#breezelake

Mudpaw was never very good at firsts.

Last moon, Rainfeather left her behind to watch over Frozenpaw and Blossomtail. But when she expressed her anxiety about not being able to help her brother, she expected she’d get another pair of hands. Not this.

Rainfeather had elected to stay behind this moon. Frozenpaw’s wound was looking a bit concerned to him, so he wanted to take care of him himself. Mudpaw was grateful her brother was getting such treatment, but… that left her as the sole cleric in charge of the Gathering!

If there was one thing Mudpaw was bad with, it was large groups. She always felt anxious about everything she did— was she holding herself right? Was she talking right? Had she made a social blunder that would cause a war? The more cats around, the more exacerbated these fears became.

Normally, Rainfeather would shield her from the brunt of it. He had a way of making her feel safe— she supposed it was from his large stature and understanding of her irrational fears. He would take control of the conversation and steer Mudpaw in the right direction. But that safety net was totally gone this moon.

She looked over at Rainfeather, who was barking orders to Nightflower. She’d been on cleric errand duty for the past two moons, supposedly as “punishment for not telling me about that vision sooner!” Rainfeather would say. She hoped the two of them would be ok with the injured.

Tigerpaw bounded to her side as the group left the camp.

“Hey Mudpaw!” he said cheerfully. “What’s it like, being in charge?”

“Terrifying.” she admitted. Tigerpaw was the sibling she was closest with; she’d never lie to him.

Tigerpaw nudged her while walking. “Don’t even worry about it. It’ll be perfectly fine. Plus, you get to boss people around!” he grinned, “Come on, boss me around. Go for it.”

She laughed slightly. “Uh, you’re not allowed to get in any fights this Gathering! Got it?”

He groaned, “That was one time!”

“One time is still too many.” She reminded him.

“Well, if I see that stupid Jaggedpaw, I’m not liable for what happens next!”

“Quiet down back there.” Darkstar snapped.

This had been hard to get used to. Darkstar was normally the kind and lenient one. She was used to Starleaf getting on their case— Mudpaw always thought she was very cold for a former mediator. That being said, Darkstar had been a bit more agitated as of late. He looked quite bad. His eyes were sunken in, and his gait seemed weak. Rainfeather said that he believed Darkstar’s illness to be something aggravated by the stress of the last few moons. To be honest, he seemed worried about Darkstar’s health. He had given her a bundle of poppy seeds and other soothing herbs, just in case.

She bounded over to him and Starleaf. “Sorry about that.”

Darkstar just sighed. Starleaf pulled her to the side.

“Give those herbs to me. He isn’t likely to listen to you.” she stated.

Stars, she was always so harsh! “Will he listen to you?”

“No. But I’ll slip them in his meal when he isn’t looking.”

Mudpaw balked. “That’s… that’s not allowed!”

“I have Rainfeather’s permission, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Starleaf said, as if that was the problem. She noticed Mudpaw’s expression, and softened up. “Look, I know Darkstar. He works himself to the bone with no reward. He won’t take the medication because he believes someone else deserves it, not him. I’ve tried to tell him that powering through will only make it worse, but he isn’t listening.”

Mudpaw felt extremely uncomfortable. Starleaf wasn’t an open person to someone who wasn’t her family. Having the deputy bare her heart out like this to her felt strange. Is this what Rainfeather always dealt with?

Mudpaw stood her ground. “I won’t have you administering medication to someone who doesn’t consent to it. I’ll convince him to take it.”

Starleaf sighed. “Come and get me if that doesn’t work, ok?”

—

The announcements at the Gathering were extremely eventful. It seemed like Crystalclan was the only clan that hadn’t had a busy moon. Honestly, Mudpaw was glad it wasn’t that. Dealing with the injuries and lack of herbs had been hard enough. Instead of going up to the front, Darkstar had settled himself in the hay at the back of the loft. He stared into space in a way that worried Mudpaw.

Mudpaw had met up with the other clerics like any other Gathering. The usual representatives were there; Aspenstripe and Mitepaw of Treeclan, Pearlheart and Flyheart of Grangeclan, and Blackberry of Swampclan. However, today Blackberry had an apprentice with him. This apprentice had distinctive heterochromia; one green eye, and one partially red one. He must be Sharppaw, Mudpaw thought. But before they could socialize, the Gathering announcements had begun.

Treeclan had two new apprentices, Echopaw and Creekpaw. Badgerstar also announced the death of one of their senior warriors. Mudpaw could see Aspenstripe bow her head.

Redstar came next. He announced a new apprentice as well, a molly named Rosepaw. Unlike the other two apprentices, she was quite small. But what really concerned Mudpaw was the amount of scars on the kit’s tiny body. Her leg was twisted and mangled with scars. At first, she thought the kit might have been attacked by a coyote or fox. But around her neck was a large, distinct bite scar— where a warrior might make their killing blow. A cat did this to her, Mudpaw realized. Who would be so heartless to attack such a young cat so viciously? In that moment, Mudpaw’s eyes were drawn to the forever serene Redstar.

