Spottedleaf

Redkit knew she was dreaming the moment she realized that Mothermouth, the cave in which medicine cats always shared tongues with StarClan, was standing right in front of her, its cold stone walls stretching several fox leaps into the air. Something had led her here. What was it? Curiously, she peered into the cave. She knew that only medicine cats were allowed, but she had always wondered what the moonstone was. A giant rock? Some strange twoleg thing? The cave was so dark she couldn't see anything, and for a moon cave, it was strangely pitch-black inside.

"Hello?" she called, expecting an answer from an angry medicine cat.

"Hello."

The fur on the back of Redkit's neck stood needle straight, and she whipped around. In shock, her gaze rested on a tortoiseshell she-cat. Her translucent pattern was barely visible underneath all the glittering stars on her pelt, and the scent of rosemary, honeysuckle, and cobwebs that clung to it drifted toward her in strong waves. Instantly, she knew that this was a StarClan medicine cat.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." Redkit said, her voice shaking.

"It's alright." The she-cat replied. Her voice was gentle, and Redkit's fur immediately began to lay flat again. "My name is Spottedleaf, and I was a medicine cat of ThunderClan long before you were ever born."

"Do you know where Flowerpetal is?" Redkit blurted out the news suddenly and without thinking. Flowerpetal, ThunderClan's former medicine cat, disappeared one day while out collecting herbs. The clan had assumed that foxes had killed her, but there was no evidence of any sort of fight or struggle. Could she know something?

A shadow fell over Spottedleaf's face. "No, this isn't about Flowerpetal."

Redkit's heart began to race. What then? Did she do something wrong?

"Redkit, this is very important, so please listen to me." Spottedleaf looked at her long and hard, her amber eyes staring intensely into hers. "You have to become a medicine cat."

"Medicine cat?" Redkit felt her heart fall to the bottom of her paws. She didn't understand. Weren't there other, more qualified cats than her? "I don't want to."

"I'm sorry, Redkit."

"But I'm going to be a warrior!" She hissed angrily, fire raging in her yellow eyes. "You can't tell me to become something I don't want to be it isn't right!"

Spottedleaf turned away. "I'm sorry, it wasn't my decision."

"Then whose decision was it? Tell them that I don't want to do it!"

Spottedleaf took a deep breath. Redkit could tell that she was frustrated. "Some of us have greater destinies that go beyond being just warriors. Sometimes, in order to achieve that destiny, we must make sacrifices, even if it costs us our lives and our freedom. If being a warrior was all about being an amazing hunter or fighter, then we wouldn't need ThunderClan or any of the other clans. We'd be rouges." When Spottedleaf turned back around, Redkit could see that tears were beginning to form in her eyes.

"This isn't a dream, is it?" Redkit asked, disbelief flooding her voice. She took a few steps back, her ears flattening and her fur standing on end. She knew what was going on now. Spottedleaf wanted her to become an apprentice; that's why she was here, standing in front of Mothermouth. "I will never become a medicine cat."

"Please listen to me." Spottedleaf's gaze was serious.

"I don't care! Your mouse-brained ideas have nothing to do with me!" Redkit turned around and broke into a run.

"Redkit wait!"

She didn't care. "I'm never going to be a medicine cat!" She hissed back, louder this time. She didn't care what Spottedleaf had to say. She could've chosen another cat, not her.

~

Redkit woke up in the nursery, panting, with her breath coming out in little wisps of frozen air. Was it really a dream, or did she just run towards Highstones and back? She stood up, shaking little bits of frost off her dark ginger tabby fur.

Hazelkit stirred in his nest, peering at her with half-open eyes.

"What's the matter?" He asked sleepily. "Having dreams about the ceremony again?"

"I'm not dreaming about that." She said this playfully, not wanting to alarm her brother.

Lately, she's been having nightmares of not making it to her ceremony on time, getting hurt, and being refused because she wasn't big enough. These visions haunted her dreams every night, making sleep difficult. Many times, he had comforted her after having these dreams, but now it seems she was to have a different one altogether, just days before her apprenticeship.

Suddenly, she knew that she had to keep the dream a secret. If any cats found out, their obsession with StarClan might drive them to enforce what Spottedleaf said.

"Then what are you dreaming about?" He asked quizzically, his head cocked to one side.

"Nothing Hazelkit!" She playfully attacked him, and together they rolled around in the nest, bits of dirt and moss flying into the air.

The noise woke up Echobreeze, who came strolling over to them. The gray she-cat picked up Redkit and began to groom her behind her ears.

"Now is not the time to play." She told the two kits gently. In reply, Redkit just stuck her tongue out at Hazelkit, and in turn, he stuck his out too.

~

Redkit opened her mouth in a wide yawn, her yellow eyes narrowed into tiny slits. She had slept late, and the sun was already out, warming the frozen ground with its soft rays. She looked around the den. It was empty. Only she and her brother remained.

Echobreeze was the only queen, so whenever she was out, the place would become so quiet that she could hear a leaf drop.

"Hazelkit, wake up." She pushed a paw into her brother's brown tabby fur.

Slowly, Hazelkit lifted his head, shaking scraps of moss from his pelt. "Can't I sleep a little bit longer?" He yawned, revealing rows of many sharp teeth.

"Come on, aren't you hungry?" Redkit padded up to the nursery entrance, her tail pointing straight up. As she got closer, she could hear Silversky's voice, loud and demanding attention.

"Ravenstorm, take Littleleaf, Dewpaw, and another cat with you on the hunting patrol." He meowed, his long gray fur flapping in the high wind. "We could use as many cats as we can get if we're going to have enough prey."

