The tom looked around the land that surrounded him, studying it carefully. He made sure nothing was hiding in the plants he was in. The ground and sky was another place he studied carefully. The brown tabby wanted to make sure the clearing was safe for him. Falcons, crocodiles, pythons, leopards, bears, and tigers could be lingering around. He remembered hearing those predators near here.

Even if it seemed he was being unnecessary with his watchful eye, he had to. The echoes in his mind constantly told him so as he went outside of the camp of MistClan. It was also what his mentor always told him when she sent him out to get herbs. Plus, there was the fact if a predator caught him, he wouldn't be able to scream out for help.

The forest was clear. Nothing circled him above the sky. Tigers weren't out hunting. Leopards could not be seen up in the trees. All was fine for the brown tabby. Slowly, the tom crept out. He constantly looked around still. Even though there weren't any predators in sight, anything could jump out. If that was case, he had to keep his eyes fully open.

When his body fully emerged from his hiding spot, the tom jolted up. His body went from bunching over to standing up straight. The tom quickly walked toward all the areas that had herbs in the land he was in. His walking soon became running as he looked around. His mentor told him a certain herb was around this area, and he knew he had to find some before he went back to camp.

Crocodile dung! It's not around. She's going to be angry when she doesn't see that herb. She's going to become disappointed, the tom thought to himself, gritting his teeth in complete frustration. The voice that echoed in his head wasn't his. It was too feminine to be his voice. He recognized that voice as his mentor's.

The tom breathed heavily as he ran around wildly. He knew he just had to find the herb his mentor told him to get. He couldn't come back empty-pawed at all in this scenario. He knew the herb was around, but the tabby couldn't find where it was exactly. Asking for his mentor's help was scratched off as a possible idea, so his only choice was to run around crazily and look everywhere.

He soon padded over to the last patch of land he hasn't checked yet. The area was covered in fallen leaves and sticks from the canopy trees from above. The tom knew nothing would most likely be under all of the sticks and leaves, but he had hope that maybe the herb would magically appear in front of him when he cleared out the ground.

With his hope still in his mind, the tom shoved the leaves from the trees to the side. He picked up sticks and put them all in a pile. He was tired, but it didn't matter. He wanted to see if there was anything underneath the leaves and sticks.

The MistClan apprentice still breathed heavily, but he was able to shove off the remaining leaves. He looked down, expecting to see nothing, but he was wrong about that. His jaw dangled open in shock. The cat could have squealed out in joy, but he didn't.

Right in front of him was what he needed. It was cardamom. He wasn't sure why, but it seemed as if this certain herb was starting to become less plentiful. He heard cats talking about upwalkers coming into the forest, taking herbs for their own use. He guessed upwalkers were taking the cardamom in the mountains and forest.

He lowered his neck to reach the herb, extending forward to grab it. He slowly opened his mouth. The tom was taught to pull herbs carefully in order to not rip them up. He made sure he was careful. After finally being able to find some cardamom, he didn't want to bring his mentor the herb being shredded. Gently, the tom was able to pull out the cardamom in one piece. He held it carefully and tightly. The tom stood there proudly.

"Dandelionpaw!"

The tom heard his name being called. The sound echoed through his ears before he decided to turn around to look. The apprentice knew the voice clearly when he heard his name being called from a distance. It was Mintbranch, the healer and his mentor.

Dandelionpaw ran up to the gray she-cat. He stood by her side. The she-cat warmly looked down at him. He looked back, showing the cardamom he found. Mintbranch started to walk, so Dandelionpaw followed like he always did when they went out of camp.

"Oh, it looks like you were able to find the cardamom I asked you to get. Good job, Dandelionpaw! Where did you find it?" questioned Mintbranch.

Dandelionpaw turned his neck to look behind. He extended one of his paws, balancing himself on his three other legs. He pointed at the spot where he found the herb. Mintbranch stopped walking and turned around. She tilted her eyes, unable to see where he pointed out. He flinched when he saw Mintbranch stare in confusion.

Dandelionpaw lowered his paw. He ran over to the spot. He shoved some of the leaves the wind had pushed back in place. Dandelionpaw used his paw to point at the small roots that still remained in the ground. Mintbranch nodded, finally seeing what he was pointing at. Dandelionpaw looked back up at Mintbranch. There was no look of pride at all. He could see that there was some concern in her expression. Mintbranch turned around and started walking off. Dandelionpaw lowered his ears in shame before running after his mentor. He wasn't sure what he was doing wrong.

Dandelionpaw soon was able to catch up to Mintbranch. He stood by her side, breathing heavily. Dandelionpaw still tried to walk and remain by her side, but it was obvious he was tired.

"With how there's upwalkers showing up in the forest, they've started to take herbs from us MistClan cats. The forest could be deprived of herbs if all those upwalkers take it. Maybe it's best to start collecting herbs before all of the upwalkers. I don't know what these upwalkers need these herbs for, but we need them more," Mintbranch rambled on as Dandelionpaw listened.

