𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 - 𝐢𝐯𝐲𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐟'𝐬 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦

chapter 1

"stop tapping me" muttered ivypaw. she rose to her feet and saw ashfeather, sootclaw and stormpaw waiting for her outside the medicine cats' den. "what in starclan is happening!" she muttered again. her mentor, kestrelcloud looked confused as she lifted her silver tabby head and then quickly amused. "you've really forgotten?" she said. ivypaw nodded and sootclaw chuckled dryly. "it's your warrior ceremony!" that's why kestrelcloud had tested her on all of those herbs yesterday! "look at you! your pelt is so dirty! clean it at once!" ashfeather said, her shock obvious in her amber eyes. as ivypaw lapped at her fur, stormpaw bounced around the den, spraying leaves and berries in the air in her wake. "stormpaw!" kesteralcloud snapped. "i just tidied them yesterday!" stormpaw looked meek so ivypaw started licking her ears. "hey! ashfeather already cleaned me up!" ivypaw ignored her sister and moved her head to kesterelcloud. "when are we going to the moonpool?" asked ivypaw, as if she didn't care. the silver tabby acted as if she hadn't seen the apprentice's act and tried to muffle her purrs. "tonight is half-moon, of course, we are going today!" it was ivypaw's turn to look sheepish as she bowed her head. stormpaw gave her a cuff over her ear and purred. "silly old ivypaw."
"how dare you!" scoffed ivypaw in an impression of the shadowclan leader, adderstar.

"i, kestrelcloud, medicine cat of shadowclan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. she has trained hard to understand the noble ways of a medicine cat, and with your help, she will serve her clan for many moons. ivypaw, do you promise to uphold the ways of a medicine cat, to stand apart from rivalry between clan and clan and to protect all cats equally, even at the cost of your life?" ivypaw shuffled her paws in embarrassment as all the medicine cats looked at her. "i do." kesterelcloud studied her for a moment, then continued. "then by the powers of starclan, I give you your true name as a medicine cat. ivypaw, from this moment you will be known as ivyleaf. starclan honors your compassion, and we welcome you as a full medicine cat of shadowclan." ivyleaf rested her muzzle on the ageing silver cat's head, then quickly licked her shoulder when she remembered tallpetal's ceremony. as the other cats began to yowl, ivyleaf thought of stormpaw. it's not fair i get to be a medicine cat but stormpaw can't be a warrior until tomorrow! she shook her fur, trying to get the icy cold water out of her fur.

on the way back from the moonpool, ivyleaf spotted the thunderclan medicine she-cat snowrose. "hello" she meowed, after catching up to her. snowrose looked shocked for a second and blinked. "hello, um, sorry i- i, you know what, nothing." ivyleaf was extremely concerned and also quite puzzled by that display. "so..." the white and cream she-cat meowed, not noticing ivyleaf's expression, walking step by step by the other she-cat. "are there any kits in your clan who has taken an interest to heal? because in thunderclan, this kit named dovekit is quite interested in plants and my den.' ivyleaf shook her head. "there are no kits in shadowclan at the moment, but our only queen is expecting very soon." snowrose purred. "i wish i had kits" she mewed, oblivious to the young cat's shock. "you regret becoming a medicine cat?" she stuttered, her eyes wide as moons. snowrose ignored her and bounded off with tallpetal next to the river. strange cat! she thought, her tail curling, and ran off to find kestrelcloud.

stormpaw was the first to congratulate ivyleaf the moment she got back to camp. "well done, ivy-ivy-ivy what?" ivyleaf purred at her littermate and then meowed, "ivyleaf" the name sounded good in her mouth. ashfeather padded into the entrance of shadowclan and meowed "ivyleaf! such a pretty name!" ivyleaf stopped purring and asked "where's kestrelcloud?" the silver she-cat had disappeared after a word with adderstar at the entrance of camp. "and sootclaw?" the other two cats shared a meaningful look. "you know something i don't!" ivyleaf meowed in rage. "s-sootclaw got a small injury at a border skirmish with windclan..." stormpaw mewed, her eyes huge. "i'm sorry..."  ivyleaf flattened her ears and ran towards the medicine den. pushing back tree branches with her head, she could see sootclaw on the floor of the den, his stomach ripped apart and blood was oozing out of the wound like pools. "what do i do?" she meowed, her eyes round. "who did this to you?" she asked. "this dark brown tom - gorsewhisker, the windclan deputy"  ivyleaf sat next to her mentor and began licking her father's fur the wrong way. just tasting the wound made her mouth bitter and vile. "the wound is seriously infected." whispered kestrelcloud, quiet enough for ivyleaf to hear, but not stormpaw and ashfeather. ivyleaf nodded her head and moved away to the store. she found some wild garlic and she purred. thank you starclan! ivyleaf thought. as she padded towards the other cats in the den, she hit her head on a pine branch. "ow!" she yelped, her claws unsheathed. she flicked her tail in irritation and walked towards her mentor who had stopped licking and started to plaster cobwebs over the red wound. ivyleaf looked at her father, "do think you can roll in this for me?" she meowed, indicating to the wild garlic. it smelled terrible but the clan deputy still rolled over in it. "come back tomorrow" the other medicine cat meowed not looking at ivyleaf's kin , her voice stern. stormpaw opened her mouth to protest, but she saw her mother's face and walked out. kestrelcloud shuffled the remaining cobwebs with her paws and asked "so no oak leaves?" ivyleaf shook her head. "horsetail? goosegrass? chervil root? burdock? anything?" ivyleaf continued to shake her head and watched her mentor panic. "don't worry. i smelt some horsetail when i was out with stormpaw yesterday." ivyleaf never saw the silver queen so anxious. but kestrelcloud breathed and regained her calmness. "your right, ivyleaf. i was overreacting. i think you and i should sleep now." she rasped. ivyleaf went out to get some moss for sootwhisker and came back to find the elderly she-cat already sleeping while sootwhisker stayed awake, his eyes narrowed as he looked out the den entrance. 'that spiderpaw has a interest in you" he said. ivyleaf glanced outside to see spiderpaw, who had a haunted look in their eyes. huh, that's weird... ivyleaf shut all thoughts out of her mind and gently nudged her father on to the nest of moss she made for him.
"goodnight"
ivyleaf stretched, trying to resist another look at spiderpaw. "night."