The Sight

“I’ll leave some at the border tomorrow morning,”

Leafpool promised.

Jaypaw couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Did Firestar know that Leafpool was helping ThunderClan’s enemies?

He felt a soft pelt brush his. Willowpaw from RiverClan.

“Where’s Hollypaw?” she asked quietly.

She sounds disappointed to get me instead. Jaypaw flicked his tail.

“Didn’t you know?” he hissed back. “Hollypaw found it so boring being a medicine cat that she let her poor, useless brother do it instead.”

Willowpaw flinched.

“I see you’re getting to know my new apprentice,”

Leafpool meowed.

Jaypaw felt the gaze of all four cats burn his pelt.

“This is Jaypaw,” Leafpool announced.

Jaypaw stared back, ready to challenge any comment about his blindness.

“Hi, Jaypaw,” Mothwing meowed.

“How are you enjoying being an apprentice?” Littlecloud asked.

Jaypaw felt anxiety pulse through his mentor. She’s afraid I’m going to say it’s boring! “It’s great,” he replied.

“Jaypaw’s a fast learner.” Leafpool sounded relieved. “He knows all the herbs already.”

“Really?” Littlecloud was clearly impressed.

A new scent caught Jaypaw by surprise. Another cat was hurrying toward them over the WindClan border.

“Barkface!” Littlecloud called to the WindClan medicine

cat as he approached. “Where’s Kestrelpaw?”

“He’s come down with whitecough,” Barkface panted.

“Not badly, I hope?” meowed Leafpool.

“He’s young and strong,” Barkface replied. “He’ll fight it off. But I’m making sure he doesn’t spread it around. With prey scarce and bellies empty, the Clans are vulnerable to sickness.”

Mothwing mewed in agreement.

“The moon’s rising,” Littlecloud observed.

“We’d better hurry if we want to catch it in the Moonpool,” Leafpool urged.

Jaypaw followed the cats as they began to climb the slope.

“Willowpaw!” Mothwing called to her apprentice. “Walk with Jaypaw. I’m sure he’ll have plenty of questions about the Moonpool.”

I’ve been there before, you know! Jaypaw bit back the words as Willowpaw fell in beside him. She kept a wary distance, making sure that her pelt did not touch his.

“Has Leafpool brought you here yet?” she mewed, sounding as if she didn’t really want to talk to him.

Jaypaw was about to tell her that he’d traveled there alone when Willowpaw grabbed his scruff without warning and dragged him sideways. He struggled free from her grip and turned on her, lunging at her with unsheathed claws.

“Jaypaw! What are you doing?” Leafpool screeched.

“He almost fell down a rabbit hole!” Willowpaw wailed. “I was just trying to help him.”

Jaypaw let go, shame burning his ears. “I didn’t know!” he

snapped. Why had she tried to help him? He wasn’t a kit!

“Apologize at once,” Leafpool ordered.

“But I knew the hole was there!” Jaypaw retorted. It was true. He had smelled the strong scent of rabbit, and his paws had been well aware of the approaching dip. “I didn’t need help!”

“That’s no excuse,” Leafpool hissed. “Apologize!”

“I’m sorry,” Jaypaw muttered.

“That’s okay,” Willowpaw growled. “Next time I hope you fall in!” She padded ahead of him, flicking her tail past his nose.

“Keep up, Jaypaw!” He felt the flash of Leafpool’s angry gaze as she glanced back at him. It wasn’t his fault. Willowpaw had started it! He padded after Willowpaw, ignoring the trail of resentment she left in her wake, and concentrated on the older cats’ conversation.

“This late frost has damaged a lot of new leaves,” Barkface commented.

“I was looking forward to restocking,” Littlecloud agreed.

“But now it’ll be another moon before the plants recover.”

“There are a couple of sheltered spots in RiverClan territory where the herbs have escaped damage,” Mothwing told them.

Jaypaw strained to hear more. He wanted to know the location of every plant that could be of use to his Clan, no matter where. He was listening so hard that he didn’t hear the stream, or notice the ground turn from grass to rock beneath his paws as they approached it. The freezing air had

turned the stone to ice, and suddenly his paws slipped from under him.

Willowpaw lunged toward him, then stopped as though claws had grabbed her tail. She watched Jaypaw slither ungracefully onto his side and waited without saying a word as, hot with embarrassment, he struggled to his paws. Then she padded on, not even slowing down as he limped after her.

Jaypaw felt a flash of admiration at her stubborn refusal to help.

She offered him no help as he scrambled up the steep ridge either, though he could sense anxiety sparking from her as she watched him haul himself up the perilous rocks. He was relieved that he had made the climb before and knew the route well.

He paused at the top, listening for the voices that had guided him last time. But the only sound was the wind spiraling into the hollow and the trickling of water as it echoed around the rocks. He padded down the paw-dimpled stone to the Moonpool, stopping when he felt cold water lap the tips of his paws.

The breath of the other cats warmed the air as they ringed the pool.

“StarClan!” Leafpool called up to the sky. “I bring you Jaypaw, my apprentice, and pray you accept him as you once accepted me.”

Jaypaw heard the soft chafing of fur on stone as the cats settled down at the water’s edge, and he lay down beside Leafpool, tucking his paws under his chest. He did not touch

his nose to the water immediately. Instead he listened until the other cats’ breathing fell into the deep rhythm of sleep.

Only then did he close his eyes and lower his head until the icy water stung his nose.

In an instant he was in StarClan’s hunting grounds, the undergrowth pricking his pelt. He blinked, adjusting to the shock of sight, letting his eyes get used to the chaotic colors until they fell into shapes he could recognize. Trees soared around him, their green leaves trembling against a bright blue sky.

Does it look like this to Willowpaw? he wondered. He pricked his ears, listening for her. Do we share the same forest when we dream?

Sniffing, he searched for her scent and it appeared on the breeze, almost as if he had drawn it to him. He padded quietly toward her, keeping low, somehow aware that he was trespassing.

“Mudfur?” her soft voice was calling.

Jaypaw peered over the root of an oak and saw her gazing around a clearing. She was smaller than he had imagined. Her body was sleek and lithe, and her tabby markings were hardly more than delicate stripes along her pelt.

“Yes, little one?” A mottled tom padded out from the ferns and greeted her, touching his muzzle to hers.

Jaypaw ducked down.

“It is good to see you, Mudfur,” Willowpaw mewed.

“You dealt well with Dapplepaw’s stomachache.”

“Was I right to give her reassurance rather than herbs?”