Frostheart wasn't exactly sure what had gone on, but now the entire Clan was trying very hard to include Cloudpaw in everything and make him feel special. He was clearly at a loss of what to do with all that extra attention, but since he was Windpaw's lackey, Windpaw got to bask in all that attention too, and he was clearly enjoying it, while his brother, the main receiver of the attention, was always looking lost.
They themselves should be becoming warriors soon, and Frostheart knew she should be happy for them, but it was just so difficult. They were not really her brothers anymore, and so much time had been lost. But recently, Cloudpaw had been constantly glancing her way, seeing her expressions and reactions to certain things, as if trying to get to know her better. She completely understood, of course. She and him had never hated each other, it was only Windpaw driving them apart.
But, actually, Stormwind had encouraged her to do that, too.
With a jolt, Frostheart realized that in all this trouble, she hadn't even thought about Stormwind for the past moon or so. Did that mean she was finally letting her sworn sister go? It seemed awful. She shouldn't forget her sworn sister/best friend! Was she an awful cat?! But, then again, her time with Stormwind had been so short, and they had actually... barely known each other. If Stormwind had known Frostheart was a murderer, she definitely wouldn't have dared gone near her. Well, not true - she was always an adventurous cat. But still, she would definitely have been more wary. Was the Stormwind as Frostheart knew her a lie? They'd barely scratched the surface of talking about themselves. Only what adventure they could have next. And it had all ended before it had even began.
It was sad, really, but Frostheart found she didn't need Stormwind for life anymore. Stormwind was history, a distant, previously vital part of herself, but not anymore. Now she was okay without her sworn sister. Perhaps life was finally looking up. But as she looked into the camp clearing, where Cloudpaw's mentor had quickly brought him out to hunt the moment he'd complained about apprentice duties, she found a frown worming its way onto her face. They were pampering him, spoiling him. He was going to become a pampered pooch, like a kittypet! What were they doing to him? They were corrupting her brother!
She would have clapped her paws over her thoughts, if she could! He WAS NOT HER BROTHER. But why did she still think of him as her brother?! Now Stonestar was trying to get him to take her place as the prophecy cat, something she had DEFINITELY OBJECTED TO. But he was doing it anyway, even though Cloudpaw was by no means special at all. He was an ordinary apprentice, average, nothing special about him at all. Oh, apart from the fact that he had a crush on Twilightmoon who was like eons older than him. That was all.
"Frostheart! Come here."
Was Honeyleaf calling her? Well, that was highly irregular. Frostheart found her brow furrowing as she hurried over to the medicine den, confused.
"I wanted to ask you a question," Honeyleaf meowed in a matter-of-factly fashion. "Would you permit me to?"
"What? I'm not your Clan leader or something. You don't need my permission to ask a question. Actually, you don't need my permission to do anything. So why do you ask for it?" Frostheart asked, even more confused than when she'd started out. Medicine cats! Always confusing the cats they talked to. Perhaps this was why forbidden relationships with the medicine cats occurred so rarely, and more commonly were medicine cat to medicine cat. Because no one else could understand them! She tried her best not to put on her exasperated face. That would definitely annoy Honeyleaf.
"Oh, but I didn't want you to shred me," Honeyleaf put in mildly. "Never mind, here's the question. Have you ever thought of becoming a medicine cat?"
"Are you headhunting?" Frostheart asked with a slight growl. "This is because your past two apprentices died, isn't it?"
"Well, partly so," Honeyleaf meowed, giving her chest fur a few embarrassed licks. "Also because I am ageing, and you have talent. You knew all the basic herbs even though you barely ever watch us do it. How did you know them?"
"You pick them up eventually. See it once, ooh, it's kind of cool, stays in your head, you lose obsession, drop it, but it's still there," Frostheart explained. Once, when she was like two moons old, she had wanted to become a medicine cat. But barely three days later, she'd realized how foolish she'd been. Medicine cats never did anything interesting. Yes, they were important because they saved lives of dying cats and all, but it was a rather boring life. Handle herbs, do apprentice duties sometimes, talk to each other when nothing was going on, receive prophecies, blah blah blah!
"Okay. So, would you?" Honeyleaf asked. "Become a medicine cat?"
"You really want me to convert over? Medicine cats don't really fight, you know. And I think I'm a pretty good fighter," Frostheart meowed.
Honeyleaf winced. "Oh, definitely. You are a devastating fighter. But that's not what the Clan needs. The Clan needs peace, and I feel that can only be accomplished if you become a medicine cat."
"Well, that's really great. Next time AutumnClan attacks, have fun dying!" Frostheart exploded.
"Frostheart. Be serious. I am being totally serious with you. This is no joke. I really feel being a medicine cat is your destiny," Honeyleaf persisted.
"But... I always imagined being leader someday," Frostheart mumbled, and she was repeating almost every kit's dream.
"That's funny. You do know that almost every kit who says they want to be leader as a kit doesn't end up leader? Half of them don't want to be leader by apprenticeship, and another quarter drops that obsession by warriorhood. You are technically still apprentice age. The obsession will fall, I promise. Especially when you see the joys of being a medicine cat!" A jovial smile slid onto the grumpy golden she-cat's face, and light illuminated her features for a moment. She genuinely believed that being a medicine cat was lucky, fascinating, and the best job in the world. Seriously? Well, she'd been a medicine cat from the start. She'd never experienced being a warrior!
