#scrubpelt

Even though Icystar wished to avenge her fallen clanmate, she knew doing so could potentially be suicidal. After all, they had no idea how many cats were involved and the clan had very few warriors, which she couldn’t afford to lose any more of. Instead, all focus was put on increased protection. The borders were patrolled more frequently and cats that weren’t warriors were required to bring at least two warrior escorts with them whenever they left camp.

Bluegale didn’t mind. She hardly left camp anyway. The elderly Shadowdusk was more resistant to it, though, reminding everyone that he used to be a renowned GlintClan warrior back in his day and knew how to defend himself. Well, that was all he would say as he obediently followed his escorts. It was all yowl and no bite from that tom.

Mulberrystripe would’ve had similar thoughts moons ago, but now more than ever was she grateful for the extra warrior escort. She needed those extra paws to help her gather herbs. Since the arrival of the injured loner, she’s been visiting the Herbal Garden a lot more frequently and seeking medical advice from the other clans’ healers. A broken jaw was something she was not well equipped to treat and much less the great severity of her patient’s case. She’s surprised the jaw was still intact in the first place. It was basically hanging by a thread! And to make matters worse, the whole injury has become infected…

Now that fall was fast approaching, the need for herbs to help fight off the infection was more dire than ever. With her mind going over a list of what she needed, Mulberrystripe set off for her upteen time to the Herbal Garden. Scrubpelt and Marigoldflip were tasked as her escorts for this round.

The Lead Healer was usually one for chatter to make time pass faster during the walk, but not this time. All she could think about were the poultices she had to make and the herbs she needed. Plus the worst-case scenarios. She was only broken out of her thoughts when Scrubpelt walked up beside her and bumped into her side to get her attention.

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

“Oh, I’m fine,” Scrubpelt reassured her, “I think you need to talk to her.” His cobalt-colored eyes looked behind him, gesturing to Marigoldflip, who made up the back of the patrol. If the young she-cat had heard them, she did not make it known. Her attention was solely focused on the ground in front of her.

“Is she feeling ill?” Mulberrystripe asked, scanning Marigoldflip’s demeanor for any signs of heat exhaustion or any other condition.

Scrubpelt shook his head. “No, no. It’s more of, uh, well the feelings side of things. She’s been acting all mopey since, you know… She blames herself for the whole thing. I’ve tried talking to her, but nothing’s getting through. You were her first mentor, so I thought maybe you’d do better at getting her out of that rut she’s in.”

Oh.

She gave him a nod. Without another word, the two slowed their pace down to match Marigoldflip’s own. When Mulberrystripe was walking side-by-side with Marigoldflip, Scrubpelt took to the back of the patrol to give the two she-cats some privacy and to keep guard of their surroundings. Marigoldflip was still woefully oblivious to what was going on around her.

It would’ve been easier for Mulberrystripe if she had taken notice and brought it up. The healer struggled to form words in her mouth to strike up a conversation. Why was this so hard? For StarClan’s sake, this was her former apprentice! Why wasn’t she the first to notice that Marigoldflip was struggling emotionally after Bonebracken’s death? They used to talk a lot back then in LogClan, but now, in TallClan… it was like they barely knew each other…

“Is there something you need?”

Mulberrystripe flinched a bit, caught off guard by Marigoldflip’s monotonous voice. The young she-cat continued to walk as usual, her eyes still fixed on the ground before her. A small side-ways glance towards Mulberrystripe sent the message that she was waiting for a response.

Ouch. Her sharp words stung Mulberrystripe like a wasp sting. Was Marigoldflip always this snarky?

“Scrubpelt told me you’ve been having a hard time since Bonebracken’s death.” Behind them, the tom gave a slight, meaningless grunt at the mention of his name.

Marigoldflip rolled her eyes. “You seriously needed someone to point out the obvious to you? As my mentor for the majority of my apprenticeship, I’d thought you’d know me better than the guy who was only involved for like about 2 moons or less. I guess all those herbs have been clogging your brain.”, she bitterly scoffed.

