Chapter 5: I see him

I looked at Mint, I loved the self motivation, but to be truthful... She was not ready at all. She just did not want to slow us down, she did not want any of us to think low of her. Limp stepped in this time, she was a very smart young cat, and she proved it every time she talked.

"Mint... I can see blood on your stomach, we can wait a little bit longer, Moon has already told me he is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that you are okay before you all continue on." She said to Mint. Mint looked at her for a few moments, she was thinking of how to respond to it.

What Limp said had been completely true, I had just never said it to any of them, it was almost like she had the power to read my thoughts, sometimes I wondered if that was the power the Starclan cats had, they often said things I was thinking about before I actually said them.

"The blood, that's from yesterday... I am okay, Moon just wants to make me feel better because I am his mate." She said to all of us. That was part of the reason, I was not going to lie, but I am sure every cat in here agreed with me when we said she needed to rest.

Kettle looked surprised as he looked at me, but it was almost as if Oister had been sneaking in on us that night... Which I knew could not be true because she was with Kettle, they were hunting together just like me and Mint.

I nodded to Kettle, he needed to take in that fact now. I was not worried about him pursuing Mint at all, I knew he was fully in love with his mate Oister. I could not blame him, she was a beautiful cat. The way she treated him was the sweetest thing I had ever seen from a couple.

"Mint... As a friend, we all know you need healing... Besides, we all know as well, that it is too late to keep going on with our journey, I mean, we haven't even seen anything about the lake yet!" Oister said to her. Once again Kettle looked at me, I shook my head to tell him to stay quiet.

If they all found out that we were so close to the end, then they all would surely want to go to the lake as soon as possible. I looked at all of the cats for a few moments, I could tell that they were all worn out, I don't think a good rest for the night would be good enough for any of us... Not even Limp.

"Okay... I guess so, I just hate slowing all of you down, it feels like I am failing all of you, like I am failing the starclan cats!" Mint said to all of us. I could tell wholeheartedly that she meant what she had said. I felt bad for her, I walked over to her and brushed myself against her.

"Mint, you are not the only cat that needs sleep. All of us are tired, we will sleep well for the next few days. After some good rest and some good food, then we will find the lake, I am sure that it is not that far ahead of us." I said to all of them, not just Mint.

All of the cats that were with us nodded and they all walked over to get themselves some rest. I walked over to meant, Limp walked over to me and we all sat together. It felt good to have Limp by my side as well.

I felt sad for her, hearing her story. It was a story that we all had needed to hear though. She was like a daughter to me, it felt weird for me to say that, because even I was so young. But I knew that the poor cat had been through a lot, she needed parental figures in her life right now.

On that note, Limp and Mint both pushed their faces against my felt, I felt the warmth of them against me as I fell asleep.

A couple of days had gone past, this time I knew that we were all ready, I was not so sure about Mint. I felt bad again for letting herself push herself to far. But both Kettle and I knew how close we were to the lake. I had a feeling Limp did as well.

She was a very smart young kit, she knew if her family line had been from the clans, down by the lake. That had to have meant, surely that she had grown up somewhere near the lake. I felt bad for Limp, she had taken me on a walk however yesterday.

She said some things that both me, and her, and stuff I could relay to Mint as well. It was almost like the cat had already lived a full life time. Sometimes I wondered if it was possible, could a cat die, and then live another life?

"That was close Limp! Don't feel bad about it! You are young, I have not taught you all that I need to teach you yet." I said to Limp. She walked over to me with a big smile on her face after what I had just said. She then shook her head at me.

"Who said I felt bad about it? I would not have thought that I would have caught one my first time." She said to me. I looked at her and nodded, I was close to catching my first prey. If Owl had not have set me off then I would have most certainly caught it!

I looked at her for a few moments and then nodded, once again, it seemed like Limp was getting into my thoughts, she was somehow thinking that Mint used to feel bad about herself and lowering herself about failing.

