March 2021 Medicine Cat Meeting

Dennis' legs ached, weary from the burden of picking up the slack from his missing leg. Walking was one thing, but hobbling up a steep hill covered in pebbles was quite another. He was in constant fear of tripping, and had it not been for Thornpaw's help he most likely would have collapsed about halfway. His ears were constantly alert, flinching at the slightest noise lest it be a dog or an Asylum cat. The only thing about this trip that he wasn't stressed about was the directions to Highstones; he'd taken this path so many times that even the amnesia couldn't erase it. Besides, his memory wasn't nearly as bad as it had been when he'd first arrived. Names came naturally to him, and he even remembered some cats that he hadn't met yet. Softbreeze, for one. He recalled her being at these things, though it continued to slip his mind what she was like. All he remembered was her name and the odd warmth that filled his chest when he thought about her.

He hoped Thornpaw couldn't see the blushing on his bare face.

After much struggling and laboured breathing from the little tom, he clambered up to Highstones and sat down. Taking a deep breath to steady his breathing, he looked around. He was the first here. Busying himself, he started to fidget with his paws as he waited for the others to arrive. had he gotten the wrong place? Had he misunderstood? He hoped not, as the thought sent bile rising to his throat.

Her father was home. Safe, if not exactly healthy (or sane, but it seemed this was Skyclan's new normal) and Beechface was reluctant to leave his side for the long trek to highstones. The only reason she had agreed to go at all was Smokefeather and Blossomstep volunteering to keep an eye on things. She wasn't sure that her mother was any more okay than Bloodstrike was, in truth. She'd remained quiet and distant even after Bloodstrike's and Lichenpaw's return, but now at least she spent more time in camp. Most of that time was spent by her mate's side, and Beechface tried her best to block out their quiet conversations. They made her feel like an intruder in her own den, somehow.

Still, Bloodstrike refused to stay idle any more than was strictly necessary (and some days he pushed himself far more than she'd like), he'd even taken it upon himself to train an apprentice. Beechface shadowed him just as the Asylum cats had done to her, determined to keep him from doing anything stupid. He didn't have to like it, as far as she was concerned, her father had earned that worry all on his own.

She pushed herself to move faster. The sooner she got this meeting over with, the sooner she could return to keep an eye on things. She was tired, even with the traveling herbs she'd taken as she left camp. She hadn't traveled this distance in moons, but her paws still remembered the familiar trek across the territories.

Nearing highstones at last, a distant figure caught her eye, and Beechface tensed. As she drew closer, it quickly became apparent that this was no Asylum filth, however. That thought was reassuring, at least.

"Spiderquill!?" Large, heavy paws carried the she-cat forward, "The stars gave me nothing on the Asylum, nothing on the nightmare they've been putting my family through. Instead they showed me you, you scrawny mousebrain!" She hissed furiously, ears flicking back. She was angry, not at him, however. That stupid revelation and her subsequent conversation with Mossbloom had had her worried. Worried! About the Riverclan medicine cat!

"You have some audacity, getting caught by twolegs and--" She growled at him, only then realizing that she'd... pretty much tackled him. Beechface stepped back awkwardly, a huff of annoyance escaping her. Spiderquill was not a large cat. And his leg... So that's why he'd seemed to have trouble walking around in the vision that Starclan had showed her.

"Sorry, sorry..." She muttered, her irritation hardly seeming to dissipate at all, "Are you alright? What happened? I saw you trapped by twolegs, but not much else." The hint of worry in her eyes had finally made it into her voice, it seemed.

"Oh! I... earned my full name. Beechface. I'd... almost forgotten none of you got the chance to know before the Asylum showed up." She'd gained more than a few scars since then, too. From the top of her head, between her ears and all the way to the base of her tail, the scratches across her chin and the new scars across her belly definitely didn't help her appearance. Not that she had looked like the typical medicine cat (or what she thought a medicine cat would look like) before, but now...

Oh well, if he was intimidated, that was his problem.

