Chapter 14: Stay Safe

I looked at the tom cat for a few moments. He was a fair bit smaller of a tom cat, and he did not look like he could be very much of a fighter. It made sense as to how he would know about the medicine. I was thinking about recommending him to be a medicine cat for them, but I did not want to make Kevin upset for choosing decisions for their clan.

I knew he was upset at me when I gave him any good ideas to help their clan. He did not like being told how to lead his clan... Unless it was his friend Dust that was trying to tell him some things. That was the last cat I would trust to help me, but I did not need to think about that right now. I was just lucky that Kevin was willing to help me in the first place.

Kevin squinted his eyes at the cat for a few moments. Then he shook his head as if he was thinking about something, but he decided that it was best not to say it. The she cat, that was obviously his sister, and was much bigger than him, looked a bit scared for her brother that was stepping up like that.

I had this feeling that their parents had told the sister to always take care of the brother. That was probably the reason that they were in the clan in the first place as well, if I had to guess at least. I then turned my head back over to Kevin as I heard him finally decide to speak up.

"Thank you Heart... Will you please show him where to find it... I also thought that you were supposed to be on a hunting patrol with some of the others right now..." He said to him. The cat looked at his leader for a few moments, and then he lowered his head to the ground sadly.

I had a feeling that the cat was a bit small, and maybe he might be better fit to be a medicine cat in the first place. I wondered if Kevin had even thought about cats being a medicine cat. He might have just been pushing that off and had cats just go straight towards being a warrior.

I shook my head once again, because I knew that Kevin was right on one part. I was not the leader of this clan, I was the leader of my own clan. I should not be making the decisions for other clans. Thought I did worry about all of the other clans, personally what went on inside their territory was none of my business in the first place.

The cat lifted his head up, and I could tell that he was a bit upset, and also a bit hurt about something, though I could not tell what it was quite yet. He did decide to step up and speak his voice however, on what his leader had just said to him.

"Well... I would be doing that, if your deputy did not tell me that I was a useless cat, and that I should just stay here so that I did not hinder the clan anymore than I already was." He said back to Kevin. Kevin looked at him for a few moments, with a bit of a surprised look on his face.

I squinted my eyes at Kevin. I was really beginning to like Dust less and less the more that I found out what the cat was really like. I was not sure if he was an evil cat, but he definitely should not be a cat that would potentially be the next leader of this clan.

I saw Kevin notice the look on my face from the corner of his eye as well, and he looked quite a bit embarrassed as well. A lot of the cats in the camp suddenly began to speak to each other a bit loudly, after what he had just said to Kevin.

I saw the look on Hearts sisters face as well, as I could tell she was a bit upset at what her brother had just said to the rest of the clan, and she was looking up at Kevin a bit angrily, almost as if she was about to attack him as well. Though it was not completely his fault for what Dust had said, and had done, it was in fact partially his fault for making him the deputy in the first place.

The more that I learned about Dust, the less and less I really was starting to like the cat. I sat there for a few moments, as I waited for Kevin to respond to what Heart had just said. He sat there for a few moments, waiting for his clanmates to stop speaking amongst themselves, before he finally rose his voice above the others and then began to speak.

"I am sorry about that Heart... I will talk to him about that. He should not be treating his fellow clanmates like that, it is something that my clan will not allow." He said to Heart. Heart looked at him, quite a bit surprised at the response for a few moments, but then he nodded to Kevin, grateful for what he had just said.

I nodded to Kevin as well. It was a smart decision, and he had choose his words very smartly, and very carefully as well. All of the cats in the clan seemed happy with what their leader had just said as well, and they all seemed to calm down in the exact instance as well.

I looked at Kevin, and then I stepped up a little bit, and then I spoke to the clan, so that they could all hear what I was about to say to all of them. They all looked at me with wide eyed looks on their faces, as they knew who I was very clearly.

"Thank you for letting me in Kevin, and giving me the herb to help some cats. I want to let it be known to any cat here in the future, if they end up being the leader, or the deputy, that you should treat any can that you meet out here like this... Most of the time when it is just one or 2 cats, they do not come to you with evil intent." I said to all of the cats in the clan. Each of them looked at me for a few moments, all of their eyes were fairly wide, but as I looked at each of them, they all slowly began to nod to me.

Kevin sat there for a few moments, as I could tell he was clearly thinking about what I had just said. I wondered if he had gotten the gesture that I had just said. I meant it, just in case he could not tell with what I had said, mainly pointing at him.

It was about Dust being the deputy of his clan. He sat there for a few moments, and he too nodded as well. I was not sure if he understood what I was getting at, as I shook my head at him as he still did not get it. He then nodded and then he began to speak to his clan.

"You can come here any time you need help, you do not need to worry about us. Everyone else in the clan, you can get back to what you were doing! Someone go and help Heart with Moon, and once you are gone I would like you to nicely let him out of our territory from where he came so that he can help those cats." He said to all of his clanmates. I looked at him for a few moments, and then I nodded.

It seemed that he had got at what I had meant to say directly to him. What he said did not seem to make very much sense though. Every time that Youngtail came into their territory, it seemed as if he was instantly swarmed and attacked by cats.

