Perfectheart stared at the sad little mop of brown fur currently huddled in the corner of the medicine den. Frostface had introduced him as Brownfern the Windclan medicine cat. Perfectheart couldn't fathom how this was a fully grown cat let alone a fully trained medicine cat. There no way! Brownfern was just so small and wide eyed! HE LOOKED LIKE A KIT!? It was annoying. The little brown kitten thing had finally managed to stop crying and clinging to Eyes like a LITERAL BABY CHILD CREATURE. And Eyes was so respectable and cool too! Perfectheart had never seen him even a little bit soft. But... Eyes poked his head into the medicine den. Noted that his brother was asleep, and walked away. Perfectheart glowered a little. THAT WAS THE SEVENTH TIME THIS MORNING! The only clanmate in this clan who was remotely tolerable anymore was Benny! AND HE WAS A DOG SO THAT WAS SAYING SOMETHING! Moonstar was a little too welcoming to new cats if you asked Perfectheart. There was the weird white she-cat that followed Moonstar around like catchweed stuck to a tail. And then there was that useless elder lady. Perfectheart didn't even bother to learn her name. That was how little he cared. And Jack was flipping infuriating to be around! That stupid snark always found new ways to get on Perfectheart's nerves. And Frostface and Moonstar would always stop him from biting back cause they're "guests" or whatever. Benny was cool because he was so big and so fast and one time he let Perfectheart ride on his back and it was the greatest thing that had ever happened to him! He was going so fast! Perfectheart wanted so badly to do that again. And then there was Eyes. The scarred up Brown tabby formerly from Windclan. Apparently his sister Monarchstar beat him up real badly, which make sense cause Monarchstar is flipping huge! But Eyes is so precise and calculated. He's been more or less acting as a second deputy. Always in deep conversation with Moonstar. Perfectheart listened in on one of their conversations but they were in a philosophical argument and were using such big words that his hurt his head. And now they have Brownfern. He reminded Perfectheart of Tansysong a little. Before she ran away. Brownfern gave a little shudder in his sleep and let out a whimper. Frostface had mentioned something about him being tra-ma-tized? Whatever that meant. Perfectheart considered getting Eyes to take care of it. After all this was his brother. This shouldn't be Perfectheart's problem... WHERE IS FROSTFACE? Stars really!? Brownfern let out another whimper. Perfectheart rolled his eyes. What's he supposed to do? He paced around. ugh. this is dumb this is so stupid why is this his problem? Perfectheart sat next to the pathetic little piece of wet moss that was Brownfern. Does he...? hm... he places his tail over Brownfern's back. If it's the only option... then... he waits and watches awkwardly as Brownfern's breathing evens out and grows deeper. "Can't believe this." huffed Perfectheart beside his patient. He smiled BUT ONLY A LITTLE IT WASN'T THAT DEEP HE WASN'T-
These new developments worried Moonstar quite a bit. When Brownfern ran into camp the night before he was a little too stressed and incoherent to explain much. Eyes spent the whole night with him. In the morning Eyes explained the situation. “He confronted our sister last night about the gathering. Things… did not go well.” Moonstar nodded her head, “Trying to merge the clans and that thinly veiled threat against Stalkstar and I.” Eyes nodded flicking his good ear, “Blizzardstar and Mudstar disagreed with her. I wouldn’t be surprised if she had something to do with their deaths. But I highly doubt that she was the one to do it. She’s not the stealthy sort. But, there have been cats working with her since before she became leader.” Moonstar had meet Monarchstar a couple times when they were both deputy. Back then Monarchwing seemed to be a rather pleasant cat. She was outspoken and friendly and made an effort to get to know the other deputies. Moonstar had seen her as the type of cat to blurt out whatever was on her mind. Not a single utterance of merging clans or any sort of high ambitions were mentioned at all. Moonstar couldn’t fathom what could have caused this sort of flip in personality. “I have an educated guess that my sister is being manipulated or guided into doing this by someone else,” Eyes continued, “And I have a hunch about who that cat may be, but a hunch is not enough to obtain a definitive answer from. For now I suggest that you sleep in the warriors den. Until we can ensure your safety.” Moonstar curled up into her new nest in the warriors den. Dovling quickly wrapped her tail around Moonstar’s body. Dovling insisted that it was for Moonstar’s protection but Moonstar doubted that the petite white cat could do anything that Moonstar couldn’t do herself. Moonstar was a fully trained warrior. Dovling was not. But if protecting her made Dovling happy the who was Moonstar to argue. The former loner had wrapped herself around Moonstar curled body and had already dozed off. The warmth of the other cat was already making Moonstar sleepy too so she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. “Psst Moonstar. Baby girl.” Moonstar flicked one eye open, “Goldenfur?” “You know it!” Moonstar sat up. She wasn’t in camp anymore but this certainly wasn’t Starclan either. Opaque black water that shimmered like crude oil expanded in all directions like an infinite dark lake. The water only came up to Moonstar’s lower chest and was unbelievably smooth. She couldn’t see underneath it at all. The sky was a pale lavender that faded into a deep purple towards the horizon. Goldenfur floated safely above the water, “So a lot of stuff to get through not a lot of time, where to begin. Moonstar had met Goldenfur once, at her leader ceremony. Despite only meeting her once, the former medicine cat was difficult to forget. She had given Moonstar a life for live, laugh, love and then booped her on the nose with her paw. Then after Moonstar had received all nine of her lives Goldenfur had circled around to boop her on the nose again and then dashed off to chat with Frostface. She said boop out loud both times. “So! Turns out my new girlfriend is a no good evil murderer!” “What,” Moonstar responded. “I know. It’s super hot! She also has a girlfriend too but we’ve got like a triple hottie thing going on so it’s chill. Anyway she’s after you now and you are like my fourth favorite cat and I really don’t want you to die yet so here is what you gotta do.” “What,” Moonstar responded. “First of all agree to whatever she says even if you don’t. Thats how you don’t die. And also don’t make her angry or talk back. She has a short fuse. And uhhhhhhhhhhh don’t call her hot stuff either she HATES that. And I think thats it!” “What,” Moonstar responded. But Goldenfur was gone. Leaving the Riverclan leader alone in the murky water. But she wasn’t alone for long. Only a few moments later did a pair of sharp yellow eyes come into view.