Now, Mulberrystripe felt like she had been smacked hard against the face, claws raking her skin off. She bit down the hurtful anger that wanted to spew from her mouth. “Look, Marigold, I know you’re going through something complicated, but that doesn’t give you the right to talk to me like that, much less anybody else! Especially when we’re trying to help you!”

Marigoldflip came to a complete, unexpected stop, halting everyone else as well. Scrubpelt nearly bumped into them! With her fur bristling and ears folded back, the young warrior turned on Mulberrystripe. “Don’t talk to me like that! You’re not my mentor anymore!” she yowled.

“I’m trying to talk to you as your friend, but you’re the one being difficult! If I have to, I’ll start talking to you as your superior!” Mulberrystripe retaliated, trying her best to keep her fur flat.

“Hey, you two. Stop it. We have company.”, Scrubpelt suddenly hushed them.

They followed his gaze and the point of his tail tip down to the forest that laid beside the side of the mountainous trail they were on. It was hard at first to see through all the shrubbery and long grass, but after a bit of squinting, they finally noticed it— there was a cat down there! By the way they were sniffing the ground around them, they hadn’t noticed the clan cats watching them nor heard the arguing going on seconds before.

“Should we see what they want—“

The words were barely out of Scrubpelt’s mouth before Marigoldflip went barreling down the mountainside, making a beeline towards the lonesome stranger. Scrubpelt and Mulberrystripe were quick to follow after her, picking up speed when they saw her bodyslam the cat onto the ground before biting down deep into their scruff. It wasn’t hard to miss the blood that began to stain the cat’s long, spiky, and white fur. The cat— which upon closer inspection was a she-cat roughly around Marigoldflip’s age— yowled and writhed in pain as she tried desperately to get Marigoldflip off of her, but the warrior held her ground, keeping the she-cat pinned to the forest floor as she bit down harder on her scruff.

It was only until Scrubpelt grabbed Marigoldflip by the scruff and pulled her off that the young she-cat was finally freed. Without a heartbeat of hesitation, she fled, disappearing into the trees and out of TallClan territory.

“LET GO OF ME! YOU’RE LETTING HER GET AWAY!” Marigoldflip screamed as she struggled underneath Scrubpelt’s body weight, claws raking the dirt.

“What in StarClan’s name were you thinking!?” Mulberrystripe confronted her. “We DON’T attack intruders!”

“What if she’s Bonebracken’s killer!? Or what if she knows who did it!?”

“And what if she wasn’t!? You would’ve seriously hurt an innocent cat!? Or worse, kill her!? You’d be no better than the ones who killed him!” Tears were falling from Mulberrystripe’s eyes at that point, blurring her vision.

Silence. That was all that followed until…

“Go back to camp. Scrubpelt will help me finish this patrol. I can’t bear to look at you right now…”

- - -

Moon 5 Summary

Ant’s injury has become infected!

The clan has encountered Splinter, a loving rogue!

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FIRST

FIRST

CLIMB DOWN|CLIMB UP

———

“I knew the winters in the mountains were bad, but I wished they had warned us about the summers! I would’ve given it a second thought before deciding to join.”, Daydream said as she laid underneath the shade of banana plants, watching Mulberrystripe place a harvest of coriander leaves and seeds (and flowers) into a leather-skinned pouch.

“Really? I imagined it would remind you of home. GarlicClan’s territory is mostly field.”, Mulberrystripe responded in a playful, snarky tone.

“No way!” Daydream objected with a huge laugh and in her own playful attempt of acting offended by such a claim, “In GarlicClan, we could at least find shade in the bushes or in the few trees that grew there. The ground wasn’t hot stone and, most importantly, we weren’t so close to the sun! If the winter was enough to kill off GlintClan’s Heir and Lead Healer on their way to Stars’ Touch, I wouldn’t be surprised if our clan is wiped out by the heat before summer’s end. If we’re lucky and still have our common sense intact, we could mark this off as a failed experiment and go back to our original clans.”

