Gift Of The Guardians: The Journey

Prologue

A soft summer sunlight glimmered through the leaves on trees that decorated a forest by the name of Serinity Forest, dappling the ground with warmth. The forest seemed to be still, with no movement or noise, besides the occasional wind blowing through. In the undergrowth, a light mint green cat lay, its one eye fixed on something ahead of it, since its other had been torn away from an attack. It began to move forward, its fluffy tail brushing the grass around it. It pounced, landing beside a black and red tabby, who jumped frome surprise from the other landing by it.

"Mint!" The tabby hissed, "You scared me!"

Mint sat up, smiling, "Yes, I noticed. Why are you out in the forest with a sickness?"

"I just wanted a mouse or two. This place is just grass and trees, with paths anyways, and I'm starving. The honey you gave me wore off. Why cant you heal me by just touching where it hurts like with wounds?" The tabby growled

"Because Hunter," Mint rolled her eyes, "Do you want me to stick my paw down your throat? I cant heal sickness like wounds."

Hunter sighed, "Why not? I thought healers could heal anything."

"Wounds, sprained body parts, and broken bones." Mint added, "I cant heal sickness without herbs."

Hunter only coughed in a response and flopped down in the grass. Mint surpressed an annoyed sigh and walked over to her friend, nudging him up yo his paws, and pointing with her tail back towards a distant town.

"Go rest back at town. I'll buy you something." Mint brushed her tail on his shoulder.

Hunter looked at his friend, "Catch me a mouse?"

"No, You know I dont take others lives for food!" Mint snorted, "I'll buy kibble. Now, go."

Before her friend could protest, she padded away, tail held high into the air. Mint breathed in the familiar scents of the forest, and smiled softly, faint thoughts of her childhood, and a former apprentice of hers, coming to mind. After walking for a while, Mint stopped in front of a neatly decorated narrow path, with a sign pointing to it that said "Paltry Path."

"Hello, Mint." A voice chimed, "Fancy seeing you here."

Mint sat down in front of the path, narrowing her eyes a bit, "Abeni. I told Fern I was coming, did she not tell you?"

"Of course she did." A rather small lioness emerged from the path, "She did not come to greet you because she brought her son."

"Avery, right? He came crying to me about a thorn in his paw yesterday. Well, may I come onto campus?" Mint asked

Abeni did not answer and turned around, signaling with her tail for Mint to follow her.  Mint did, her attention drawn to the wall built around the path. It had been built just recently, and looked very beautiful in Mints opinion, but it made the path smaller than it already was, making it a challenge for larger animals like lions or bears to get through. Abeni had to duck her head just to be able to walk through it, and it was a long path. It looked like leaves had been put all around the path, neatly woven with thistles and brambles to hold them together. On the roof of it m, every now and then there were large holes so rain and sunshine would be able to filter through to shed light for animals to see, and for the plants to get the health they needed.

Ahead, there would normally be a steep hill to climb down, but it seemed that it had been replaced with stairs to help easily climb down. The covering around the path stopped once the stairs started, and in the distance, Mint could see the hollow where the school yard was.

Abeni seemed to be annoyed by the long walk at this point, and once they reached the bottom of the stairs that led to another small path, she bounded ahead. Mint was almost startled at her sudden run, but followed, but Abeni was obviously quicker. Mint could already feel her paws growing tired from the walk. Abeni already walked this whole path once to meet Mint, but lions had powerful legs.

Mint was breathing heavily by the time they got to the school hollow, and Abeni was taking large breaths as well. Mint walked ahead of Abeni, looking around the hollow. The ground was a smooth rock, and some plants sprouted from the few cracks in it. There was a small building on the right side of the hollow, a fence connected to it on the left.

"Fern!" Mint purred, running over to a coyote standing in the hollow, bumping her head to hers.

"Hello, Mint!" Fern smiled, "How are you? It's been too long."

Mint sat down, "I'm fine, thank you. I came here to see what students will be enrolled this year."

Fern nodded, leading her old friend into the school house. It was set up nicely. The teachers desk was at the top left corner of the room, with the students desks facing it in a row, will books sitting on the desks. The walls were decorated with posters of animals using their elements. At the back of the room was a door, which led out to the yard for the young ones to play.

"In alphabetical order, we have..." Fern opened a folder at the teachers desk and cleared her throat, "Alari, Avery, Cinder, Jade, Jamila, Lycus, Myrone, Ramius, Tau, and Zoya."

"Rather small class this year." Mint mewed, "The last one was huge."

"Right?" Fern chuckled, "We havent found Alari's, Jade, or Myrones powers. Lycus, Ramius, and Cinder have two powers, so theyre specials."

"Any healers?" Mint leaned a bit forward, excitment hinting in her voice.

Fern shook her head, "No, not as far as we know."

Mint frowned a bit, "Oh.. Well, I'll keep my hopes up."

"You should." Fern walked over to Mint, "Maybe you'll get on-"

Fern was cut off when Avery, a small coyote pup, came inside, wagging his tail and grinning at his mother. Fern rolled her eyes and laughed.

"I promised him I'd play with him." Fern smiled, "Have a good day, Mint."

Mint purred softly, "Have fun, bye Fern, bye Avery."

Mint padded out onto the path, nodding at Abeni before she went, and padded up the stairs. Mint drew in the familiar scents of the path around her, and smiled softly. Maybe she would get an apprentice.