puzzle of prophecy [c]

Daisybloom had returned from taking Crowpaw to the Moonstone, and undoubtedly had been a bit off. She had realized the reason Cedarheart’s litter remained without a father. He wasn’t from the clan! Although the she-cat was very kind, rules had been broken, and she couldn’t let it slide by. Starclan had told her for a reason.

Spotting Mossbloom in the den, she walked towards it, entering and sitting near her. ”If you’re not to busy, I need to talk to you. It’s about a prophecy I got a few moons ago." she explained, blue eyes tinted with worry. What if she was wrong? That would be horrifying, finding out she had made an incorrect assumption. Had the cat she had seen even been a tabby? The image seemed to slip from her mind.

But then again, it made all too much sense for it to be a coincidence, right?

Mossbloom looked up as Daisybloom approached her, worry apparent in her expression. Shifting to give her space next to her, the medicine cat nodded. Her apprentice didn't keep her waiting long, mentioning a prophecy she had received. "Of course, Daisybloom. I'll always have time for you. Tell me all about it, we'll work through it together." She mewed, resting her tail on Daisybloom's haunches.

Daisybloom nodded, trying to figure out how to word the situation. "Well, it happened a few moons ago, no more than two or three, at a medicine cat meeting. I saw two cats together, one was a brown tabby. I couldn’t tell much else, but it seemed one was Thunderclan. I had no clue, until earlier when I took Crowpaw to the Moonstone. That was when I realized Cedarheart is a brown tabby, and that her litter doesn’t have a father. I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but...”

The older medicine cat surely knew what she was grasping at. She felt bad for throwing blame onto one of her clanmates, but the code was the code.

Mossbloom nodded slowly, her ear twitching lightly. She had received a similar prophecy not long ago... Perhaps even the same night Daisybloom got hers. "I saw something similar. I hadn'y pieced together that the brown tabby might have been Cedarheart, but now that you say it you're probably right. Have you spoken to Nettlestar about this yet? If not, perhaps we should go to her, and let her decide how to proceed. Do you have any more information, or ideas on who the other cat might be? StarClan wasn't very.... informative in their reveal to me." The medicine cat mewed, trying to dig up the memory. Following what happened to Thornstar and Torrentstar after that horribly Gathering, she had been unwilling to pursue or seek out further relationships, even if they were forbidden... Yet, Daisybloom was right to look into these and bring them up to Nettlestar and herself.

Daisybloom was happy that her fellow medicine cat had agreed with her suspicions. But it was odd to think about it, such a nice warrior breaking the code. Her brow furrowed. "They’re always so vague, aren’t they? He smelled like another clan...I don’t really remember. He was small too." She winced, trying to recall what she had seen. "What do you think we should do?" she paused, blue eyes slanted as she tried to think. She wasn’t sure what to do in these situations, and was glad Mossbloom was here to help her. Honestly, she still didn’t know a lot about being a medicine cat.

That was the problem, wasn’t it. The one she worried about at night as the moon and stars shone in the sky, as she stared at the moss and greenery around her. She wasn’t ready. She didn’t know what she was doing. It had been moons since she had became a medicine cat. And it had felt so right, more than being a warrior ever had been. But what if she didn’t do it right?

It was no secret that Mossbloom was old. They hadn’t directly spoken on the matter, but sometime after she finished training Cinderpaw, the calico would most likely retire. That was what scared Daisybloom. When her mentor was gone, when she had to be the sole medicine cat. And one day, she would have to train another cat to follow in her pawsteps, lead them onto the medicine cat path.

Mossbloom nodded in agreement. "They certainly are, it can be difficult to decipher what they're trying to say." She paused as Daisybloom asked her what they should do. Her ear flicked slightly as she came to a decision. "We should speak with Nettlestar, and inform her of our suspicions and the sign from StarClan. From there, if Nettlestar wants to question Cedarheart about it, we should support her as best we can. Once we tell her, it will be up to Nettlestar to decide what to do." She mewed, noting the worry and fear on her apprentices face and brushing her tail against her shoulder. "Nettlestar is a good leader, and Minkstream is a good deputy. I wouldn't worry too much about Cedarheart, I know they'll be fair. Come, we can talk to Nettlestar together, if you'd like?"