Dennis was hoping somebody... normal would show up first. Well, normal was a poor use of words- somebody who didn't know him. Or didn't care. Or at least for the love of StarClan wasn't three times his size. He barely had time to pin his ears before he was bowled over, half from the kinetic energy of this angry behemoth and half from shock. She looked practically livid, though something about her face told him that was something of a default for her. She clearly knew her way around a fight, anyway- she was covered in scars, the kind you only get if you make enemies. He put up his front paws instinctively, her words partially escaping him as his brain went into panic mode. "Uh p-please don't eat me I'm all b-bones, I come in peace-" His voice was high and panicked, and the widening of his eyes to saucers didn't go away when Beechface let him up.

He gulped, massive ears still pinned. "Uh, I'm sorry. I- Were we close? I don't-" He looked to the side. He was almost scared to tell her. What if they had been close, and she was insulted by his lack of memory? He didn't want to insult a cat who looked like she could take down a bear. "It's Dennis, not Sp-Spiderquill. There was a dog, and it bit my leg off, and it k-" He gulped. "Um, I don't much recall. I- I woke up with Twolegs. I can't remember any more than that. I've gotten better, but I- I just can't remember most things. I'm s-sorry." He still looked like he was ready to bolt, but his ears straightened out at least. "Congrats on the name, I'm sure you worked h-hard for it." He felt a twinge of guilt as he tried to ignore his own name. He wasn't worthy of it. Not while he hadn't the faintest what being a medicine cat even meant to him anymore. Not while his own family looked at him like he was some kind of ghost, to be whispered about when they thought he wasn't listening.

This was...Certainly strange. Flintstar trekked along the familiar path towards the Moonstone, even if it had been quite a while since he had walked this path. It wasn't exactly his place to be here - it was a medicine cat meeting after all. But...The simple fact that Rookfire had never set eyes on the Moonstone was a slight issue...And besides, Asylum seemed to be gone but he wasn't about to take the chances. It would be better if he was there to protect the medicine cats if any Asylum cats who still held grudges dared show their faces. Of course, Rookfire had also been trained by an Asylum cat - he was ready to leap to his medicine cat's defense if any of the other medicine cats learned this fact and chose to make an issue out of it.

He came to a stop as he arrived, spotting two medicine cats who had already arrived. Ah, good, he had found the right spot. His eyes drifted between the two, certain that...Something might had been transpiring but he honestly didn't care. He was just here to see to their safety. "Greetings," he called out with a flicker of his tail. "Do not mind me, I am simply here to see to your safety and show our newest medicine cat, Rookfire, the path to the Moonstone," he explained, glancing behind him as he dipped a head in Rookfire's direction. "I will not be in your way."

A black-and-white tom followed the hulking body of Flintstar past ShadowClan territory, towards the Moonstone. The medicine cat was not a small cat by normal standards, but when compared to the ShadowClan leader, he wasn't that large. He had never been to a medicine cat meeting like this before because of the Asylum. The first thing that he ever heard of the... "Moonstone" was that it was forbidden to go there. But those were Asylum rules, and they didn't apply now that they were all gone. Still, Rookfire had no idea where to go, so Flintstar had to lead the way.

The two ate traveling herbs before leaving. It tasted awful, but he ended up swallowing the herbs completely before walking all the way here. It seemed to be a dangerous journey to the Moonstone, though Flintstar knew the ways to cross extremely well. Flintstar was an excellent guide to the Moonstone.

When the two cats arrived at the Moonstone, Flintstar greeted the medicine cats there already, telling them that the ShadowClan leader was just here to guide ShadowClan's medicine cat here. "Hello," he said cordially. "My name's Rookfire. It's nice to meet you all." Obviously, good relations with his fellow medicine cats was the best scenario possible. However, he wouldn't tolerate any hostility against him or Flintstar under any circumstance.

Beechface's ears twitched back slightly as Spiderquill stammered. A name that sounded more fit for a rogue or kittypet... And he didn't seem to remember her. Huh.

"Stars... You don't remember? Skyclan stayed in your camp for a few moons. You were kind enough to help us and let us use your herbs. Otherwise I might've... been a bratty apprentice. You were talkative." Bratty apprentice was an understatement, Beechface knew. The two certainly hadn't been friends by any means, but distance and everything that had happened recently made her a bit more appreciative, it seemed. Even if he'd been overly chatty.

