MoonClan's ambitious story/(1): The First Four Leaders/3/33

### Chapter 33: Right Hind Leg

It was a few days after he woke up and Birchcreek still had to stay in the medicine cat's den for some time. Rainpaw seemed to be happy that she could have her warrior littermate in the den for the time being he had to heal, though. Birchcreek thought it was pretty weird to have both his apprentice and warrior/medicine cat ceremonies before her, since he was younger than her. But Petuniaheart, Shadowclaw, Rainpaw, Mountainpaw or another apprentice or warrior had to carry his right hind leg around, otherwise he couldn't walk. Mostly Rainpaw did it, though, since Petuniaheart still had to train Mountainpaw and Shadowclaw still had to fulfill important warrior duties. But they still helped in their free time.

Birchcreek sighed. He couldn't put pressure on the leg at all otherwise he would wince in pain and fall over immediately, which would definitely be more detrimental. Even while sitting, he had to outstretch the leg on a rock that was higher than his heart was, and Lilypool and Rainpaw had to attach a stiff branch to it by wrapping flexible branches around it so it wouldn't move. It was pretty uncomfortable just sitting like this, and he tried to shake his leg just a little so it wouldn't get too lax. He remembered the carefree days as Birchkit where he could run everywhere he wanted to. He had taken that for granted, before and he sighed again, longing for that time. Birchcreek didn't blame himself, though. He knew why he had to do it. He couldn't see the rocks from where he was up on the cliff, since it was almost a tree-length down. He figured the water cushioned his fall, otherwise his leg would probably have sustained more damage. But he needed to save two of his close friends, one of which was his mentor's son and his maternal cousin, and the other was just as important to the Clan, especially to Shadowclaw, Icemoon, Petalkit and Pinetail.

He thought about Whitestripe and Swanpaw who were still sleeping. It was a little over a quarter-moon after it happened, and he worried if they would wake up soon. Almost all of their abrasions were pretty much healed thanks to Lilypool and Rainpaw's wonderful expertise (with Primrosepaw trying to assist, too), but it seemed like most of their rear bones were broken from the fall, especially their tail bones, since they also hit the rocks under the water, but with probably more force and less cushioning. Unlike him whom only the right hind leg got struck by a rock at extremely high force after landing in the water. The medicine cats said that they weren't sure what to do about the bones except try to straighten them out and keep them in one place, so the bones could hopefully fuse back to their normal state. Lilypool told Birchcreek that his ankle was impacted the most, which made sense to him since the ankle is most likely to get broken from falls.

Petalkit, Birdkit, Waterkit and Flowerkit seemed to be confused what happened to Whitestripe, Swanpaw and Birchcreek since they suddenly disappeared for some time. Even though Petalkit was old enough to leave the nursery, she didn't enter the medicine cat's den. The newest kits, Dustkit and Oakkit didn't seem to notice at all, however, probably because they were too young to remember them exactly.

He wondered what would happen in the future, however. Everyone else was still trying to recover from the AdderClan attack. Snowstar, Sealbranch and some other important warriors were still seriously discussing about what to do with AdderClan, since this was their first official battle with them after the Battle of Moonstar's Death. They were questioning what Fangstar's patrol was doing there, and how he even got there without SnowClan noticing. *I also asked Fangstar that, too,* Birchcreek remembered, when he was still considered an apprentice. But of course, Fangstar wouldn't spill such information to a MoonClan cat like *him.* He sighed for the third time, since he had no answer to that, or what AdderClan's goals were. All he could worry about was for the betterment of the three of them, the ones who got the most injured, the ones who even fell into comas. He also noticed that Primrosepaw and Dandelionpaw still looked traumatized from the creek battle, since they were still so young, of course, only nine moons old. And Blazesky, Maplestripe, Peonyclaw, Sealbranch and Rainpaw all still looked grim about it even now, especially Blazesky and Peonyclaw, of course, whose son probably wouldn't wake up anytime soon. Birchcreek briefly wondered about Stonetooth who was shocked about it happening, but he figured that it wouldn't matter now what she thought. *Most likely guilty for going on the patrol,* he figured.

