Q: If you had ever wondered, what does Crescentsky's warrior name mean?
A: She reaches for the sky/moon. This cat will try to achieve the unachievable.

"I've been dying to tell you something."

"I need to tell you about my dream as well."

Crescentsky hobbled out of camp on fatigued legs the next morning. She followed behind Tinyflame as they walked a short distance out into the willow-tree forest.

The clan had taken up most of their sunrise, insisting that Tinyflame share what she'd seen in her dreams. Crescentsky and her sister had explained that they needed some fresh air and alone time, away from the prying questions and watchful eyes of the clan. Lagoonstripe had understood and permitted them to a short forest walk, despite Crescentsky's injuries.

"Alright. But we've got to keep an eye out for fresh goldenrod and comfrey. Whiteleaf said I'll be needing it for a poultice. She showed me what it looked like inside of a shining pool. She said that there's a fair chance I can expel this infection and save your leg. She's the one training me, by the way. Whiteleaf must have been a medicine cat before she died." Tinyflame took a breath so that she could continue.

"Wait! Before you say more I wanted to ask you... Were you okay yesterday?"

"Well, I wasn't at first but now I am. Initially I didn't like the idea of becoming a medicine cat."

"Oh. You're scared that the clan wouldn't think of you as a good choice, or what? I'm sorry for what Rowanpaw said. She was just being fish-brained. You know her muzzle likes to run faster than her paws."

"No. I was scared that I wouldn't be good enough. That I'd fail at it like I have with everything else. Plus... other stuff."

"Aw. Tinyflame, you haven't-. Nothing is your fault."

"It's alright. Whiteleaf and I talked, and I'm open to trying it out. Maybe I'll turn out being great at it, who knows." Tinyflame showed a small grin, causing Crescentsky to perk her ears at the unprecedented confidence.

"That's great!" She purred and nearly head-butted her sister in the shoulder, but the spasm of pain in her hind-leg caused her not to. Crescentsky sat down with an ache radiating throughout her damaged limb. She twitched uncomfortably.

They conversed awhile longer. The sun began creeping up the sky and its rays burning off the last of the morning dew.

"We need to find Cheetah and tell her this too, but listen. I've decided it's time to tell the clan. We've waited long enough."

Tinyflame knew what that meant, and she appeared not to like it. Her face turned obscure as she flattened her ears and glanced away. Scanning the silver birch trees around them to make sure they weren't overheard, Tinyflame opened her jaws again.

"Are you sure? I think it would be wiser to run a few more tests. We could wait until you're healed first and then find the rest of the answers to any questions that the clan might ask."

Crescentsky shook her head.

"We don't have time to wait. We can't just keep lying. If we must, then I should run the tests now and tell the clan today."

"But you're injured." Tinyflame began kneading the grass in a troublesome way. "And Starclan's instructed me to heal you. How can you even walk that far?"

"I don't want to wait anymore," Crescentsky stated stubbornly. "I've been doing alright getting around with a limp. I'll just limp there and limp back." She almost winced at her own words, especially when Tinyflame gave her a sour look.

"Seriously? You shouldn't always-"

"What if the wolves come back? We're going to get caught up in our lies soon, I can feel it."

Tinyflame studied her, thinking. Sunlight lavished her sleek black pelt, causing it to shine in gold-white rivulets along her back and shoulders. Some purple stems of lavender grew across their path, and Crescentsky wound her flanks along it, appreciating the smell as she rubbed it into her fur.

"Okay, fine. Here's what we'll do. You'll have to fetch Cheetah while I find the herbs. You two will head off into Shadowclan territory and find the rest of the answers we need. We only need to know a couple more things, right?" Tinyflame asked.

"One, do you have any instinct whatsoever to hurt cats in your wolf form. And two; are your thoughts and intentions altered around prey when you're in its body for a long time? Or when you're hungry," the lithe she-cat concluded.

Crescentsky nodded. "I can test all of that out at the same time. They're almost the same questions. Plus, I haven't eaten yet."

"You know Cheetah will smell like prey whenever you're in the body of that thing. So be careful."

"I will, but I should hurry. Did you see Cheetah in camp?" Crescentsky was eager despite the pain she knew it would bring her.

No more secrets. No more lies. Just me, my clan and the truth. No matter what it costs me. Her paws nearly shook, but it wasn't from nerves. Part of Crescentsky was relieved.

But the other part wasn't. She'd been feeling uncharacteristically weak lately. This isn't going to be easy.

"I think Cheetah was assigned to Emberfawn's border patrol with Trufflefur and Nighthowl. Either go and find her or wait until she returns. If you're certain you'll be okay," Tinyflame pressed, her eyes glistening with worry.

"Aren't you the medicine cat?" Crescentsky waved her tail goodbye as she teased her sister.

"In that case-"

"I'll be fine," she said, exasperated.

"I have to do this. It can't wait. The wolves will return soon and we'll end up getting caught."

🐈‍⬛

Crescentsky was weaving some extra thorny vines into the apprentice's den walls when Cheetah arrived back with the patrol. They slipped out of camp discreetly soon after.

She ignored the tremor in her legs as they plodded on determinedly. The Riverclan warrior checked the wind as they left Riverclan's scent-markers behind.

The coniferous Shadowclan woods were dark and brooding. Low-hanging branches and brambles provided low visibility, and the only stream they'd come across had been barely paw-deep. Boggy water squelched up between Crescentsky's toes.