Before she could say much more, a pair of cats approached, smelling of Shadowclan. The massive tom Beechface thought she remembered seeing atop the great rock at gatherings before. Flintstar, she thought, thinking back on Wrenspring's explanation of the clan leaders. Both he and Bloodstrike seemed to respect the Shadowclan tom, if her memory served correctly.

The smaller black and white tom was entirely unfamiliar to Beechface. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she tried to place him, and came up empty.

"Flintstar," She greeted with a slight dip of her head before her gaze settled on the black and white tom again. Then it came to her, Iniko had mentioned Cinderpaw disappeared.

"Iniko mentioned Cinderpaw disappeared... You're her replacement?" Her tone was a bit sharper than she'd meant. Iniko had said he'd been training an apprentice, had even asked for her to show him the herbs that grew in the forest. Seeing who she assumed had been his apprentice now though, Beechface couldn't help feel uneasy at the thought. He'd been trained by Iniko, Iniko was Asylum, however friendly he had tried to make himself appear.

No, the thought that a medicine cat had been Asylum trained did not sit well with Beechface, and it showed in her suddenly suspicious glare.

Daisybloom had been beyond excited to go and see the other medicine cats. As she set off, reality quickly set in. It was her first time without Mossbloom. She hadn’t seen the rest of the medicine cats in ages, and she hoped they were all alright. The walk seemed so much shorter than she remembered, and she felt herself looking over her shoulder, every so often, expecting to feel the presence of an Asylum cat. They were finally free, and she would never take that feeling for granted again!

As she reached Highstones, she spotted a few familiar faces. And one she hadn’t expected to see at all.

"Spiderquill?!" she gasped. The tom had gone missing moons ago, and they had all thought him dead. "W-what happened? Where were you?" she asked. The SkyClan medicine cat was there as well. The tabby dipped her head in greeting.

Shadowclan’s leader, Flintstar, had also joined the medicine cats. Eyes narrowed, she glanced toward a young cat that was accompanied by him. He must have been the medicine cat apprentice from Shadowclan.

"Stars, so much has changed." she muttered under her breath. She could only hope to see Softbreeze tonight. It was reassuring to see some familiarity, even if they all had gone through changes in the past moons.

Softbreeze came to a complete stop as she reached the top of Highstones. It wasn't the alarming absence of Mossbloom, or the cold, or even looking back at Smallbean behind her that made her stop. It was a face she hasn't seen in moons.

Spiderquill.

Her heart has stopped when she thought he was dead. It stopped again, just now. Tears streamed down her face, but she wasn't sad. She was overjoyed. Her paws remained rooted, a giant grin on her maw. She could hardly see anymore, tears fogging her vision. "Y-y-y-you're alive.."

Her paws uprooted suddenly, and with extreme speed, she barrelled past Beechface, despite the silver she-cat's much bigger height and rammed straight into Spiderquill. Soft, small paws wrapped around him and she pressed her cheek against his. "I thought you were dead! How dare you leave me like that, you selfish weaselheart!" Softbreeze sobbed, pressing even closer against him,as if scared to lose him.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt? I heard Beechpaw-- er, Beechface. You... Don't remember me, do you?" She, regrettably, pulled away, and sadness touched her gaze for a minute, but she pushed it away. "Well, if that's the case, I'm Softbreeze. It's nice to see you again Spiderqu-- Dennis. I've missed you. A lot."

Stars, she hoped he didn't see the flush on her cheeks. At least her fur should've helped cover it.

Anxiety eating at his stomach, Smallbean trailed behind Softbreeze as they made their way to highstones. It felt like moons since he last felt like this, all he wanted to do was turn around and go back to camp. Medicine cat meetings were much easier when he could attend them from being home in his nest instead of actually having to meet cats face to face. He didn't know what to expect at all, what if they thought badly of him?