All of Whitestripe, Swanpaw and Birchcreek's kin and their friends were all still exceptionally worried for them, however. Applefall, Nightnose and Nutclaw were all worried for them, too, especially the unconscious cats. And Nutclaw was extra worried because Swanpaw was his apprentice. The other senior warriors were also especially tense.

The dark brown warrior sighed into his paws for the fourth time now. Sighing about his current situation was the best he could do, since everyone was still too distressed about what horrors could occur in the future to talk to him, except to ask him if he was okay. Birchcreek silently prayed to StarClan that AdderClan would hold off attacking until they at least healed fully, but he secretly hoped they would hold off for even longer, like they did for almost ten moons after the Battle of Moonstar's Death (and for the time of Snowstar's reign). He didn't want any more bad stuff to happen, because the depressive period that happened was already enough for a lot of cats, especially Shadowclaw, Icemoon and Swanpaw, and including himself. The depressive period seemed to have been lengthened even more from this terrible incident.

The sun was at its peak, which meant that late morning patrols would be coming back soon, especially hunting patrols. Birchcreek, of course, had the most priority, but so did Whitestripe and Swanpaw. Even if they couldn't eat anything, the medicine cats tried to trickle some crushed prey into their mouths, similarly to what they did when giving herbs to Mousekit before she died. Other Clanmates usually gave prey to Birchcreek at the usual eating times without him even asking, which was a good thing for him as he knew they were trying to help him out. A few cats like Peonyclaw, Shadowclaw, Quailclaw and Mountainpaw even left some prey in front of his nest so he could eat on his own time, like when he woke up at nighttime. He could still wait for the hunting patrols to come back, though, so he decided to wait.

A few minutes later, Rainpaw and Primrosepaw entered the den with squirrels each. Of course, they kindly gave them to Birchcreek and sat in the same moss bed. Rainpaw was also holding herbs until she put it down on the floor of the den.

"Hey, Birchcreek," greeted Primrosepaw normally, much to Birchcreek's relief.

"Hey as well," said Rainpaw in the same tone.

*At least they don't look worried anymore, at least for the time being,* thought Birchcreek calmly. "Hey, Rainpaw and Primrosepaw," he replied. "Is everything all right?"

Primrosepaw nodded. "Yes, because... Hailstream, Rainpaw... and I went to the... Rocky Passageway... forest to hunt."

"Yep, and I gathered more herbs! I also taught Primrosepaw more of what herbs to gather!" Rainpaw said excitedly. But then her face fell. "Because you know..." Primrosepaw also looked sad.

Birchcreek just nodded slowly, but he tried to smile positively. "I appreciate your efforts, both of you. And I'm still okay, you know."

"Yeah, I know, but I'm also worried about Whitestripe and Swanpaw," Rainpaw said anxiously.

Primrosepaw nodded in reply. "Me too! I'm just... trying to help out. You know, try to... be more useful... when Lilypool... and Rainpaw are... too busy to... tend to a lot... of sick and injured... cats!"

Rainpaw and Birchcreek both nodded with appreciation. Rainpaw exclaimed, "I am glad *you're* here, Primrosepaw! At least you can pass us herbs and place cobwebs on cats!" She flicked her tail. "I wonder how Lilypool even managed when *I* was around! Because it feels like even *two* medicine cats would be crushed under all this load of work!"

Birchcreek shrugged. "I know medicine cats are hard-working for that reason. There are a ton of warriors to hunt and fight, but not a lot to tend to cats. Of course we know about basic medicine, but we have no clue about what poultices to use, or that much about cat anatomy."

Primrosepaw nodded and smiled. "I know. That is why... I wanted to learn... too! So that... I can be a... better Clanmate... and warrior... overall!"

"I'm glad, too! With the Clan growing bigger than before, we definitely need some help!" Rainpaw exclaimed gleefully.

"The Clan growing bigger now could be one of the natural reasons why one medicine cat was enough before," suggested Birchcreek.

Rainpaw nodded in agreement. "I am pretty sure, too. But with all these new kits, especially Dustkit and Oakkit, and new *apprentices,* like Thymepaw, Robinpaw and Soarpaw, and soon Lilackit and Jumpkit, it seems to be a lot bigger than before!"

