detangle the future [c]

(ooc: set before blood's leader ceremony)

"Beechface! Beechface!" Muddythorn yelled, practically stumbling across the camp, tripping over his own paws. After him and his mother had made the revelation by the creek, the medicine cat had managed to keep his excitement somewhat in check on the walk home, but now he was so close he couldn't help himself. Maybe he was being overly optimistic in believing Beechface would have all the answers, but he wasn't the kind to give up hope easily. Hope. That was another idea to add to the growing list that was his many vague interpretations of the omen. If it eve was an omen. Some of his ideas varied from crazy to pretty much plausible, but none of them had felt right.

Once he reached the medicine den (which took longer than it should've, but it turned out hurrying too much was counter-productive), all that he wanted to say came out together. "Beechface how do you tell if something is an omen and are there any records of blind cats seeing stuff occasionally and did you know my mum could see the moonstone and do you think it's an omen." He was speaking so fats that when he finished he had to pause for a breather, still gasping for breath a bit after his run here.

Beechface had just finished sorting through herbs, stepping out of the medicine den and stretching when Muddythorn entered camp. At hearing her name shouted in a... suspiciously excited tone, the medicine cat turned her head to face her former apprentice, curious to know what had him this excitable.

"Slow down..." She muttered, half-hearted admonishment as he practically tripped over his own paws and his own words. The barrage of questions gave her pause, however. An omen? Primroselight being able to see the moonstone? How had she not known that? Was it an omen? Stars...

"I didn't know Prim was able to see at the moonstone..." She mewed, less certain of what that meant. That had been so long ago, they'd still been in Riverclan's camp at the time, after the fire that had swept through Skyclan territory. She'd been the one to take Primroselight to the moonstone, and they'd both been different cats back then. But why wouldn't Primroselight have told her about this? "That was a long time ago, seasons ago. Did she only just bring this up today?"

"I don't know if it's an omen, or even how to interpret it. Primroselight has always been the level-headed one and looks at things different than I do, it could be nothing more than that. It could simply be a trick of the light allowing her something for once, or that Starclan had wanted her to gaze upon the moonstone in all its' glory. It could be nothing at all." She admitted finally, "Omens are... strange. I saw an injured bird and smelled smoke, even though we'd been back in Skyclan territory for over a season and there was no fire in sight. It was at dawn." She snorted, bitterness coating her words, "I chalked it up to nothing more than coincidence and the sticks that twolegs sometimes carry. Smokefeather wound up injured, of course, and you know what happened there. It could have been a true omen... Though these days I'm more willing to believe it was just coincidence. Starclan, as a rule, does not to anything straightforward if they don't have to."

"It's not just the moonstone, she saw the creek! Thats why she mentioned it. And as far as I know it's not Starclan-y, but its name definitely makes sense now." Muddythorn explained, before actually listening to the rest of what Beechface was saying. He's calmed down a little, but was still excitedly shifting his weight from paw to paw, unable to sit completely still.

The medicine cat did take in what his aunt said, but was still hopeful. "Maybe it could be Starclan promising things could get better, y'know? I mean our clan's been through a lot, all clans do, but it feels like ours has certainly had the worst of it. It can't hurt to hope for a change, right?" He knew it could be a coincidence. He knew life in the forest could never be that simple. But one cat had to hope for something better. "A new light of hope for us. Or stars. Maybe Starclan will help us with something? I know you probably don't think so, but they've done it before."

"The creek, too? Is this the first time?" Beechface asked. The name could have had the very slim chance of meaning something... No, that was doubtful. "Far as I know it's not. Still, if she was able to see..." She shrugged. The medicine cat simply wasn't certain that this was any work of the divine. "It could have just been a trick of the light."

Muddythorn was so optimistic, almost too optimistic. "Skyclan has been through a lot. I won't expect change until I see it unfolding before me." They hadn't helped with the Asylum, or the fire. They hadn't helped with Bloodstrike after he'd been returned to them, and the one time they did offer help, Dawnhawk had managed to get away before anything could be done. He'd only caused more chaos. "I got my hopes up too, you know. Time and time again, Starclan has proven that was in vain." She cautioned her apprentice, though there was more weariness rather than anger in her voice.

"Yeah, that's what she said!" Muddythorn nodded. The point Beechface brought up first certainly made a lot of sense, but surely this was breaking into the impossible? The kind of thing only Starclan had the power to do, or, like he'd heard in the elder's tales, the Dark Forest. It didn't seem like something they would do though, not this passive and cryptic. At leats that ruled out one option.

Muddythorn took all that his mentor said into account and he dropped his head slightly. It did make more sense that way. "Yeah, I see what you're saying. I knew you would know whether it's important or not, I just got too hopeful." He said, trying not to let the disappointment show in his voice. He'd gone from high-speed to a stand still in a matter of minutes, the confidence and excitement he'd felt earlier ebbing away. "But I also know the reason this," He gestured to the general medicine den with his tail, "works so well. I guess one of us has to be the hope, the other the reason. I know you've dealt with a lot in this job, Starclan haven't stepped up when they were supposed to, but... I haven't got to that point yet. I'm aware it's stupid to think that all our problems can be solved with the drop of a leaf: it takes more than that to fix this mess of a situation. But if a bit of hope and a bit of faith gets me where I want to be, then I'm gonna take it." Muddythorn gave his chest a few quick licks, embarrassed at his unexpected and reflective ramble, one that felt very strange to him. He meant all that he said, he just didn't realised it was all in his mind.

Hmm, if Primroselight had managed to see something... Maybe there was a chance that she could see more? Beechface wanted that to be the case. She'd watched her sister struggle, and the effort she'd put into becoming who was easily one of Skyclan's best warriors was truly admirable. But she didn't deserve to suffer, either. She pondered it while Muddythorn spoke, ear flicked in his direction.

"Reason?" Beechface scoffed, "Hardly. I'm jaded, Muddythorn, I can admit that. I wish I could believe in hope." Hope felt like something of a distant memory to Beechface, truthfully. Every time she'd dared, hope had been snatched away ruthlessly. By the Asylum, by Dawnhawk, by her father. By the stars themselves. It seemed like a waste of time... But then, so was arguing about it with her now-former apprentice.

"I suppose we'll find out which of us is right one day... Maybe." Or maybe they would never know. With Starclan, it really was impossible to tell.