Birdpaw groggily opened her eyes as a zesty scent filled her nose, making her wrinkle it in disgust.

"I told you it would work," came a voice and the apprentice recognized it as Chiveleaf. The cream medicine cat was holding a strange purple flowered plant in front of the apprentice's nose while looking at the back of the den. There was a huff, probably from Flowerstem, and the older medicine cat turned back to Birdpaw, who was trying to move her head away from the stinking plant. This only resulted in stabs of pain in her head.

"Eat it," ordered Chiveleaf, her usual grumpy self, "it will help with any tightness in your chest."

"What is it?" asked the apprentice, being cautious just in case the grumpy cat was trying to poison her, which Birdpaw would not put past her. The medicine cat rolled her green eyes and huffed.

"It is borage, not some poisonous plant that is going to kill you." Birdpaw eyed it again before regretfully swallowing it, the taste making her eyes water. Flowerstem made her way from the back of the den and lay down a soaking wet piece of moss in front of the apprentice, who gratefully lapped up the cool water.

"How are you feeling?" asked the brown and white patchy medicine cat, crouching down next to Birdpaw. Her green eyes were filled with kindness and the apprentice really wanted to spill every single secret she had kept from people.

"I am feeling okay," replied the tortoiseshell and white apprentice, "though my head hurts a little and my chest is a little tight." The medicine cat stood up and headed to the herb store, which was a clay wall with holes dug out so herbs could be stored. Flowerstem pulled out a plant with white petals and yellow centres, which made it look like a daisy.

"This is feverfew," explained the medicine cat, "good for headaches and fevers." She put it in front of the apprentice, who quickly ate it, ignoring the taste.

"How do you know so much?" asked Birdpaw. She had always admired medicine cat's knowledge of so many strange plants and berries and leave. To the apprentice, they all just seemed the same.

"Why do you talk so much?" asked Chiveleaf from where she was sorting out bedding. Flowerstem rolled her eyes and smiled at the apprentice.

"It takes a lot of training to learn all of the herbs of a medicine cat," replied the kind she-cat, "it can be frustrating at times and many young medicine cat apprentices just want to give up. What keeps us going though is the fact that we are special as we have received visions from StarClan and have talked to them. There also need to be cats to care for others, otherwise we would have barely any Clanmates."

Birdpaw looked away, talking about visits from StarClan and caring for other cats just made her think about Rainshadow and about her destiny that she could not change. She thought about Maplestar trying to kill her because of the power that she one didn't know about. Flowerstem noticed when the apprentice looked away.

"Is there something you want to tell us?" she asked gently, her voice soft. The apprentice hesitated, debating whether to tell the medicine cat or not about Rainshadow. Birdpaw looked down as her mossy bed as she spoke.

"I had a visit from a StarClan cat last night called Rainshadow," said the apprentice, feeling both medicine cat's gazes on her, "and he told me that my future was going to be very different from other warriors in the Clan. He said I have a power that lets me see cats from StarClan, which could possibly lead me to looking after the whole Clan..." Her voice trail off and Chiveleaf sighed in annoyance from the back of the den.

"You could have told us before!" she yowled and Flowerstem shot her a look, a shut-up-now-before-the-whole-clan-hears-you look. Chiveleaf rolled her eyes and went back to sorting out a pile of herbs. Flowerstem looked back at the apprentice and ran her tail down Birdpaw's back.

"Thank you for telling us," she whispered as the apprentice sank back into her nest, really wanting to yowl back at Chiveleaf and say that she had only seen Rainshadow last night. As she nestled into the moss, it felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.