"I know that, too. There *were* a few cats that died, like Lionrain, Blackfur and Moonstar," Birchcreek added, not wanting to mention Falconblue, Goldenlily or Mousekit, of course, "but there were a lot of cats who were born afterwards."

"I guess so, but... who were Lionrain... and Blackfur ex...actly, any...ways?" Primrosepaw asked inquisitively.

"Lionrain was Berrypaw's father who died just sometime after she was born," Birchcreek explained in a mentor-like way, "and Blackfur was Robinpaw and Soarpaw's father who died sometime after *you* were born."

"Oh," replied Primrosepaw quietly. "So a moon be...fore they were born."

"Yes, sadly," Rainpaw said, although she didn't look that sad, but neither was Birchcreek since they didn't know them that well. "Both died from infections from wounds during minor battles."

"Did you know... them? Or at least... Blackfur?" Primrosepaw asked.

"Well, only Blackfur a little bit. He didn't come to the nursery *that* often to see Heronwing," explained Rainpaw. "Maybe other older cats know them better, like Shadowclaw, Icemoon and Quailclaw. I *do* know that Blackfur was the son of an elder named Redear. Lionrain's parents, Laketail and Streamclaw, are also still alive, but they're elders, too."

"Okay, I guess," replied Primrosepaw. "Any...ways, do you think... that there should be... *another* medi...cine cat? Like perhaps... Birdkit?"

Rainpaw seemed to be thinking about it and Birchcreek was, too. MoonClan was less worried about Birdkit now than when she was born, as they saw Birdkit was able to do a lot of what she liked without any detrimental effects, similarly to Swanpaw and Primrosepaw, as they were also mute or reflexively-disabled. Their mothers, Goldenlily and Rosepetal, were the most worried for their daughters, until they saw that Swanpaw had little issues with making friends despite her muteness and was able to work around speech-related warrior duties using her intelligence and by mastering her physical prowess, and Primrosepaw had good intelligence to make up for her slowness, not to mention she had good training from Quailclaw and Hailstream, with Sealbranch helping out, too. Birchcreek was glad that his niece was also getting better with her condition, as she could do a lot already.

However, it still didn't look like she could become a warrior since she was still having trouble getting an immediate, accurate understanding of her surroundings, since her processing time was still slow. MoonClan wondered if her response time was also slow, as it usually looked like she acknowledged what cats said and did in the period of a few seconds, but it took her just a couple more seconds to respond in words or movement. She could probably ambush a prey that was hopefully sitting in the same spot for more than a few seconds, but a few seconds was easily enough time for her to get slashed by a warrior, and even get pinned and killed without her being able to do anything when she realized. Even as a medicine cat, she had to be guarded by other warriors and be careful in battle as warriors could still try to attack her while she was treating cats, and she wouldn't be able to dodge in time. He thought about Primrosepaw who had a similar condition, but Quailclaw and Hailstream had taught her how to work around it. They told her not to be on the offensive since that could carry risks such as not being prepared to attack or dodge, and she could freeze if she moved too quickly to attack. On the defensive, however, she could at least be in the right position to leap out of the way and prepare for the next attack. Of course, getting attacked from behind was always a possibility, but if she stayed with other cats like Rainpaw, they could alert her in time.

However, Birdkit wouldn't even be able to see what's going on or hear those warnings in time, much less dodge. And if she were on the offensive, she would definitely keep missing the opponent, unless her Clanmates helped her by pinning down the warrior for her to attack. But that would probably not be useful to the battle at all. The Clan thought the only good way she could be a good Clanmate was being a medicine cat, since cats that had to be treated were usually in one place, and the process usually went slowly. They were still worried about how she would fare in medical emergencies or in battle, however, since those usually needed quick response time since cats could get serious injuries. But they reasoned that Lilypool or Rainpaw could handle the emergencies, while Birdkit could treat the cats with minor injuries on the sidelines. And of course, other cats could be watchful guards for her during battle.

"Probably," replied Rainpaw worriedly. "But... will Birdkit be able to succeed?"

