And i think it's a great idea to take every opportunity you can, even if it doesn't work out." She replied, rolling her eyes.

This Shadow- rather Starclan- cat seemed to show almost no emotion, and if he was feeling something, he was doing a good job at hiding it. Yet, he seemed like he could somehow get a message through to a cat like herself. He appeared to have a certain aspect to him, like a kind of strict-ish pushiness? Something that if he tried to, could let him gain control and attention over unruly cats, like a mentor, or leader even. It made Robinpaw feel a bit uncomfortable. But, if he was sent to speak to her during her moonstone trip, he probably had some sort of lesson to teach her, so she might as well listen to him, as much as she didn't want to.

After a moment or two, she soon found out that this cat's name was Hollowpaw, and as she had suspected, he was a former Shadowclanner. She slumped over, already growing bored of the situation. Her gaze shifted over behind Hollowpaw, as a blue butterfly had caught the attention of the she-cat. She had been zoning out for a few moments until she'd heard a few of Hollowpaw's words that caught her attention. She looked back at him with a frustrated expression. " Hey, i'm no kit! "