In the end though, 1 cat is not going to carry a whole clan, it is a whole effort, but losing 1 cat can badly hurt a clan. I had relaying the message that Jayfeather had told me to Mint. She seemed to understand it, but she still managed to get upset about herself a lot.

"I understand Moon, you are all new to this just like me, sorry if I seemed a little bit too harsh there." She said to me. I looked at her for a few moments and then nodded. She was not being harsh at all, in fact what she had said had made me realize something about all of us, that I had not realized ever before.

"No... It's all good, you are a very smart cat for being so young, you know that right?" I said to her. She looked at me and then smiled, she then nodded to me. I nodded back to her and then we kept on walking, I noticed Mint and Oister walking from not too far away.

Before I walked over to go make sure that Mint was in a good healing progress, Limp stopped me and said something to me. I looked at her, very surprised at what she had said to me.

"I'm a lot older than you think." She said to me. It seemed weird that she had said that to me, it was almost exactly what I had been thinking. I shook it off, she probably meant a completely different thing than I was thinking about.

"You are definitely a smart cat for sure, I could definitely use you in my clan." I said to her. She looked at me a bit confused for a few moments, but then she nodded and then followed me to where we were meeting up with Oister and Mint.

Kettle was out hunting as well, I had left a squirrel and a vole back at our little ditch. I walked over to all of them, Mint and Oister had a big smile on their face and they both looked very excited to see me. I nodded to them as we drew closer to them.

"Hey Oister? Mint doing okay?" I asked Oister. Oister turned to Mint for a few moments and then she let out a big grin. Then she nodded to me, I was happy to see that Mint was in a lot better condition now, it was something I had not seen in at least 2 moons, I almost forgot what she was like before all of this.

I had to remind myself of how amazing Mint was, not just as a mate, but as a cat in general, I could not wait til I had all the clans started up. She would be a fast and fantastic hunter, I hoped that she would be able to train many apprentices in her life time.

"She is doing great! We found the lake by the way! She wanted to go to it, but I told her to wait for all of you guys." She said to me. I looked at her and nodded, I tried giving my best impression of being surprised, it worked for the most part because neither of them said anything.

I could tell that Limp noticed the look on my face, but she did not say anything about it. Mint began hopping around, for a second I was going to stop her, I did not want her to reagravate her injury, but she hopped around like she was in perfect condition.

Even Oister looked at her a bit surprised, I smiled at her and then walked over and nudged her. She hopped on me and we began a little play fight like we were kids. I walked over and saw Limp laughing at us, I was still a bit immature to be a leader.

I looked over Mints shoulder and saw Kettle walking over carrying 2 squirrel with him, I nodded to him and smiled. He walked right over to Oister and then pushed herself against her as a gesture of saying that he loved her, I loved having all of these cats around.

For a while I thought, after I had left Owl behind, and after Mint had a near death situation, that I was going to be alone through this whole process, luckily the Starclan cats had blessed me with other cats to be with through this whole thing.

Besides, I did not think I could possibly rebuild all of the clans with me being by myself and being 1 cat. Kettle then looked over at me and then nodded to me and smiled, he was also a good friend to have by my side and ask for advice. He was a bit older than me, but still young at the same time.

"Just heard you from afar, you guys found the lake huh?" He said to Mint and Oister. He then winked at me, I nodded to him, thanking him that he had kept the secret between be and him, we both knew that both Oister and Mint would want to get there as soon as possible.

"Yes! We are all ready to go tomorrow, if that is okay with all of you of course." Oister said back to him. They all looked at each other for a few moments and then Kettle looked over to me and then he nodded at me.

"This is the decision of our leader... Do you think your mate is going to be okay?" Kettle said to me. I looked at Mint for a few moments, I still was so worried for her, I did not want to rush her at all. I then looked at Oister and then nodded to her.

"Help me take a look at her through the cobweb and we will check and see if she is ready." I said to Oister. She looked at me for a few moments with a little twinkle, and then she nodded to me. I smiled and we all walked into the cave together.

