Galepaw's Moonstone Journey

Galepaw

Galepaw had another exhausting day when Daisyfang entered the apprentice's den and prompted him to follow her. He had finally made his peace with the fact that the two cats walked very different paths in life. Seeing the medicine cat now, all Galepaw felt was the weariness deep in his bones, the faint rattling of his breathing, and profound respect for the cat he had grown up with, who had cured the clan of its most severe ailments, all by herself.

It's time? he wondered absently, but, too tired to question her, he padded out of the den after her, casting a glance over his shoulder back to his mossy nest... notably, Cloudypaw wasn't there again. Galepaw tried to push the thought aside, but his pelt still burned and his claws still worked at the snow with each step.

Daisyfang was leading Galepaw towards a secluded corner of the camp.
Maybe she wants to discuss the omen more? he wondered. As they approached, he met the medicine cat's eyes, confusion clouding his amber gaze. He sniffled a little.

"What can I do for you, Daisyfang?" he asked perhaps a little too curtly, casting an anxious glance back towards the apprentice den and then to the camp entrance. "Have you received another sign from StarClan?" It had to be something important for her to bring him to the farthest corner of camp right before he was about to lay down for the night.

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Galepaw
Galepaw's eyes widened incredulously at Daisyfang's words.
"StarClan will speak to me?" he echoed incredulously. "Hopefully it's more clear than the dreams," he mumbled. His mind flashed back to the horrible nightmares that had been plaguing him as he slept: chasing after Cloudypaw, but never catching up, the silhouetted figure of a large cat with resentful amber eyes - his own eyes, he now knew - staring back at him, the choking sensation as dirt filled his mouth, and the desperate mewling of kits. He shook his head to clear it, coming back to the present.

At least I understand what one of them means now, he thought ruefully. But a larger part of him didn't want to know what the rest of them meant. If one of them had come true, the others could only be worse. If that's what StarClan wants to talk to me about, he thought, then I'm afraid I am the one who isn't ready. Anxiety tightened his chest, making him feel as though a badger had sat on it.

Galepaw's eyes softened at the beautiful nest that welcomed him.
"Thank you, Daisyfang," he murmured as he approached the soft-looking arrangement, circling a few times before laying down with his chin hanging over the edge. His bones were weary, his muscles achy, his breath rattling as he let out a deep purr. "You'll... stay here, won't you?" he checked. "The whole time...?"

His eyelids hung heavy as Galepaw drifted in and out of sleep. The nest was comfortable, especially lined with feathers, even though it wasn't in the apprentice's den where he was used to. He had trouble staying asleep at first, anxiety and stress whirling in his mind, his eyes flickering open every once in a while to check the camp entrance as he subconsciously awaited his sister's arrival.

But eventually, under the dim moonlight, Galepaw slipped into the world of dreams.

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Seasons upon seasons had passed since Sageleaf had made her home among the stars. It had been so long that aside from the few cats whose dreams she'd walked, the forest had forgotten her name. The former Windclan medicine cat's grey and white pelt was as pretty as ever, shimmering effortlessly with the beauty of the stars. As she waited for Galepaw to join her in the glistening plains, the tip of her tail twitched, mind obviously wrought with worry. She hated to see the similarities between herself and Slatethroat being reflected in the lives of the young Windclan siblings. In the back of her mind, the Starclan cat told herself the worry was one she had imagined. Surely, Galepaw was different, he wouldn't walk the same path her brother had moons ago.

As the tom awoke in the realm of Starclan, her features softened slightly, allowing a rather neutral smile. Sageleaf dipped her head in greeting. She met his amber eyes evenly and meowed, "Welcome to Starclan, Galepaw. I'm sure you have plenty of questions for me. I'm Sageleaf, and I am to provide the guidance you seek." I hope. The words echoed in her mind and she had to prevent herself from showing any outward signs of concern. If Sageleaf was to be of any help to him along this path, she needed to walk it with him, not away from him. As her light green eyes regarded him, there was a genuine curiosity, prying for the truth of what was playing out behind his gaze.