Primrosepaw looked sad. "I hope so. I have... a lot of hope... for her and I'm... pretty close to her... because we have si...milar condi...tions! I have slow re...flexes, while Birdkit... has slow processing... time. Probably res...ponse time, too."

"I hope so, too," said Birchcreek hopefully. "She should be able to learn medicine and treat cats, since she seems to be very bright." He smiled at Primrosepaw. "Like you, Primrosepaw."

Primrosepaw smiled back. "I know... so. She likes to be out...going and also has... interesting i...deas, too! I know she... will do a great job... at her work!"

Rainpaw smiled, too. "I hope so, too. I am confident she'll be the best medicine cat, especially under *our* training!" She grinned at that.

"Primrosepaw! *Where are you?* We need to eat!" someone called out. It sounded like Rosepetal.

"Okay! I was just... meeting Birchcreek!" Primrosepaw called out to her.

"I think you should eat, after all, we were out for a while!" Rainpaw told the younger apprentice humorously.

"So should you," Primrosepaw replied in the same way. "You *are...* the medicine... cat, right? You need all that... energy for... your mental duties!"

"Well, I agree with that," added Birchcreek. "You already gave me some prey, right?"

"Yep, in fact... *I* caught it!" Primrosepaw said, her eyes twinkling with pride.

Birchcreek smiled even more. "That's wonderful, then."

Rainpaw nodded exuberantly. "I agree! And of course, I'm going to eat soon, but I need to stay back here for some time. I can wait, you know!"

Primrosepaw shrugged. "Fine, I guess. I will... go and eat, then. There must be plen...ty of prey in the... pile now, since other cats... must have come back. I will... wait for you!" She started walking out, but then she slowly turned towards Birchcreek and said, "Oh, yeah, see you... soon, Birchcreek!"

"You, too," Birchcreek replied courteously.

Primrosepaw smiled at him, then left to go to the prey pile which was just a couple of fox-lengths across the medicine cat's den.

"Rainpaw, shouldn't you also eat? Or do you want someone to bring it to you?" Birchcreek asked his littermate humorously.

"Well, that's because I have some *important* stuff to do," Rainpaw answered with a little amusing haughtiness. However, there was a hint of worry in her voice.

"Like what?" Birchcreek inquired concerningly. He tried to stretch his three unharmed legs a little since they were starting to get cramped and tingly.

"You know, the usual medicine cat work," Rainpaw replied seriously.

Birchcreek just nodded in reply since he knew that medicine cats had a lot of work to do. Since Rainpaw had gathered herbs, she would have to sort them now, and that was probably tough to do. Birchcreek didn't want to invalidate it and instead wanted to be more understanding, as he remembered that he had made a big deal out of nothing with Whitestripe and unnecessarily dragged his friends into it. He also remembered he had looked at Primrosepaw in confusion after she was rescued from her fall as he had no recollection of her leaving, but he didn't realize how Primrosepaw was feeling, and that she was uncomfortable and embarrassed from everyone doing so, which caused her to be disappointed with everyone for a few days. And when he asked Quailclaw those questions, he didn't realize why Primrosepaw had gotten sad until he realized that she was probably jealous of them playing but she was too shy to join in, plus her condition, whereas he was only worried about her somehow wandering off again, when she would obviously have been traumatized from her fall. Of course, he had apologized to her afterwards. And he remembered when Rainpaw and Primrosepaw broke the news to him of the former's dreams of being a medicine cat. He was shocked, of course, since he always envisioned them standing next to each other, becoming warrior apprentices. He was also confused why she wouldn't tell him something like this before, especially since Rainpaw had been acting slyly about breaking the news.

But after those two incidents, now Birchcreek wanted to be patient and understanding of everyone, most definitely of Rainpaw. But also especially ones who had wavering loyalty like Stonetooth, and probably Goldenlily. So he tried to be calm and walk away so he could try to accept it, instead of getting annoyed or sad like he would have normally before. But of course, he knew that he had a limit to his patience, and the depressive period had taken a toll on him. He was also shocked when Moonstar died, but the shock didn't last for as long as the depressive period's did, and it wasn't as intense. And learning about Swiftclaw made him feel frustrated and annoyed at the fact that Swiftclaw had done this at all despite sticking tightly to the warrior code. The feelings sort of reminded him of what he felt when he fought with Whitestripe and a few other times as a kit, as he thought he had been wronged somehow. He had also felt a little guilty for making Primrosepaw feel that way, even if he hadn't done much. Birchcreek thought it might have to do with him having a strong sense of justice. He was also overwhelmed at the fact that he was the only one who knew about it other than the perpetrators themselves, as far as he knew. But he wasn't sure if anyone else knew about it, so it was only him.