Dandelionpaw kept his ears perked up as he listened to Mintbranch. While he didn't reply back to what the healer was saying, Mintbranch could easily tell he was listening, so the she-cat kept on talking. Dandelionpaw did wanted to know everything his mentor had to say. It could be important information he needed to know as a healer apprentice. He was better off listening to what she had to say.

"I haven't seen upwalkers take any of the thyme, so we should have plenty of that for Elephanttail. You know how she's always complaining that she has a a real bad headache, extreme dizziness, digestive problems, or all of them at the same time. I don't know what's wrong with that cat, but she always needs thyme in order to function somewhat like a normal being. And if she doesn't get her thyme, chaos breaks out. It's better to have a big supply of thyme just for Elephanttail when leaf-bare comes along."

Mintbranch continued on. The longer she went on, the guiltier Dandelionpaw felt for not responding even though he wasn't able to. The feeling kept on getting stronger whenever Mintbranch paused in her words before continuing as if she expected him to suddenly reply. All Dandelionpaw could do was nod and listen to the pale gray healer.

"That reminds me, the lemongrass— Oh! We're already back at camp," Mintbranch meowed.

Dandelionpaw looked up. Mintbranch was right; the two arrived back at MistClan camp. The two padded into the camp, having cats everywhere at this time. Dandelionpaw stayed by his mentor's side, not bothering to look around the camp as they went back to the medicine den.

Once Mintbranch got back into the den, Dandelionpaw followed in behind. Mintbranch turned around, having Dandelionpaw drop the cardamom he found at her paws. Mintbranch looked down at the cardamom before picking it up. She placed it to the side and picked up another bundle of herbs she had. Mintbranch dropped the bundle of lemongrass in front of him.

"There's just one last thing I need you to do, Dandelionpaw. All you need to do is take this lemongrass and let it dry off. Alright?" Mintbranch told him.

Dandelionpaw nodded excitedly as he picked up the lemongrass. He was happy to do anything for Mintbranch as long as it included herbs. He loved herbs after all. Dandelionpaw has always been fascinated with them, ever since his young eyes looked at a bundle of them being brought in. Herbs had always been very interesting to him.

He turned to stand at the side of the den. As he turned in his movement, he paused suddenly, seeing a cat was walking past to go into the medicine den. The brown tabby cat looked over at what cat had to go see Mintbranch. As he looked over, Dandelionpaw saw that it was Hawkspirit, the prime of the Clan. He was what kept MistClan thriving. Dandelionpaw looked at the silver tabby, wondering what he would want to talk to Mintbranch about. Dandelionpaw shrugged it off after some thinking. It wasn't his business.

He went back to doing what his main task was. Dandelionpaw reached his head to get closer to the top of the medicine den. He dropped the bundle of lemongrass there. Once the herb was placed, Dandelionpaw extended his paw to push the lemongrass around, spreading it so it would dry quicker.

The blazing sun was able to dry off the lemongrass quickly. While it got cold sometimes, their territory usually stayed warm enough. It was easy to dry herbs that were wet from rain or some body of water. It still took some time for it to dry, but it didn't take ages when the herbs were placed on top of the medicine den.

Dandelionpaw patiently waited for the lemongrass to dry off. As he did, he recited all the uses of lemongrass in his head. The voice ran throughout his mind, but it still wasn't his voice. It continued to be Mintbranch's voice which spoke to him and said what he thought.

Lemongrass is commonly used for vomiting, fevers, and curing teeth diseases.

It kept repeating in his mind. Even though Dandelionpaw would most likely never forget the uses of the herb, he wanted to make sure by repeating it to himself in Mintbranch's voice. Doing it that way was able to help him a lot when it came to learning all of the herbs he needed to know in order to be a healer.

Dandelionpaw kept on going with listing off all the uses of lemongrass until he felt something hard hit against his side. Dandelionpaw jumped up on all of his feet, puffing out his fur in shock and panic. His mouth let him give out a weak yowl from the sudden shock he had. As the tom jumped up, he heard laughing before he felt another hard thing hit against his side. Dandelionpaw looked down, seeing it was a stone, before looking up to see who did such an act.

Fishpaw, Yarrowpaw, and Nightpaw all stood there, laughing at Dandelionpaw. With them, the three apprentices had a large pile of stones, pebbles, and even large rocks. Fishpaw stood behind the pile while the two others stood at the sides of it. Even though Dandelionpaw was looking at them, Fishpaw threw a pebble at him, making the three roar out in complete laughter.

"Wow, didn't know Dandelionpaw was that weak!" wheezed Fishpaw.

"I can't believe that a cat like that is actually Mintbranch's apprentice," Yarrowpaw snarled.

"Haha, yeah," Nightpaw meowed.

Dandelionpaw stood there. He was frozen with fear at this point as they kept on throwing stones at him. Dandelionpaw wanted to bolt back into the den, but his body didn't let him. He wanted to tell the three off, but Dandelionpaw just couldn't do it.

Oh, why did the spirits have to curse with having nothing to say? All I ever wanted was to talk and express how I felt like other cats. Why was that such a crime? All I ever wanted was to talk, but now I'm cursed with being able to say nothing! the voice in Dandelionpaw's head shrieked. The voice wasn't Mintbranch's anymore. It was Fishpaw's now.

