I padded forward, surrounded by a confusing fog. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't see anything through the dense fog.

I thought I saw something and whirled around. My eyes narrowed and my fur stood on end when I saw a strangely familiar orange cat standing before me.

"Why do you always show up during the worst times?" I hissed.

The orange tom smirked. "Is now a bad time?" He questioned.

"Who are you?" I asked him, straightening up, my fur lying flat.

The scarred orange tom ignored my question and started slowly towards me. "Looks like you've come a long way." He stated as he began to circle me.

I kept my eye on the tom. "What do you want?"

The orange tabby almost smiled at this. "I want many things . . ." He answered vaguely.

I hissed in annoyance. "What are you doing here?" Why couldn't he just give a straight answer?

"I see you've found Mistclan." The orange tabby said.

That caught me off guard. I tilted my head in confusion. "How do you know about Mistclan?"

"I know many things." He answered.

"Why can't you ever give me a straight answer?" I asked in annoyance.

The scarred orange tabby stopped in front of me. "There is a time and place for everything."

I sighed and sat down. Why would I expect him to give me an answer I wanted, anyway? It was clear I couldn't trust him. Although hadn't he helped with escaping Aster's group? I didn't know what to believe.

The orange tom watched me and seemed to be pondering something. He didn't ask any questions, though. "Sometimes the light can be shrouded by the mist."

I looked up at him, confused. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The orange tom began to fade and my eyes widened with panic. How was I supposed to know when I would see him again? "Wait!" I called to him, standing up.

"Never lose hope . . ."

That's all I heard from the tom before he completely vanished from sight. I turned around, searching for him. "Hello?" I called.

The mist began to swirl around me. It was all a huge blur until I woke up with a start.

I looked around frantically but relaxed when I realized where I was. I was in the Mistclan warriors den in my makeshift nest. Flick had moved his nest closer to mine and I smiled warmly at him. Bella was on my other side, curled up tightly into a neat ball.

Once I sat up, Flick moved. His ear flicked and opened his eyes, smiling at me. He raised his head and yawned. "Good morning."

I returned the sandy tom's smile. "Morning." I said. I stretched and shivered. "It's a bit chilly this morning."

Flick nodded. "Still not as cold as last night. I don't know how you fell asleep so quickly, I couldn't get warm!"

I laughed and Bella stirred. The cream she-cat stretched and sat up, grooming herself. "Well good morning you two."

"Good morning, Bella." Flick and I said in sync. We glanced at each other and both broke into laughter.

Bella purred. "I'm glad you two have been so happy these past moons." She said.

"It's not just us, you too Bella. I've seen how happy you are discovering those herbs. In the clans you would've been a wonderful medicine cat." I told her.

Bella smiled and nodded. "I just want to make sure you guys can be healed properly if we ever get into another fight."

Flick nodded. "I'm glad you're our 'medicine cat.'"He said with a small laugh.

I stood up and looked around. To my surprise, we were the only ones left in the den. Surely some cats would've slept in a bit? Or the cats who came back from the dawn patrol? We must've slept late.

I shook out my pelt. "Come on, let's go thank Lightstar for letting us stay the night and leave." She said.

Flick and Bella nodded and stood up, following me out of the den.

I looked around to see the camp mostly empty. Everyone must be out hunting or patrolling. There were still a few left in camp, though. The kits ran inside the nursery when they spotted us but I could tell they had been playing a fun game. I smiled as I remembered playing mossball with Cloverpaw and the others in the nursery. My face saddened at the thought of my sister. She must think I was dead.

"Ahhh, you're awake!" Called a voice. I looked up, following the voice to one of the thick branches of the hollowed out tree. I recognized Lightstar.

The striped sandy leader clawed her way down the tree to stand on the ground again. She passed over to us. "Sleep well?" Lightstar asked.

I nodded, not mentioning my dream. Why would Lightstar need to be concerned about the scarred orange tom? "I slept very well. Your nests are comfortable." It had been nice to actually sleep in a proper nest for once.

Lightstar smiled. "I'm glad you think so." She said.

Flick dipped his head politely. "We are very grateful you let us stay here for the night and warned us about traveling in the area after dark. We must get going though if we are to ever make it to Shadeclan." He said to the Mistclan leader.

Lightstar frowned and tilted her head. "Are you sure you have to leave so soon? Why don't you have some prey first? You'll want to eat before continuing your long journey."

Bella nodded. "That makes sense, and your prey pile does seem pretty full. We wouldn't want to impose, though. We can always catch our own prey on the way."

The striped sandy leader shook her head. "No, go ahead, I insist." She said, beckoning to the freshkill pile. "Consider it a treat. You deserve one after I'm guessing a long and hard journey."

I smiled at the leader. "It has been long. Thank you for the freshkill." I said and padded over to the pile. I spotted a squirrel and my tongue swiped along my jaws. My mouth watered at the scent of it.

I picked up the squirrel and padded over to the edge of camp by the warrior's den. Flick picked up a woodpecker and followed me over and Bella chose a chipmunk.

I sank my teeth into the squirrel and purred. This felt right somehow. Eating a delicious squirrel beside my two friends in camp, the sun was even shining a little today. It's light chased away some of the mist in camp as it peeked out from behind the clouds.

I turned my head to look at Flick and Bella and I saw they were enjoying this too. I smiled. The only thing missing was this wasn't my clan.