But Birchcreek was pretty sure he was doing a good job of being patient and understanding already, and he was trying to be more bright and outgoing like he used to be by chatting with his Clanmates about various things and being positive about his injury. He figured that his new sense of positivity must be from the new sense of usefulness he was feeling now, especially from basking in the positive attention he was getting from his heroic act.

While he was thinking about all of this, Rainpaw suddenly broke him out of his thoughts when she said, "Hey, what are *you* thinking about, anyways? Don't you *also* have some squirrels to chow down?" She laughed, as her playful attitude had come back. It didn't seem like she was doing any work, though.

Birchcreek realized from all this talk, he had barely touched *his* prey, either. He just smiled and replied, "Well, you know I used to sit at the prey pile a lot, too, right? I usually never touched the prey."

"Yeah, but that was different," Rainpaw murmured in a monotone way, which was the flip of her previous attitude. "I know you were worried about the wellbeing of MoonClan. And I know you wanted to do something, but of course, you didn't know medicine, and you didn't know much about Stonetooth. It explains why you acted the way you did when saving these two." Her gaze went towards the two unconscious cats, Whitestripe and Swanpaw.

Birchcreek was a little surprised at her seriousness, but a lot more surprised when she basically explained how he felt throughout the depressive period. It was almost as if she could read his mind. *We* are *littermates, though,* he thought spiritually, remembering all the times they spent together. They had quite similar personalities and they were the type to always invite others to play or chat with them. And they had similar ideas about everything. Birchcreek also knew Rainpaw was as worried he was during the period, since, of course, she was hit much harder due to being a medicine cat, since the two deaths were medicine-related.

"And as for me... well, I know you did a great job, in saving them. I wouldn't have gotten there in time, after all, especially since I was holding these herbs," Rainpaw continued, smiling in what seemed to be an exhausted way. But then she frowned. "But after you also collapsed on top of them, I had to save you three quickly. You see, I had jumped soon after you did, after asking Blazesky where the safest place to jump was, since I also wanted to save them from dying from their injuries. Even though cobwebs don't dissolve in water, I was easily losing grip of them while trying to hold my breath and swim. I was much farther from where *you* jumped, since of course, I jumped in a safe place, while you jumped closer to them."

Birchcreek just nodded slowly and looked down at his paws. "Well, I wasn't even thinking about rocks underneath the water. I was just thinking about saving them somehow."

Rainpaw just nodded. "I know that, but I'm glad and grateful to StarClan you weren't too injured that you couldn't save them. Or even *yourself!* Otherwise..." She shivered at the thought.

Birchcreek just frowned at that and felt a little worried about what would have happened otherwise. He would have definitely drowned if he got too injured to swim, and realized how fearless he had been when he had jumped. He was just grateful everything went for the better, even if he got injured from doing so.

"And then, luckily I managed to save you three with my herbs! Because you were breeding profusely!" the medicine cat apprentice continued worriedly.

Birchcreek winced a little at that. He had no recollection what had happened when he blacked out, and the memories after he fell into the water were foggy, too. But he had clearly remembered Moonstar appearing to him and being proud of him.

"Afterwards, even when we took you up, Lilypool and I had to treat you! I was the most worried, of course, you're my littermate after all, and you were seriously injured!" Rainpaw wailed, stretching her front legs out on the ground and scratching the floor in distress. "I felt like I was going to get stressed out so much that I fainted for a moon! I felt like I might have aged from stress!"

Birchcreek winced even more at what she said, but for a different reason. He was concerned about his littermate's wellbeing, who had never been in such a big emergency consisting of more than one cat before. Perhaps not even Lilypool had been in one before as far as he knew, since he hadn't heard of such big things happening in the history of MoonClan. He hadn't even been thinking what would have happened if he had died. Since the two deaths had already wracked the Clan so much, he figured three more deaths would have been permanently traumatizing for everyone. "I'm sorry about that," he said quietly.

