ωαяяισя ¢αтѕ // Mintpool's Venom

Chapter 17

The night was cold and clear. The air was crisp, freezing Mintpool to the core. The bright moon glimmered in the sky coldly as she trotted along, as though it was judging her, knowing that she was a spy for the rogues. She flicked her tail at it lazily as she padded along with the AirClan patrol towards the Gathering. This should be interesting. She'd be seeing a lot of old cats. Old friends. One of which she'd like to kill.

Spotpaw bounced behind her. The black-and-white she-cat was energetic as ever. Mintpool knew she was grieving deeply from Echoleaf's death. She remembered the countless times Spotpaw would curl up inside her nest, her gaze blank with sorrow. But, when the gray tabby went over to talk with her, that sorrow would be clouded with fake happiness.

But that was one thing Mintpool admired about Spotpaw. Even though it wasn't good to hold in your emotions, she always tried to act cheerful for other cats. Even though she was grieving as well, she'd always put aside her own emotions and be a bright beam of light for her Clanmates. Mintpool knew it cheered their Clanmates up as well. 

And, the gray tabby was growing closer with Spotpaw. Of course, mentors and apprentices normally had close relationships, but the gray tabby hadn't expected the same to happen with her and Spotpaw. But she couldn't help it; the black-and-white she-cat just reminded her so much of her mother...

"Look, there's Mistypaw!" Spotpaw chirped, her voice gittering with excitement.

Mintpool snapped out of her thoughts. They were at the Gathering Clearing already. The AirClan patrol was beginning to split up; warriors and apprentices darted away to join the crowd as Thistlestar and Skystorm crossed the clearing to greet the other leaders. The medicine cats, as usual, was towards the back of the clearing. As their heads turned to glance at the arriving AirClan patrol, assuming that it would be Echoleaf and Spotpaw, their eyes widened with amazement at the sight of Mintpool.

Their reaction seemed to bring realization to the other cats as well. Mintpool could feel the entire Gathering's gazes stuck on her pelt, making her tail-tip twitch. "Let's go join them."

No cat approached Mintpool as she and Spotpaw made their way to the medicine cats, but she could feel their eyes practically glued to her fur. Slowly, excited chatters started to echo through the air as cats engaged in conversations, curious, wanting to know that had happened.

Cloverleaf's eyes were warm as she watched the AirClan medicine cats approach. The other medicine cats were welcoming as well, although nowhere near as excited as the EarthClan she-cat.

Just as Mintpool was about to reach them, a familiar pelt began making her way towards her. Her teeth gritted with anger as she recognized the cat with ease: Leafwhisker. 

"Go on," she meowed to Spotpaw. "I'll follow soon."

Spotpaw shot her a questioning look, but didn't defy, bounding over to the back of the clearing, where she was bombarded with questions. Leafwhisker approached, stopping right in front of Mintpool, his movements and gaze hesitant. He cleared his throat. "Hi."

"Hello." The gray tabby made sure to keep her voice cold. 

"How are you doing?" Leafwhisker shuffled his paws awkwardly.

"Better than when I was in exile." Mintpool blinked icily at him. 

Guilt flashed through the tom's eyes, but the tabby couldn't feel a single prick of sympathy. "I'm sorry! I didn't know your Clan would accuse you! That's ridiculous- you're a medicine cat! I thought they-"

"I don't want to hear your foolish explanations," Mintpool snapped. "You couldn't own up to your own mistake, so you pushed it on me." She took a deep breath, growing lowly. "Did the other cats suspect you were the father?" Please say they did. Then at least he can feel a little of what I did, since what they accused him of was the truth.

Leafwhisker winced, ducking his head. "Yeah. But no cat could prove it, so I guess the plan worked?"

Mintpool snorted. "Yeah, the plan worked great, didn't it?" Her voice was sarcastic and cold as she flicked her tail. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go meet cats I actually want to see." She whipped around, trotting over to the medicine cats, head held up high.

"Mintpool!" Cloverleaf was the first to greet her. The brown-and-white tabby jumped to her paws, purring, rubbing muzzles with the gray tabby. "I'm so glad you're back!"

"I see AirClan's finally had some sense," Nightpool added. "I can't believe they just exiled you. Nonsense!"

A purr of amusement rose from the tabby, pleased at hearing Nightpool talk bad about AirClan, even though she knew the black she-cat did it more to comfort her. "I'm very happy to be back!"

Raincloud flicked his tail. "We heard about Echoleaf's death," he meowed solemnly. "We're very sorry about that."

At this, Spotpaw's gaze flooded with grief; the black-and-white she-cat turned quickly to hide her expression. Mintpool faked a look that matched her apprentice's, before answering. "She was a great medicine cat and mentor. It's terrible that the rogues got to her."

"Don't worry," Cloverleaf meowed. She must've seen something along the lines of fear in Mintpool's fake grief, because she placed her tail on her friend's shoulder comfortingly, offering the feeling of a mother comforting a kit during a thunder storm. "Those rogues will be gone soon. Our Clans will make sure of that."

The gray tabby dipped her head in acknowledgement. "I'm sure."

"The Gathering has now begun!" Moonstar's voice echoed through the clearing. Instead of the normal, instant shushed silence that would run amongst the cats, many continued their conversations softly, and Mintpool knew why; her return. The leaders didn't seem to mind, for they didn't have any important information to offer.

Mintpool's gaze swept the clearing. She saw groups of cats together, murmuring softly, shooting glances at her whilst they did so. She fluffed out her pelt, tail-tip twitching, as her focus travelled to a familiar ginger pelt: Flowershine. Her eyes narrowed as she remembered Adderclaw saying how Flowershine suspected her plan of revenge. She wasn't too worried about that. Until now.

The ginger she-cat was crouched with Robinflight and Falconstrike, whispering furiously, shooting hostile looks at Mintpool every now and then. Falconstrike was shaking his head, seemingly not believing a word that was coming out of Flowershine's mouth, but Robinflight was nodding eagerly in agreement. Mintpool felt her pelt twitch. So it seems both Flowershine and Robinflight are against me. Classic. 

But, she wasn't worried about Robinflight at all. Whatever Robinflight said, surely no cats would believe. After all, it was her speech that had gotten Mintpool wrongly exiled. No cat would listen to her now. But Flowershine... even though none of the cats seemed to be believing her, either, she was still a risk. The tabby's gaze narrowed even more as she saw Iceclaw join them; the gray tom nodded in agreement, and the three seemed to be convincing Falconstrike, who now glanced at Mintpool uneasily.

The tabby's claws sank into the ground. Looks like Flowershine's my next victim.

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Word Count // 1196

Not Edited

Hi! I haven't updated for a couple days, sorry about that. The main reason is, I think, that this chapter wasn't the most exciting one. It's just Mintpool returning to the Gathering, which is definitely important, just not super exciting to read nor write about. Although, her and Leafwhisker's conversation was quite interesting.

Also, I need your opinions on something. I know which characters I want Mintpool to get her revenge on, and how they're going to die, but there's just one cat I'm not sure about: Robinflight. Should she die? I'm very flexible on this one, so just let me know what you wanna see!

Right, that's all! Leafwhisker's at the top! Goodbye!