Dandelionpaw stood there, taking in what the three did to him. As the tom braced himself for another pebble, it stopped. Dandelionpaw opened his eyes, seeing what was going on. In front of him, Dandelionpaw saw Duckwing, his father. Dandelionpaw's heart leapt with joy.

"Listen up! If you don't stop what you're doing, then I'll have you all reported to Hawkspirit straight away. You don't want Hawkspirit to give you a punishment. He'll either throw you into the waterfall or hold you back from becoming warriors, and you don't want either of those from what I can tell," Duckwing commanded the three apprentices.

Duckwing's threat was enough to send shivers down their backs. The three apprentices ran off, scattering the pile they made as they ran away from the scene. As the three apprentices started to run, Nightpaw swooped down in order to grab a pebble he was going by.

"What are you doing?" Dandelionpaw heard Fishpaw hiss at Nightpaw.

With the pebble still in his mouth, Nightpaw replied, "It looked good. I wanted to keep it."

Duckwing walked over as the three ran off. Dandelionpaw gave an attempt at a giggle as his father came close. He watched as Duckwing sat down near him, reaching down to his level from what it seemed like to Dandelionpaw. Dandelionpaw looked up at his father, happy about the fact he was able to chase off Fishpaw and his two monkey-like followers.

"Don't worry about them. They're just trying to be some trouble. Those three are a pile of elephant dung after all. Someone will probably step on all of them sooner or later," Duckwing told him. Dandelionpaw let out an another attempt a giggle as Duckwing laughed at what he said. Dandelionpaw sat down by Duckwing's side. As he sat down, Duckwing placed his paw on top of Dandelionpaw's head. He could tell that this was his father's way of showing affection toward his son.

"Just letting you know, you're doing great as Mintbranch's apprentice. I just know that you'll be MistClan's greatest healer one day," Duckwing purred.

Dandelionpaw took in the compliment. He always loved them despite the fact he could never respond back, wishing he could tell his father how much saying something nice like that made his day. He especially loved compliments when it came from his parents. Duckwing and Snailpool were both supportive of him, and he liked that about them a lot.

"If anyone tells you that you'll never be a healer, then I will personally break that cat's legs and throw that mouse-brain into the wide open mouth of a starving crocodile," the dark brown tabby explained.

Dandelionpaw paused before giving Duckwing a certain look. He always gave a look of concern whenever his father was a little too extra with what he said. Dandelionpaw knew he always meant well, but sometimes Duckwing became a little too aggressive with the things he said to him or others. Duckwing looked at his son, seeing his look of concern on him. He took his paw off of Dandelionpaw's head.

"Well, I probably should be going off now. You know how your mother always need someone to talk about the trees in the mountains and forest with," Duckwing told Dandelionpaw as he stood up.

Dandelionpaw nodded as Duckwing walked off. Before he fully went off, Duckwing turned to look at him as Dandelionpaw stood up. "Speaking of trees, did you know I once cut one in half with my eyes?" asked Duckwing.

Dandelionpaw perked up his ears in interest. He didn't know it was actually possible to use your eyes to cut a tree in half. He only thought upwalkers were capable of cutting trees, but even then, they had to saw it with a strange silver sharp stick.

"It's true; I saw it with my own eyes," Duckwing meowed before walking off.

Dandelionpaw cringed, realizing what Duckwing meant. Dandelionpaw let out a weak sigh as he looked up at the spread out lemongrass. It was dry now. He jumped up, knocking the lemongrass into a pile. He picked it up, walking off to the entrance of the den. He paused, realizing Hawkspirit was talking with Mintbranch at the moment. Not wanting to bother them, Dandelionpaw decided to peek in.

"I'm telling you, Mintbranch, that apprentice of yours will never be a good healer," Hawkspirit explained.

"Please, Hawkspirit, Dandelionpaw can always be taught more. He's doing well so far," Mintbranch meowed in distress.

"I understand he knows a lot about herbs, but that isn't going to help MistClan. He's unable to talk. He can't explain what's wrong with a certain cat. He wouldn't be able to train any apprentices. He couldn't call out for help," the prime told her.

As Hawkspirit listed his reasonings, Mintbranch became eerily silent to Dandelionpaw's disappointment. She only nodded along to Hawkspirit's words. Mintbranch almost seemed convinced what Hawkspirit said was right.

"I don't think Dandelionpaw could ever be a healer. A warrior would be a more suited role for him. When he's gone, we can get you a better apprentice. Yarrowpaw is always an option, or that one blind one," said Hawkspirit.

"I'll think about it," she muttered.

"Good. Thank you for your time," he replied.

Dandelionpaw jumped back. He didn't want the two to know he was listen in. Hawkspirit walked out, not bothering to look at him. In fact, it didn't seem like Hawkspirit ever noticed him there. Dandelionpaw waited for Hawkspirit to walk by before trotting inside the medicine den.

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Written by Astral, Edited by Mack