#sapflow

He’s had this dream for as long as he could remember. Practically since he was kit. Still, he could never figure out what it meant. Neither could GlintClan’s healers or the most spiritual of cats decipher what it could mean. It was all just chalked off as night terrors that would forever haunt him.

Standing on the ledge that led to the leader’s den, Sapflow looked out towards the pitch dark sky. It was still a long way before the first rays of morning would appear and everyone was still asleep, minus whoever was in charge of guarding the camp tonight. Unfortunately for him, that duty was given to none other than Scrubpelt and Sapflow wanted to avoid him as much as he could aside from regular warrior duties. The older tom was intent on rubbing his “I told you so” at Sapflow every chance he got.

With a sigh, Sapflow flopped down onto the stone floor. He had no other choice but to spend the rest of this sleepless night right where he was. At least Scrubpelt was too far away to get the satisfaction of seeing him mope around.

“The stars are beautiful tonight, aren’t they?”

Sapflow flinched, but immediately relaxed when he realized it was Icystar. The leader joined him, laying down beside him. Without waiting for him to say anything, she draped a paw over his shoulder and pulled him closer to her to give him comforting licks on the forehead. It eased his nerves and he fell into her warm embrace. For a moment, he found himself back in GlintClan, when the two were still apprentices and she was always the one that comforted him in the aftermath of his nightmares. Even as warriors, the habit still continued.

“You had that dream again.”

“I’m sorry…”

“Don’t apologize. There’s nothing for you to apologize for.”

“Of course there is. You should be asleep! Not out here with me.”

“How can I? Even after what you went through? Besides, how could I sleep with the curse I was burdened with? I would’ve been in another cat’s dream…”

He didn’t say anything. She had a point and her constant sleep deprivation and eyebags proved it.

“I wish Cavernfur could’ve told us what all this meant,” Sapflow sighed in frustrated defeat, “My nightmares. Your dream walking. They must mean something.”

Icystar couldn’t help but snort. “You know how StarClan is. The living can’t communicate with them and when a leader gives up one of their lives to seek their guidance, they are extremely vague. Even the healers, who are the most connected to our ancestors, hardly have their prayers and rituals answered. We’ll never get anything out of them.” As she said this, she looked up at the stars, almost as if she was waiting for their ancestors to prove her wrong somehow. Of course, nothing happened. The stars continued to exist as normal.

After a moment of silence, Icystar spoke once more. “You know, you could go to Mulberrystripe. Not right now, of course, but tomorrow. She could give you some poppy seeds to help you sleep better and maybe she might know something about your dream.”, she suggested.

“No!” Sapflow retaliated, quite strongly. “I-I mean, no,” he repeated himself, this time with a softer tone, “I’ll still get p-poppy seeds from her, but I d-don’t feel comfortable telling her about t-this.”

“Oh, of course,” Icystar said, still taken aback by Sapflow’s sudden reaction, “Is everything alright, Sapflow? You’ve been distant lately and I’ve noticed that you’ve been avoiding Scrubpelt a lot. He’s not giving you any trouble, is he? If he is, I can talk to him.”

This was it. This was the moment he could finally tell her everything. Confront her. Get the truth. Prove Scrubpelt wrong once and for all. They were alone. No one else around them besides the creatures that lurked in the night. The only eyes on them were that of their ancestors in Silverpelt.

“No, nothing’s wrong.”

Sapflow • 57 moons old • Wise

Icystar • 55 moons old • Ambitious

FIRST

CLIMB DOWN | CLIMB UP

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Time to dump some lore! This is already in the allegiances, but I'll say it here anyway. Sapflow has a Deep Dark Forest bond and Icystar has the Dream Walking ability. Well, Sapflow doesn't know that the place he keeps "dreaming" about is the Dark Forest. The Dark Forest is deeply hidden away from the realm of the living. One of the punishments given to the cats that are condemned there is a complete cut-off from the living world, preventing them from casting their influence and causing harm. No one really knows that the Dark Forest exists until they pass into the after life. Only way that a Dark Forest cat can reach out to a living being is if that cat has a strong enough bond with the Dark Forest, or if they're being specifically summoned in a ritual. While Sapflow's bond is strong, it's not strong enough to help him see and communicate with the Dark Forest beings. For the Dark Forest cats, they can't see him, but they can sense him and they're desperately trying to reach out to him...