Well... That was at least what he had said, I am sure he was over exaggerating with a lot of what he said when he told me that as well. I did believe him when he said that he did get attacked nearly every time he walked onto their land though.

I also realized he was being smart and cautious, just like a good leader should be, when he wanted to keep his cats safe. He knew that I was not going to do anything with his cats, but it was something that every leader should do if he wanted to keep his clanmates safe as well, which was, too take a cat with another cat to him with something.

I sat there for a few moments, as a couple of cats began to walk out of the clearing to keep on with where they had left off with their daily tasks. Kevin looked at me and then he nodded to me and Heart to head over to each other so that he could choose a cat to go with us.

For a few moments I thought that it might be Kevin that would come with us, which I would not be against at all, but I realized as well, that he was the leader of this clan, and he had to take care of his clanmates and make sure they were doing the things that they were supposed to be doing.

He did sit down from the tallrock and he walked over to the both of us as well. I looked at the cat that went by the name of Heart and I nodded to him. It did not seem as if he realized the fact that he was speaking with 2 clan leaders right now.

I rolled my eyes to myself and then I looked back over to Kevin. Suddenly I heard the voice of another cat speak up to us from not too far away. I turned my head over to the cat, as I recognized the voice and I watched as she moved closer to us.

I watched her, as it seemed like she was walking over to us, as slow as a cat could possibly walk. She was walking like she was a kit as well, I then realized that it was because she was tired. I did not blame her, though I was more than likely a lot more exhausted than she was.

She had gotten up quite a bit early this morning, because she had gone on border patrol with Shadow and Dust. I realized that Dust was already on another patrol as well. I felt a bit guilty for what I had said a bit earlier about Dust as well. Maybe he just had a little growing up to do still, because he sure did have the heart to step up as a leader as well.

Dimple looked at me for a few moments, as I saw her look was a lot different than the look on the face of Heart. She looked quite a bit nervous to be speaking to the leader of 2 clans at the same time. I did not blame her, as she began to talk stumbling with her words a bit, which I was not sure if it was because she was so tired, or if it was because of the fact that she realized that she was speaking to 2 different leaders.

"I will go with him... I know where he came from, and I trust him, he knows where he is supposed to go back to." She said to Kevin. I looked at her a bit surprised with what she had just said. It sure did not seem like she trusted me very much, when she was speaking to me earlier.

A lot of that had to do with the fact that she was trying to look strong for Dust as well. She was clearly trying to win over his heart, I guess that she did not realize that Dust was already in love with her. It made me smile a bit, though I did not like Dust very much, I did like to see 2 cats in love with each other.

I then realized that Kevin was speaking back to the both of us as well. I then focused my attention on the cat, as I was so lost in thought right now, I was not sure if I had missed the first couple of words that he had said to me or not.

"Alright... Thank you Dimple, I have things to do, so all 3 of you stay safe. I will keep in touch about the gathering that is coming soon as well." He said to all of us. I looked at him and then nodded. Though there was no need for him to keep in touch.

I had already told him that it was going to be on this next upcoming moon, which was now just a few days away from us at this point. There was no reason for us to talk about it any more than we already had. I was sure he had just said that to make himself feel a bit better.

I did not blame him for it either, as I shook my head. I then looked back over at Dimple, as I saw that she had her eyes closed, and it looked like she had somehow fallen asleep in the middle of the clearing in the camp, the other 2 cats that I was with also seemed to notice that as well.

Heart went a bit up closer to her, and he nudged against her, to get her to pay attention to him, and what the leader had just said. She opened her eyes right away, and she noticed that all of us were looking at her, she looked a bit embarrassed. I spoke up to clear the thoughts that we were all thinking from the air.

"Dimple, are you sure that you can make it? You look like you had just already fallen asleep right there, we can get another cat if you really are that tired." I said to her, but also looking at Kevin from the corner of my eye so that he had recognized what I had just said, and I could earn a little bit of trust from him as well.

Dimple looked at me for a few moments, as it seemed as if her eyes were going blurry, and she had no idea what I had just said to her. After a few moments, she finally came to the realization that I had just been speaking to her. She then looked right at me, and she shook her head at me, as she began to talk to me.

"Yes... I am tired, but I can take you to the border of our territory and drop you off... I will get some good sleep when I get back." She said to me. I looked at her for a few moments, and I still was not too sure about if she was going to be okay or not.

I could tell that Kevin was not sure if he could trust her to take me out of the territory with her, or not still. He did however nod at her decision, as it was her decision to make in the first place. I was not sure if it was the right decision, but once again, I had to remember that I was not the leader of this clan.

Kevin turned his head around, and he looked around his camp for just a few moments, and then he turned his head back over to us, as he then once again nodded his head to us. I sat there for a little while longer, as I waited for him to then speak, and make his final decision about all of this. He finally spoke after just a few more moments longer.

"Alright Dimple, I know you have been tearing yourself apart lately. Once you are back I don't want to see you awake until tomorrow morning." He said with a bit of a smile. Each of us then laughed it off. After a few more moments, he then again nodded as he said one last thing to the rest of us. "Well I gotta take care of the clan, good luck you 3, stay safe..."