Erin Hunter - The Sight

“I’ll come and check on you at sundown,” Leafpool promised him.

As soon as Jaykit had disappeared through the brambles, Leafpool sat down. “Now,” she meowed, gazing at Hollykit, “tell me what’s troubling you.”

“Nothing’s troubling me,” Hollykit answered at once. “But I have something important to ask you.”

A look close to alarm flashed momentarily across Leafpool’s gaze. “What?”

Hollykit took a deep breath. “I want to be your apprentice!” She tensed as she waited for the reply. What if Leafpool refused to take her on?

Leafpool looked stunned. “I never would have thought—”

She stopped midsentence, then meowed gently, “Being a medicine cat is a big commitment. You will rarely fight in battles or go on patrol. You won’t be able to take a mate, or have kits.” Hollykit saw her eyes darken with sadness. Was that regret she saw in their amber depths? There was no time to wonder. “What has made you want to be a medicine cat?”

“I want to be able to help the Clan,” Hollykit told her. “If I were a medicine cat, I could heal my Clanmates when they were sick, and I could share dreams with StarClan.” Leafpool was still gazing at her questioningly, so she went on. “As a warrior I could feed the Clan and defend it—I would die to protect the Clan if I had to—but as a warrior I would be limited to fighting with tooth and claw. As a medicine cat I could fight with all the knowledge and power of StarClan.

What better way could there be to serve ThunderClan?” She stopped, breathless, and stared hopefully up at Leafpool.

Leafpool’s tail twitched. “Those are all good reasons,” she agreed.

Hollykit’s heart soared. Was she going to say yes?

“But,” Leafpool went on, “before I can make a decision, I must talk with Firestar.”

Hollykit blinked, feeling a flash of doubt. But she pushed the doubt away. She hasn’t said no . “Thanks, Leafpool!” she mewed. She turned and trotted from the den. Of course Leafpool would have to talk to the Clan leader before making such an important decision, she thought as she bounced back across the clearing.

She wriggled into the nursery and found Ferncloud asleep, her kits quiet for once. Lionkit was plucking the feathers from the remains of the thrush. They would make a good nest lining.

Jaykit looked up from his nest as she squeezed through the entrance. “What was so secret that I had to leave the medicine den?”

“I’m going to be her apprentice,” Hollykit announced.

“Whose apprentice?”

“Leafpool’s, of course.”

Lionkit looked up from the thrush, delighted. “Did she say yes?”

“Well, she’s got to talk to Firestar first, of course.”

“You want to be a medicine cat?” Jaykit mewed, putting his head to one side.

“Why shouldn’t I?” Hollykit demanded.

“I’d hate to be stuck in the medicine den, worrying about sick cats and sorting out piles of old herbs.” Jaykit sank his claws into the moss that lined his nest. “I’d much rather be a warrior, patrolling and hunting and fighting in Clan battles!”

Hollykit looked at her brother, fierce and proud. Firestar had to let him become a warrior!

Hollykit awoke before dawn. The nursery was dark and cozy, warmed by her sleeping denmates. She lay in her nest and listened to an owl calling from the trees lakeside of the camp. She was too excited to go back to sleep. Brambleclaw had told her last night that Firestar would be going ahead with the naming ceremony after all.

“You’ve behaved well and not left the nursery without permission,” he meowed as she took prey from the fresh-kill pile.

Hollykit glanced over to her brothers, who were already eating by the half-buried rock. “What about Jaykit?”

“Don’t worry,” Brambleclaw had reassured her. “Firestar hasn’t forgotten about Jaykit.”

Hollykit rolled over in her nest and stretched. By sunhigh she would know if she was to become Leafpool’s apprentice.

She pictured herself working in the medicine den, soothing bellyaches with herbs, rubbing salves onto bruises, going out into the forest with Leafpool to gather herbs—herbs that she’d know the names of, what they smelled like, how to prepare them. Her pelt bristled at the thought of all the knowledge that would be inside her head. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine how StarClan would appear in her dreams, but instead she saw only herself, a full-fledged medicine cat, leading her own apprentice through the wood, showing one plant after another, demonstrating all the skills and techniques Leafpool had taught her, wandering farther and farther into the darkening forest…

Hollykit blinked open her eyes. Dawn was creeping through the knotted bramble walls. Lionkit and Jaykit were still asleep beside her. Squirrelflight’s nest smelled stale and cold. She must have returned late from patrol again and chosen to sleep in the warriors’ den.

Hollykit sat up and stretched.

“Awake already?” Ferncloud meowed. The queen was feeding her kits, her pale gray pelt glowing softly in the half-light.

“I’m too excited to sleep!” Hollykit mewed.

“You may go outside if you like,” Ferncloud allowed. “The dawn patrol will be back before long. They might bring warm prey.”

Icekit wriggled around and stared at Hollykit with round blue eyes. “You won’t be sleeping in the nursery tonight,” she mewed.

Hollykit blinked at her. “No. Hopefully I’ll be in Leafpool’s den.”

Foxkit pushed away from his mother. “I’d rather be in the apprentices’ den with Lionkit!”

“You will be soon,” Hollykit promised.

“Not soon enough!” Foxkit mewed. He reached out and caught Icekit’s twitching tail between his auburn paws. “I can’t wait to be a warrior.”

Icekit flicked her tail away from him. “Will you come back and tell us what it’s like being an apprentice?”

“Of course,” Hollykit purred. She dipped her head to their mother. “Bye, Ferncloud.”

Foxkit and Icekit scrambled out of Ferncloud’s nest.

“Bye, Hollykit,” Icekit mewed, reaching up to push her white muzzle against Hollykit’s cheek.

“Bye, Icekit.” Hollykit bent down and licked Foxkit between the ears. “Don’t get into trouble.”

With a twinge of sadness she turned and squeezed out of the nursery.

The clearing sparkled with dew. Mist clouded in the bushes and clefts that ringed the base of the enclosing rock wall. Hollykit stretched, first her forepaws, then her hind, arching her back and enjoying the fresh scents of the forest.

“Good morning!” Squirrelflight called. She was sitting in front of the warriors’ den, a paw raised, ready to wash behind her ears. Brambleclaw sat next to her.

“Hi!” Hollykit mewed, trotting over to greet them.

Brambleclaw purred loudly. “It’s your big day!” He touched Hollykit’s head with his muzzle.

“It sure is,” Hollykit agreed, trying not to think how close she had come to ruining her chance of being made an apprentice.

The thorn barrier trembled; the dawn patrol was returning. Cloudtail emerged from the entrance with his apprentice, Cinderpaw, and Stormfur trotting behind. They each carried prey in their jaws.

Brambleclaw padded away to meet them as they dropped their catch, his dark tabby pelt glistening where it had brushed dew from the branches overhanging the warriors’ den. “All clear?”

“No cat has crossed the boundaries,” Cloudtail reported.

“Although WindClan and ShadowClan are keeping their markers fresh.”

Hollykit noticed Squirrelflight’s ears prick warily.

“Do you think that’s a problem?” Brambleclaw asked.

Cloudtail looked thoughtful. “No, but it feels as if they’re both making an effort to remind us that they’re there.”