Daisybloom nodded again. "Alright." Still, after all these moons, the simple brush of a tail on her shoulder relaxed her. Her eyes softened as she stood a bit taller, but not in a stiff way. A more relaxed, free way. Almost...confident. "Thanks." She briefly made eye contact with the molly, thanking her silently, not knowing what else to say. Sometimes, words couldn’t express the complex emotions the she-cat was feeling. Stepping outside of the den, she took a deep breath.

Nettlestar was in her den, and she gingerly stepped in side, making sure that Mossbloom was at her side. "Er, hello. If this isn’t a bad time, which if it is, I can come back later, but we, um, need to talk to you about something." She glanced around, anywhere and everywhere but at her sister. Even they had a tight bond, but she was nervous of messing up, and she could get so distracted sometimes.

Nettlestar turned her head at the quiet sound of someone entering her den, and saw her sister and Mossbloom there.

The gray she-cat frowned very slightly; it was not that she was unhappy to see either of them, but the two of them appearing together like this likely meant they had news-- and not necessarily good news. Daisybloom's nervousness all but confirmed to the tall silver-gray tabby that she was about to hear something she wouldn't like all that much. But that was just an inevitable part of her job, she supposed. Unfortunate, but inevitable.

"I have time," the she-cat said, welcoming the two medicine cats to come into the den and sit with a flick of her tail. "What is it that you need to speak with me about?"

Mossbloom smiled at her dear apprentice as she thanked her, pressing her head to her shoulder gently. "Of course, I'll always be here for you." She followed quietly at Daisybloom's side as they approached Nettlestar's den, and Mossbloom took a deep breath. She had to fight to ignore the memories of this den being Leopardstar's and Oakheart's, and the knowledge that they both were now gone was making it even harder. Stepping in next to Daisybloom, she greeted Nettlestar with a deep nod. The two were sisters, but even the sisterly bond didn't ease the nerves that accompanied having to break news like this. Placing her tail on Daisybloom's flank lightly in support, she nodded to her. This was her prophecy, but she would be here to support her.

Daisybloom nodded. The medicine cat took a deep breath before continuing. "Well, I had a vision from Starclan, Mossbloom had a similar one." she started. So far, so good. But now she had to explain it, which was a lot harder. "There was a brown tabby with this other cat, and well, uh, I think they were in love. I didn’t realize until recently, but I think it might be..." she paused yet again. Did she really want to fully commit now? There was no turning back once she threw the blame onto Cedarheart. And although she knew she was doing the right thing, her stomach was churning. She forced herself to continue.

"Cedarheart. With the litter and everything, it, well, it makes too much sense." gulped the tabby, her voice still a bit shaky. But she had gotten through all of that, and it hadn’t been that bad. She was a bit proud of herself.

Nettlestar nodded slightly. She assumed that the fact that Daisybloom was coming to her with this information meant that the cat she had seen Cedarheart with was not a ThunderClanner, and that her vision therefor implied that Cedarheart's litter were not fully ThunderClan. Which was...decidedly not good news, but at the same time...there were worse crimes, and part of her was relieved that this was all it was.


"I see," she began simply. "So you both had a vision that Cedarheart was seeing a cat not from ThunderClan? And you are right, with her litter's father still being unknown...it makes sense. This is unfortunate news, Daisybloom, but thank you for bringing it to me. I do wish...I do wish it had been her who had come to me with this information, not you, but thank you for doing your job well,"

The she-cat rose from her place and began moving to leave the den.

"I would like to speak with Cedarheart about this," she said, turning her green eyes back towards the two medicine cats. "Will you wait here while I go get her and bring her over?"

Trusting that they would stay put, she went to seek out Cedarheart and confront her about the matter. Having spotted her, the gray leader approached, carrying an air of neutrality that dipped ever so slightly into disappointment.

"Cedarheart," she said, "Would you come with me? I believe there is something I must speak to you about,"

With that, she motioned for the warrior to follow her back towards the leader's den.

Mossbloom nodded along to Daisybloom's words, and confirmed her willingness to wait patiently as she settled in her place to wait for Nettlestar to return. While they were waiting, she mewed softly to Daisybloom. "That was perfect. Good job. We'll see where things go from here together, okay?" She reassured the younger she-cat with a smile.

