"Wake up," Spiderpaw whispered, nudging the grey medicine cat until his eyes opened and adjusted to the light.
"Morning Spiderpaw," he meowed, before his ears flattened and he quickly glanced through the clearing before settling back down.
"I forgot I was in your camp," he breathed. "Where are the others?"
"I woke Jaggedclaw up just a few minutes ago," he meowed. "Honeyflower woke up Muskstar, and they're just eating before they leave."
Oceanfur narrowed his eyes in surprise. "Echostar is letting us eat?"
Spiderpaw raised an eyebrow, but he knew the medicine cat wasn't trying to be rude. "You might not be too keen on normal forest prey," he teased. "There's nothing slimy."
"You can't say that until you've tasted fresh frog," Oceanfur groaned, picking himself up from his nest and hurling himself onto all four paws. Spiderpaw turned around and let the young medicine cat follow him outside.
He felt delight fill his pelt when he saw Briartail standing at the entrance of the leafy tunnel. He had spoken to her the night before, and although interaction was only brief in length of minutes, Briartail had given him a warm welcome filled with relief. He was glad that she was pleased to see him again. However she didn't seem to show much emotion when he told her how Ashpaw had passed away - she had only told Spiderpaw how he must have worked very hard to keep him going for so long.
His sister flicked her tail at him welcomingly as he lead Oceanfur across the clearing. He made sure to keep at his pace, the medicine cat was still waking up, and he had a long journey ahead of him. "Go catch up with the others," he meowed. "I'll get you a bite to eat."
Oceanfur turned back to him, his ears flattening slightly. "I'm not that hungry, there's no need to worry," he meowed. Spiderpaw noticed his voice was a little on edge, and he found the fact that Oceanfur was a little afraid to eat food he wasn't used to adorable. "Whatever you say," Spiderpaw remarked. "But don't say that I didn't warn you."
Echostar and Cometcloud were standing besides Briartail, and Aspenclaw was seated at the other side. The patrol was ready to escort the CedarClan cats out of ThornClan land, and the feeling Spiderpaw became overwhelmed with saddened him. He didn't think saying farewell to the cats he had been so fearful to join would be so hard.
He looked Oceanfur in the eyes and brushed his head against his cheek. "Thank you for everything you've taught me," he breathed, saddened he had to cut the speech so short. "And thank you both," he uttered to the two she-cats that were gazing at him. "Thank you for welcoming me." In a colder voice, he added, "I'm sorry I wasn't enough to save Ashpaw."
Muskstar shook her head. "You did all you could. You are a very talented medicine cat."
She turned to Echostar and narrowed her eyes. Spiderpaw could see by his leader's expression that she wanted them gone as soon as possible. As for Jaggedclaw however, Echostar's eyes were a little wider, filled with an emotion he could barely read.
"We aught to go," Muskstar meowed. "Thank you for letting us stay."
Echostar said nothing. She nodded bluntly and assigned Aspenclaw and Cometcloud to escort them. Spiderpaw watched reluctantly as he saw the she-cats vanish. He watched Oceanfur leave until he could no longer see the tip of his tail.
Briartail turned to him. "You've acted like they've been nice to you," she spoke. "You can cut the act now. They've left."
Spiderpaw shook his head, trying not to look enraged. "They welcomed me," he meowed. "Even Rocktail."
Echostar simply got up and walked away, and Spiderpaw was reluctant to say any more. He shook himself. "What have I missed?"
Briartail tipped her head. "The apprentice ceremony, for a start," she meowed.
"Heronpaw and Dustpaw!" Spiderpaw exclaimed. "They must be thrilled."
"Dustpaw is," Briartail meowed coldly. "Heronkit is not."
"Wait," Spiderpaw meowed. "What do you mean?"
Briartail glanced around. Cometcloud was making his way towards the fresh-kill pile. "I'm sure nobody is going to mind if we take a walk. There's so much I need to tell you."
