I blinked the sleep open from my eyes, jumping up to my paws, bursting with raw excitement. Burnetflash let out a meow of amusement. Her blue eyes glowed with warmth. I'll make you proud! I promised myself inwardly. I'll be the best medicine cat ever! The night before, I had been lead to the medicine cat den, and drowsiness had overtaken him. But now I was bursting with energy, ready to face any challenge that should spring towards him. I was finally going to be a real clan cat, everything was spiralling towards perfection. As the golden sun soaked the world in hues of yellows and reds, I wanted to bask in its' beauty and watch time go on an on. But there were things to do, and the brown tabby tom who lead Runestar would soon be formally welcoming him into the clan. Nervously, and with my tail twitching, I watched as Rookstar leapt up onto a tall rock in the middle of camp, his paws thudding against the pale brown surface claws scrabbling for a grip. A few pale pebbles skittered down the edge of the rock as he let out a yowl, summoning RuneClan to him. Cats of all ages began tumbling towards the rock, looking up at their leader with wide eyes. I felt nerves jumping up and down his spine, as I padded out to stand beneath the rock. I spotted the apprentices I met last sunrise, the two grey she-cats watching expectantly, Shinepaw watching with thinly veiled displeasure and distrust, an expression replicated in several other faces.

They don't trust me because they think I'm a rogue, I realised, but at the same time I knew it would be even worse if they knew the truth. At least they thought I could look after myself, and otherwise they might have looked down on me, because of my association with twolegs.

"Cats of RuneClan," Burnetflash meowed stepping forward. "I am old, and I will not live forever, and it is time for me to take an apprentice. Your next medicine cat will be Fleeter."

Rookstar looked down at me from the great rock. "Fleeter, do you accept the post of apprentice to Burnetflash?"

"I do," I meowed, two words that would be the gateway to a whole new life.

"Then from this day forward, you will be known as Fleetpaw, and at the half-moon you shall travel to the Runestone to be accepted by StarClan. The good wishes of all of Runeclan go with you. " Rookstar dipped his head, and the clan dispersed.

I heard a few grumblings here and then, mostly on how a rogue could ever be a medicine cat.

"How could someone who wasn't Clan born possibly take on such a huge responsibility?" Shinepaw had muttered as I passed him, on my way back to the medicine den.

"Don't let him bother you," murmured Burnetflash. "I know you'll be an amazing medicine cat." I blinked gratefully at her as we passed into the den together. The scents were amazing, everything washing over each other in a sea of sparks and aromas, each one new and promising. "Today I'll show you the most important herbs, and then we can go gathering to restock some of our supplies." I nodded eagerly, watching Burnetflash as she whisked around her supplies, graceful and careful as she weaved among stacks of herbs.

She directed me over to some scraggly bark, which I recognised as being from an alder tree, pale green and serrated with gleans of yellow and promises of crimson, a blended puzzle of shapes and bumps, with a pale purple-grey veil hidden beneath.

"Do you know what this is?" She asked me, and I nodded, desperately wanting to impress.

"That's alder bark," I replied confidently. There'd been a tree at the edge of the garden, a great giant that loomed over the rest of the plants below. The hulking monster had always enticed me as a kit, but back then I was far too small to brace such a task. I looked back up at her quizzically, nose scrunching in concentration. "What's that used for?"

"Toothache," Burnetflash replied, nodding in approvement. She showed him to some prickly leaves, light green with sharp teeth on serrated edges. I was fairly certain I'd seen them before, growing on bushes with ripe black berries fat and full of purple juice. "These are blackberry leaves, can you guess what they're used for?" She mewed.

I hazarded a wild guess; "Bellyache?" I asked, twitching my tail nervously.

She shook her head, "We use watermint for that, or sometimes chervil." She explained. "Blackberry leaves are used to ease the pain of bee stings. We chew them into a poultice and apply them to the wound." There's so much to learn! I thought, as I gazed around, wide-eyed, at the abundance of herbs and knowledge laid out before me.

"What are those?" I asked, sniffing some small blue star-shaped flowers with furry leaves. They seemed beautiful, and intriguing, and it was strange how a plant could have hair, like a cat did.

"That's Borage, the leaves are chewed and eaten by nursing queens to produce more milk. And it also helps cool down fevers." As I looked into the next nook, a sharp tang entered my nostrils, and I wrinkled up my nose. A tall-stemmed thistle-like plant with thick roots and dark green leaves spanned out before me. Noticing me, Burnetflash gave me an amused glance. "That's Burdock, she informed me. "We wash the soil off the roots, and then chew them up into a pulp. It lessens and heals the pain of infected rat bites, and helps prevent infection from rat bites." I was awed by her intelligence, and the simplicity at which she offered it to me. I entered a whole new world, a world she held the key too.

Suddenly, another scent filled my nose, this one mouth-wateringly delightful. Leaves wafted everywhere, and Burnetflash steered me away gently. "That's Catmint, we use it to treat Greencough and whitecough."

"Greencough?"

Her eyes narrowed, as if remembering some harrowing experience from the past. "It's a deadly disease, the elders and kits often get it in leaf-bare. Catmint is the only cure, but tansy can ease the symptoms. It's a vicious cough, and it can end up being fatal." I shivered, looking up at her with wide eyes.

"Ah!" She exclaimed, as if suddenly remembering something important. She showed me a sticky stash of white cobwebs, glittering in the sunlight. "This is cobweb, one of the most important of all remedies. It can be applied to wounds to stop the bleeding." She flicked her tail in the direction of a tangy smell, revealing an array of small bell shape flowers, pale whites and pinks on fat black roots, that seemed as large as rats. "That's Comfrey, it can be used for an all manner of things- we chew the roots into a poultice. It can be used for broken bones, or to soothe wounds. And for wrenched claws too, itching, inflammation and stiff joints are also treated with comfrey. And, it can be used for burns."