Daisybloom blinked. It was done, there was no taking that back. Her heart felt heavy, deep in the pits of her stomach. It was what she had supposed to do, sure, but had it been the right thing? She leaned back towards Mossbloom, nodding. "Why does it feel so....I dunno, wrong? I thought I would feel a lot better about this." She mewed, her face dropping as she watched the leader approach the warrior.

-

You know that feeling when you’ve done something wrong? The paranoia when anyone wants to speak to you? The pit in your stomach, the thoughts keeping you awake at night? That all had been plaguing Cedarheart for moons. Even though she hadn’t seen him in a while, and certainly didn’t care for him anymore, it seemed he was always on her mind. Her worst fear was being found out. It wasn’t even so much for her sake, but for the kit’s. If she got cast out, what would happen to them. They already had no father, she was going to make sure that they had a mother around. If she was gone, who would protect them? As Nettlestar approached, she tensed. She gulped, trying to keep herself calm. When the leader asked her to follow her, she did, slowly trailing behind the gray tabby.

Thoughts flew through her mind like harsh winds. You’ve been found out. She’s going to exile you. As she got closed, she spotted Mossbloom and Daisybloom, and her her mouth closed quickly. Had Starclan given the she-cats information? She was unsure whether she should bring it up, or wait. What else could this be about? But if it wasn’t about her forbidden romance, then she didn’t want to risk putting herself in more trouble. But that wouldn’t help the pit in her stomach, the guilt she had felt everyday since she had started going to those meetings. She was torn, conflicted. Taking a deep breath, she decided to confess. The lying hadn’t been making things better, but making it worse. She saw that now. And no matter what, she was determined to end this.

"I’m going to assume that this is about my kits. I’m sorry for not coming to you earlier, but I want to give you the whole story. I met a tom at a Gathering, a very nervous one. We had a nice conversation, usual stuff. Then, not long later, we ran into each other at Fourtrees. He decided to keep meeting, having talks. He got so much better, and it was nice. After everything that happened, it was a break. No matter what was going on in the clan, I always had him. But things went to far. I fell in love. Neither of us meant for it to happen. Suddenly, I was pregnant. It ended moons ago. After the kits, he didn’t want anything to do with me. I know I broke the code, I know this was all wrong. But please, don’t punish them. They weren’t the cause, I was. My kits need to be safe, no matter what happens to me."

Her head had been facing the ground as she spoke, but she finally looked up, tears streaming down her face. She was slightly shaking, feeling light-headed, even. All of that had been pent up for so long, it felt oddly good to let it out. She felt empty, but it had been the right choice. Her conscience had been killing her. Hopefully Nettlestar was merciful.

Nettlestar's eyes widened slightly as Cedarheart spoke. She had not been expecting the she-cat to immediately volunteer the information without being questioned, and was pleasantly surprised by her honesty. Still, she had waited until she had been found out to confess...so the gray leader's admiration of the warrior's honesty could only go so far.

"Cedarheart..." she began, "I do appreciate that you have confessed this information right away, without us having to push you to be honest. But you should have come to me earlier. Much earlier. There are worse crimes than falling in love, Cedarheart-- lying among them,"

the green-eyed she-cat sighed slightly, then continued. "But of course I won't punish your kits. They are entirely blameless. As for you...the first and most important thing I must ask is that you no longer make any attempt to hide the true parentage of your kits. You do not have to make any kind of announcement to clan...but if anyone asks, you must tell them the truth. You especially need to tell the kits themselves, if they do not know already. Apart from that...you are not to leave camp without another warrior accompanying you for at least the next moon. And Cedarheart? I am glad to hear you already know what you did was wrong-- so I better not hear of you engaging in anything like this again. If you do...know there will be no second chance, and I will have to interpret it not as a foolish act of love, but as a sign of chronic disloyalty to this clan. Is that clear?"

Mossbloom was mildly surprised to hear the she-cat burst forth with the information she had so desperately hidden from the clan. Her tail curled tighter over her paws as she listened to Cedarheart, then Nettlestar in turn. She couldn't help but nod along in agreement with Nettlestar's decision, and her heart swelled with pride for her leader. To Mossbloom, that was more than fair, and hopefully Daisybloom and Cedarheart agreed.