Last came Finchstar, who had both sad and good news. Apparently, some of his kin had become apprentices. Their father, Goldfoot, was beaming. That was Finchstar’s nephew, Mudpaw remembered. However, a young queen had died out in the territory, leaving behind her five kits. With this news, Mudpaw noticed Aspenstripe and Mitepaw looking at each other.

With that, Finchstar dismissed everyone to mingle and the Gathering begun.

Mudpaw quickly took the rickety stairs up to the loft to give Darkstar his medicine. She also brought a small vole. He was sitting in the hay, eyes closed.

She placed the vole and bundle of herbs next to Darkstar.

“Mmm… thank you, Mudpaw.” he said, before working on the vole.

“Eat the herbs last, they work best with a full stomach.” she reminded.

He waved her away. “I don’t need them. Take them with you.”

“Well, alright then,” she ducked down to grab the herbs, “if you want to be selfish.”

With that final word, it was like something changed in his expression. “Selfish..?”

Mudpaw looked back at him. “It’s awfully selfish of you to refuse this medication.”

His eyes narrowed. “It… what?”

“Because,” she placed it back on the ground, “the people around you care about you. And watching you refuse to let yourself feel better hurts them. Starleaf, Nightflower… what would they think, knowing you’re refusing the medication that would make you feel better? I can tell you. It makes them really sad.” she thought back to Starleaf’s worried face.

He looked at her with a strange expression that Mudpaw couldn’t recognize. Did… she maybe not tell it to him convincingly enough?

“Plus, me and Rainfeather put a lot of effort into this medicine for you. It makes us sad when our work goes to waste.” she added.

He sighed. Oh stars, was that too much?

“I get it Mudpaw.” he pulled the bundle towards himself and swallowed it. “I’m fine… but if it gets you to stop, I’ll take it!”

Oh, she had annoyed him so thoroughly he took it to get her to go away.

“Oh. Ok. Thank you.” she scampered off. It succeeded, but now she felt even more insecure. Damn it all to the lake!

She found her way to the other clerics, her stomach a twisted ball of nerves. There was no way she could eat now.

As usual, Pearlheart was the one to greet her.

“Muddy! Is it just you tonight?”

She nodded. “Rainfeather stayed behind to take care of some work.”

“Wonderful.” Blackberry grumbled. Blackberry was better mannered than Rainfeather, but he seemed to enjoy talking to him a lot.

“He’ll be back next moon.” she added.

“Don’t worry dear. You won’t have to socialize with anyone but us!” Flyheart chuckled. “We’ll scare off all the unfortunate visitors.”

“There’s one coming right now!” Pearlheart nudged her sister. Flyheart looked over and smirked. “Well, let’s teach him a lesson then.”

Mudpaw looked over. To her dismay, she saw a large orange bundle of fur barreling towards them. “That’s… not a visitor.”

“Who is it?”

“MUDPAW!” yelled the figure.

“My unfortunate littermate.” she replied.

Tigerpaw skid to a halt just before he hit Mudpaw. “Oh, emergency!”

“What is it this time?”

He looked bashful. “Well, I uh… took what you said to heart and tried to apologize to Jaggedpaw.”

Her heart sank. “Oh no.”

“She’s really angry! I think she’s gonna get me!” he wailed.

“Well, you can hide here if she hasn’t—“ Mudpaw started

“YOU!”

Never mind.

Tigerpaw shrank away from the voice. “Ah! I said I was sorry!”

Jaggedpaw narrowed her eyes at him. “By saying that I really looked like a kit and that you can’t believe Swampclan would apprentice kits so early?!”

Mudpaw looked at her brother. “Are you kidding me? That was your apology?!”

“I thought it was a good one!”

“Run them by me next time.” Mudpaw sighed.

Jaggedpaw looked like she was on the edge of tears. “Because of you, my dad— he— I—“ she didn’t finish her sentence, choking up.

The apprentice with heterochromia, Sharppaw, ran up to his sister. He pressed himself into her side. “Come on, just let this one go.”

She pulled away from him. “That’s so easy for you to say, you don’t have to worry about him!”

“I… Jaggedpaw…”

“Leave me alone!”

With that, she turned and ran.

Tigerpaw sighed. “Oh, I thought she was never going to go!” Mudpaw internally wanted to smack her brother.

But with that, he skipped away.

Sharppaw turned to Mudpaw. “I’m… sorry about my littermate.”

Mudpaw shook her head. “No, I’m sorry about mine.”

