Warriors: Retribution (Book 2)

Chapter 13

     Marigoldpaw got excited and nervous. She was ready to start her training to become a medicine cat for the future, but it worried her she would mess things up. I have to do my best so I don't disappoint Nova! She thought and then sighed as she quickly lost some confidence. Marigoldpaw looked around the Apprentices' den and saw as both Lionpaw and Emberpaw were both sleeping. They were snoring loud, and it didn't seem to bother the sleeping Lightningpaw, and Rainpaw was with his mentor. How can Lightningpaw sleep through such loud noises? She thought, then gave another sigh. Marigoldpaw sat in the apprentices' den for a little while until she heard pawsteps enter: It was Nova. The medicine cat looked at her apprentice. "You ready to start?" she asked, then smiled.

Marigoldpaw nodded. "Yes, I am."

"Good, then let's head to the medicine den, and I'll tell you the medicine cat code." Nova said, then padded out of the den with Marigoldpaw following behind her.

As the two she-cats were heading to the medicine den, another apprentice was staring at Marigoldpaw, but Nova didn't notice it: It was Rainpaw. Once she looked back at him, he glanced down at his paws and blushed as he headed back towards the apprentices' den.

Why was Rainpaw staring at me like that? Marigoldpaw thought and then entered the medicine den with her mentor. After the two were inside, Nova sat down and put her tail over her paws, and Marigoldpaw sat in front of her. "Now, Marigoldpaw, there are 5 things you must remember for the medicine cat code." Nova started.

"As a medicine cat, you may not fall in love, or take a mate."

Marigoldpaw nodded. Okay, I guess... she thought. But why?

"Which brings us to our next one, A medicine cat may not have kits. It would interfere with their duties as a medicine cat." Nova meowed.

Oh...

"Understand so far, Marigoldpaw?"

"Yes."

"Great! Now next, a medicine cat may only retire when their apprentice is ready to take their place." Nova's left ear twitched.

"Will you retire after I'm ready, Nova?" Marigoldpaw asked.

Nova flinched a little at the question. "I don't know for now, Marigoldpaw."

Marigoldpaw didn't respond to that.

"Well, a medicine cat only shares dreams with Starclan. Which brings us to our last part of the code. A medicine cat may only discuss dreams, prophecies, and all the other important stuff with their leader or other medicine cats. They shouldn't share information with other clan cats or cats outside the clans." she breathed.

"What's a prophecy?" Marigoldpaw tilted her head to the side.

Nova smiled. "Glad you asked! A prophecy is when an important message from Starclan goes to a cat. That prophecy could involve one cat, two, or maybe even both clans!" she meowed.

That's crazy! Marigoldpaw thought.

"But sometimes prophecies aren't always correct, so you have to be careful when you try to figure it out, Marigoldpaw." Nova said.

Marigoldpaw nodded in response. "Okay."

"Now that we've gotten through that, I'll tell you what some of these herbs do." Nova turned around to the herbs in separate piles. "Well, you remember the ones I told you about before, right?"

"Mhm," Marigoldpaw said and pointed her paw at a pile of violet-colored leaves. "That's borage. I-I forgot what it does. I'm sorry!" the apprentice panicked.

"It's okay, Marigoldpaw! You're still learning so don't worry, you will make mistakes here and there, but in due time you will know everything!" Nova put her tail on her apprentice's shoulder and smiled.

"O-Okay..." Marigoldpaw sighed as she watched Nova brought the borage closer to them.

"Borage can help queens produce milk, bring down fevers, and soothes bad bellies and tight chests," she meowed.

"That's a lot of uses..." the apprentice mewed quietly.

Nova nodded. "Yep! Make sure you get a scent of it too, so if you have to go out and look for it one day you can find it easier!"

Marigoldpaw sniffed the herb. It had a very zesty scent to it.

"You should be able to find it close to Driftclan territory, shouldn't be too far on it at all." the medicine cat added.

That was so much information. And that was just one herb! I don't know if I can do this... Marigoldpaw thought and sighed heavily.

Nova noticed the frown on her apprentice's face. "Hey, I know this seems like a lot, but that's okay! We'll get through this together, I promise." she purred.

Marigoldpaw looked up at Nova and then smiled.

Maybe I can do this! She thought.

*

"Okay, Rainpaw, marvellous job catching that bird! I didn't think you'd catch on so quickly to the hunting strategy! We'll pick up tomorrow." Crownight meowed to her apprentice, which he only nodded in response. She then smiled and padded off to the fresh-kill pile.

Rainpaw was a silent cat. He spoke little. He shakes his head either yes or no to cats and that's it. He doesn't show much expression either, most of the time he just has a blank expression on his face. Rainpaw headed back to the apprentices' den to get some rest until he saw a golden-furred she-cat pad out of the den.

He stopped in his tracks and stared at her: It was Marigoldpaw.

Rainpaw didn't understand what he was feeling at all. His fur felt like it was burning, like the sun was shining down on him greatly. His heart raced when she padded closer to him. She was padding with Nova. Rainpaw realized Marigoldpaw was staring at him, and he glanced down at his paws and blushed. As they went away, Rainpaw noticed his brother Lightningpaw coming out of the apprentices' den now. He came up to him, "Rainpaw?" he started, "Are you alright? I've never seen you act like this before!" Lightningpaw meowed.

Rainpaw quickly nodded and padded back to the den, but Lightningpaw stopped him. "You sure you're alright?"

Rainpaw nodded once more.

"Alright, I guess... I will go look for Stagwhisper now. See you around!" Lightningpaw padded off.

Rainpaw quickly headed into the apprentices' den. He knew himself that he's never acted like that, and he hated it. He laid himself in his nest and closed his eyes.

Maybe he just needed some sleep.