As they began to climb highstones, his nervousness grew. Now that he thought about it, he didn't even remember which cats were medicine cats. He had never had the need to remember them, and when he did the Asylum kept them from meeting. What if he messed up the first impression they had of him? It didn't take very long for them to climb to the top of Highstones and for Softbreeze to come to a complete stop in front of him. What had happened? Creeping around from behind her, he looked at all of the cats and found that Softbreeze was staring at one in particular, one that he didn't recognize. Taking a step back, he watched as his mentor practically tackled him, calling him Dennis. That wasn't a clan cat name. Was this cat a rogue or something? If so, why was he here? He decided to keep his mouth shut on the matter until he learned more about this Dennis cat.

Tearing his eyes away from the two he swept his gaze over the rest of the cats, reluctant to introduce himself. He noticed that Flintstar was there, the one cat he recognized. Even so, he had never talked to the tom. Taking a deep breath, he stepped forward, keeping his voice low. "I'm Smallbean... Asylum chose me to be a medicine cat apprentice after being a warrior for my entire life, so.... now i'm here." He squeezed his eyes shut after he was finished speaking, hoping he made a good first impression.

Dennis was glad for the focus shifting from him to... Flintstar, was it? Clearly it was odd seeing him here, as both Beechface and Daisybloom took notice of him. The little tom bowed his head briefly to Rookfire, grateful that the other tom didn't seem to care about him being here at all. He was evidently new, and Dennis took that as a blessing as it meant he wouldn't have to explain himself. Again. He let out a relieved breath when Beechface left him alone, looking away for just a brief moment of respite before a small fluffy blur shot past Beechface and into his side, almost toppling him over. Her words washed over him meaninglessly, his brain preoccupied with trying not to combust at the sudden shock. Not only of being tackled by an emotional she-cat, but by the fact that it was this emotional she-cat. Softbreeze.

He raised a shaky paw and returned her embrace, burying his face in her fur for a moment before she pulled away. Her facial expression was one he'd seen before, and hated to see again; that pitying, remorseful look. The one he got whenever he flinched at his old name, or failed to recall someone else's. But Dennis, for once, didn't much care. "Softbreeze. Oh my stars..." He wanted to explain himself. The intricacies of his memory loss, the vague memories that were getting clearer and clearer with every old friend he met... But the energy to do so escaped him. Instead, he settled on pressing his side against hers. "H-how could I forget," he whispered. A lie, partially at least, but between the heat rising to his face and the hitherto buried memories swirling about his brain, he didn't dwell on it.

Rookfire nodded at the fluffy she-cat's question. "Yep," he said, smirking at the she-cat. Noticing the medicine cat's suspicious glare, he gave a glare right back to her. "But it don't make me any less of a medicine cat. And I am loyal to ShadowClan, not Asylum." He wasn't going to let her push him around. Now that he was really looking at her, she seemed to be too big to be just fluff. Perhaps she had muscle, which most likely meant that she learned how to fight as well. Rookfire curled up his tail, preparing for her to speak back up at him.

"I was one of the more vocal supporters against Asylum, actually." He didn't think that they were bad, just that his opinions on Asylum control over the Clans were different from theirs. If they had been the same... well, it would have been a much different story. At least, until he saw how they treated his clanmates, in which point he would probably have bounced back to the Clans' side. The black-and-white tom turned his head to Flintstar. "If you don't believe my word, ask Flintstar here. He can confirm it." He didn't really want to put the attention on Flintstar, but he was ShadowClan's leader, and he could vouch for Rookfire, so the medicine cat decided putting the attention on Flintstar was a good move. Probably. Well, he can't take it back now.

The scent of Windclan heralded the arrival of the other medicine cats, and Beechface took a step back, lips curling in disgust as Softbreeze all but flew past her to reach Spiderquill, crying and sputtering. How typical she thought.

"You have my condolences, truly. Starclan's choices are certainly... questionable." She greeted the smaller tom who had followed Softbreeze with a dry tone. He looked vaguely familiar, and she thought that maybe she'd seen him at a gathering, but she'd never spoken to him before. He looked like he was a fair bit older than she was, and to have only recently been made a medicine cat apprentice? As if that wasn't bad enough he had Softbreeze as a mentor. But then, if he cried as much as she did, maybe that was all Windclanners were good for.