Spiderpaw followed Briartail up through the leafy tunnel, wrapping around the trees back and behind the way Echostar had released the patrol. He followed Briartail just out of the way so far that no cat would be able to hear them, before the two of them slowed their stride. Spiderpaw listened intently as Briartail began to explain the situation surrounding Heronkit - how she had run away, and what she had shown Briartail the night they snuck off. Spiderpaw was horrified at the sound of Briartail being able to see StarClan warriors. He didn't want to doubt her belief, but after all he training he did to connect with them - who was his sister to go trampling all over the land of StarClan with no training whatsoever?
Spiderpaw explained to her how he had to visit StarClan too, for the sake of Ashpaw and finding Redshade. Briartail seemed just as surprised as he was, and he couldn't really blame her.
Although what confused Spiderpaw the most was the way Briartail described the land. For all Spiderpaw had seen, StarClan was filled with peace and stars. He couldn't believe Briartail had gone through perceiving StarClan as a hellish shadowy mess of trees like she had described.
Spiderpaw dipped his head. "Well, although this won't settle confusion, a StarClan cat explained to me why I wasn't able to speak to Redshade. He said that there was a division..."
And then, Spiderpaw was able to fit the pieces together.
"There's no way you can convince me of something so bizarre," Briartail spluttered. "Heronkit was convinced that the land she had discovered was StarClan."
"For StarClan's sake, that child isn't even training to become a medicine cat!"
Briartail heaved a breath. "Maybe she wants to."
"Maybe she does," Spiderpaw suggested sarcastically. Suddenly his voice dropped cold again. "Who's the one trained out of her and I? She doesn't know what she's on about! Briartail, that child couldn't tell a mouse from a vole under pressure!"
Briartail dipped her tail and started swishing the fur back and forth, as if she was trying to think of a suitable argument to spit. But soon after she seemed to drop all charges, letting out a sigh. "Wouldn't any of the other medicine cats know if there was a divided StarClan?"
Spiderpaw shook his head. "We would have to learn about something as important as that. But this cat I spoke to - he seemed to talk about the divided StarClan as if that wasn't a big deal."
"Opinions don't matter at the moment," Briartail hissed. "You need to tell the other medicine cats!"
Spiderpaw drew his lips back in a snarl. "You don't understand!" he hissed. "That could be where Redshade went!"
Briartail blinked, her eyes gazing down at her paws. "What are we going to do? Who are you going to tell?"
Spiderpaw shook his head. "The first cat I'm going to have to tell is Oceanfur. Ashpaw is desperate to hear from Redshade."
"How is CedarClan going to react when they learn that one of our young is associating with StarClan?"
"We can think of a story," he hissed. "In the meantime, we need to learn if the rock you speak of can actually control dreams."
Briartail snarled. "If the words of your sister aren't enough for you, then you'll have to find out for yourself."
Spiderpaw grunted back. "This is going to be my first night back at camp! There's no way they'll let me out."
"Who says anybody has to know?"
Spiderpaw pauses. For a second he was contemplating. "Someone would notice," he said. "And I want to receive my medicine cat name when Honeyflower is ready. If I mess up now, I could be the next Heronkit."
"What's more important, a stupid name or finding out the truth about StarClan and helping Ashpaw reunite with Redshade?"
Briartail did have a point, although Spiderpaw didn't like the conversation they had about Ashpaw's potential detestation when he couldn't see Redshade in StarClan.
"We're just normal cats though," Spiderpaw murmured. "This isn't our place."
"If not us, who?" Briartail fought back. "You need to realise that not everything can happen with the wind! Sometimes, you need to act for something to occur."
Spiderpaw dipped his head. "Fine," he meowed. "But StarClan grant you don't regret this."
Briartail dipped her head. "So when are you going to the rock?"
"I'll have to sneak out once I know everyone is asleep. You can guard the camp, then I can easily get out. But you have to remember to wake me and bring me back before sunrise."
"That works," Briartail meowed. "Let's get back."
Spiderpaw nodded. "If StarClan truly is divided, I need to know the reason."