Moonpaw's Moonstone Journey

The air seemed tense, and as Mossbloom looked to the clouds gathered in the sky she just knew that both herself and the apprentice she was guiding to the Moonstone today were going to get soaked. She huffed, gathering the herb bundles she had prepared and moved to the apprentice den. Making her way around the other sleeping apprentices carefully avoiding any stray tails, she reached Moonpaw's side and gently nudged her with a white paw. "Good morning, Moonpaw. We'll be leaving soon, I have your herbs outside the den. I'll meet you there." Leaving the apprentice to finish waking up, Mossbloom waited patiently as she chewed the last of her own herbs, staring up at the tumultuous clouds. Did she hear a roll of thunder? Stars, she hoped not. When Moonpaw emerged from her den, Mossbloom nudged the herbs to the apprentice's feet. "Here you are, they're a little bitter so they won't taste that great. We'll stop at a stream so you can wash the taste away. We'll want to move quickly, it looks like it's going to rain."

Moonpaw blinked open her eyes blearily and stumbled out of her nest, shaking scraps of moss off her pelt. She felt energized immediately after realizing today she was going to have her moonstone journey. She bounded out of the apprentice's den and glanced at the herbs Mossbloom gave her. She took a mouthful, making a face at the bitter taste. Gulping down the last of the leaves, she mewed, "Yuck. They tasted horrible." She glanced up at the sky when the medicine cat mentioned that it would rain. It was covered with dark gray clouds. "Looks like we're going to get soaked," she sighed mournfully. "Let's go. Hopefully, we can arrive before we drown," she joked.

Mossbloom murmured sympathetically at Moonpaw's comment, remembering how bitter they had been the first few times she had to eat them. Chuckling at the apprentice's joke, her tail curled in amusement as she led the way out of ThunderClan's camp and into the territory, her paws carrying her towards Fourtrees and beyond.

~Time Skip~

Sure enough, the rain had started almost as soon as they had passed under Fourtrees. She had hissed in frustration as the fat droplets landed on her ears in the open moors, wondering just how it was that WindClan could stand it every time. Luckily, it appeared monsters also despised rain, as not many were out. The ones that did moved slowly, as if they were afraid of getting their large paws wet. It wasn't difficult to cross, and soon they were padding into Mothermouth. Usually Mossbloom waited for night to fall before entering the caverns, but she wouldn't in this rain. Stopping just inside the tunnel entrance, she shook her pelt out with a grumble. "Well this has been fun. I want you to stay in my den when we return, so I can make sure that neither of us catch a cold." As she spoke, gaps in the clouds started to appear and the rain finally lightened. She huffed at the poor timing of it all, but was relieved that the moon would still shine.

Motioning with her tail, she led Moonpaw down through the tunnels until they arrived at the Moonstone. Sure enough, the light filtering through the clouds was enough to light it, and she turned to Moonpaw. "You will lay next to the Moonstone and press you nose to it. StarClan will send you a dream and speak to you then."She settled near the edge of the cavern to wait.

Moonpaw shook her head as rain poured down on her, trying to shake off some of the water. It didn't work. Huffing, and hating how wet she was, she trudged after Mossbloom to Mothermouth. Water dripped off her fur onto the stone ground, and she shook out as much water as she could from her pelt in the cover of the cave. "At least there were fewer monsters," she grumbled. "Are you sure I should stay in the medicine den? I'm sure I'll be fine," she protested, then added, "Okay, then."

She followed the medicine cat into Mothermouth until she could see the glow of the glowing Moonstone. She did as she was told to, laying down on the stone and pressing her nose to the cold stone. She closed her eyes and blackness enveloped her.

No number of visits with living ThunderClan cats could make up for how much Dacedream was missing them now from her starry perch in the sky. When she learned of another apprentice coming to the Moonstone to seek strength, guidance, and wisdom, the large tortoiseshell queen leaped on the opportunity like a starving cat pouncing on a fat mouse, delighted and excited by the meeting to come. A lush starry forest sprawled around her as she approached the form of a dark-furred she-cat. "Moonpaw? Hi, little moonlight, wake up! You're in StarClan!" Dacedream greeted, gently nudging the she-cat's cheek before taking a step back. Her plume tail was raised high and friendly. "Hi there! I'm Dacedream," she introduced herself.

Moonpaw blinked open her eyes when she felt someone nudging her cheek. She looked around in amazement. She was really in StarClan territory! Her gaze settled on a pretty she-cat, and she scrunched up her face as she tried to remember who Dacedream was. Her eyes widened with realization. "I remember you! I think," she added, "You were the one who was... umm, killed by the Righteous few, right?" She had been only a kit when Dacedream had passed, but images flickered in her mind when she tried to recall the memory. "I was rude, wasn't I? Sorry," she shuffled her paws in embarrassment.