"There's so much to remember!" I squealed. Burnetflash glanced back at her stocks. "I know, but one day you'll be as learned as I am." She looked at her stocks again, narrowing her eyes. "We're running low on my namesake, Burnet, and also on Watermint and juniper berries. Grab a beech leaf wrap to carry the herbs and follow me," I followed obediently, trying to wrap my mind around everything I'd learnt.

Borage for milk and fever, Comfrey for burns, itching, stiff joints, soothing wounds, broken bones, catmint for whitecough and greencough, and tansy too, watermint and chervil for bellyache, there's just too much! I thought as I desperately repeated the string of information inside my head. "Burnet grows best in grassy meadows," She remarked, heading off in the direction of a golden field that bent and whispered in the wind. "It's easy to notice, they're quite tall, with small white flowers and serrated leaves." I bounded off, searching desperately for white buds in the sea of golds and dappled greens. Finally, I reached a clump of white buds, and let out a mewl. "Burnetflash! Over here!" She looked up at him, eyes flashing, as she carried a leaf wrap emitting a sweet scent.

"That's right, that's Burnet right there!" She mewed, letting out an encouraging mew. She must have noticed me peering curiously at her leaf wrap, as she opened it to show large fern like leaves fanning out with small white buds. "This is Chervil, which we use for bellyache and infected wounds." She looked into the distance, then turned back to me. "There's some Juniper near here, the berries are round and purple, while the leaves of the bush are spiky and barbed. See if you can locate them."

I spent some time drifting around, poking my nose into every bush to see if I could find the berries, before staring at dark black berries, plump and round. They seemed warm and welcoming, and almost as if they were beckoning me closer. "Fleetpaw! Stop!" Burnetflash's urgent new caught me off guard, and I stumbled back, landing with a thud.

"Those are deathberries, you must never, ever eat them. If anyone ever accidentally does, use Yarrow to make them vomit it up." I let out a shiver, staring at the plump black berries. How close I came to death that day, I was staring it rightin the face. And it's eyes were round and dark, and oozed purple juice instead of blood. "She looked down at me, showing some thinner purple berries in her wrap. "This is Juniper, and we use it for strength. Come, Watermint grows near the stream." She padded off, tail waving as an indication for me to follow. I trailed after her, shocked and anxious.

That was when I heard the coughing. It was hoarse, and loud, and it seemed to be threatening to shake the forest down. My paws seemed to have a mind of their own, ignoring my mentor's warning cries and seeking the source of the violent coughs. Then I skidded to a halt in a clearing, and watched as a ragged cat with dark black fur, missing in clumps staggered forward. His eyes were raw and bloodshot, red and white. They were the eyes of someone who saw that their death was near, who realised that the end was coming, and did not want to accept it. His whole frame shuddered, as he spat out a huge wads of phlegm freckles with crimson blood. He heaved and sighed, and his eyes locked onto my own. He was pleading for help, sending out a desperate beg. I stepped forward, half fascinated by this morbid prospect of watching someone so close to the darkness beyond, half desperately wanting to help the poor tom.

"Stop, Fleetpaw." It was my mentor's voice that jerked me out of my trance. "There's nothing you can do." I shook my head, angry at her for stopping me in my path. As the tom let out another ragged heave, his coughs echoing like thunder, I took another couple of steps forward.

"We've got to help him! He's dying, surely there's something we can do, at least to ease his pain. Tansy, or catmint, you mentioned those earlier, please, we have to-" Burnetflash broke me off with a look equal parts sincerity and sadness. She was solemn and unwavering, but I could see how upset she was to leave the poor tom in his pain.

"He has bloodcough, a far worse form of greencough. There's no cure, none that we know of. We can't help him, the risk of it spreader to us, and then to RuneClan, is too high." I could see the sense in her voice, but it still broke my heart to watch the poor tom flailing about. His body racked one more time, the violence of it almost splitting him in half, before he went limp. So carefully, so perfectly still. His eyes were raw and open, staring into space. Staring into a void of nothingness.

The old tom had died, gone still forever. He was void of warmth and emotion; nothing but a limp sack of flesh and bones.

"We should bury him, close the infection off, and make sure you don't touch the body. Use sticks to push him in. " her brusqueness, her matter of fact ness was overwhelming. I was still numb with shock, and I could hear the tremor in her own voice. As I dug a final resting place for the tom, I was still brooding over the finality of death. Everything that made the old tom him was gone, wiped away as if it had never been. A blank slate, an empty vessel, a hollow shell was all that remained. Where everything has once danced with joy and the fires of life, the world seemed cold and numb with the stillness and end of death. There was no coming back.

Together, we pushed him into the hole. His body lay there with a thickening thump. Burnetflash scattered some sweet smelling green leaves onto his body, and she looked at me, grief clouding her eyes. Her voice was tinged with sadness. "Mint," she mewed. "It masks the scent of death." The perfume was needed, I realised, because the coldness and awfulness of death needed to be masked. It was too much for any one cat to bear, truly understanding what came after dying. To look it in the face and watch as things are wiped off as if they had never been. It was a hollowing experience, one that marked my path to the future. As I looked over his grave, I made a promise to the corpse and to the stillness of the sky.

"I will never let another cat die," I vowed. I told my vow to the Earth and the sky, to the dead and the living. And though I am now old, and dying, I kept that vow. At least, "I kept that vow until her," I whispered, telling the chilly air my past, and letting the wind swallow me whole, as my eyes stared into the forest, clouded by grief and sadness at what once had been.

Boom 2398 words ha beat that word count and everyone who complained about Hindisght being too long ha ha ha ha ~ Olivia