Star's pov

Snowfall quietly creeped into the den, her kits following close behind.

"Clear thoughts?" Snowfall asked, her voice echoing.

Clear thoughts came out of a tunnel. He was a white colorpoint cat with a black face, paws, and tail tip, as Snowfall had described him earlier.

"How can I help?" He smiled. Clear thoughts loved kits.
"Star tripped over another rock."
"Ahh. I can see the bruise from here." His soft voice rang out in her head, and she wanted to cover that bruise, embarrassed that she had tripped over a rock.

"Come with me." Clear thoughts led them back up the tunnel, which sloped upward, and eventually opened up.
"Wow." Star could hear Feather murmur. "Star, there are big blue crystals on the ceiling, which are lighting up the place."

"This is my den. The opening to the right is my den, where I sleep, and the opening to the left is where my patients sleep. This is the herb room."
A strong, sweet smell filled the air, as Star breathed it in. Smelling things was amazing. It almost made up for the fact that she couldn't see.

"Snowfall, please put Star down on this nest." Clear thoughts must have pointed to a nest because a second later, Star could feel the familiar feeling of moss beneath her.

"I'll see you tomorrow. Pick her up then."
Star could hear pawsteps leaving and she wanted to shout wait, but she didn't. Suddenly, little pawsteps scampered towards her and Claw ran over and gave her a hug.
"See you tomorrow!" He squeaked, before running off.

"Bye." Star whispered.

The next morning, Star woke up to Clear thoughts padding her awake. She yawned softly before pulling herself up.
"Come. I'm going to see if you're the next healer of the Junkyard cats."

"What?" She asked, surprised by the sudden open position for her.

"Well, you won't be able to hunt or fight. So, you can either sit around your whole life, or learn what different herbs do. You choose."
She didn't want to sit around her whole life! That would be boring.
"Healer." She whispered.

"Speak up. Has anyone told you that yet? You're really quiet." Clear thoughts said, sorting some herbs across the room.
Star started walking toward him.
"Healer." She said again. "I want to be a healer."
Clear chuckled. "Good choice. Come here."

"Ok?" She walked over and Clear thoughts shoved something under her nose.
"This is catmint. One of the most basic herbs, which heals one of the most difficult diseases, Greencough."

Difficult diseases? Basic herbs? Catmint? Her first lesson and she was already confused.

"Remember that. That's very important." Clear thoughts shuffled around until he suddenly shoved another thing under her nose.

"This one is poppy. It's used to soothe pain and emotions. It can also cause a cat to sleep." Clear thoughts explained.

"Catmint, Poppy. Got it." She nodded her head. Two done! She felt proud. "How many types of herbs are there?"
"Tons. Tons and tons and tons. Took me a year to memorize them all."

A year?! That's a lot! The pride in her heart vanished.

"You'll be a good healer. I promise." Clear thoughts laughed.

"Now I'll show you five more today before you get to go home, but you'll come right back tomorrow."

Star layed down next to Snowfall with a sigh.

"How was your day, little one?" Snowfall asked with a sweet voice.

"Hard..."

"Oh really? Is resting that hard?"
"I didn't rest! I had to learn seven different herbs!"
"Oh my." Snowfall sounded surprised. "Is Clear thoughts making you his apprentice?"
"Well then she'll be of some use to us." Feather said, snarkily.

"Feather! Apologize! Now." Feather and Claw were playing over in the side of their den.

"But it's true! She can't fight or hunt!"
Snowfall paused before saying, "I'm sure she could."
Star wanted to shrink back. That was Snowfall's lying voice.

"Snowfall?" Star whispered.

"Feather, still, apologize." Snowfall said, ignoring her.
"Snowfall, please. It's fine."
"No it's not, I'll get her to apologize." Snowfall continued to argue with Feather, and Star eventually shrank back into Snowfall's fur, trying to sleep.

"No Mom! It's like you care about Star more than us! Like she's your actual kit, and we're adopted!" Feather yelled.

Silence. Other than Claw's gasp.
Suddenly Snowfall got up, and left the den. Feather went over to their nest, took out a big piece of moss and made her own nest. Claw did the same.
"Sorry." He whispered.

She didn't answer him.
Snowfall never came back that night.

The next morning, Star got up early. Claw and Feather weren't awake yet, and Snowfall still wasn't there.

She headed out to Clear thoughts, medicine den.

When she got there, it was silent in the leaf area other than a few occasional crashes coming from upstairs.

She climbed the tunnel, calling out, "Hello?" when she got to the end.

"Oh, hello, Star. Little bit of a problem here. You need to leave, right now."

"What? Why?" She asked, confused.

"First, pass me that catmint."

She nosed around the herb stores as she sniffed around for the familiar scent of catmint, as Clear thoughts left the room and went into the patients' den.
When she found it, Clear thoughts rushed out, knocking her over.
"Ah. Thanks for the catmint." He said, helping her up.

"Will you tell me what's wrong now?" She squeaked.
"Greencough outbreak overnight."

The difficult, deadly, disastrous disease!