Flowerpelt still couldn't look at the river in the same way. Everytime she did she saw Feathernose and the apprentices drowning. She hated it, she couldn't understand how MoonClan cats willingly swam in it when it claimed the life of three cats. It had been a moon since that happened and SunClan was struggling to adjust. Windpaw had been incredibly distraught over the death of her sister, but her parents supported her. Honeywing was also struggling as SunClan's only medicine cat, but just as she had said when Feathernose died, she was doing her best to be the best medicine cat she could be and all of SunClan were proud of her.
Flowerpelt hadn't seen Riverstorm since the accident happened, not even at the gathering a few days ago when the deaths of Batpaw, Berrypaw and Feathernose were announced. She really hoped that Riverstorm didn't completely blame herself for the death of the three cats, none of SunClan blamed her.
Tallfern had moved to elder's den like she said she would after Berrypaw became a warrior, since Berrypaw died she decided to move in sooner. She claimed that she really didn't feel like being a warrior anymore. The whole situation seemed to have aged Tallfern a whole ten moons, Flowerpelt didn't blame her.
Flowerpelt found herself having nightmares about the water, drowning or watching the ones she loved drown. She had seen so much death lately and she hated it. Cats shouldn't be dying, especially apprentices. She was on patrol with Thornpelt, Mallownose, Brightclaw and Poppypaw. They walked along the river and Flowerpelt made sure she was a good distance away from it.
It was calm today. Why couldn't it have been like that when it killed three cats? Flowerpelt lashed her tail and focused on the forest ahead of her. She did notice however, that Poppypaw seemed to be focused on something else entirely. Her green eyes were staring into the forest, she really didn't seem to care about the patrol.
Flowerpelt had overheard Brightclaw talking with Moonfur and Owlfoot about Poppypaw, how she wasn't trying very hard in training and was behind all the other apprentices in her duties. What's going on with you, Poppypaw? Flowerpelt wondered if she could talk to her, maybe the death of Berrypaw had shaken her up.
The patrol came to an end and Brightclaw sent Poppypaw to go take Tallfern some prey. As Poppyfur grabbed a squirrel for Tallfern, Flowerpelt fell in beside her. "Mind if I join you?"
Poppypaw gave her a questioning look. "Why?" She questioned, with a slight edge to her voice. "You're a warrior, don't you have better things to do than go to the elder's den?"
Ill-tempered she-cat. Flowerpelt thought with a flick of her ears. "Well, I want to check on Tallfern, to make sure she's alright."
"Okay." Poppypaw shrugged and picked up her squirrel. Flowerpelt walked beside Poppypaw to the elder's den. Even in camp she had the same distant and apathetic look in her eyes.
They dropped the squirrel off with Tallfern and Flowerpelt checked in on her real quick, Flintstripe was there keeping her company. He planned on retiring as well when Lakepaw became a warrior, he spent most of his nights in there already.
As they walked away from the den, Flowerpelt finally got the courage to speak to Poppypaw. "So," She said. "I heard you haven't been trying to hard in your apprentices duties." Poppypaw stopped and looked up at Flowerpelt, annoyance deep in her green eyes.
"What do you care?" Her voice was as sharp as her claws, Flowerpelt twitched her tail. "You're not one of my parents or even my mentor so why should you care?"
Flowerpelt felt a touch of sympathy for the young cat. This was something that had clearly been pressed on her many times before. "Maybe that's the reason you should tell me. I'm not your parents or your mentor, I'm just another warrior who wants to help one of her Clanmates. I won't pressure you to make any choices, I just want to know."
Poppypaw blinked, she clearly hadn't thought about it that way. After a long silence, Poppypaw let out a sigh and dropped her head. "I don't want to be a warrior."
Flowerpelt blinked, her eyes widening a bit in surprise. She wasn't expecting that answer. "What do you mean?"
Poppypaw shuffled her paws. "I want to be a medicine cat. When I was kit I did too, but Feathernose already had an apprentice so I didn't say anything. I thought it wasn't meant to happen, but then Feathernose died and I thought about telling Honeywing, but I don't know if she would want an apprentice so soon after losing her mentor."