Rainpaw just stared at him anxiously. "I know you were just trying to be brave, but *I even-even had dreams about continuously being in StarClan for the entire time you were asleep!"*

Birchcreek blinked in realization when she said that last part. *Wait... what?* he wondered in surprise, remembering that he had also been continuously dreaming about being in StarClan, too. He had thought that he was dead for that reason, especially since Moonstar was there before he blacked out, until he randomly woke up sometime later and realized he was back in MoonClan camp. "Really?" he inquired in confusion.

*"Yes! It was so worrying because I thought it was a sign that one of you had died!"* Rainpaw yowled in distress, but Birchcreek was pretty sure she wasn't angry at him or anything. He knew that she was just trying to let out her sadness and frustration from the entire depressive period.

"Oh... well, I also had dreams about that, too," Birchcreek replied slowly, trying to somehow make her feel better by connecting with her. "While I was still sleeping."

His sister stopped looking worried, but looked utterly confused at him instead. *"Really...?* Like... wandering around in StarClan?"

Birchcreek nodded. "Yes, and hunting there as well."

Rainpaw stared at him for a moment before replying, "I was also somehow hunting, even though I was a medicine cat. I wasn't doing the *best,* but I was still catching some prey." Then her eyes widened. "Wait, so did we have the exact same dreams at the exact same time?"

Birchcreek shrugged. "I don't know, I'm not sure what it is, exactly." He thought it might have mostly been spiritual.

"Do you think we got them from being so worried? Plus the fact that we're littermates *and* heroes?" Rainpaw tried to reason.

"Perhaps. I guess StarClan was proud of us. Moonstar *did* come to me looking proud of me before I fainted."

"Probably." She still seemed to be thinking about it. Then she looked surprised again. *"Wait, our late grandmother, Moonstar, came to you before you fainted?"*

"Well, yes. I am pretty sure it meant that StarClan approved of my actions. Maybe it meant that they were going to give me a good reward or destiny in return."

"How interesting!" The bluish-black apprentice grinned. "That means StarClan was blessing us!" But then she frowned again. "However, it didn't feel like that to me for some reason."

Birchcreek frowned, too. "I also thought I was dead from those dreams." Rainpaw just shrugged at that, however. He was still pondering the exact reason why he had the same continuous dream as his older littermate. But then he remembered something important from his fulfilling, exciting and relaxing days of kithood with his littermate.

*"Hey, Birchkit, guess what, I had a dream last night about chasing a rabbit!" Rainkit told him excitedly.*

*"Really? So did I!" Birchkit replied in ebullient surprise.*

*"Wait, really? At the same time? Last night?" his sister inquired with the same kind of surprise.*

*"Yes! I can't believe you did, too!"*

*"That's amazing, fascinating and cool all at the same time!"*

They had a similar conversation when they talked about their dreams of chasing butterflies. It was very interesting to them since it almost seemed like a StarClan coincidence. But they figured it was just because they were littermates. But now, listening to what his sister was saying, he wondered if it had something more to do with them being littermates. Or even more than that, since he had never seen other littermates with the same kind of phenomenon, like Whitestripe and Stonetooth who only talked to each other and their mother in kithood and still stuck together despite being in different Clans or Primrosepaw and Dandelionpaw whose bond was as close and inseparable as the former two, even though Dandelionpaw had talked to a few other kits as a kit, but almost always her sister. He was pretty sure no one else had this phenomenon otherwise they might have talked about it before. But he decided to mention it to Rainpaw. "Do you remember when we were kits, and we talked about two dreams we had were the same?"

Rainpaw looked surprised at that, and looked like she was trying hard to recall that memory, until her eyes lit up. *"Oh, yes! I do!"* she squealed enthusiastically. "I remember the good old days!" She grinned from ear to ear. "It was so fun and fascinating, especially when I was with you!"