Galepaw

Galepaw's amber eyes stretched wide when he found himself standing on a moor. It wasn't WindClan's moor by the lake, what he was used to... it was different, and yet familiar. It was unlike the lands of his nightmares recently. He felt calm here. The voice of a cat reached him from behind, and he turned around, mystified. The sun was rising over the moor, painting the sky with pink and orange hues. The gentle breeze rustled the heather around him. All of the anxiety that had been haunting him in his nest before his arrival felt faraway now. Galepaw inhaled, the rich scents of prey and heather flooding his nose.

"Hello, Sageleaf," he greeted the gray and white she-cat with a respectful dip of his head. "It is nice to meet you." He met Sageleaf's green eyes, wondering just how much this cat knew about the world that haunted him while he slept. He sat down, tucking his long, feathering tail over his paws.

"It's been a long time since I've had a decent night's sleep," he admitted. "Daisyfang says StarClan is responsible for the nightmares I keep having." Flashes of Cloudypaw running away and the silhouette of a huge cat with resentful amber eyes played through his mind, but they brought him less distress this time. He knew now that the amber eyes he saw were his own, on the night that he had injured Cloudypaw.

"I think I am a danger to my sister," Galepaw choked out. Though he had felt the feelings and thought the thoughts for a long time now, he had never brought himself to say so out loud. "It feels like I'm facing an unbeatable enemy. All I want is to help guide Cloudypaw on the path to becoming a great WindClan warrior, but..." he trailed off, unable to bring himself to speak his sister's secret out loud. He stared at his paws. Even now, he thought bitterly, I can't betray you like you've betrayed the clan. Those resentful eyes burned into his pelt now.

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As he spoke, her gaze softened. Galepaw's intent and heart were obvious. She'd seen the way he cared deeply for his sister and it reverberated in his words now. Sageleaf wanted to console him, and whisk away any fears that plagued the young tom's mind. If only things were that simple. Parting her maw, the she-cat spoke slowly and softly as if testing the words on her tongue, "I'd like to tell you a story Galepaw. My own. This is also the story of two Windclan littermates whose paws took them on different paths." It felt dismissive, in a sense, to brush away his concerns but she knew he would see himself reflected in the tale she was about to recount.

The former medicine cat wanted to knead her claws anxiously as she thought about it, pictured Slatethroat's angry scowl in her mind. Moments of tenderness, care, and joy from her brother more like a fanciful dream than a memory. She swallowed. Hopefully, Cloudypaw wouldn't have to eventually feel the same. A soft sigh fell from the back of her throat and she carried on, "Seasons ago my brother, Slatethroat, and I were kits of Windclan. It was our dream to become the greatest warriors the clan had ever seen. But Starclan had different plans. I was chosen to become a medicine cat." The disappointment across her sibling's features flashed in her mind. Written there had been sadness, twisted to resentment, all in the wake of an overwhelming loneliness.

She stood and beckoned with a flicker of her tail for Galepaw to follow her. Stopping at the edge of a puddle of water, flashes of scenery flickered hazily in the shimmering depths. Memories, come to life, before their eyes as Sageleaf's voice echoed, "Slatethroat grew angry that I had abandoned the path we always said we wanted to walk together." A handsome grey and white tom appeared, scowling at Sageleaf before turning away to exit Windclan camp. Without realizing it, the Starclan cat's tail tip had begun to twitch anxiously, "He never understood that even if it was a path I didn't want to walk, how could I avoid the will of the stars? In his own loneliness, my brother became bitter and thirsty to control matters outside of his paws."

The surface of the puddle rippled, revealing vicious training sessions. Slatethroat stood there, coercing other warriors out on the moorlands as his claws tore up the earth seeking his own brand of justice. As the waters stilled, the picture of Sageleaf and Slatethroat become clearer. Fur bristled along the warriors back as he towered over the medicine cat, her ears flattened and eyes wide with fear as she regarded the tom she had once shared a nest with. Then, it flickered to the clan, tensions high as they gathered before a large, grey-furred she-cat. Sageleaf looked sick. Her stomach churned as she recounted the events she longed to forget, "I recieved a vision, warning me of Slatethroat, but I wanted to think better of my kin. He decided that our clan was weak under Ashstar, and we needed strong warriors to lead... bloodthirsty warriors, like himself. Slatethroat grew more terrifying by the day. He threatened me, saying I had to tell the clan Starclan's vision had warned me about our leadership. But his plan failed. The clan was steadfast in their loyalty and disregarded the words of a young medicine cat." Her breath quivered for a moment, and she paused.

