A Vision of Shadows #1: The Apprentice's Quest

Chapter 9

"Is that so?" The sound of a silky voice echoing into the cave caused Alderpaw and Frecklewish to whirl around. In the darkness he could see a slim silver tabby stepping toward them with an interested gleam in her eye, her head tilted to one side.

Frecklewish immediately lit up and bounded up to the older she-cat, words tumbling out in a eager rush. "Echosong!" she cheered. "I was just talking with Alderpaw here. I showed the visitor to a nest and-- oh, how was the meeting?"

"I think it was confusing, but also helpful for all of us," the stranger replied carefully, a sigh beneath her words. Once again she regarded a nervous Alderpaw like a juicy bit of prey. "But no one ever said anything about a second medicine cat. I'm one too. You can call me Echosong."

The young tom quickly dipped his head, equally curious about the healer of the Clan. "Nice to meet you," he said, trying his best to be polite. "I've only just begun my training, but I'm happy to see others with the same role that I can learn from." The silver she-cat nodded in approval at his words.

"If that's the case, then feel free to look around," she meowed, waving her tail to gesture around her. "I'm sure our two Clans have much to gain from one another." Turning to face her apprentice, she added, "Now let's go take a look at our patient. We should patch up her wound before it becomes worse." Frecklewish pricked her ears brightly and the pair padded over to where Sorrelstripe lay asleep.

Feeling slightly awkward and not quite knowing what to make of the situation, Alderpaw decided to take Echosong's advice to heart and let his eyes wander around the medicine cat den. As he observed he noticed Frecklewish continuously bending her head to lift plants from holes in the ground. Upon wandering closer he realized that it was the herb storage, and each pocket contained a large, brittle brown leaf that filled every gap.

"Why do all these herbs look the same?" he asked, forgetting the stiffness of previous formalities.

Echosong paused in her work to peer over at what he was looking at. "Those? The real supplies are at the bottom of each space. We just use oak leaves to cover them so they won't get ruined. Fresh ones are helpful for carrying water, too."

The ginger cat blinked in surprise. He had never heard anything like that back in ThunderClan. Seeing his startled expression, Frecklewish leaned back to add teasingly, "Echosong is very into organization, you know. If you look at the passageways you'll find that there are even separate ones for cats with different degrees of injury or illness!"

Her mentor let out a fond purr. "A medicine cat cannot work well without a proper and tidy environment," she told her, with no trace of scolding in her voice.

"I see," Alderpaw murmured, sniffing at the powerful scent of healthy herbs and fresh moss. It's so neat, he thought admiringly, I'll have to tell Leafpool about this later.

Rolling some berries under his nose, Frecklewish brought his attention back to the SkyClan den. "Can you put these away for me?" she asked absently, still concentrated on wrapping Sorrelstripe's tail with cobwebs.

Alderpaw nodded and gave the herbs a sniff, gradually remembering their identification. Juniper berries, probably used to get Sorrelstripe's strength up, he recited in his head as he poked through the storage until finding the right container.

No sooner than he had gently placed the oak leaf over the berries again then Echosong stepped back with a flick of her tail. "I think we've done enough here, Frecklewish," she announced with relief. "I'll take it from here and you can show Alderpaw around if you wish." She licked a poultice-covered paw to clean it and studied the brown lump of fur with satisfaction.