Once we were in, Mint sat down, lowering her body so that we could easily check and take care of her. Oister nodded and then she slowly began pulling off the cobweb, just in case Mint was not truly fully healed and was not ready to go.

I could tell that physically, either way, Mint was not in the best position, but it was not far from the lake at this point, it was half a day away. As Oister pulled off the cobweb, I saw that there was no more spots of potential bleeding, however there would be a scar there the rest of her life.

"Ow! Will that heal?" Limp said from far away. I looked at her for a few moments, I did not want to scare her in case something like that happened to her, which I prayed that it would never, but I also did not want to lie to her at the same time.

"No... But there will be a bit of a scar, it wont look as bad as it does now." I said to her. She looked at me for a few moments, she did not have a bit of a scared look on her face thankfully and then she nodded, watching everything that Oister was doing to a full extent.

"Alright Mint, we will keep a cobweb on you for now just to make sure we do not have you reignite anything, but you are ready..." Oister said. She looked at me making sure I was paying attention to what she had just said. I looked at her for a few moments and then nodded.

She walked over and picked up the last batch of cobweb that we had left for Mint. I looked at Oister, I nodded once again thanking her for all that she had done for Mint, she nodded back to me showing her appreciation.

Limp walked over and looked at her with a bit of a smiled on her face. I looked at Limp a bit confused as to what she was doing, but then Limp began talking to Oister.

"Can you teach me what to do?" She asked Oister. Oister looked at her a bit surprised for a few moments, but then she nodded to Limp with a bit of a smile on her face. I looked at Limp a bit surprised for a few moments, I thought that Limp would be more into hunting than being a medicine cat... But nothing wrong to be doing both, we would just need her back at camp if anything bad happened... That's if she chose my clan of course.

I did not want to get too far ahead of myself so fast. I did not know if Oister and Kettle wanted to be a part of my clan. Kettle seemed as if he wanted to lead his own clan. Which I would not complain about one bit, he would make to be a great leader.

"You know that if you want to be a medicine cat, you wont be able to have a mate." I said to both of them, but it was mainly aimed toward Limp. Limp looked at me for a few moments, but she nodded her understanding surprisingly.

"I never said I wanted to be a medicine cat, but I will happily train any cat that does." I said to Oister, I looked at Oister for a few moments, it was not aimed towards her at all, but she seemed not to notice it.

"I would love you to train all of the cats from all of the clans Oister." Mint said as Oister was putting the cobweb on her. I looked at Mint and nodded, she was definitely far better than I was at this. But it was the job of a leader to at least know I slight bit of what the job was like of a medicine cat.

"It is probably best if you are not leader as well, I would not want you leading a clan while she are pregnant with our kits." Kettle said stepping in front of all of us. Oister looked at Kettle and then smiled, I had a feeling Kettle had a different meaning to that. As if he was saying they were not going to be a part of our clan.

"How did you get that Mint?" Limp said to Mint. This time it was my turn to step in, I was partially to blame for what had happened to her. I coughed and then I began telling the story of what had happened to Limp.

"I had not been paying attention, I ran back and found her with a badger, I was too late to help her, but luckily I was guided by the cats of the stars to save her." I said to Limp. Mint laughed and then she stepped in to tell her about her own part of the story.

"Well... I don't blame him. I heard something from far away, I went to check it out, to prove that I could be useful to Moon. But then I walked over to find a very large beast, but yes, Moon did save my life that day." Mint said. She looked at me with a smile full of love.

I walked over to her and then nudged her, I loved this cat so much, I was happy to be with her. All it could have taken, was her just staying home that one day, or maybe she had died to the badger, which was the scary part that I did not want to think about.

"That is crazy! I hope you all can tell me some more cool stories! Those are my favorite! I cannot wait!" Limp said to all of us. I looked at her and then smiled, I was happy to have her with us, she gave such a good energy to the whole group of us.

I closed my eyes, not thinking about all of what had happened to deeply. It was a new day, and it was best not to dwell in the past, no matter how good or bad it could have been. You always have to live in the present, while thinking about things that may affect your future.

