Chapter 13: The Path

I looked around the den, while the others got some much needed rest. Limp I could tell was tired, she had probably never walked this far in one day in her whole life. Much less more than one, I knew the feeling that she was having to a sort of degree.

She was the fastest to fall asleep, I did not blame her. She was a kittypet much like I used to be not too many moons ago. I was lucky to have starclan guide me, in a sense I suppose they were with her as well, they had taught me the skills I needed to teach her.

She was happy with us, I could tell that he was still heartbroken the first few days she was with us, I could personally not blame her. When I lost Tristan, it almost broke me in half. Even though he could be annoying at times, he still was a fun and happy cat to be around.

I could not even imagine what Limp must be going through, well maybe to a certain degree. I had nearly lost my mate not too long ago, I was just happy to have her with me. I felt bad pushing her so much, but we needed to get to the end of our journey, the path was only just beginning.

I could only imagine, that day if I would have lost Mint, there was no way I could be here right now. I would have just given up and gone to live with Owl. But she made it, I had to thank starclan for that, I could not have done it without having Jayfeather to guide me.

Oister fell asleep fairly fast, I knew she was tired, she was sick. I needed to find the cure, I needed to help her. I don't think that Kettle could forgive me if I did not. And I would not blame him if it were to be so.

I was the one that had brought them here, Stoneteller would have already have saved her at this point, if she even was to get it in the mountain tribe. I looked over at Kettle who was hunched over beside her purring to make her feel better.

He had fallen asleep shortly after Oister had fallen asleep. He knew that she was safe, he knew that I would protect us through half the night until I woke up Kettle to keep watch of the den. I had ultimately made the decision to keep watch over the night.

The den smelled like there were coyotes here recently, the place had not been used by cats in at least over a hundred moons... I shivered when I smelt it, I could tell that Kettle had smelt it to by the look on his face, which made the decision that we needed to keep watch for the night.

Lastly, I looked over at Mint. She had been the last one to sleep out of all of them, even though I could tell that she was a lot more tired than the rest of them. I did not blame her, I could tell by the look on her face that she was worried about me.

She could see the look on my very own face, and I could not. I was afraid, the omen that we had seen earlier, I was scared. I did not know if it was about us, or even the kits that might be the future of our clans. Mint knew that was what I was worried about as well, she purred to try to make me feel better, it made me feel better for a little while but then she fell to sleep.

I looked outside the den a bit sadly, I was not tired at all, I might just let Kettle sleep the whole night if I kept up like this. I knew I should not though, I had to be in good shape for when we found the cats and their kits, I had to be thinking correctly about my decisions.

I looked at the ground for a few moments, I nearly fell asleep, but I lifted myself back up before I even got the chance. I should not be worried about the camp getting attacked in the night, Starclan would keep us safe for now... At least as was to hope those type of thoughts.

They told me they couldn't lead me all the way through my quest, at some point I had to make my own decisions, and this felt like it was the right decision for us. Sure, we probably would not get attacked, but there was no such thing as too safe right?

This was my own decision now, and it seemed smart enough to me. I could only imagine waking up to see the group around me all laying on the ground dead, and have it be my fault because I was too lazy to step up and make to correct decision.

I looked around the den that I was in. I had heard about what the dens should look like, but I had never actually been in any of them. I had seen them from outside the camps, but they did not look as beaten down as they did now, this would take a lot of fixing.

I felt the worst for Thunderclan, their camp was in a gorge, when the cold season came, much like it was coming to right now. Every leaf from the trees would fall right onto it, I could only imagine how broken down that base must be.

I looked around the den to see what type of den it could be. It was a bit of a smaller den, so surely it could not be a warrior den or the leaders den right. I looked around to spot anything that stood out, I did not see anything. I shook my head, it was probably the boring old elders den.

But in the corner of the room a saw a small little crevice, I looked at it for a few moments. I wondered why it was there, maybe it was a place for a cat to hide, but what did they need to hide from? They had a clan to lean by their side and protect them.

I looked at it for a few moments and I closed my eyes, I tried my best to remember what all the dens were supposed to be like. I knew it was not the warriors den for sure, Lionblaze had shown me that they were by far the biggest den in the clans.

Leafstar had shown me that the leaders den was a bit of a large space not quite like the warriors den, but much better looking then a normal old boring warriors den, I could not wait to lead a clan of my own if I was to be honest with myself.

I then remembered Graystripe, he had shown me around the elders den, it was by far the smallest den, but it was usually well taken care of by some of the apprentices. He told me they hated that job, but they did it because they respected their clan leader.

I felt bad for being an elder, if I was to go, I would want it to be in a battle, or to save the life of another cat. I would not want to have died sitting in an elders den sadly not being able to do anything for many moons. I closed my eyes for a few more moments and tried my best to remember what it was that I was thinking about.

I remembered another den, it was for the kits when they were first born, they were usually in the medicine den for a while but then they would get moved over there. I shivered then thinking about the kits that I needed to go and help.

Every moment mattered, and we were going so slow. I felt bad for it, but I needed to make sure that my group was going to make it before I could think about other cats. I blinked for a few moments, I looked at the crevice again and I realized what it was used for.

I remember that Jayfeather had taught me that it was used in a medicine den to hide all of the medicines, I tried my best to remember what he had taught me about certain medicines, poppy seeds... Those were used for sleep right? I shook my head, I was tired, I was having a brain fart.

