Dreampaw's Moostone Journey

Berrypaw was nervous, this was his first moonstone journey. Well, besides his own. He tried to calm himself by taking deep breaths, but it didn't really work. He trotted out of his den, glancing at Mistypaw before he left. Berrypaw headed to the apprentice den, creeping inside, and nudging Dreampaw awake. It was early, but Berrypaw was used to waking up then. "Ok, Dreampaw, I need you to eat, uh, these herbs. They aren't very good but you need them." Once they both ate their herbs they started to exit camp.

It had been just as any usual week so far to them. Well, so far until the strange encounter with the rouge for the previous day. Normal hunting duties, helping the elders out... That all have been made into a habit that they'd never be able to forget. As they curled in their moss bed, they felt a paw nudging them up, and they easily figured out who that was. Berrypaw, one of their brothers have called for them. Just as they were opening their mouth to question why, the realization soon hit them. They were going on a journey to the moonstone today. Berrypaw gave them with an odd-looking herb bundle, telling them to eat it for the journey. They sat up and gave the unfamiliar bundle of herbs a few sniffs, then hastily finished it up. The herbs tasted too bitter for their liking; though they had no intent to complain. Berrypaw led them out of the camp, and they quickly followed after him.

Once Dreampaw had started trailing behind Berrypaw, he trotted outside of camp. The herbs they consumed earlier were to help them with the trip to Highstones, as Hentooth had taught him. Once they arrived, Berrypaw nodded, as if for Dreampaw to stay close. It was dark, and there were so many ways to go, but Berrypaw had the tunnels memorized, from when he went there with Hentooth. Berrypaw was devastated that Hentooth was gone, and he was just under so much stress. He could barely handle his job as a medicine cat. It's lonely in the medicine den, without Hentooth. She was like a mother to him, and she was gone now. He tried his best, Dovefrost came with Crowpaw to teach him more about herbs and other things like such. These things fogged his mind as they traveled through the tunnels. As light broke through the tunnels, Berrypaw knew that they were there. The Moonstone.

Just like how they've imagined— the tunnel was dark. Little to no light shone through it at all, and the apprentice stayed close to Dreampaw's figure. It seemed like he knew the way.. but of course the tom had to. He was a medicine cat apprentice after all, was he not? The pressure ever since Hentooth left fell directly onto the tom though, and looking at his stressed state even now caused them to feel somewhat guilty. Yet, they had no idea how to help him at all. They weren't exactly.. The type of cat to comfort others around, no matter how they might've appeared to others.

Soon, a bright light broke into their point of view, and they squinted their eyes. The glowing stone.. The Moonstone. They were finally here, and all their thoughts from earlier seemed to have been temporarily left behind. After hearing what they were instructed to do, they padded over, letting themselves rest underneath the beaming light. Once ready, they took in a deep breath, and pressed their nose to the cold surface of the stone.

Before realizing what has properly happened, their eyes fluttered open, and they soon were met by a starry landscape. They remained still for a while, unable to believe what was in front of their eyes. This.. Really is StarClan.  Their body felt light, as if their current state didn't actually exist anymore. Though it still did. Drowned in his own thoughts once again, he was caught unaware by another presence. The figure spoke up, and his head whipped to the direction of the voice, alarmed. And unconsciously, took a step back.

Though Lightfang still struggled to accept that any apprentice might find value in his advice, he’d gotten somewhat accustomed to speaking to them. He groomed his starry pelt to perfection, ate a lizard or two to ensure he’d be clear-headed (even though hunger wasn’t a problem for him anymore), arrived in the skies above WindClan well ahead of schedule. He was nothing short of prepared—but when tonight’s apprentice finally materialized, they didn’t so much as glance at him. Instead, they stared at the scenery. With a name like Dreampaw, it made perfect sense.

The taill warrior quietly cleared his throat. “It’s a lot to take in, I know.” Dreampaw jolted, and Lightfang shuffled back in turn. After a moment’s scrambling, he decided to sit down in the hope that might set the apprentice at ease. His tail curled around his paws; the scars on his neck gleamed silver. “Sorry, I…didn’t mean to startle you. My name is Lightfang.” Lightfang exhaled, feeling himself relax into the routine. “I was a WindClan warrior under Finchstar, though I was born SkyClan. I don’t know everything,” he said, and fixed his eyes on Dreampaw, “but is there anything you’d like to ask?”

As the StarClan cat sat down, Dreampaw blinked, and awkwardly followed along. His pelt shone just like how the other cats described to him; how the cats in StarClan really had pelt with stars in it. The tom also didn't seem to be a danger, and their shoulders relaxed with ease. “I was a WindClan warrior under Finchstar, though I was born SkyClan. I don’t know everything,” Their eyes subtly widened at the setence, and they waited for the tom to say more.. Though he quickly wrapped it up, and now it was their turn to speak. Frankly, they didn't prepare for such a situation like this. They were nervous about the journey, and so, the thought could've slipped from their mind. As they continued to search for questions, a name suddenly popped up in their head.

