Skyleaf's Tale (DISCONTINUED)

Chapter 7

        "Skypaw, get up! You slept in late again." Skypaw heard Lightpaw's voice waking him. Lightpaw was already bounding away towards the other apprentices. He drowsily followed them. "We're learning about herbs today," she meowed over her shoulder.

        "Why do we have to? It's so boring," Riverpaw meowed. 

        Jaypaw flashed her a glance. "I think that it's actually quite interesting." 

        "What's so interesting about it?" Ivypaw joined in. 

        Jaypaw snorted and walked over to Bushsong, who was the Clan medicine cat. Skypaw noticed that his brother wasn't there. "Where's Cloudpaw?" he asked, faintly worried. 

        "Cloudpaw is out doing his own stuff," she answered. Well that's not much of an answer! he thought. 

        "So are we going to start?" That was Jaypaw. 

        "Sure," Bushsong answered. "So what do you know about herbs so far?" she asked. 

        "Well I think feverfew is good for scratches or something," Skypaw answered warily. 

        "No, but good guess," she replied. I must look like a mouse-brain! he thought. But looking around, he could see that none of the other cats seemed to have any idea either. 

        "Wait, I think I know." Skypaw heard Jaypaw meow. "Feverfew's good for headaches and cooling down cats with fevers, hence the name feverfew." 

        "Very good!" Bushsong commented. "Now I'm going to teach you abou...." 

        Skypaw stopped listening as he was plunged into thoughts about yesterday night. I hope Cloudpaw isn't angry or anything because of last night. And what about Silverpaw? Can I really keep visiting her at night? Inwardly he sighed. I don't know.... He had promised himself that he wouldn't visit her until the Gathering, though. It should be happening tonight. As he kept thinking, a voice interrupted his thoughts.

        "Skypaw!"

        Skypaw expected to hear the scolding voice of his mentor, but as he looked up, he realized for  the first time that the only non-apprentice there was Bushsong.

        "Skypaw!" Bushsong called again.

        "What?" he replied.

        "Get your head out of the clouds. We just discussed that we're going to travel along the WindClan border to look for herbs."

       Skypaw nodded. He remembered the bare moor, and the strong gusts of wind. For some reason, Skypaw's paws were itching to go there again. As they padded through the trees, a cold breeze ruffled Skypaw's fur, and he realized that there were brown and yellow leaves scattering the forest floor. "Wow, is it Leaf-fall already?" he muttered under his breath.

        Once they were near the WindClan border, Bushsong had them look for burnet. "We're starting to run low on them, and they grow well near the moor. They look thin, with lots of leaves on them," Skypaw remembered hearing Bushsong say. As he padded over to the scent marks, he looked up at the WindClan territory. Another breeze blew towards the cats, stronger this time. Skypaw couldn't help but relish the wind, and the way you could see the sky so well, without any trees in the way. I could live here, he thought. And at night you could see all the stars...

       "I think I found some!" Jaypaw meowed, cutting into Skypaw's thoughts. Skypaw had forgotten about the herbs. Reluctantly, he stepped back from the border to look at what Jaypaw had found.

        "Yes, that's it! Good job, Jaypaw," Bushsong praised the apprentice. "You would make a fine medicine cat." Jaypaw didn't show any reaction, but Skypaw guessed that he wouldn't ever want to be a medicine cat, as long as he had the chance to be a warrior. Like if he went blind, and couldn't be a warrior apprentice. "Let's take these back to camp." Nipping off the stems, Bushsong and the apprentices took the burnet back to camp.

        Riverpaw padded up to Skypaw. "Enjoying the wind?" she asked casually through her small bundle of herbs.

        "Er... yeah," Skypaw responded, embarrassed for some reason that Riverpaw had caught him relishing the breeze. I can enjoy the wind! he thought indignantly, but he didn't say anything out loud. To his relief, Riverpaw didn't say any more.

        Silverfog padded up to him once he was back in the camp. "I'll be taking you to the Gathering," he said. I've asked Petalstar, and she said you could go.

        For the first time since being told he was going to be made an apprentice, Skypaw felt ready to burst with excitement. "Really?" he meowed, jumping up and down. "That's great!"

        Silverfog nodded. "Get some sleep," he mewed. "We leave once the sun has set."