Erin Hunter - Sunset

Thank you.”

“I thought it was time for you to know,” Spottedleaf told her. “You’re a good friend to her, and she will need your support.”

“I haven’t talked to her about it yet,” Leafpool mewed.

“Do you think I should?”

Spottedleaf gave her ear a warm, affectionate lick. “Not unless you want to—or unless Mothwing speaks of it herself.

Just reassure her that she can be a great medicine cat and that she deserves to keep her place among her Clanmates.”

“That’s not hard,” Leafpool meowed. “Mothwing is a great medicine cat. No cat could care more for her Clan than she does. She hates what Hawkfrost is trying to make her do.”

Spottedleaf nodded and a shadow touched her beautiful eyes. “Hawkfrost’s destiny is in the paws of StarClan,” she murmured. “He is not your concern.”

She rose and padded around the pool with Leafpool following, until they stood over the sleeping apprentice.

“StarClan are grateful to you,” Spottedleaf went on, “for the help you’re giving Willowpaw. She will need you as much as Mothwing if she is to grow into a full medicine cat. I know you’ll keep your part of her training a secret—you have already proved you can stay silent.”

“Thank you, Spottedleaf,” Leafpool meowed, grateful for the StarClan cat’s trust. She hesitated and then went on, “I wish I could see Cinderpelt. She never comes to me, and I miss her so much! Are you sure she isn’t angry with me?”

Spottedleaf nuzzled the top of Leafpool’s head, making her feel like a kit again, secure in the nursery with her mother.

“Quite certain. Stop worrying about Cinderpelt, dear one.

She is closer to you than you know. Would you like me to prove it to you?”

Leafpool blinked. “Oh, Spottedleaf, if only you could!”

Spottedleaf bent her head to lap from the glittering water and twitched her ears to tell Leafpool to do the same. Awe shivered through Leafpool from ears to tail-tip. She bent her head and lapped a few drops. This was not the icy water of the Moonpool that would sweep her into dreams. Instead, it was cool and fragrant with the scents of healing herbs.

Leafpool felt as though it were soaking into every part of her body, giving her strength and courage.

“Now follow me,” Spottedleaf directed.

Leafpool padded in the other cat’s paw steps across the clearing and into the trees. Suddenly she realized that she was back in her own familiar forest, with the thorn barrier to the ThunderClan camp looming up in front of her.

“Why have you brought me here?” she asked.

Spottedleaf did not reply. She led the way through the thorn tunnel and across the camp to the nursery. Close to the entrance, Daisy was lying among her kits, all of them curled up and deeply asleep. Leafpool edged past them lightly.

The former medicine cat led her to the far corner of the nursery, where Sorreltail was sleeping. Her four kits were nuzzling close to her belly. Three of them slept, but as Leafpool watched, Cinderkit raised her head and blinked open blue eyes, fixing Leafpool with such an intense, familiar gaze that she could not look away.

“Now do you understand?” Spottedleaf purred.

“It… it can’t be true,” Leafpool whispered. “Why… how?”

“It is true,” Spottedleaf assured her. “Do you feel better knowing this?”

“Oh, yes!” Leafpool breathed out. “Thank you, Spottedleaf.”

“Now we must go back,” Spottedleaf mewed. “It’s time to make Willowpaw into a true medicine cat.”

Cinderkit’s jaws gaped in a huge yawn, showing a pink tongue and tiny sharp teeth. Her eyes closed again and she nestled into her mother’s fur. Leafpool bent her head until the kit’s fluffy gray fur tickled her nose and she could drink in her warm kit scent, then turned and followed Spottedleaf out of the nursery. Good-bye, Cinderpelt , she thought as the thorn branches closed up behind her.

Somehow, as they left the camp, they crossed the boundary again into the dream forest. Willowpaw was still sleeping beside the pool. Spottedleaf padded up to her and breathed softly into her ear. The apprentice blinked awake and raised her head, gazing up at the former medicine cat.

“You’re a StarClan warrior, aren’t you?” she mewed. “I can see the stars in your fur.”

“I am, small one. My name is Spottedleaf. And here is your friend Leafpool.”

Willowpaw scrambled to her paws. “Hi, Leafpool. Isn’t Mothwing with you?” she added, glancing around.

“No, you will not see her in this dream,” Spottedleaf replied.

A stab of discomfort pierced Leafpool at the thought that Mothwing wasn’t here to see her apprentice taking her first steps in the world of StarClan. But some cat must do it , she told herself. Mothwing can’t and StarClan has chosen me .

“Where are we? Why are we here?” Willowpaw asked. She whirled around, trying to take in all the clearing in one glance.

“We’ve come to share a sign from StarClan with you,” Spottedleaf answered. “Are you ready?”

Willowpaw’s eyes shone. “Yes!” She gave a little bounce, reminding Leafpool of the kit she had been not long ago.

“Oh, this is so exciting! I never had dreams like this before I was apprenticed.”

“You will have many more,” Spottedleaf told her.

“Wherever your paws lead you, you will never be alone.”

Spottedleaf gestured with her tail for Willowpaw to lap from the pool. She crouched beside the apprentice, gazing into the depths; Leafpool took her place on Willowpaw’s other side.

“What do you see?” Spottedleaf asked.

The water was flat, reflecting the stars above. Then gradually their light was blotted out, and Leafpool realized she could see gray clouds churning beneath the surface. A fierce cold wind sprang up, rattling the trees and gouging the surface of the pool. It buffeted Leafpool’s fur until she dug her claws deep into the earth, terrified of being swept away. She heard Willowpaw let out a frightened cry.

“Don’t be afraid!” Spottedleaf’s meow rose above the rushing of the wind. “Nothing here will harm you.”

Leafpool squeezed her eyes tight shut as the wind blew so hard, she felt her claws being tugged out of the ground. And then she was blinking awake on the edge of the Moonpool, her heart still pounding. Above her, the moon floated in a clear sky, with not even the faintest breeze to chase the clouds or disturb the surface of the pool. Willowpaw was crouched beside the water, her eyes closed, her breathing light and shallow. Farther around the pool, Littlecloud and Barkface still walked in dreams. Mothwing sat on the other side of Willowpaw, her paws together with her tail wrapped around them. She was gazing at the starry water with such anguish in her eyes that Leafpool thought her heart would break with sympathy.

“Mothwing,” she murmured, pushing aside her vision of the storm.

Mothwing turned to look at her. “I’m so afraid,” she whispered. “Do you think she’ll have the right sort of dream? How can she be a medicine cat when her mentor doesn’t believe in StarClan?”

Leafpool rose and skirted the sleeping apprentice to draw close to her friend and give her a few warm licks around her ear. “Spottedleaf came to her,” she reassured Mothwing. “I was there. I saw her too.”

Mothwing shook her head. “It was just a dream.”

Leafpool pressed against her, trying to strengthen her with the certainty of her own belief. “You’ll see. Everything will be fine.”

Mothwing jerked away from her. “No, no, it can’t be. Oh, Leafpool, I can’t go on lying any longer! I have to tell you.”

She fixed huge amber eyes on Leafpool. “You think StarClan chose me, but they didn’t. The moth’s wing outside Mudfur’s den wasn’t a sign from them. Hawkfrost put it there, but I promise you, Leafpool, I promise , I didn’t know about it until afterward.”