He sighed, then pulled his face into a slight smile. “I’m Sharppaw. I didn’t know there was another cleric apprentice besides me and Mitepaw.”

That made sense. His first gathering was spent next to his sister and father; his second, she had stayed in camp. He never seemed to go to half-moon gatherings.

“I’m Mudpaw. I’m the Crystalclan apprentice.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Mudpaw.” Sharppaw said, “There aren’t really any cats my age in the clan, so it’s nice to make a friend.”

“You should come to the half-moon gatherings. They’re much more fun than these.” she smiled.

“Oh.” his face fell a bit. “That’s… I’ll keep that in mind!” he looked over at Redstar, who was staring at him with chilling red eyes.

“I’ve got to go.” he said. As soon as he arrived, he had left. And left Mudpaw with a lot of questions.

As much as Mudpaw made friends with the others at the Gatherings, there was no real way for her to know what life back at their clan was like. For someone like her brother, who spoke before he thought, it probably wasn’t a problem. But for Mudpaw, she was left with an aching feeling that things for the two Swampclan heirs were worse than everyone thought.

As she sat there with her thoughts, she felt a tap on her shoulder. It was Mitepaw.

“Meet me and Aspenstripe outside.” she said.

—

Aspenstripe was waiting by a willow tree, just a few bounds away from the Four Corners.

“Good, you’ve made it.” she said. “I think we can help each other.”

“Each other?” Mudpaw asked.

“You need herbs. And we need to check in on someone in another clan.” Aspenstripe continued.

Mudpaw’s ears perked up. “You… what?”

“I need you to help Mitepaw sneak into Grangeclan’s camp. If you do that, I’ll give you half of our stored herbs.”

Mudpaw balked. Half? That was enough to replace everything they lost during the flood!

“But… isn’t that against the code?”

“The pursuit of healing should be above our own clanmates.” Mitepaw said. “That trumps over everything.”

“We have reason to believe that the recently orphaned kits in Grangeclan are in trouble.” Aspenstripe added.

Mudpaw considered for a bit, though there was only one answer she would have ever really picked.

“Ok. I’ll help out.”

“You two need to be back before the moon reaches a quarter down.” Aspenstripe pointed at the moon, which was just barely leaving its place at moonhigh.

“Alright, let’s do this.” Mitepaw said, looking at Mudpaw.

“I’ll cover for you two as best as I can. Hurry!”

—

Grangeclan’s meadow felt extra bare that night. It was easier for Mudpaw than poor Mitepaw— a territory of mostly forest makes the meadow feel even more exposed. Still, the small molly trudged onwards.

“We’re looking for the father of those kits.” she reminded Mudpaw.

“Alright, what does he look like?”

Mitepaw looked sheepish “I… don’t know that.”

“How do we find him then?”

“I have a plan.” Mitepaw said. “But I don’t think you’ll like it.”

Mudpaw scoffed. “It can’t be that bad.”

“I’m going to grab one of the kits and use them to lure him out of camp.”

Mudpaw paused. “But that— how do we even know if he’ll follow?”

“This is just an educated guess, but…” Mitepaw looked ahead, her eyes filled with determination. “The father had taken the kits with him, and clearly prepared a false queen to take parentage of them. He must have cared about these kits a little.”

Mudpaw gulped. “I guess I’ll follow your lead.”

Grangeclan’s camp yawned ahead of them. The entrance was flanked by a long-forgotten Twoleg fence. There, multiple tunnels made up the dens. The clearing was an indented area, surrounded by the tunnels.

“How do we tell which one is the nursery?” Mudpaw whispered.

“Follow me.”

Mitepaw stalked over to the tunnels, keeping low. The camp was surprisingly empty— likely, due to the truce kept during the full moon. Everything was quiet— everyone was sleeping.

Mitepaw kept herself on the outskirts, over the entrances. She swung her head down and sniffed each den opening. On the last one, she paused.

“This is it.” she jumped down to the entrance.

“How did you know?”

“I smell Wanderers and milk.”

The two apprentices lightly stepped their way into the nursery. There, a Wanderers queen was wrapped around five small kits and one larger one.

“Take one of the small ones.”

Mudpaw leaned down and picked up one of the smaller kits by the scruff. Her heart broke a little— the kit looked to be no older than two weeks old. He was a mottled gray kit with a white belly and paws.

He began to stir awake, so Mudpaw quickly rushed him outside. Mitepaw ran ahead of her, going towards another den.

“Ok, now let’s stay here for a bit. Let the kit cry.”

Mudpaw didn’t need to wait long. The kit awoke, mewling his head off.

She could hear stirring in the den ahead of them.

Before long, a flat-faced gray tom emerged from the shadows. His bleary eyes eventually went from fatigue to fear.

“Breezekit!” He yowled. He lunged toward the two apprentices.