Trying to think so much was only going to shut down my brain and make me feel even more tired. I turned back over to the entrance of the den, I sniffed to make sure that we were the only scents nearby us, then I settled myself in a good position to relax for the night until I woke up Kettle.

I smiled, it was not a good time for us right now for me to just be smiling, there were so many scary things that I could not comprehend, that were going on with all of us. I then laid my head down... I just wanted a little bit of rest... Then I was out...

I woke up, I was not in an area that I was normally at, I was not in a twoleg place either. I closed my eyes for a few moments, I tried my best to smell maybe the scent of the water and the lake. But I could not scent it at all.

I then realized where I was at, I was back to where I was born at. Or raised at, at least. I was not too sure exactly where I had been born at. I was right outside of the twoleg place, I looked at the exact same tree that I had hidden at the very first night I was out there.

I shivered thinking back on that day, it had been the scariest day of my life. Even scarier than when Mint had nearly died, and the night that we had gotten attacked by the large group of rogues. It was a hard fight, but we had made it out of there alive.

I had asked them if they knew anything about the clans, their leader just laughed at me and then spit on me, it was disrespectful and it had very much irritated me. I then said that we were just going to leave, but he would not even let me do that.

So we had to run out the night, it was very scary there were at least 40 or 50 cats that were running after us. I shivered and then I closed my eyes once again. When I opened them I was in a different place.

I was in an area with 4 large stumps of trees sitting in front of me. I looked at them a bit confused, but I remembered seeing them from far away when I had been on the run with Owl and Mint that night that we had been running away from the coyotes.

What was so special about this place? I felt something strange about it that one night, but I was too worried about the coyotes to even think that deep into it, but now it was seeking after my attention. I looked around, and then I smelt and saw Squirrelflight in the exact same instance.

She began slowly walking over to me. I looked at her, I smiled at her and she managed to catch a small little smile back at me. I was so happy to see her again, but I did not want to admit to that because then they would probably not come see me again.

She then sat down beside me and then she nodded. I looked at her waiting for something to say something to me, like she usually did when I seeked for her in my dreams. But she did not say anything this time.

Maybe she was here this time just to visit me, just to make sure that I was doing well... It did not make sense though, the starclan cats could see and hear everything that we did. So she did not need to ask me what was going on with me.

She sat there for a few moments, she was just staring at the stumps that were left from the trees a bit sadly. I wondered what was up, and what it could possibly be thar was going on in her head. But I did not ask the question, I had no right to try and ask things like that to the starclan cats.

I looked at the stumps like her as well, I expected something crazy to happen like it usually did in my dreams. But I was weirdly disappointed that nothing happened, we were just sitting hear in a bit of a saddening silence. I lowered my head to the ground, but just as I did, she began to speak.

"Moon... Like you, a very long time ago I was born hear. The clans, they used to live hear, you are related the the clans... We lost this place, the twolegs took it over. Just know, you are an important cat, there is a reason we chose you." She said to me. I looked at her for a few moments and then I nodded.

I was not too sure what she was getting at, I was confused as to what she was saying as well. Maybe it made a bit of since why they chose me now though. If I was related to one of the cats in the clans... But how long ago was that really?

"I don't understand? How did you move all of the clans over to here? Is that how the clans ended?" I asked her. She looked at the stumps for a few more moments, then I could see a bit of sadness on her face. It seemed like a first from one of the starclan cats.

She then looked over to me for a few moments, but she still refused to let a single word out of her mouth, if she was not hear to talk? What was the reason that she was in the dream in the first place?

"No... That was at least a thousand moons later. It was scary times for the clans but we managed to bring all of the cats to the lake. I was just here to tell you about the history of the clans, that way they do not make the same mistakes that they did before." She said to me. I looked at her for quite a few more moments before I nodded my understanding to her.

She looked at me and then she smiled, then she began looking back on the stumps, all of the sudden she ran at them, and then she hopped on to it, I looked at her a bit surprised but I did not say anything about it to her.

"So you will teach me to not let the clans end like before? I am happy that you are here to talk to me again..." I said to her, admitting it to her. She looked at me with a bit of a smile and then she nodded to me.

"Yes... But we are out of time, I must go now, you have a destiny to go on, first you must bring the clans back." She said to me. I looked at her for a few moments, but then eventually I nodded to her letting her know that I understood, it always seemed that I ran out of time right around the important parts.

She then disappeared the moments I blinked, I looked at the ground a bit sadly but I nodded to myself accepting the facts. I then then closed my eyes to leave the dream that I was in and wake up, I did not want the others to find out that I had fallen asleep.

I heard a different sound, I opened my eyes and I found myself somewhere that I did quite remember a fair amount. I looked at the area, I saw the haystacks... I was back in Owls barn, I sniffed around to see if I could smell his scent. But sadly I could not, he was probably hiding out somewhere else.

Odds are he would not have seen me in the first place, unless it was like the other night, the cats had seen me with usually did not happen in any of my other dreams. I wondered why I was here, were the starclan cat trying to tell me something? Did I need to come back here? What was the reason in leaving in the first place?

I then heard a cat cough from behind me, I turned around and noticed the cat to be Bramblestar, I had not talked to him often, but I did know that he was the mate of Squirrelflight. I nodded to the cat as he began talking.

"Moon... Just remember, this will not be easy, trials that will make you want to give up will come your way, that is just a test. Follow the path..."