Dacedream watched the dark ThunderClan apprentice as she began to stir at her touch, giving Moonpaw a bright and warm smile while she gathered herself up. The apprentice's eyes met with hers, and Dacedream dipped her head in greeting. Moonpaw's face lit up with realization, but what she blurted made the starry warrior cringe slightly. Her smile returned shortly, and she laughed as she awkwardly stammered, "Um, y-yep, that was me." She scuffed a paw, and it seemed that Moonpaw realized how uncomfortable her question might've been. Dacedream shook her broad head, face softening with sympathy, and she answered, "Nah, it's okay, I understand. It's so strange how many cats talk about me. More than I ever thought." She shook her head and giggled, looking at Moonpaw. "But we don't have to talk about me! You came here for you. What do you wanna talk about?" she purred, a thick and rumbling sound that had been one of her characteristic traits when alive.

Moonpaw smiled, relieved that Dacedream hadn't taken her comment the wrong way. She tilted her head, deep in thought. She was pretty sure the reason lots of cats talked about her was that she had been a warm, kindhearted cat everyone loved. "Hmm," she mumbled, staring up at the sky for no reason. "I don't really know what to talk about... I only know that I was supposed to talk to a StarClan cat. I dunno what to talk about though." she shrugged.

Dacedream giggled as Moonpaw admitted she wasn't sure what to talk about and that she'd only known she was supposed to talk to someone. The tortoiseshell nodded her broad mottled head. "That's okay! I didn't really know what to talk about when I came, either," Dacedream answered in a chipper chirp, her green-hazel eyes glimmering with starlight. "I was visited by a really nice cat named Grasswhisker. She was really nice. She knew where my daddy was and told me he was safe in StarClan. I was sad at first, but it was just nice to know he was okay. He brought me to ThunderClan when I was really young, and Grasswhisker helped me to know I was welcome there and I wasn't alone - even when my daddy left me there." Dacedream blushed and giggled, "Oops. I'm talking about me still."

"It's okay!" Moonpaw purred happily. "Hmm, maybe you could tell me about being a warrior! What it's like, what duties there are," she suggested, tilting her head to the side. "If that's okay," she added. "I'm not sure if I'm allowed to know yet." She pawed at the soft ground nervously.

Thankfully, the little apprentice didn't seem to mind, and so Dacedream was able to quickly sweep the feelings of bashfulness aside. She perked up immediately at Moonpaw's question. "Oh - oh, no, Moonpaw, that's a great idea! I can totally tell you that!" The StarClan cat's bushy mottled tail waved and suddenly they were in a starry version of ThunderClan's camp. Misty shapes - vaguely familiar but somehow still indistinguishable - moved in and out of focus around them, from dens to nothingness or from nothingness to a fresh-kill pile. They shifted and faded and reappeared, and Dacedream watched them all for a moment. Then she looked happily at Moonpaw, "Okay! So being a warrior is a lot like being an apprentice, really. Some ways it's harder, some ways it's easier. Have you gone on very many patrols?" She tipped her head curiously.

Moonpaw nearly jumped in surprise when the scenery changed into ThunderClan's camp. She narrowed her eyes and stared at the cats, trying to see if she could recognize them. "Is this really what's happening in ThunderClan's camp right now?" she asked curiously. She glanced at Dacedream and answered, "I've been on a few patrols. I like the hunting ones," she admitted.

Dacedream giggled and shook her head, answering, "No, not right now; everybody's asleep at home, silly! These are just... some of my memories of what ThunderClan was like." She looked fondly at the wisps; none ever really took shape or looked familiar, but she could see her loved ones everywhere she looked. She looked happily back to Moonpaw and answered, "Warriorhood's got a lot of those! You usually go on a patrol everyday, sometimes more than one. When we're apprentices, cats always tell us exactly where we're supposed to be and what we're supposed to be doing and when and stuff, but when we're warrior we aren't told - we're more expected to know we should be doing stuff and just kinda do it. If the deputy doesn't assign us to a patrol, we're kind of expected to try to help out somewhere anyways. It's like, we get more freedom to do what we want, but we're still expected to do Clan and warrior stuff, y'know?" She looked at Moonpaw for her opinion.

"Oh, I see," Moonpaw mumbled incoherently. Her eyes widened as a sudden realization hit her. "Wait... so when I'm a warrior I have to know what to do all by myself?! But what if I don't know what to do?" she looked like she was on the edge of a mental breakdown. She took deep breaths to calm herself, then brightened. "That also means I can go out of camp and stuff too, right?" she cheered. "Being a warrior sounds awesome!"

Dacedream's eyes widened slightly as she realized Moonpaw felt overwhelmed by the reponsibility of needing to know what to do. She meowed, "I know - I felt the same way!" Much more comfortingly she added, "It's okay, everybody's in it together! That's what being an apprentice is for: to learn what it means to be a warrior and what it takes!" She saw Moonpaw relax and then brighten up, immediately excited by another aspect of warrior life. Dacedream purred, a thundering, characteristic rumble that was one of her most notable traits in life. "Yeah! It is pretty awesome. There are responsibilities, though, to the code and to ThunderClan. It's very important to be loyal. More important than anything else." Her tone was a little more serious then.