“Stop! We’re clerics!” Mitepaw barked back. “We need to talk. Quiet down before you wake the entire camp!”

—

The tom, who introduced himself as Coppereye, held tightly to his kit. He had agreed to step outside of camp to talk to the two apprentices.

“Lakeface was the mother, correct?” Mitepaw questioned. “How could you just leave her there?!”

Coppereye looked worried. “I didn’t just leave her there! I spent the entire day caring for her after she gave birth!”

Mudpaw stopped Mitepaw. “I think we’ll understand further if we ask what happened in its entirety.”

Coppereye hesitated.

“I’m a cleric of Crystalclan. As an unaffiliated party, I will judge rationally and fairly. None of this information will leave this conversation.” Mudpaw said. This must have been why they asked for her.

Coppereye sighed, then spoke. “The plan started when we found out we were expecting kits. I know how bad her clan is about half-clan relationships— that’s why I suggested taking them myself. They’d have an easier time here. My friend Tawnyheart was also expecting kits, so we came up with a plan.”

“Near the border, the three of us would meet up before the due date. Tawnyheart would have her kits, and then Lakeface would have hers. I have some emergency cleric training because my father is close with Flyheart.” he sighed. “We couldn’t trust any of the clerics to help us.”

“We would have helped.” Mitepaw replied. “It’s our job.”

“I know about the factions in Treeclan. One against half-clan because of tradition and one against half-clan out of shame. Can I trust you will obey your code over your political affiliations?!“

“Not everyone is a part of those factions.” Mitepaw replied.

“Rich of you to say, when your mother led one!”

“Stop!” Mudpaw yelled. “Coppereye, continue your story.”

He paused to glare at Mitepaw, before speaking. “Everything went well, though Tawnyheart’s kit was quite weak. We stayed there for an extra day while both recovered. Then, Tawnyheart and I left with all six kits. The clan was immensely surprised to see such a big litter, but I never had an issue. I played the role of a dutiful father. But three days ago, Tawnyheart just… disappeared on her walk.”

“Did you find her body?” Mudpaw asked.

“No.” Coppereye admitted. “But I can’t understand what would have happened. Where did she go?”

Mitepaw spoke up. “She was murdered. Just like Lakeface was.”

Coppereye looked at her with horror. “Lakeface… what?!”

“She’s dead. And you and those kits will be next.” Mitepaw looked down at Breezekit, who was sleeping in his father’s arms.

“But… that’s impossible!”

“You remember my mother’s faction?” Mitepaw said, anger in her voice. “Well, there was one of her grandchildren that was so devoted to it that she killed one of her own uncles for his half-clan relationship. And then she was exiled for that. Now, she’s back for revenge against those she believes are unworthy to live. She thought that about Lakeface, she thought that about Tawnyheart, and she thinks that about you. So I recommend stepping up defenses around this camp and not letting those kits step foot outside the nursery.”

Coppereye looked dazed. “I… I need time to think.”

“Tell your answer to Flyheart and have her tell us at the next half-moon meeting.” Mitepaw turned to leave. Mudpaw followed afterwards.

“D-Do you think he listened?” Mudpaw said.

“No, but it’s out of our paws now.” Mitepaw sighed. “We have the ability to lay claim to the kits, but that would just cause an unnecessary war. For now, we just have to hope that Grangeclan is safe enough for them.

“He’s probably going to need some time to grieve, too…” Mudpaw remembered being in the nursery with her littermates after the incident. Her mother offered a shoulder for Blossomtail to lean on after losing her mate of many moons. She was too young to understand what was happening— all she knew is that her own father was still around. He dipped his head in about five times a day to play with the kits and take over for her mother for a bit.

Mitepaw looked up at the sky. “We don’t have much time left. Let’s go back.”

—

By the time they slipped back into the Gathering, it was nearly at its conclusion. The clans had started to separate to leave.

“Did you find him?” Aspenstripe asked.

“Yes. His name is Coppereye. Tell Flyheart to increase defenses on the camp— I don’t think he really listened to us.” Mitepaw said.

Aspenstripe nodded, and took her apprentice aside. Mudpaw waved a wordless goodbye to her.

Mudpaw found her way back to her clan, where her brother stayed.

“Where’ve you been?!” Tigerpaw looked confused. “You missed it. Penny’s supposed to be staying with us this moon.”

“She is?”

“Yeah! She’s super fun to talk to. I bet Nightflower’ll wanna meet her!”

Mudpaw laughed. He was always talking about Nightflower— it seemed like she was his best friend now.

“So, what were you up to?” Tigerpaw asked.

Mudpaw thought for a moment. Her mind raced over the adventure she just had— the exhilaration of racing through Grangeclan territory, the trepidation in their camp, the reconciliation of all of the information, this plot that they had discovered.