“We?” Mulberrystripe snorted, looking at Daydream as if she had told the funniest joke, “I think you mean you! You can leave with your tails tucked in between your legs like dogs when it starts to get rough out there, but I’m staying till the end. I can already imagine the stories they will tell about the cats who abandoned TallClan not even a year in, because they couldn’t handle the summer heat. You can call me stupid, but I do not want my legacy to be that of a quitter’s.”

“Still as competitive as ever, I see!” Daydream laughed.

“Just because I’m a healer now that doesn’t mean I changed.”, Mulberrystripe affirmed.

“Speaking about that, what’s it like being a healer? I never would’ve imagined you of all cats becoming one! I thought LogClan forced you like how GarlicClan forced Bluegale to be TallClan’s Lead Mediator, but I was surprised when I learned you did it out of your free will.”, Daydream curiously asked. Mulberrystripe was a warrior by the time the young she-cat was an apprentice and by the stars, was she the most fiercest, stubborn (the good kind) warrior that LogClan ever had. All the young cats in the clans wanted to be like her.

It took Mulberrystripe a minute to answer. Her paws fiddled with the white flowers from the coriander plant as if she was thinking about what to say.

“Well, I guess it’s the same reason why you decided to join TallClan: a change of scenery,” Mulberrystripe explained, “Besides, the attributes of a healer are like second nature to me. Both my parents were healers. My father was LogClan’s Lead Healer. I was far down the line of inheritance, but that didn’t stop them from teaching me and I’m glad that they did. Even if I stayed as a warrior, it doesn’t hurt to know a thing or two about healing. It can come in handy when you most need it.”

“Anyway, this should keep us covered for the next moon or, hopefully, for the rest of the summer.”, Mulberrystripe said, finally done with her herb gathering. The herbs were neatly stashed inside a leather pouch— a peculiar man-made object that she brought with her from her former home.

Daydream stood up, stretching her body. Her jaws opened wide for a huge yawn. She took her sweet time, wanting to spend a little bit more underneath the shade provided by the garden’s tall greenery before venturing out underneath the scorching sun again.

“We should get going. If we leave now, we’ll get to camp before nightfall.”, Mulberrystripe said, pressing her companion to hurry as she looked up at the sky, measuring the distance between their current destination and the mountain where TallClan’s camp lies in.

“Are you kidding? The heat’s the worst when the sun is at its highest! Let’s stay and wait for it to lower down a bit. I have a great idea on what we could do in the meantime— let’s spar!” Daydream suggested. There was a new sense of energy in her as she playfully pranced around Mulberrystripe with her tail held high, preventing the healer from taking another step. Her paws itched to have a playful go at the former LogClan warrior.

“I’d rather not. Not only do I not want to worry the others, but I also want to avoid angering Icystar and Sapflow. Especially Sapflow! He’s been more uptight than usual.”, Mulberrystripe affirmed, pushing past Daydream.

“Bah! You’re no fun!” Daydream dramatically whined, “But you’re in charge, so I have no choice but to follow your command!”

As the healer began to walk away, a mischievous idea crossed Daydream’s mind. 

“I guess it’s for the best, honestly. I know it hasn’t been long, but your fighting skills must’ve gotten rusty since you became a healer. It wouldn’t be a fair fight. I’d beat you too easily.”, Daydream said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Mulberrystripe stopped dead in her tracks.

“I guess one sparring session wouldn’t hurt,” Mulberrystripe said, removing her pouch before turning around to face Daydream with a determined grin, accepting the warrior’s challenge, “It should be enough to make you eat those words!”

“Ha! I’d like to see you try!” Daydream excitedly yelled as she crouched on the ground like a playful puppy.

