"Petalpaw."
Petalpaw awoke. Groggily raising her head, she yawned and looked around. This was not where she fell asleep; not behind the ferns of the medicine cat's den. She took in her surroundings, realizing that she was in a dense forest with plentiful undergrowth. The trees were of a different color than what she was used to and towered higher that the pine trees back home. She wanted to ask the cat who had awoken her where she was, but the cat was nowhere to be seen. She tried to make out the scent that she logically associated with the mysterious cat. It smelled of ShadowClan, but mingled with other scents; that of the ThunderClan, WindClan, and RiverClan. Petalpaw gaped her jaws to try to make out the scent more clearly. Still no luck.
"H-Hello?" She called out, walking now to try to find the mystery cat. Getting spooked, Petalpaw padded onward until she came across a clearing, mottled with dim sunlight. The sunlight seemed to have come from nowhere, until she looked up and saw a sky of many, many bright and beautiful stars. It wasn't sunlight; it was starlight.
StarClan! She thought. I'm in StarClan!
Petalpaw shuddered. The sky back in the pine forest would have never had this many stars, and she had not in all her life seen a sky this bright and beautiful. She heard paw steps. She whipped around to face who was approaching her.
A large tom padded toward her. He had a dark brown pelt and amber eyes. Petalpaw instantly recognized her old clan leader, whom died right after she was kitted. She had no memories of him, save for him introducing himself to her litter.
"Greetings," The massive tom spoke, words booming like thunder. "My name is Sproutstar of StarClan."
Sproutstar! Petalpaw's eyes sparkled with apprehension. I remember the stories of him! I can't believe I'm finally meeting a member of StarClan! Sproutstar noticed the fear and amazement in Petalpaw's eyes.
"Do not worry, I mean no harm, I am here to pass on a message." He flicked his tail to a bright light. Petalpaw's eyes adjusted after a moment and saw three shapes, all different colors. Puzzled, Petalpaw studied them carefully, noticing that they were cat silhouettes.
"I don't understand; no cat can be pink, violet, or blue, so why're these cat silhouettes these colors?" Sproutstar's ears twitched with amusement. Petalpaw tilted her head in confusion. "What's so funny?"
He purred gently. "Sharp as ever." Petalpaw waited for an explanation, but Sproutstar only stood there, his gaze burning into her pelt.
"Um... Is there something bad about the silhouettes that I should know?" Petalpaw inquired. "And why would you tell me, and not Flingtail? He's been a medicine cat longer then me. Is it because I'm more special? Or- Oh! Is this a prophecy? Is this my first prophecy as a medicine cat?" She was practically bursting with excitement now. Sproutstar rested his tail on Petalpaw's back. Petalpaw's heart raced with anticipation as she realized that Sproutstar was about give her the biggest step in becoming a true medicine cat. She faced him as he spoke chillingly and powerfully.
"There will be three, kin of no cat's kin, who will come from beyond the sky to save what the clans hold dearest."
Petalpaw was right. My own prophecy! But as she saw Sproutstar fading, she had a multitude of questions.
"Wait!" She called. "How will I know who the three are?" Sproutstar's fading image flicked its tail to the silhouettes. He fully vanished as Petalpaw reflected on what he had said.
He said that the three will become from beyond the sky... but what is beyond the sky? StarClan reaches across the sky for countless forest-lengths! She began to hear a faint voice urging her to wake up.
Find the three... find the three...
"Petalpaw!"
She awoke for the second time. She saw Flingtail staring down at her. Grateful to see a familiar face, she rose and started to purr and stretch happily.
Flingtail blinked. "You're awfully chipper this morning. And after you slept like a rock, too." Petalpaw walked over to the herb storage to where her mentor headed. She followed him through the sleeping log to a circular room with stone walls. In the walls were clefts formed by twolegs who Petalpaw and the rest of the clan presumed to be the ones who dug the cavern out. The clefts held coltsfoot, cobwebs, burdock roots, and many more that Petalpaw had tediously learned the names and usage of.
Flingtail began to move a clove of sorrel as Petalpaw looked over her mentor's shoulder and noticed that they were dangerously low on catmint. Catmint was by far the most important herb in their storage. It was the only cure to the deadly greencough, and, with leaf-bare approaching, the Clan would grow sick quickly without the herb.
"Do you want me to go see if we have any catmint?" She offered. "I can see if we didn't pick all of it. I'm only going to the Garden, it's not far."
Flingtail nodded. He spat the sorrel out and added, "Sure, but could you help me first? Amberfur told me a new organization method at the last medicine cat meeting."
"Sure," Petalpaw replied as she padded over to help. "What's this amazing new technique?"
"You make it sound more interesting than it is," He joked. "Just sort them by use. For example, put the chervil and horsetail together since they--"
"--both treat infection," Petalpaw finished. "You know, I'm not as dumb as you think I am. I mean, I pretty much know all the herbs."
Flingtail was silent for a moment. "So tell me," he said at last, "tormentil: what does it do?"
Petalpaw hesitated. She had never heard of the herb before, nor was she completely sure if it was real. "Er... it treats rat bites?"
"No, it extracts poison and treats most wounds."
"Oh." Petalpaw felt very embarrassed.
"Goes to show you, Petalpaw," Flingtail began. Oh no, Petalpaw thought, Not another one of his lessons!
"You can't be right about everything. When things appear that you don't know or aren't sure of, it's okay to ask. The best tool a medicine cat has is knowledge, but it's no good unless you know that a cat never stops learning. You'll see, something will come up. And, when it does, don't act by yourself--get help. Okay?"
Petalpaw nodded. She actually didn't mind his speech, as she did have things that she didn't know about. Like the prophecy.
"The prophecy!" Petalpaw blurted the words out loud and then realized her mistake. Like she feared, Flingtail gave her a quizzical look.
"What prophecy?" Flingtail furrowed his brow and Petalpaw shrank back. What should I tell him?
"Oh, uh... the prophecy to... get catmint! I assigned myself a prophecy to get... catmint. I, uh, must be off now to fufill my prophecy! Farewell!"
Petalpaw backed out of the den and blushed furiously. Feeling very awkward, she glanced at the sky to see what time of the day it was. Dawn, she deduced. She nodded to Dripnose guarding the camp and climbed over the stonewall.
What did Sproutstar say? Petalpaw thought back to her dream. Kin of no cat's kin? What does that mean? Is that just exclusive to clan cats? Are they loners? And what loners would have those weird colors?
Petalpaw gave a loud sigh. I guess I'll just have to keep my eyes open.