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| - ~ "Sunpaw, wake up," Leafstripe murmured sadly to her kit. She nosed her carefully and rolled her over. The wound that was there was already fading away. If Sunpaw was still alive, the wound would still be there, but this was StarClan. "...Mother?" Sunpaw blearily opened her eyes, "Why am I here?" Leafstripe shook her head sadly, "Come, my dear kit." Sunpaw stood shakily and Leafstripe supported her. "I'll take you to see your father now. From there...it's on your where you want to go." The young she-cat didn't ask Leafstripe what she meant. "Where's Moonpaw?" She murmured quietly, "Is she going to meet our father too?" Leafstripe licked Sunpaw's cheek and nudged her along. "No she's not," Leafstripe sounded genuinely concerned, "She's still in the Clans dear. But one day she'll join us up here and she'll be able to meet Whiteflash." "Whiteflash," Sunpaw tried the name on her tongue, "Is that my father's name?" "Indeed." They took their time, strolling through the bright, starry forest."It's very pretty here," Sunpaw breathed out, "Is this a special visit?" Leafstripe stroked her daughter's flank, as if trying to wake her up. "Sunpaw, you must understand that you're staying here forever now. At least until someone saves you from this lasting dream." "Why is it a lasting dream?" Her mother closed her eyes briefly, not wanting to share the breaking news to Sunpaw. "My brave, Sun Warrior, do you remember what last happened?" Sunpaw thought back to the moments before she woke up here in the forest. There was a fox and she had dove forward to protect... "My rogues friends!" Sunpaw gasped, "Are they alright? I need to go back to them to make sure Aura and Soyrt are okay! Muyra will be so relieved when she sees me open my eyes. I'm sure Tress and Oyt will be reassured when they see I'm okay." Leafstripe stopped in front of Sunpaw. "You saved them, Sunpaw, but at a cost. The fox's claws connected with your belly, dear kit." "What?" There was alarm in Sunpaw's voice, but realization dawned her. She hadn't realized what had happened. Her Sun power didn't work against living things such as a fox's claws driving into her fur. She probably didn't even think about throwing up a Sun shield. Her thoughts remained on saving the two kits and that's why she flung herself forward. "They're okay though, right?" "Indeed." Sunpaw exhaled and began to follow her mother again. "So this is StarClan?" She breathed out, glancing around her, "My...new home?" Leafstripe nodded once, "Walk with me, Sunpaw, we have enough time for you to do...whatever you please." Thornpaw stared into my eyes, his amber eyes watching me. For a sickening moment, I thought he was going to tell me that I was silly and that he didn't love me and- "Have you ever loved before, Moonpaw?" I knew he meant for it to be an innocuous question but I still flinched. "Before this, I mean," Thornpaw's piercing eyes didn't waver. "N-no, not really," I stuttered, "Why do you ask?" Thornpaw shrugged, "Sunpaw thought she loved me too. A lot of she-cats did. That's what the Adventurer was about, remember? Being the Adventurer meant all the fame and possibly getting someone who loved you. But that doesn't mean you love them." "Are you...suggesting - no implying - that you don't love me?" I took an involuntary step back. My eyes searched his, but I couldn't decipher his expression. "No," he frowned, "but I just want you to rethink this." "Why?" I couldn't keep the fear out of my voice. Didn't he feel the same way as I did? To me, Thornpaw was the panacea of all my problems. He could wash them away and keep them away. Wasn't that true love? Thornpaw sighed and curled his tail in tighter. "Moonpaw, I don't want to be broken or anything. I don't want love to break me like it broke Sunpaw when Graypaw died. It was a cataclysm for Sunpaw to watch the one cat she truly loved - not as a family member - die. This may sound selfish, but I don't want that to happen to me." "What are you saying then?" "Are you certain that you love me?" There's some sort of insistence in his voice now. "I want you to be sure, Moonpaw." I took a deep breath. Did I love Thornpaw? Yes. "I'm sure." Thornpaw stood up and took a step closer so that our noses were close to touching. His breath was warm and taunt against my muzzle. "I love you too, Moonpaw." ~ For the next few days, Thornpaw and I were practically inseparable. The deputy, Bramblepath, resorted to putting us on the same patrol in an attempt to keep us from holding the patrols up. (Probably because once one of us were called to a patrol, we would spend forever attempting to unravel our tails and whisper a goodbye. I think they got annoyed of the process and decided to keep us together. No objections from me of course.) Nobody disparaged us or talked to us in a churlish manner. I appreciated our Clanmates' silence, though Shadowfire gave me disapproving looks when I trained with her. I didn't mention Thornpaw to her, though I knew she knew because of the way we acted in camp. But I tried to act as though I cared about the prophecy, about Sunpaw, when I was around the medicine cat. My sister had been gone for nearly three moons now. Shadowfire had been less insistent since I've successfully (at least I think it was successfully) contacted Sunpaw. Everything was practically perfect...except I hadn't heard from Sunpaw since I told her I needed to do something else. I thought she would have contacted me again by now. But perhaps time would tell what happened to my sister. For now, I had everything I wanted. It was strange living up in StarClan. I felt out of place, like I didn't belong here. Leafstripe explained to me that because of my Mark, I would never truly settle anywhere among the dead. The Mark allowed me to travel among worlds in the form I exist in right now. Which meant I could technically visit the Clan in my spirit form, but only Moonpaw and Shadowfire would see me (or anyone I allowed to see would see me). But I couldn't revive myself. Only another Marked one could enter StarClan without dying and revive another Marked one. But they had to be willing to, and they would endure many hard tasks before succeeding. I was slowly adjusting to StarClan though, and I knew it would probably be awhile before Moonpaw actually came to my rescue. Perhaps Shadowfire would persuade her to. "Do you want to visit the Pool again?" Leafstripe asked gently, her tail curling around me, "It's okay if you miss Clan life; we all did the first few moons. It never gets easier, living up here knowing you're dead." I grimaced but allowed my mother to guide me to the Pool. I gazed down at it, at the ever present shimmering image of the Clan camp. I spotted Moonpaw immediately, grooming her fur and chatting with Petalpaw and Gingerpaw. Rainpaw and Brightpaw looked rather dejected. After a bit, I stood up. "I want to visit the Clan," I announced. "In dreams?" Leafstripe smiled patiently. She had been against the idea of me trying to go to the Clan because if I did it wrong, it could evaporate my spirit and I would disappear forever. So Leafstripe had tried to plant the idea of just visiting Moonpaw in dreams, just like I had before. "No," I insisted, "in the camp. Like right now." Leafstripe's smile wavered. "Honey, that's dangerous. You could easily die from that. You could get the message across in dreams." "Moonpaw won't understand that I'm really dead until I show her my spirit form. Then she'll understand I'm actually dead and she's the only one who can save me." I told Leafstripe, "Please, I need to do this."
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