Mulberrystripe • 59 moons old • Competitive 

Daydream • 32 moons old • Strange

It was nighttime when Mulberrystripe and Daydream arrived back at the camp. Just as Mulberrystripe had predicted, Sapflow wasn’t pleased that the two had come at such a late hour. While he and Daydream bickered with one another, Mulberrystripe took the opportunity to slip into the leader’s den.

“You’re practically a senior warrior in this clan! You need to start acting like it!”

“Oh, well I’m sorry that I didn’t want me and Mulberrystripe to get cooked climbing back up the mountain! You oughta thank me, actually! She’s our only healer! Do you know how bad it would be if she got hurt because of this heat!?”

They continued to go at each other’s throats, but their squabbling faded the deeper Mulberrystripe went inside the cave. They were nothing more but distant, muffled voices when she finally reached Icystar, who was resting in her nest.

“Mulberry!” The leader happily beamed when she saw her friend. The two brushed their heads against one another and purred. “I hope your herb gathering went all right? I was starting to get worried.”

“I’m sorry about that,” Mulberrystripe apologized, “I didn’t intend to stay out there for too long, but Daydream insisted we wait out the sunhigh. Now, Sapflow is wrangling her throat for it.”

“Don’t apologize! I’ll have a talk with Sapflow. Daydream had the right thinking. This heat is just so unbearable!” Icystar reassured her.

“Speaking about the heat, I brought you some coriander seeds. They’ll help cool down your body. I also brought you some flowers. These grow exclusively on the corianders,” Mulberrystripe said as she took out a few seeds and white flowers from her pouch, “When we were apprentices you always talked about how flowers barely grew in the mountains, much less the cavern that GlintClan had their camp in. I never had a chance to bring you flowers then, but now that we’re in the same clan, I'm going to bring you every flower that I find. That’s a promise.”

“Oh, Mulberry, that’s so sweet of you and the flowers are beautiful! I’ll treasure them forever!” Icystar happily said, moved by Mulberrystripe’s gesture. She carefully held the flowers in her paws, admiring them.

“Could you…” She turned to her friend.

No words were needed between the two. Mulberrystripe knew exactly what she wanted. Icystar sat perfectly still as Mulberrystripe gently braided the small flowers into her pelt.

“And… there!” Mulberrystripe said after she finished braiding the last couple of flowers near Icystar’s ear.

“How do I look?” Icystar asked.

Mulberrystripe’s heart skipped a beat when she looked into Icystar’s heather blue eyes. Were her eyes always this beautiful? Of course they were! But, Mulberrystripe couldn’t shake off the feeling that something felt different this time… She found herself struggling to form words when she realized her friend was still waiting on an answer.

“Y-You look beautiful. The flowers really b-bring out your eyes.”

Icystar’s cheeks blushed at her comment and she smiled.

Once more, Mulberrystripe felt her heart skip a beat.

Mulberrystripe • 59 moons old • Competitive

Icystar • 54 moons old • Ambitous

Icystar quickly settled the issue between Daydream and Sapflow, doing good on her word and praising Daydream for her thinking. As everyone began to retreat back to their dens, Sapflow’s attention was caught by something he knew wasn’t there before.

Sapflow • 56 moons old • Wise

Scrubpelt • 97 moons old • Troublesome

FIRST

CLIMB DOWN | CLIMB UP

———

Uh oh

“Have you seen Icystar?” Sapflow asked the newly made warrior when he came to relieve her from her vigil. He had woken up this morning to an empty nest.

Marigoldflip nodded. “She and Mulberrystripe left camp not too long before sunrise.”, she explained.

“Oh… Did they tell you where they were going?”

The moment the question left his mouth, the sounds of giggling could be heard coming from the rocky path that led to the camp’s entrance. It was none other than Icystar and Mulberrystripe. The two were walking closely side-by-side with their tails entwined and their eyes focused on only each other. They didn’t notice the other two cats until they nearly bumped into them.