Redkit felt an overwhelming desire tug at her paws. She had never been outside of camp. Echobreeze had told her about all of the dangers outside of it, from badgers and foxes who would gobble you up to rogues who would kill for little to no reason. But even so, she knew she would die for her clan if that meant they would be fed for many more moons.

She bounded over to him, her eyes gleaming. "Can I come too?"

"I'm sorry Redkit, but you're too young." Silversky's voice was firm.

"But, I'm going to be an apprentice soon!"

"Kits need to stay inside the nursery, where they belong." Ravenstorm hissed. He was looking straight at her, his golden eyes narrowing into tiny slits.

Redkit opened her mouth to say something, but Echobreeze disrupted her. "It doesn't matter, Ravenstorm. They can take care of themselves now." She placed her tail gently on top of Redkit's head, "You are going to be an apprentice soon, so you can wait until then."

Redkit huffed, "Why can't I just become an apprentice already?"

"Yeah Ravenstorm she just wanted to help out," Littleleaf said in a mocking tone of voice.

Ravenstorm just shrugged, turning away from the patrol. "We're wasting time. I bet dawn patrol has already returned."

Redkit turned away from them and saw that Hazelkit was already catching up to her, his eyes half open and his pawsteps clumsily bouncing off the grassy terrain.

"Play with your brother Redkit; I'll be back soon." Echobreeze meowed.

Redkit waved her tail in farewell as the hunting patrol disappeared behind the gorse tunnel. Her disappointment was heavy. She knew she should have expected that kind of answer, especially coming from Ravenstorm, but a lingering pain deep inside her heart told her that she would never have that opportunity again.

She'll never become a medicine cat. She shook her head, clearing her mind of the thought. Never!

"Hey, Redkit, are you there?"

Redkit turned to see Hazelkit poking her side. "Oh, I'm sorry, I was just daydreaming, that's all."

"Really? "You seem to be doing that a lot lately." Hazelkit let out a huge yawn. "Are you afraid your scary dreams might come true?"

"I'm just thinking about our apprentice ceremony."

"You worry too much; I doubt anything will happen." Hazelkit waved his tail, brushing off the possibility with sheer confidence. "Let's go get something to eat, that should put your mind at ease."

Redkit nodded and followed Hazelkit to the fresh-kill pile. As they approached, she could already see Sparkpaw and Cloverpaw reaching into it.

Hazelkit joined them, and in a rush, he grabbed at a squirrel. But as he lifted it out, he saw that Sparkpaw had grabbed the other end. The ginger, blue-eyed apprentice growled.

Redkit gulped. Would the hard-headed apprentice give it up?

Sparkpaw flashed a claw towards Hazelkit, who ducked, letting go of the squirrel.

"Back off kit, this is my prey!"

"No, I grabbed it first!"

Redkit flinched. There he goes again.

"You say I'm a thief?" he hissed as he turned towards Cloverpaw, "Didn't you see me grab the squirrel?"

Cloverpaw quickly nodded her head. "Yeah, I saw all of it. Sparkpaw grabbed it first." Her tiny, fearful voice made Redkit roll her eyes.

Hazelkit snorted. He had one claw hooked on the fresh-kill the entire time and had never actually let go. He pulled the prey towards him. "The warrior code says apprentices eat last."

Sparkpaw pulled it back. "And the warrior code says you should show respect to your elders."

Suddenly, Redkit felt as if she didn't want to get involved in a mouse-brained fight over a squirrel. She looked around, but the clearing was empty. Where was a warrior when you needed one?

Sparkpaw launched himself at Hazelkit, his hackles raised. He flung a paw out at him, but he dodged, turning instead to run off to the side. The tree stump marking the fresh-kill pile was directly behind him.

"What's wrong? Are you scared?" Sparkpaw taunted. He padded towards him, his ginger tabby fur blowing sleek against his pelt like the flames of a fire.

Hazelkit just watched him, waiting. When he was within one tail-length away, his opponent charged again.

In one swift motion, Hazelkit jumped backward onto the stump and then down, landing squarely on Sparkpaw's back. They wrestled around until a loud yowl made them both stop.

"What is the meaning of this?" Rabbitclaw yowled. The elder looked at them indignantly through one blind eye. "I'm trying to get something to eat, and here you are, rolling around as if your fur were on fire!"

"What is going on?" Silversky asked as he padded up to the fresh-kill pile along with Flintfoot, a slender brown tom who followed closely behind.

Sparkpaw gasped and pointed a claw at Hazelkit. "He started it! He tried to steal my squirrel!"

Silversky turned towards his sister, "Cloverpaw?"

Cloverpaw whimpered and looked down at her paws. Redkit couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She had barely been apprenticed a few days ago.

He then looked her way. "Redkit, is this true?"

Redkit gulped as Silversky turned to her, his eyes begging for an answer. She couldn't decide what was worse: facing Silversky's wrath or Sparkpaw's bullying.

Suddenly, a scream made Redkit turn her head towards the medicine cat's den. A white she-cat, with ginger ears, whom she recognized as Goldenear, burst through the ferns, running at top speed through the camp. "Nooo, I don't want to have kits!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, making Redkit wince.

Her mate, Silversky, ran after her. "Goldenear! Wait!"

Redkit and Hazelkit looked at each other. The look on their faces made them both burst into laughter. She turned to look back at the medicine cat's den. Willowbranch had stepped out, and she had her green gaze set on Redkit, a look of deep sadness set on her face. Immediately, Redkit's belly turned itself into knots. Why was she looking at her like that? Her paws trembled. All of the cats in the clearing became quiet. And then Willowbranch spoke.

"I've just had a sign from StarClan."