Sunrise

Flamepaw padded past Jayfeather until he stood in front of his mentor.

“Warriors of StarClan,” Littlecloud meowed, “I present to you this apprentice. He has chosen the path of a medicine cat. Grant him your wisdom and insight so that he may understand your ways and heal his Clan in accordance with your will.” He paused, then added in a whisper, “Crouch down and drink from the pool.”

As Flamepaw obeyed, Jayfeather and the rest of the medicine cats stretched out their necks, too, and lapped a few drops of water from the Moonpool. As the icy liquid trickled down his throat, Jayfeather curled up and tried to relax. Please, StarClan, he begged, show me something useful. My Clan is tearing itself apart.

His eyes opened and he found himself on a narrow forest path, with lush ferns arching over his head on either side. Sunlight warmed his fur and dappled the grass around his paws. But he couldn’t see any other cats, and when he tasted the air all he could pick up was the scent of green, growing things.

“Where are they all?” he muttered to himself, beginning to pad forward.

Suddenly he heard a rustling from the undergrowth ahead of him, and the fern fronds dipped and swayed. Jayfeather sniffed eagerly, but the scent he picked up wasn’t any of the ones he had hoped for.

“Flamepaw!” he exclaimed, as the young apprentice burst into the open and stood gazing around with wide eyes, his fur fluffed up in a mixture of excitement and fear.

“Jayfeather, it’s you!” he exclaimed. “Where are we? Is this what’s supposed to happen?”

“Calm down,” Jayfeather responded. “Everything’s fine.”

Mouse dung! he added inwardly. I’m in his dream! What good will that do?

“I was hoping to meet Tigerstar,” Flamepaw confessed, gazing up and down the path with bright, curious eyes. “He’s my kin, and I’ve heard so much about him!”

“I’m not sure where Tigerstar is,” Jayfeather replied, careful not to tell the new apprentice about the dark forest. “You should be glad to meet any warriors of StarClan.”

“I know, but…will they be glad to meet me?” Flamepaw crouched down, looking very small and scared. “I don’t know what to say to them!”

Jayfeather touched the apprentice’s shoulder with the tip of his tail. “When you see them, you’ll be fine,” he promised. “You just have to listen.”

Flamepaw gave him a doubtful look, but he rose determinedly to his paws and set off down the path. “See you later, then,” he mewed.

Right now, I’d be happy to see any of the StarClan warriors, Jayfeather thought. Are they deliberately hiding from me?

He padded down the path in the opposite direction from Flamepaw until he reached a clearing where sweet-smelling herbs grew around a small pool. He remembered finding this place before, when he had spoken with Spottedleaf, but there was no sign of the tortoiseshell she-cat now.

Bounding over to the pool and looking down into the water, Jayfeather froze with shock. Though the sun still shone, the green depths glittered with countless stars.

“What are you doing down there?” he yowled, clawing at the grass. “Come talk to me!”

The only answer was a thick, stifling pelt of darkness falling over him; disoriented, he staggered and found his claws scraping on stone instead of grass. He was awake again, back beside the Moonpool. The other medicine cats around him were beginning to rise to their paws.

Still frustrated and troubled by his dream, Jayfeather stood up with the other cats and climbed back up the spiral path. When they had scrambled down the rocky slope to the moorland, he found himself padding next to Littlecloud.

“I think Flamepaw managed very well for his first time,” the ShadowClan cat meowed. “He met Nightstar, who was our leader back in the old forest.”

“That’s good,” Jayfeather murmured, not mentioning that he had seen the young apprentice in his dream.

“I think he’ll be a great medicine cat,” Littlecloud went on. “He already knows a good number of herbs.”

Herbs! In his desperation to meet with StarClan, Jayfeather had forgotten about the question he had meant to ask.

“I came across this herb,” he began, “and I don’t know what it is.” Please, StarClan, don’t let him wonder why I haven’t asked Leafpool!

“What sort of herb?” Littlecloud queried.

“It has a sharp scent, and the leaves feel crinkly,” Jayfeather meowed, wishing he could have told the ShadowClan medicine cat what it looked like; even if he had been able to see it, the shriveled stalk wouldn’t have given him much of a clue to the fresh herb. “It tastes cold, like frost on fur, and even the dried leaves taste fresh like grass,” he added, remembering what Mousefur had told him.