I walked out of the small ditch, I saw Mint stretching as Kettle was playing a little game with Limp, Oister was watching them with a huge smile on her face. I hoped that Kettle decided to stick with my clan, they were such a great and fun group of cats.

I looked at Mint and she smiled at me, she then walked over to and pushed herself against me as if she wanted to play with me like Kettle and Limp were doing with each other. I shook my head and then pointed it towards the cobweb, she looked at me for a few moments a bit disappointed but then she nodded to me.

We were a bit too old to be playing games like that, Kettle was only doing it because Limp was a bit of a kit still. I looked at them for a few more moments, then I smiled at all of them.

"You woke up a bit late today." Oister said walking over to me. I looked away from Mint and then looked over at her. I lowered my head, I hope that I had not slowed down all of then too much. Oister looked at me and then laughed.

"I just needed that good rest." I said to her. She looked at me and then smiled and then nodded. Once Kettle and Limp noticed that I was out, Limp ran over to me, with Kettle following him not too far behind.

"Hey! I saw the lake! I am so excited to go there with all of you!" Limp said to me. She then looked at the others to make sure that they all knew she meant what she said. They all did though, me and Kettle still remember the story that she had said to us.

"Yep! I cant wait! Lets go ahead and get off to an early start, that way we can find a place to rest for the night." I said to her. I then looked at the others, they all nodded to me. And then I took the first step, I was so happy to be out of that ditch, but we all needed that rest badly.

I watched as the others followed me, It felt a bit scary to be the leader of all of them, but I was ready to take the task, Firestar had taught me a lot about what I needed to know about being a leader of not just a clan, but of all the cats that came with me.

I smiled at them, listening to their footsteps and just enjoying the last of the warm weather for the year. I knew that it would not be like this soon. I remember the last summer, being a kit and Tristan teaching me about the seasons.

We were about here, we had gone past the rivers, although, I had to admit, both Kettle and Oister looked a bit disappointed. They had told me their stories of playing in streams and creeks with each other when they were quite a bit younger.

I shivered thinking of being in water, much unlike Mint, I did not even like to be in the rain at all. Now that I was thinking about it though, as I saw Oister and Kettle looking sadly at the rivers that led up to the lake, maybe their destiny was to be a part of riverclan.

Surely that is where they got their name from right? Mistystar had taught me how to catch a fish, I hated being in the water, it was not really swimming that was the problem. I was not going to lie though, fish hunting was the hardest task to learn out of all of the task. It took me 2 nights for that one.

Now we were in the Windclan territory, it was amazing, just the grass growing up high, the flowers and the little bushes that were growing around the area. Being able to actually see where you were going! Not only that, but rabbits, just like Mint, were my favorite thing to eat.

I smiled at the cats around me, it was so great to have them as company, I looked around for a few moments. I then realized that Mint was not there. I looked and then I saw her not too far away, she was breathing heavily, but luckily she was still following us.

I stopped all of them and then I looked over to Mint, Oister did the same as well, she ghasped, and then she quickly began heading over to make sure that Mint was okay.

I looked over at the lake, such a beautiful place, I could not wait to rebuild the clans, giving all of us a great place to live. Much unlike living in a twoleg place, I would not go back, even if I was given the chance.

I then looked at the twoleg place for a few moments. It looked familiar... What was it? I then realized what it had to be, it was so foggy and in the past now, but I remembered, the cat that I was supposed to find was over there. I looked over at it, Oister began running up over to us.

"Mint needs some rest, lets all take a breather, maybe try and hunt during the time being." She said to me. But I was not paying any attention at all, all of the cats around me seemed to have noticed it as well.

"Are you okay Moon? What are you looking at?" Kettle said to me. I kept looking, as if I had not heard a word that he had just said to me.

I looked closely, I saw something standing there. But then just as fast as I saw it, the cat jumped down from its little place that it was looking at me from the fence.

"I see him..."