The gorge showed before them. In Sageleaf's ears roared the sound of the crashing falls, clear as if it were happening that instant. She looked away as it played out but continue her narration, "In my failure, I became nothing to Slatethroat. His heart was too far gone, clouded in darkness, and he attacked me. To spare my clan, I threw him into the gorge." With that, the she-cat's jaw clenched, and the pool returned to normal, reflecting the starry landscape. There was no need to recount how his journey had lead him to the Dark Forest, where hatred followed him into the afterlife. Everything Galepaw needed to see, he had already been shown. She dreaded looking at the apprentice's expression but turned her head to meet his gaze once more.

"You're not Slatethroat." Sageleaf meowed firmly, "But you're  a path that only you can decide. Cloudypaw is on her own path. Just because you cannot walk together, does not mean you need to be apart."

Two Birds:

Galepaw

Galepaw's ears pricked up at the prospect of hearing the pretty medicine cat's story. Different paths? he thought idly as she spoke, imagining a fork in a trail between Cloudypaw and himself. He listened to Sageleaf's soothing voice as she continued.

"But Cloudypaw isn't a medicine cat," he noted, remembering how much he admired and looked up to his own medicine cat, Daisyfang. "She was born to be a WindClan warrior, just like me." A faraway look grew in Galepaw's expression as he remembered the dream they had shared as kits.

I want to be a warrior. I want us to be the best they've ever seen, she had told Galekit underneath Silverpelt that night. He remembered the promise they had made to each other.

And we'll do it together. Promise? Promise that we will train hard together when we're made apprentices. he had asked her.

Promise. We'll train hard together, and we will be the best WindClan cats. She had been so sad that night, and Galekit had been there to assure her everything would be okay. But it wasn't okay.

He thought about waiting up for her to return to camp, and how she'd kept their mother, Morningmoon, up waiting for her until the sun sank below the mountains. Galepaw had been so worried about his sister, worried she could have been hurt. But when he found her outside of camp, he had been the one to hurt her, instead. A shiver ran through Galepaw now at the memory, as Sageleaf beckoned him to follow her.

His eyes widened as he looked down into the puddle as she spoke, images forming as though he was looking down on the old WindClan. Galepaw was captivated by the abilities of StarClan. His grief began to claw its way up as he saw the siblings playing together happily at first, and Sageleaf told him about her brother's anger. He could see himself reflected almost perfectly in the dark gray and white tom. He remembered his anger on that night and how it had become so intense that his body acted before he had time to think.

The will of the stars? he echoed inwardly, not wanting to interrupt. Could it be StarClan's will that Cloudypaw is making friends with rogues instead of serving her clan? The thought deeply disturbed Galepaw. Bitter and thirsty... To control matters outside of his paws...

He watched the images pass by in ripples, swallowing back his growing alarm as he saw then-Sageleaf's fear mirroring that of Cloudypaw's on the night he had slashed her ear. Amber eyes burned into his pelt. The fear he had felt during his nightmares must have been the same fear as this. Galepaw wanted to shrink shamefully into his own pelt. I scared her.

Then, the vision changed. He was watching another cat now, a huge gray she-cat. That must be Ashstar, he thought as Sageleaf went on.

"He wanted to become WindClan's leader?" he mewed out loud, appalled that any cat could possibly want to overthrow their leader by force. He looked down into the unfamilair gorge, amazed to be able to glimpse what the forest territories looked like back home. But the darkness of the medicine cat's tale contrasted against Galepaw's awe, and his ears slicked back against his head as she finished her story, with her brother's end. Fear shown in the depths of his amber gaze.

"I attacked Cloudypaw," he admitted, suddenly not able to meet the starry she-cat's green gaze. Anxiety welled up inside him and threatened to swallow him whole. "But I would never... turn against my clan," he assured her. "I'm sorry about your brother..." Galepaw tried to imagine what Cloudypaw thought of him now. Perhaps their relationship would never mend.

