Erin Hunter - Long Shadows

Lionblaze sounded as if he had ants in his fur. “You’d better fix that barrier,” he mewed. “We don’t want any cat guessing what we did.”

Lionblaze retreated into the tunnel without a word, while

Jaypaw picked up the bundle of catmint and headed for the Twoleg nest.

“Where did you get that?”

Jaypaw stiffened as he heard Leafpool’s voice. He hadn’t decided what story to tell her, and he’d hoped for time to treat the sick cats before she found out.

“Catmint!” There was joy in Leafpool’s voice as she padded up to him and buried her nose in the leafy stems. “And so fresh and well grown too! It can’t come from the old Twoleg nest.”

“No,” Jaypaw mumbled around the stems. “It came from way up there.” He waved his tail vaguely toward the deepest parts of the territory.

“Thank StarClan!” Leafpool whispered. “They must have shown you where to look.”

“Er… yes, they did.” It was true, Jaypaw realized. He would never have found the catmint if Brightspirit hadn’t guided him to WindClan. “This is all there is,” he added. “No point in looking for any more.”

“This should be more than enough.” Jaypaw could sense that Leafpool was too relieved to ask more searching questions. “Come on, let’s give it to the sick cats right now.”

As they crossed the scent markers around the Twoleg nest, she paused. “Tonight is the half-moon,” she meowed.

“I think both of us can go to the Moonpool this time.”

Jaypaw nodded, his mouth too full of catmint to reply. He wondered if the StarClan cats would be waiting for him, to thank him for saving ShadowClan. He was tempted to walk in Littlecloud’s dreams, to see what explanation he gave to his Clan’s warrior ancestors for rejecting them in favor of Sol. But most of all, he wanted to walk in the paw prints on the path leading down to the Moonpool, and feel part of the ancient cats once more.

Though Jaypaw couldn’t see the moon, he could imagine its silvery light washing over his fur as his paws slipped into the paw-shaped hollows on the spiral path. Did I come here before, when I was Jay’s Wing? Are any of these paw prints mine?

He could feel deep satisfaction coming from all his fellow medicine cats, because Littlecloud had joined them again.

Mothwing had made the journey with Willowshine this time, too. Well, I suppose cats would start asking questions if she missed every time.

He padded forward to the edge of the pool, and heard the other cats take their places around him. But as he was stretching forward to lap a few drops of the icy water, Leafpool meowed, “Wait.”

Surprised, Jaypaw sat up, aware of his mentor’s barely contained excitement.

“Before we share tongues with StarClan,” Leafpool continued, her voice coming from the other side of the pool near the waterfall, “I have a task to do. StarClan has shown me that it is time I gave Jaypaw his full name.”

Jaypaw couldn’t hide his astonishment. Leafpool must be referring to the catmint that he had found. For a heartbeat he felt ashamed that he had used Kestrelpaw and Lionblaze to get the herbs, and then lied to Leafpool about where he had found them.

But ThunderClan will survive , he reminded himself. He didn’t care what he had done to achieve that. Warmth spread through him from ears to tail-tip as he remembered the joy and relief of the sick cats when he and Leafpool had delivered the precious herbs. They were already sleeping more restfully, and there was plenty of catmint left to go on treating them.

“Well, Jaypaw?” Leafpool’s voice was full of amused affection. “Badger got your tongue?”

“I… no… thank you!” he stammered.

“Then come here to me.”

Jaypaw padded around the edge of the pool, setting his paws down carefully on the slippery surface. He didn’t want to begin his naming ceremony by falling into the Moonpool.

As he passed Barkface, the old medicine cat grunted, “Well done,” and Kestrelpaw rested his tail lightly on Jaypaw’s shoulder.

At last Jaypaw stood in front of his mentor, startled by the depth of the love and pride that flooded out of her. It was even stronger than the emotion he had felt coming from Half

Moon. Did he really mean so much to Leafpool?

“I, Leafpool, medicine cat of ThunderClan,” she began, “call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice.

He has trained hard to understand the ways of a medicine cat, and with your help he will serve his Clan for many moons.”

Every hair on Jaypaw’s pelt pricked as he listened. He forgot about the watching cats; it was as if he stood in a high, remote place with no cat but Leafpool, and the endless voice of the falling water.

“Jaypaw,” Leafpool continued, “do you promise to uphold the ways of a medicine cat, to stand apart from rivalry between

Clan and Clan, and to protect all cats equally, even at the cost of your life?”

“I do.” Jaypaw spoke the words clearly and confidently.

For a moment, he caught a trace of movement behind him, a lingering scent that wasn’t quite Clan but carried hints of ThunderClan’s territory. Half Moon! Had she come to watch him become a full medicine cat? Jaypaw hoped she understood what this meant, how he could never have belonged to her in the way she had wanted. In the way they might both have wanted, if things had been different…

“Then by the powers of StarClan I give you your true name as a medicine cat.”

Jaypaw’s belly lurched. Don’t call me Jaywing . He could just about cope with the weight of knowledge his dream had brought him, but he didn’t want to go through the rest of his life sharing the name of his ancient counterpart.

“Jaypaw, from this moment you will be known as Jayfeather.” Leafpool’s voice shook with feeling. “StarClan honors your skill and your thirst for knowledge. You have saved the lives of many cats.”

In the midst of his pride and relief, Jayfeather wondered whether his mentor would ever explain exactly what he had done to deserve this ceremony. With so much uneasiness between the Clans, he guessed she would prefer to keep quiet about the outbreak of greencough. Otherwise, as he had told

Lionblaze, she could simply have asked Barkface for some catmint.

He felt Leafpool’s muzzle rest on his head, just as Clan leaders would do when they made a new warrior. In response, he rasped his tongue over his mentor’s shoulder.

“Jayfeather! Jayfeather!” Littlecloud called out. All the other medicine cats joined in, even Willowshine.

She hasn’t got anything to be snooty about now , Jayfeather thought.

“Now it’s time for you to share tongues with StarClan as a full medicine cat,” Leafpool told him.

“And may they send you a good dream,” Barkface rumbled.

Jayfeather felt slightly nervous as he padded back around the pool. Would the cats of StarClan claw his fur for the dubious way he had earned his name? Yellowfang wouldn’t be impressed, he was sure.

I don’t care. I saved the Clan when no other cat could .

He settled himself on the edge of the pool and stretched forward to lap the water. Around him he could hear the other medicine cats doing the same, then making themselves comfortable to sleep and receive the dreams StarClan would send them. Jayfeather curled up, too, closing his eyes and wrapping his tail over his nose.

He woke, blinking in the unaccustomed light, half prepared to find himself on the bleak mountaintop where he encountered Rock. Instead, he found himself in the lush forest clearing where Brightspirit had come to speak to him. A warm breeze, full of the green scents of growing herbs, caressed his pelt; his anxieties melted away like ice in newleaf.