"I would hope so, with how they've treated our clanmates." She muttered darkly to Rookfire. From what had been said, the other clans had cats that were imprisoned as well, not just Skyclan. If any of them were in even half as bad shape as her father was, she would only be more horrified.

"Right, let's go, then. I'm sure you all have enough to attend to at home without lingering here longer than necessary." Every second spent waiting around was time wasted, as far as she was concerned, and the large medicine cat turned towards mothermouth. If Flintstar felt the need to accompany them directly to the moonstone, she'd allow him to go first. She saw the wisdom of the leader accompanying his newest medicine cat here, especially after everything that had transpired.

The dark, winding tunnel was an almost welcome familiarity as she made her way down to the moonstone. There was no trace of the Asylum, only a few faint, stale scents that would be gone soon enough. Her hackles rose slightly at this, but the owners of those scents were gone, it seemed.

She hadn't stepped foot here since she'd received her full name with Wolfstar, and so much had changed since then. The realization hurt, but the medicine cat pressed forward anyways, and once she reached the moonstone she pressed her nose to it and quickly sank into unconsciousness.

The first thing she heard was the angry cries of a hawk. Beechface's gaze snapped open in alarm at the sounds, eyes widening as she took in the scene before her. A hawk had been knocked from the sky... By a warrior, her cream fur bristling and her claws unsheathed. She yowled something, and it was then that Beechface became aware of what had fallen from the hawk's grasp. Likely the reason the she-cat had attacked the thing in the first place.

Kits.

And then, on the heels of that realization came the next; one of them was silvery-furred, and bobtailed.

No, it couldn't be.

Beechface attempted to call out, struggled to leap forwards, but her paws were frozen and she couldn't seem to speak.

As if on that thought, another cat pulled the smaller shapes away from the hawk, and a third joined in fighting the bird, earning talons buried in her side for her efforts.

Beechface had just enough time to make out the words the cream-furred she-cat cried out, her voice ringing in her ears as the vision faded.

"Ivystar!"

Beechface jerked awake, wide eyes sweeping around the chamber of the moonstone as her heart raced. A hawk, carrying kits. One silvery and bobtailed, the other sneezing. Reeds. Three she-cats, one of whom was Ivystar... Riverclan, once again.

Skyclan had lost two kits to a hawk. Smokefeather and Ashstorm had said it had flown towards the river... but had quickly gone out of sight of the Skyclanners who had attempted to chase it down.

Her eyes settled on Spiderquill's still-sleeping form. Whenever he awoke, he was going to give her answers. He eventually stirred from his own dream.

"Spiderquill- Dennis! We need to talk. Now." She hissed softly, mindful of the other medicine cats around her. Beechface stood, tail tip flicking with agitation.

The member 'kjSage' has done the following action : Dices roll

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#1 'StarClan Revelation' :


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#2 'Effect Dice' : 6

Flintstar huffed as Rookfire had to stress his loyalty to ShadowClan, standing up to his full height behind the medicine cat as he glared around at the other cats - daring any of the others to say something about it. Beechface muttered, causing the leader to fix her with an even stare but she said nothing more - not seeming needing him to confirm Rookfire's loyalty. As the medicine cats all turned towards mothermouth, Flintstar took the lead - ears perked and eyes focused for any danger - any Asylum cats - that might make themselves known. But there was no trouble to be seen as they reached the cavern of the Moonstone, the leader stepping to the side to allow all the medicine cats to filter past - counting each one that had arrived to make sure that none had been left behind. Once they were settling, he laid down and tucked his paws beneath him.  He suppose...He was to just watch. And so he laid there, alert as always as the medicine cats difted into their dreams - with Beechface being the first to awaken as she called out for the RiverClan medicine cat. The leader grunted, something almost like...Concern crossing his face - if only because he realized that these discusses were not meant for him...

So he shifted his gaze away, ready to ignore the words that were about to be said - it wasn't his business but his ears couldn't help but turn toward the voices. Frogbreath...He could only hope he could listen and manage to not take anything in.