"How can we walk together if she's..." breaking the warrior code? he finished inwardly. Disloyal to her clan? Anger began to bubble up inside Galepaw, clashing with his guilt and shame. If he hadn't been dreaming, he might feel sick. His ears seemed to ring. "I... I don't know what I am supposed to do," he choked. Do I hide her secret from the clan, to stay close to Cloudypaw? Or do I... tell Tigerstar? He blinked. He had never once considered confessing Cloudypaw's secret to anyone until now. He had expected that StarClan could bring him clarity to his worries, but this had only seemed to make him feel more conflicted. Galepaw's tail lashed back and forth and he plucked at the ground in his frustration. "How do I stay loyal to my sister, and my clan?" he asked Sageleaf, his fiery amber eyes full of passion, anger, and searching desperation. How?

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Sageleaf's expression was neutral. She stayed silent, letting him process, and experiencing her own measures of grief in seeing the emotions that danced across his face. The medicine cat wanted nothing more than to tell him that everything would be okay and whisper the secrets of the universe to him. But the fact remained that for as powerful as they stars were, they never would control the story of cats below. Their job was to guide and seldom interfere. It was frustrating to feel so powerless, perhaps as much so as the young apprentice did. For as many seasons as Sageleaf had watched over the forest and shared tongues with the inhabitant, she had also been forced to watch circumstances play out.

Her tongue went dry as she remembered Darklight. With a flick of her ear, the thought was banished. There was no point on dwelling on that right now. It was a comfort to see Galepaw so appalled with Slatethroat's actions, and she appreciated the words that were meant to be a comfort. As her tail whisked back and forth behind her, Sageleaf looked down at him with sympathetic eyes, "Slatethroat never thought what he was doing was against the clan. At the most, maybe against me. He was driven to see Windclan strong." She pointed out. None of that excused his actions but it made the point, sometimes the purest of intents could lead to the darkest of actions. Passion could be a wild and dangerous thing. As she peered into the depths of Galepaw's gaze, she saw that. He would never be Slatethroat, but he would be Galepaw. And who that would be was up to him.

"Cloudypaw will learn her own lessons in time. Figure out who you are, Galepaw, what you want, and let it shape you will become." That was all she could say. Nothing more would matter. In a last measure, in hopes of steadying his paws as he journeyed back from Starclan, the she-cat rested her head on the top of Galepaw's. She longed to see him to well, to become a warrior that Windclan could be proud of. Maybe, one day, she would see the future that she had longed for herself reflected in the lives of the these soon to be warriors. As the star-studded backdrop began to fade away, she breathed a farewell, "You're not alone. The distance is much smaller than you believe it to be."

Galepaw

Galepaw leaned into Sageleaf's comforting gesture with a purr. It may have been a dream, but Galepaw had grown fond of the gentle she-cat in what little time they had shared. He felt like he knew so much about the former WindClan medicine cat and her life. Something told Galepaw that he didn't have to speak his worries about his sister aloud for any StarClan cat to know very well what was going on. That thought was comforting. As the stars around them began to twinkle and fade, he latched onto her last words to him.

You're not alone. The distance is much smaller than you believe it to be.
"Thank you, Sageleaf," he mewed as her image faded, the the sweet-smelling moorland was pulled from beneath his paws. He felt himself spiraling down, and woke in the soft nest Daisyfang had prepared for him. His eyes opened, and he let out a deep, long yawn. He looked over at his own medicine cat now, still watching over him while he had shared tongues with StarClan himself.

"Thank you, Daisyfang," he meowed, his voice deep with sleep. He got to his paws, Silverpelt still twinkling overhead. No signs of dawn yet, he thought. But Galepaw wasn't tired. In fact, the young tom felt as though his paws were being tugged somewhere far, far away, back to the familiar moors of the forest where he had never set paw, a wistful expression on his face. He turned his gaze upon the distant mountains silhouetted in the moonlight.

He turned to Daisyfang. "I need to think," he told her with a respectful dip of his head, his eyes serious. Without another word, Galepaw turned and stalked off to the camp entrance. He didn't know where he was going, just that he needed somewhere to be alone with his thoughts.

Who am I? What do I want?

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