Moth Flight’s Vision

“She wants us to share what we know about healing!”

“Who’s Stoneteller?” Moth Flight tipped her head. Why did the older cats keep calling Half Moon by that name?

“She was our healer in the mountains,” Cloud Spots explained. “We called her Stoneteller.”

Micah sniffed. “If she’s a healer, why doesn’t she share what she knows with us?”

Dappled Pelt padded around him, her pelt pricking excitedly.

“Healing was different in the mountains. There weren’t many herbs. She must want us to learn new skills.”

Pebble Heart’s eyes glazed, as though deep in thought. “We have the chance to become better healers than she ever could.

She knows that. She wants us to be better.”

Moth Flight’s paws tingled. “We must try our best. We have to share everything we know.” She wanted to make Half Moon proud. She’s put so much faith in me. “A few days ago, Micah told me how to stop cuts from getting infected.” She looked at him expectantly.

“I made a poultice of dock and horsetail by chewing up the leaves,” Micah told them eagerly. “Blossom had a scratch that was turning sour, so I licked the poultice deep into the wound and it was better by morning.”

Cloud Spots’s whiskers twitched excitedly. “Clover kept chewing at a wound on her paw, so I smeared some mouse bile on it. She didn’t put her nose near it again.”

“Shattered Ice got a bellyache from eating a stinking fish,” Dappled Pelt put in. “I gave him watermint. He felt a lot better.”

“I’ve been trying to work out if pinesap is good for anything,” Pebble Heart mewed thoughtfully. “So far it only seems useful for sticking leaves over wounds to keep dirt out.”

As the others looked expectantly at Moth Flight, guilt wormed beneath her pelt. I haven’t discovered anything! Except that too much catmint makes cats crazy! “I guess I could see if heather is good for anything,” she mewed tentatively. “But what if it’s poisonous?”

“It can’t be,” Cloud Spots reasoned. “WindClan cats must be covered in heather dust. And you don’t get sick when you wash.”

Why didn’t I think of that? Moth Flight began to feel hot.

“Perhaps I should have brought Reed Tail with me,” she mumbled. “He knows a lot.”

“So does Milkweed,” Cloud Spots mewed. “She’s the one who suggested mouse bile.”

Micah’s tail twitched. “Instead of bringing every cat who knows something about healing here, why don’t we travel to each other’s camps?”

Moth Flight frowned. She wasn’t sure what he meant.

“It would only take one or two of us to travel around, learning and sharing knowledge.” Micah paced in front of the Moonstone. “What if Moth Flight and I traveled to another Clan’s camp and learned everything we could? Then we could move on to another Clan and share what we’d learned and pick up new skills.”

“What about the Clan you’d left behind?” Cloud Spots argued. “They’d only learn what you knew.”

“We could take turns,” Micah suggested. “You could travel with Dappled Pelt, or Pebble Heart. So long as we keep learning and sharing, it doesn’t matter who travels where.”

Pebble Heart nodded. “It sounds like a good idea.”

“How can we leave our Clans?” Dappled Pelt argued. “They need us.”

Moth Flight shifted her paws. “I know so little that WindClan would be just as safe with Reed Tail in charge.”

“Milkweed knows enough to look after ThunderClan while

I’m gone,” Cloud Spots added.

“You see?” Micah’s eyes glowed in the half-light. “The sooner we get started the better.”

Dappled Pelt tipped her head. “Why don’t you and Moth

Flight come visit RiverClan first? River Ripple will welcome you. He thinks medicine cats are a great idea.”

“It might be hard to get Tall Shadow to agree to have strangers in her camp,” Pebble Heart murmured.

Micah blinked at him. “Do you think Clear Sky is going to let me leave without an argument?” He swished his tail. “We have to persuade our leaders that it’s for the good of their Clans.”

Pebble Heart nodded slowly. “The more we know, the better we can help our Clanmates,” he agreed.

“Then it’s settled.” Micah turned to Dappled Pelt. “Moth

Flight and I will visit you the day after tomorrow.”

Moth Flight’s ears twitched. “What if Wind Runner stops me?”

“You’re WindClan’s medicine cat now,” Micah told her.

“She has to listen to you.”

Moth Flight blinked. He was right. She wasn’t a kit anymore. She wasn’t even an ordinary Clan cat. “Okay,” she agreed. “I’ll meet you at the stepping-stones, the day after tomorrow.” She’d seen stones dotting the river where the forest gave way to the reed beds of RiverClan’s territory.

Micah purred. “Great.”

Pebble Heart shook out his pelt. Cloud Spots stretched, shivering, while Dappled Pelt swallowed back a yawn.

Moth Flight guessed they were cold and tired. “Let’s go.”

She headed for the tunnel. “We’ve got a long way to travel.”

Micah fell in beside her as she ducked into the shadows.

“How’s Rocky’s cough? Did the catmint work?”