“Oh! Good morning, Sapflow! Marigoldflip!” Icystar cheerfully greeted the two, still sticking close to Mulberrystripe.

“G-Good morning, Icystar!” Sapflow returned her greeting before asking, “Did something happen? I noticed that you left…”

Marigoldflip took this as an opportunity to make her exit. None of the older cats paid her any mind as she made her way into camp. After her vigil, she was in need of a long day’s rest.

“Nothing of the sorts,” Icystar reassured him, “I apologize for making you worry. I didn’t want to wake you up. I was showing Mulberrystripe the best place to see the sunrise.”

Mulberrystripe nodded and she began to ramble on. Something about watching the sun rise back in LogClan. Sapflow wasn’t sure. He tuned her out. He tuned both of them out as all three of them began to make their way back to camp. Sapflow trailed behind the pair. At some point, Icystar and Mulberrystripe were only talking to one another and Sapflow was long forgotten….

Icystar • 53 moons old • Ambitious

Mulberrystripe • 58 moons old • Competitive

Sapflow • 55 moons old • Wise

“I heard there was trouble in lover’s paradise.”, Scrubpelt said in an attempt to break the silence between him and Sapflow as they patrolled the border together.

The aforementioned deputy had been eerily quiet and distant these last few days, which was out of character for him. Scrubpelt already had an idea about what was troubling him. Most of the clan knew too, actually. It wasn’t hard to miss when Icystar and Mulberrystripe came back that morning so close together with their tails entwined and stuck in their own little world, while a sulking Sapflow trailed behind them like a sad puppy. On top of that, Scrubpelt knew what happened firsthand from Marigoldflip, his former apprentice, who recounted what had transpired before she came back from her vigil.

Sapflow didn’t say anything. Nor did he acknowledge what Scrubpelt had said as if the tom hadn’t spoken or wasn’t there at all.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Scrubpelt asked. One last attempt at trying to get Sapflow to speak.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Sapflow finally responded, “We still have two miles of border to patrol, so I suggest you focus your attention on that instead.” He never looked away from the path in front of him. He had his back turned to Scrubpelt, preventing him from reading into his face, but Scrubpelt knew body language. The tip of Sapflow’s tail was flicking and the furs on his body were prickling with frustration.

“No need to get snippy, pal! I’m just trying to help!” Scrubpelt defended himself, “If you ask me, I think this whole TallClan thing is a sham. An excuse for Icystar to be with her “lover” from another clan without breaking the Code.”

Scrubpelt’s words struck a nerve within Sapflow. In a hot flash, the deputy turned on the older warrior.

“How dare you insinuate that!” he spat, his claws dug at the ground to stop him from slashing Scrubpelt’s face in a fit of anger, “It was StarClan’s will for us to form TallClan! I was there when Icystar received the order and when she was blessed with nine lives from Cavernfur, who is not only our clan’s Spiritual Guide, but also my ancestor no less!”

Through gritted teeth, he gave Scrubpelt a warning, “Don’t you ever disrespect Icystar like that again. If I find out that you did, I’ll make you regret it…”

Scrubpelt held his ground through all of this, showing no fear at Sapflow’s threat. With a scoff, he rudely brushed past Sapflow and began walking away from him to continue the path of their patrol. “Understood, but don’t come crying to me when I’m proven right! Clearly, my help is unwanted…”

Sapflow didn’t say anything in response. He was left utterly speechless after what just transpired. His entire body trembled with anger (and fear) of what Scrubpelt had said to him. Icystar wouldn’t be capable of doing such a thing! He knew her since they were kits in the nursery! Even if this relationship of theirs required no romantic love from either of them, she was a loyal cat.

At least, that’s what he’s hoping…

Scrubpelt • 96 moons old • Troublesome

Sapflow • 55 moons old • Wise

FIRST