Dawnhawk.

And so, their mouth opened, and they began asking a question they thought they'd never be able to ask before. "If this is allowed, um," They paused, "Who is Dawnhawk, really?" As they finished, they froze for a brief moment, shuffling back their paws. Their back straightened up, keeping their eyes glued to their paws. "Sorry if that was so sudden.. He warned me to not tell anyone else, but I'm really curious." They quietly muttered, and their tail anxiously wrapped around their paws. Someone else must know who the rouge really was, right?

His attempt to defuse the situation went exactly as he’d hoped. Dreampaw sat as well, and settled down enough to deliver their first question—which seemed to make them twitchy all over again. Surprise flitted across Lightfang’s face. Dawnhawk. A far cry from the other things he’d been asked about…and by extension, something he was at least a little qualified to answer. It certainly explained Dreampaw's sudden nervousness. “It’s all right. You don’t need to apologize.” The starlight in his eyes dimmed. “Dawnhawk is a liar and a murderer.” Murderer was not a title to be thrown about lightly; the forest had called Arno that and worse for what amounted to a terrible accident. Dawnhawk, though, had earned every letter. “He was born and raised SkyClan. He put one of his Clanmates in a coma and injured another so badly she had to retire from warriorhood. He’s killed seven cats. All of them were SkyClanners.” Lightfang took a steadying breath. “One was three moons old.”

Tail unwinding enough to thump the ground in agitation, he allowed his words to sink in before continuing. “You might have heard stories about a group called Asylum. When I was alive, they attacked WindClan, disguising themselves by wearing predators’ pelts. Finchstar and Goldengale killed their leader, and we finally chased them off… Well, last leaf-fall, they came back and took over the Clans. They stole our kits, stopped Gatherings and Moonstone journeys, killed or kidnapped anyone who stepped out of line. And Dawnhawk… Dawnhawk handed SkyClan over to them. One of those seven cats he murdered, he killed just to earn Asylum’s trust.” Or respect, or maybe loyalty. For once, Lightfang couldn’t have cared less about the details. Treason was treason, as he knew all too well.

“Of course, SkyClan exiled him after Asylum fell. So he went to WindClan with a fake name and…something on his pelt to hide his scent, and joined them.” Lightfang’s tone, cold to begin with, iced over. WindClan’s friendliness toward outsiders had doomed them. In a different time, that same trust had saved him and his family. It was naïve and short-sighted and dangerous, and it turned his stomach to think any so-called warrior would take advantage of it. “Eventually SkyClan found out. While they were across the forest fighting WindClan, Dawnhawk invaded their camp and killed four more of his former Clanmates. He left before anyone else even knew he was there.”

At last, Lightfang went quiet. He dragged a paw through the dirt and stardust at his feet, savoring the silence, however brief it was. “That’s all I know,” he said after a moment, raising his eyes to meet Dreampaw’s. “I never met him or anyone who knew him; I died too long ago for that. But from everything I’ve seen and heard, he might as well be a Dark Forest cat in a living warrior’s skin.” His voice turned apologetic as he dropped his gaze. “Though I don’t know if he’s still a warrior, wherever he is. SkyClan and WindClan are the only skies I walk in.”

“Dawnhawk is a liar and a murderer.”

Those two words made him flinch in surprise— especially the last one. Murderer.. So he really is one.  As the starlight in Lightfang's eyes dimmed down, the tom continued to listen, swiveling their ears high enough to catch every detail. Their expression grew in horror as they were told the rouge's backstory, and their ears flattened down even further as the StarClan cat told them how a kit  was murdered by the same tom. Though their expression turned bitter with hatred, they continued to listen anyway, ​wanting to understand more about the situation. Just.. Why would someone ​go so wild?

The more they listened, the more horrid the tales sounded to them. The Asylum... Those terms were still so new to them, though they've heard about them briefly before. Lightfang told them how Dawnhawk disguised himself as another cat, and as puzzling as that was; his clan... Well, back then, somehow believed him. They believed the rouge, and let him in. Not just so, but the rouge also murdered his former clanmates mercilessly. Dreampaw gritted their teeth in disdain.

After Lightfang has finished his story, his eyes met theirs, and their stare of hatred soon reverted to a more hesitant look. "I see.. Thank you, Lightfang. You have explained a lot to me." They gave him a small dip of the head. “Though I don’t know if he’s still a warrior, wherever he is. SkyClan and WindClan are the only skies I walk in.”  In that split of a moment, the apprentice opened his maw to speak— yet hesitated, and stopped themselves anyway. Maybe it wasn't good to overtell. If Dawnhawk ever has figured that they've told a StarClan cat about this, they'll probably be turned into mousemeat sooner or later anyway. "Though, do you think there's anything else I should know? I'm not so sure myself, but I felt like asking." They spoke again, this time switching the topic. If they ever do encounter Dawnhawk again, at least they should know how to react then.