Birchcreek grinned, too, and looked up at the ceiling, reminiscing over his early life. He didn't think any of those good memories would have to do with the present other than making him feel better when pondering over it. But now, he wondered if it had some importance relating to this weird phenomenon.

"Do you think that's related to this? Or could it be a coincidence?" Rainpaw asked inquisitively.

"Perhaps either one," replied Birchcreek pensively. "I honestly have no idea."

His sister shrugged. "Probably. It's pretty peculiar, though. I don't know if these two are related. This one feels more important than the ones in kithood, though..."

Birchcreek thought so, too, since wandering around in StarClan seemed to be more spiritual and symbolic of something than merely chasing a hare or a butterfly. But of course, he couldn't be sure of anything related to StarClan, since they *did* have a mysterious and ambiguous nature after all. He decided to suggest, "Maybe if it happens again, we can try to figure out more about it."

Rainpaw nodded. "I suppose so."

Birchcreek nodded back and wondered about it. He thought it *could* be a coincidence because as far as he knew, they both had either a StarClan-related role or situation, plus they both saved other cats which would definitely get StarClan's approval. And when they were kits, they usually played the same things, so they could have dreamt the same things as well.

"Aren't you going to eat anyways?" he asked her, redirecting the conversation to right before Primrosepaw left.

Rainpaw stared at him for a moment, most likely still thinking about the previous topic, until she shrugged. "Well, maybe. I do feel thinking a lot made me hungrier," she said humorously.

"Me, too," her brother replied back in the same tone. Then he came up with a great idea. "If you want, we could share."

Rainpaw shrugged again, but this time with happiness. "I suppose so! Primrosepaw has gotten a *lot* better at catching squirrels, you see! Climbing was a bit hard for her to master at first, but of course, she was taught by Hailstream before to find low lying branches and bushes to climb up to bypass her freezing, and then of course, she went into pounce mode as she was taught by Quailclaw to do, and then she managed to do it!" Her eyes twinkled brightly as she was saying this.

"That's really amazing," commented Birchcreek genuinely, as he took a bite from one of the very squirrels Rainpaw was talking about how Primrosepaw caught.

They continued talking about Primrosepaw's amazing skills until they each finished a squirrel of hers.

"This was a pretty interesting chat, hehe," Rainpaw jested. Then she got up and straightened herself out. "Well, now, I'm not going to leave the den, obviously, someone needs to sort these herbs!" She simply smiled about that. But then her expression became neutral and said, "But I might not be able to chat as much while doing so."

Birchcreek just smiled and nodded. "Well, that's fine. Us warriors need to be quiet for catching prey, too. And we can't really chat while we're fighting or on border patrol, either, except when intimidating our opponents."

Rainpaw just nodded and smiled back at him. Then she wordlessly went into the herb area and started inspecting which herbs to sort.

Birchcreek looked at her for a moment before turning his gaze towards the two unconscious cats. He wondered if anything spiritual had to do with Whitestripe or Swanpaw, since the entire situation was indirectly caused by them falling off. He had seen Moonstar before he blacked out that time, dreamt about being in StarClan while being in a coma and it turned out his littermate dreamt the same as him, despite not being in a coma like him. They also talked about Primrosepaw's amazing progress despite her disability. But the shared dreams were still a puzzling thing for both of them. He wasn't sure if he or Rainpaw should tell anyone else like Lilypool or Snowstar, since they most likely didn't have this phenomenon and were therefore unrelated.

Then he looked at his two front paws, then turned his head to look at his right hind leg. It still needed to heal, of course. But from all this chatter, he nearly forgot about it, which he figured was a good thing. He wanted to hope for better things after all. He wondered if the shared StarClan dream with his littermate had some spiritual, hopeful significance to it, which is why he got it.

Birchcreek looked at his two unconscious friends again. *Whitestripe and Swanpaw... hopefully you wake up soon, too,* he thought optimistically. *With all the hope of MoonClan and StarClan, including mine... I hope you will wake up soon.*

**This is a chapter subpage of MoonClan's ambitious story (1): The First Four Leaders.**

***This is the first chapter of Part 3: Birchcreek's Selflessness.***

*← Previous Chapter: Chapter 32: The New WarriorNext Chapter: Chapter 34: A New Normal →*

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