Hollypaw felt rain spatter her pelt as she tugged at the burdock root the wouldn't budge. Just what the catmint needed! water! Just as her mind began to wander, the root gave way and she stumbled backwards into fresh mud. “Hollypaw? Are you ok?” She saw Jaypaw looking around worriedly a few feet away. The blind cat dropped his borage and sniffed the air, concentrating hard he mewed, “I can’t smell through the rain. Where are you?” She sat up and shook the clumps of clay from her midnight black fur and spoke gently to assure him she was fine. “I’m alright, the root gave way and I wasn't expecting it, thats all.” He snorted and faced her directly, tracking the sound of her voice. His blue, unseeing eyes seemed to pierce her soul and caused a shiver to shake down her spine. “Well be more careful next time! What kind of a medicine cat gets hurt on the job? We’re running out of cobwebs as is!”
Hollypaw just sighed and grabbed another root. She heard a rustle in the leaves behind her and whipped around to see her mentor staring at her with a mouth full of dried oak. Her voice was just a mumble through the leaves, “Ready to go my apprentices?” Hollypaw nodded and looked over at Jaypaw who was searching for something. She saw him kick a stick under a bush nonchalantly and then turned her attention back to Leafpool as she began to walk away. She could ask him about it later. “Come on Jaypaw.”
A padding at the cave entrance is what caught her attention. She had just been peacefully going over which herbs were where and what each did when the strange, pungent smell caused her to turn around. She knew that, it was the smell of catmint. There was no catmint in the den, they were letting it grow and get back to it’s full health before picking the new leaves. Leafbare had been hard on the small plants and they had almost lost all of it. She whipped around, fully prepared to scold whatever warrior had stupidly brought in the plants, they probably thought they were doing her a favor.
She was not prepared for what she saw there. There was a light grey cat with so much fur he looked like a walking hairball. His eyes were light blue like the morning sky and shined like two suns. His fluffy pelt was dotted with small, glowing spots. Stars in his fur? I’m being visited by a Starclan cat! Hollypaw felt her heart stop as her jaw fell to the ground.
It was his smooth, gentle voice that brought her to reality, “Hello little one.” Hollypaw respectfully bowed her head and spoke with her eyes to the ground as to not seem challenging. “ I mean no disrespect when I ask, who are you?” His brow furrowed and he looked at her. “I am Featherwhisker, I was Spottedleaf’s mentor. I am here to deliver a message from Starclan.” Hollypaw felt her eyes widen in wonder as she focused purely on the starry messenger.
His fluffy grey fur seemed to thin and dissolve as he spoke, “Four will fall as one rises, and all will be given a second chance.” Hollypaw was filled with despair at the nonsensical message. “But what does that mean?” He opened his mouth to answer as she felt a sharp pain in her side and felt her eyes shoot open.
She was staring straight into the concerned face of her sister Flickerheart. “What did you do that for?” She sprang to her feet and gave the orange tabby a good swipe to the ears. “You were thrashing around and mumbling in your sleep again! I figured you were having another nightmare!” Hollypaw let out a growl and turned away from her sister. “Four will fall, one will rise, all will be given a second chance.” She heard her sibling call to her from the other side of the den, “Did you eat poppy seeds again? You know they go straight to your head!”
Hollypaw turned around and forced herself to calmly approach her sister. “No! That was a message Starclan sent me.” Flickerheart’s eyes opened wide as she continued. “Four will fall, one will rise, and all will be given a second chance. I have no idea what it means!” Flickerheart looked at her sister knowingly and said, “We’ll just have to see.”