"It's been so long since we hung out just the two of us, Crescentsky. Finally I get to hang out with my best she-cat friend! Who, by the way (this is just a perk-) can into a wolf and kill all of our enemies! How incredible is that?" Cheetah chirped as she bounded along.

Crescentsky swallowed and looked around, despite the fact that they were already well out of Riverclan territory and plodding through an abandoned clan's land.

"Shh. Keep your voice down for now. You know, it's possible that Darkflower could've come back looking for her son."

"Who?"

Crescentsky lifted her head and parted her jaws, checking the air incessantly again. They weren't very far from Shadowclan's camp, although that wasn't their destination.

They were getting as far away from Riverclan land as they could before Crescentsky turned, and only so much so that they could arrive back before sundown. Her hoisted leg had cost them time.

"Nobody. I think that if she were here, we'd have scented her by now. If she were alive, anyways. Let's go."

Crescentsky mentally prepared to switch into her wolf after they had traveled several fox-lengths farther. She rounded the overgrown and almost unrecognizable Shadowclan camp, and then headed off toward the topmost edge of their swampy territory.

With each footfall she felt like she would fall over. Her very bones felt starved for strength. Crescentsky's stomach rolled while she tossed a few words over her shoulder.

"I'm not going to talk much in this form. So don't expect me to." She felt bad being so reserved towards her friend, but her infection was causing her to be irritable.

"Okay. I know that you don't like to," Cheetah sympathized with a nod.

Rrr-ouch! It's so inflamed. Crescentsky winced with every pawstep.

"This is far enough. I'll do it here."

Cheetah took a step back with her ears pricked. The tabby-and-white warrior shook out her pelt with her eyes braced against the fur that would inevitably fly into her eyes.

This time Crescentsky felt she knew what to expect. She'd almost grown accustomed to the switch, odd as it still was.

But when she opened her eyes nothing had changed. The forest still stretched only a few inches below her. Each verdant blade of grass was just as tall and visible as the last, rather than small and minuscule beneath her towering chest and lean forelegs.

"Uh, it didn't work," Cheetah advised loudly.

"I know. But why?"

Crescentsky tried it again, then again and again. Nothing happened, save for her looking like a fool as she stood there shaking out her bone-dry pelt.

Panic lit up her senses, chasing away any lingering thoughts she'd had about her inflamed hindleg.

She fought to ward the feeling off, stepping back and spinning around, trying to find an answer in the bark of the pines or the twitching sweetgrass stems that were sprouting all around them.

There was no answer. Nothing moved out of the ordinary, no new sounds or scents came on the wind.

"Maybe we have to find the answer from within," Cheetah said. She lifted her voice over a bluejay's twittering birdsong.

"Starclan gives hints and signs, sure; but it's not often straightforward, right? Maybe they warned us about this already, in some mysterious Starclan way."

Crescentsky stared at her and shook her head.

"How did you sound like a medicine cat just now? Are you being possessed by some Starclan cat?"

Cheetah shrugged and giggled.

"How is it you know more about the clans already than some clan cats themselves do?" She muttered. Bewildered but calmed down rather effectively, Crescentsky sat down to think.

It came to her eventually, after she recited every single word that Starclan had said to her.

"That's it! Cheetah, you're right."

The leap back to her feet sent a jagged crack of pain throughout her injury. Grinding her teeth, Crescentsky fought to get the words out.

"-Starclan said during our trip to the Moonpool that the gift was temporary. I thought that meant that they'd take it away soon. Which, obviously they still could but- I think this is why they mentioned it."

She shook out her pelt one more time, and finding it to no avail swiftly carried on.

"The power doesn't work after sunrise. That's why they called it 'temporary.'"

Cheetah's golden eyes widened and she purred.

"Oh, that makes sense! But specifically what hours of daylight? Can you use it at dawn and dusk? At what time does it stop being available?"

"I don't know." Crescentsky's pain prevented her from speaking further.

"Okay. But I do have to say, you look rough, Crescentsky. You should rest when we get back."

The tabby-and-white she-cat nodded. Lemon-yellow greenleaf sunlight glinted off of parched grass shoots around their feet. A ladybug crept onto Crescentsky's paw, and she carefully placed it in a small pool of shade close by.

This 'temporary' thing could end up being a problem. The wolves have already come during daylight before, and there's nothing stopping them from doing it again.

Why, Starclan? What's the point in shutting off the power after sunrise?

"I guess we can't find any answers right now. We could ask Tinyflame to ask Whiteleaf, but that's about all. We still have time to make it back to camp. Let's go quickly, so they never suspect we snuck off."

Crescentsky knew that their return would take just as long at their trip here, however- if not longer.

I'm so slow today. I should've let Tinyflame treat my wound first. Too bad that fish has already swam downstream, she thought.

"Okay, I'm ready."

Cheetah stood up to leave, her spotted pelt looking shiny and well-groomed in the dappled sunlight. They joined at the shoulder and began walking back through the spacious Shadowclan pines.

Undergrowth brushed against Crescentsky's flanks, causing her to flinch when anything touched her tender haunch-wound.

"Are we still exposing all our secrets to the clan today?" Cheetah asked after they gossiped about the Shadowclan arrivals for a while. Crescentsky didn't hesitate as she answered her intuitive friend.

"Yes. We're not waiting any longer. I'll tell them what I know, and explain what I don't and why.

"In some ways you'll be at their mercy," Cheetah made an insightful comment again.

"But in a lot more ways they'll be at yours."

Please give Warrior name ideas for Rowanpaw❗️

Some Personality Traits: Cynical//Impulsive//Self-absorbed//Arrogant//Disgruntled//Easily Offended