Flowerpelt looked at Poppypaw, this was something she had clearly given a lot of thought about. It would make sense that she wasn't putting a lot of effort into patrols or hunting when she didn't want to do them, she wanted to be a medicine cat. "When Feathernose died," Flowerpelt began speaking, getting Poppypaw to look up at her. "Honeywing told me she felt lonely in the medicine cat den all the time. I bet she would love to have an apprentice."
Poppypaw's eyes went wide. "Really?"
"Why don't we go talk to her?" Flowerpelt nudged Poppypaw towards the medicine cat den.
"But-but." Poppypaw planted her feet and tried to stop Flowerpelt from pushing her. "I don't know about this..."
"You want to be a medicine cat right? The only way to do that is to talk to Honeywing." Poppypaw stopped and sighed.
"Fine." The apprentice stopped struggling and walked with Flowerpelt to Honeywing's den, though Flowerpelt could tell Poppypaw was still incredibly nervous.
"Honeywing?" Flowerpelt called into the den and stepped inside. The den was incredibly tidy and smelled strongly of herbs. From the moment they stepped inside, Poppypaw seemed to be instantly comfortable.
"What is it?" Honeywing stopped organizing some herbs, looking from Flowerpelt to Poppypaw with a twinge of concern in her eyes. Last time I came in here I told her Feathernose died.
"You should tell her Poppypaw." Flowerpelt urged Poppypaw to speak up. Honeywing was curious now.
Poppyfur took a deep breath. "Honeywing...I want to be your apprentice." Honeywing looked just as surprised as Flowerpelt had been. "When I was kit I wanted to be one but there were already two medicine cats, but when Feathernose died I didn't know if you would want an apprentice so soon after losing your mentor."
Honeywing's gaze softened. "Poppypaw, I would love for you to be my apprentice." She stepped closer to her. "Since Feathernose died I've been so alone in here, it would be great to have company as well as an apprentice to train. I haven't had much to do around here lately."
"Really?" Poppypaw was more excited than Flowerpelt had ever seen her before. "I'll have to tell Brightclaw though..."
"If Brightclaw was upset about you not putting enough effort into your apprentice duties then I'm sure he'll be excited to see you doing something you care about." Flowerpelt explained. "You're not his first apprentice, he won't be too disappointed."
"I'm gonna go tell him now!" Poppypaw bounded out of the medicine cat den to find her mentor. Flowerpelt turned to Honeywing.
"I've never seen her so excited." Honeywing purred. "It will be really nice to have an apprentice, I had a feeling that she wanted to be one. I hope I can train her half as well as Feathernose trained me."
"That's how I felt about training Icepetal." Flowerpelt replied. "Owlfoot was such a perfect mentor, I didn't know if I could even do half a good as job as he did with me, but I trained Icepetal into a great warrior and you'll do the same for Poppypaw."
"Thank you, Flowerpelt." Honeywing purred. "I'm excited to start training her. Thank you for bringing her to me, I think it will be great for both of us."
"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the SunTree for a Clan meeting!"
Flowerpelt left Honeywing's den and sat down beside Stormwind, most of SunClan didn't have a clue what was going on besides Poppypaw, Brightclaw, Foxstar, Honeywing and Flowerpelt. Poppypaw looked ready to burst she was so excited, Flowerpelt purred in amusement.
"I've called you all because our apprentice, Poppypaw has realized that her destiny is not to follow the path of a warrior, but to instead follow the path of a medicine cat." There was talk of surprise and joy through SunClan. "So, Poppypaw from this day forward you will be Honeywing's apprentice. Honeywing, I trust that you will teach all your knowledge of herbs and healing onto young Poppypaw, just as Feathernose did for you."
"I will, Foxstar." Honeywing purred. "I promise." Honeywing and Poppypaw touched noses with each other and the Clan cheered. Moonfur and Owlfoot looked happy for their daughter, as did Lakepaw. Flowerpelt watched Poppypaw run off with Honeywing to the medicine cat den. Flowerpelt felt that even with the death of Feathernose, happiness was possible for Honeywing and all of SunClan.