"I guess I could consider. Although I seriously don't expect it to work out. Also, how is this uniting thing going to continue?" Frostheart asked nervously. "Are we actually going to unite this entire Clan? After all, StarClan asked that, but it's kind of impossible, right? And didn't we divide only twenty seasons ago? Or forty?"
Honeyleaf gave a long sigh. "I know. It seems like we've barely begun living separate lives, but it's now time to end. We were never meant to break up, and it was sibling rivalries that led to this. But SeasonClan must be united. The four seasons don't continue without each other, and neither shall we, the four Clans."
"If AutumnClan's taking in rogues, we're not exactly a Clan either," Frostheart huffed.
"The rogues are AutumnClan's future. All of their Clanborn warriors are dead, so the rogues are actually their only hope. It's kind of sad." Honeyleaf shook her head dismissively. "Anyway, consider the offer, Frostheart. Hawkfeather and I are both growing old"
"You mean you are growing old. Hawkfeather is still young! He's Amberfrost's brother, and Amberfrost isn't even that old!" Frostheart whined.
Honeyleaf shot her a look. "Yes, I am the one growing old. DO NOT RUB IT IN. Anyway, consider my offer. Okay?"
"Okay, I suppose," Frostheart muttered. She was almost one hundred percent sure she was not going to agree to it. Who in their right mind transferred to become a medicine cat?! That was plain stupid. From the brilliant, exciting life of a warrior, transfer to the dim and boring life of a medicine cat? Well, frankly, that decision wasn't going to be made. No way was she going to become a medicine cat, ever!
The more tiny part of her whispered, What about Skyfeather? That was really stupid, that was never going to work out. And he was almost as ancient as Twilightmoon! Okay, to be fair, he was a LOT younger than Twilightmoon. But still. She'd teased Cloudpaw about his crush recently. What would he say when he heard about hers, not that much younger than his crush? They hadn't been talking much (as in her and Cloudpaw), but they were more like friends now. They were still not siblings - that bond was never going to repair - but maybe she could start treating him like a Clanmate. Only him, though. She hated Windpaw with every fibre of her body, and that bond, even as a Clanmate, was never going to develop.
"Oh, by the way, did you need help looking after the injured?" Frostheart asked.
Honeyleaf's eyes glimmered. "You see, you're interested."
"Well, I don't want to be repairing dens, you see," Frostheart explained with an embarrassed smile.
"Well, I'd love to have you. But right now, you need to hunt. For the entire Clan," Honeyleaf meowed. "It's a pity Stonestar chased Streamlight away. She could have helped you. StarClan sent us a willing pair of paws to help, and our cursed leader when and chased her away." The old medicine cat glowered at the ground. "I'll send you a not-so-injured cat. Hm. HAWKFEATHER! WHO THERE ISN'T VERY INJURED?!"
"I don't know! What's not injured? Head wounds? Broken paw? Broken leg? Ex-dislocated leg?!" Hawkfeather shouted desperately back.
"WHOA! Never mind! I'll go on my own!" Frostheart quickly cried and then dashed out of camp. She could take Stonestar, she supposed, not that she wanted to. She found Streamlight waiting not too far outside camp and frowned. "Um, Streamlight? I thought you were going back to SpringClan," she meowed.
"Yeah. Um. I don't know how. You know, I don't know your forest," Streamlight explained wryly. "I didn't want to shout in case Stonestar came back. Is he gone, by the way?"
"Repairing dens. I'm going to need to hunt for the entire Clan. Do you think you could help me?" Frostheart asked.
Streamlight's eyes lit up. "Of course! I'll do anything to be of help! You'll just need to tell me where to go and all. Good thing we both live in the same kind of forest!"
"Good thing indeed!" Frostheart agreed, smiling.
She and Streamlight hunted until nightfall, bringing back several batches of prey. Frostheart and Streamlight were both exhausted, but thankfully, Streamlight stuck with her until way after nightfall. She and Streamlight had eaten the second batch of prey, and the third, because otherwise, they would be too hungry to hunt.
By the time they were all done hunting, Streamlight was hopping from one foot to another nervously.
"Hey, are you alright? You won't get scolded for staying away, will you? I thought you said Springstar was understanding," Frostheart meowed in a cross whisper. Most of the camp was asleep by now, including the two medicine cats, who had fallen asleep the moment they'd crashed onto their nests, shortly after gobbling up their dinner.
"Springstar is understanding. But the other warriors might get mad. Berryshine, my sister, will definitely be annoyed." Streamlight explained. "She and I like to do late-night outings which are totally against the rules, but anyway, one was tonight. It's our birthday today. No one cares about that sort of thing, but Berryshine is kind of crazy enthusiastic? I think she wanted me home the entire day, you should have seen her! When Berryshine is obsessed, she is crazy! She isn't gonna be glad I spent the whole night in SummerClan, at the very least. She's a nice cat, but when you don't do things her way, she gets annoyed."
"She sounds like Silverlight, are they related somehow?" Frostheart teased. Streamlight looked faintly confused when Frostheart mentioned the name Silverlight, but SummerClan had mentioned her at the gathering (or so she'd been told, because she hadn't been at that gathering). Perhaps Streamlight hadn't been either, but then Frostheart's silver friend was nodding along unenthusiastically.
"I know. It's awful! Every time somebody brings up Silverlight, everyone automatically stares at Berryshine! She hasn't even done anything wrong," Streamlight meowed helplessly, and Frostheart was already regretting bringing it up. "Well, I need to get home now. Could you show me to the border?"
"Of course," Frostheart meowed distantly, and together, she and her only friend set off for the SpringClan border.
Word count: 2070