When we finished our prey, a patrol was returning to camp. They weren't carrying prey, so I assumed they a border patrol. I stood up and looked over to make sure Flick and Bella had finished as well. They stood up and nodded to me. I then padded over to Lightstar's den.

"Lightstar?" I called into the hollow tree. "Were ready to leave."

I heard a shuffling and the striped sandy she-cat emerged from her den. My eyes widened as I took in the sight of the leader.

Lightstar's eyes were droopy and a little fogged over. Her tail kept slightly twitching every few heartbeats. She walked slower than she had before.

I tilted my head. "Lightstar? Are you okay?" I asked though clearly something had happened.

Lightstar nodded and straitened up, though I could see a flash of pain in her eyes as she did so. "I'm fine. Probably just ate a bad piece of prey or something." She answered.

Flick looked the leader over. "Are you sure you're okay? Maybe we can get your medicine cat to help you."

Lightstar shook her head slowly. "I'm fine." She said, but nothing else. She must have forgotten we were about to leave.

"If you say so." I said to the striped leader. "We just came to say we're ready to go."

Bella's eyes widened and she shook her head. "We can't leave now!" She protested, stepping forward.

"Why not?" Flick asked. We still have a long journey ahead of us."

"Can't you see Lightstar is sick? She needs medical attention!" Bella told him. The cream and white she-cat turned to the Mistclan leader. "Where's your medicine cat?"

Lightstar sighed and motioned to one of the dens with her twitching tail.

Bella nodded. "Lavenderpaw, Flick, you bring her back into her den. I'll come back with Mistclan's medicine cat and some herbs." She said before dashing of to the den.

Flick and I guided Lightstar back into her den gently with our tails. "It's going to be okay, Lightstar." I said soothingly to her.

The striped sandy she-cat slumped down into her best, eyes closed. Her breathing seemed fine although it could have been a little off.

Bella rushed back into the leader's den with a jawful of herbs. A small black and white speckled tom followed her. To my surprise, he looked younger than I was, he had to still be an apprentice.

Bella motioned for us to give her some space so Flick and I backed up. I watched, trying to keep track of what my friend was doing but the scent of all the herbs that had entered the den so soon along with the rush of the situation made me feel a bit dizzy. I shook my head and padded out of the den, taking a big breath of fresh air. Flick padded out after me.

"I don't see how she works so well under pressure like that." The sandy tom commented.

I nodded. "Especially when someone's life could be on the line. I don't know much about how serious each sicknesses are, so I just worry each time."

Flick tilted his head. "You shouldn't worry every time though, right? As long as there is a cat nearby with a good knowledge of herbs and healing everything should be okay."

I smiled slightly at him. "You're right, I shouldn't worry so much. I should just have faith in the cat, or cats, healing whoever needs it."

Flick smiled back at me and we leaned into each other, waiting until the medicine cats had finished. I was glad I had Flick there beside me. He helped me forget about worrying for a bit as we waited.

Soon enough, Bella stuck her head out of the den. "Okay, you can come in now." She told us.

We slowly walked into the leader's den. As they approached the leader, they saw she was resting peacefully in her nest. There was a small pile of vomit beside her which the small black and white speckled tom was cleaning up. Lightstar seemed relaxed now, her breathing completely normal.

"It was just a bad piece of freshkill that made her sick." Bella told Flick and I. "She threw up most of it and I gave her juniper berries and two poppy seeds. The poppy seeds will help with the pain."

My eyes widened in amazement with how much Bella actually knew about herbs. She knew her friend knew a lot but . . . wow. She seemed to know just about as much as an actual medicine cat. Speaking of medicine cats . . .

I looked over at the small black and white tom. "What's your name?" I asked.

The speckled tom jumped slightly when I spoke to him and looked nervously up at me. "P-Poppypaw." He said.

I tilted my head. "Where's your mentor? Out collecting herbs?"

Poppypaw looked down. "H-he's gone . . ." He said, trailing off.

My eyes widened and then softened with sympathy. I knew what it was like to lose someone close to you. I wasn't sure if I would ever return to Shadeclan. I nodded in understanding.

"I bet he would be proud of you, Poppypaw. You did a good job working alongside Bella." I said to him.

Poppypaw smiled shyly at me. "Thank you." He said, seeming not scared for once.

"I'm sorry Lavenderpaw, but we'll have to stay a bit longer. I would like to stay and make sure Lightstar is okay untill she wakes." Bella told me as I turned back to her.

I sighed and nodded. "I guess staying a little longer here wouldn't hurt. I just don't want to stay in camp all day." I looked at Flick. "Would you like to come hunting with me in the forest? We could bring back some fresh prey for Lightstar."

Flick nodded and padded out of the den with me. I turned back to Bella uncertainly. She gave me a reassurring look as if to say, I'll be okay. With that, I nodded and padded out of the Mistclan camp behind Flick.

Woah I just wrote that in 2 1/2 hours.

Wait that means it's 11:30 pm oops.

Oh well I'll be fine even though I have school tomorrow lol.

Anyway, what do you think of Bella's
s k i l l s ?

Poor Poppypaw has to continue on as a medicine cat apprentice without a mentor . . .

I actually have this part of the book planned out s u r p r i s i n g l y .

//Word count: 2160//