She suddenly pictured her Clanmates. What would they say when she told them that the spirit-cats had told her she was special? But you’re a featherbrain! She imagined Swift Minnow’s scornful mew.
“Tell me what they said.” Micah’s voice jerked her from her thoughts.
“They told me I was to become a medicine cat and learn about herbs and healing and that they would send me omens and I had to explain the omens to Wind Runner.” Moth Flight’s chest tightened. “They said it was my destiny.” She gazed deep into Micah’s eyes, expecting uncertainty, but he stared back solemnly. “Do you think I can do it?” she asked anxiously.
“You have dreams about moths and spirit-cats and you love to collect plants instead of prey.” Micah sat up and stretched.
“You’ll do it brilliantly.”
“Do you really think so?” She jumped to her paws.
“Do you want to do it?”
Moth Flight imagined herself treating cats, collecting herbs, advising Wind Runner and searching the stars for omens.
Anticipation prickled beneath her pelt. “Yes!” Her tail quivered.
“But it’s not just me,” she went on. “They want Cloud Spots to be a medicine cat too. And Pebble Heart and Dappled Pelt and—” She stopped herself. Was Micah ready to be told of his destiny? He’d only agreed to follow the moth with her, not to give up his life on the farm to live with the Clans. “I have to tell them. I have to tell all of them what I’ve seen.” She felt her paws begin to tremble again.
“Of course!” Micah swished his tail, excitedly. “They’ll want to know.”
Moth Flight dropped her gaze, feeling suddenly small beneath the wide starry sky. Could she really do this? As she tried to imagine telling her Clan that she’d spoken with Gray Wing and Half Moon and Emberkit, her paws pricked with alarm. “They already think I’m a birdbrain. This will just prove it.”
“Why?” Micah frowned, puzzled.
Hopelessness swamped Moth Flight. “I’ve done so many dumb things,” she confessed. “They won’t believe me.”
“They have to believe you!” Micah puffed out his chest. “I believe you.”
“You don’t know how dumb I can be.”
Micah padded around her, impatiently. “You’re not dumb.”
“You don’t know me.”
“Yes, I do!” Micah stopped and stared at her. “I’ve never met a cat who goes off chasing moths or disappears into strange tunnels in the middle of the night or tells me that she’s going to learn how to heal and read omens.” He paused, his gaze sparkling so intensely that her heart seemed to miss a beat.
“You’re wonderful!”
Moth Flight shifted her paws nervously. Would he think she was so wonderful when she told him about his destiny? “You’re part of it,” she blurted.
Micah stiffened. “Part of what?”
“You’re meant to be a medicine cat too.”
“On the farm?” He tipped his head, puzzled.
“No!” Moth Flight paced across the stone and looked over the trees to the distant moor, curving like a cat’s spine against the glittering sky. “You’re to be SkyClan’s medicine cat.”
“That’s your Clan, right?” Micah stopped beside her.
“No.” Moth Flight steadied her breath. “I’m from WindClan.
SkyClan is Clear Sky’s group. They live in the forest, not on the moor.” She felt Micah shift uneasily beside her.
“So I’ll live there, and not with you?”
Her heart lifted. He hadn’t said no. She turned sharply and faced him. “Do you mean you’ll do it? Become a medicine cat for the Clans?”
Micah returned her gaze, but she could read nothing in his eyes. “The leader of SkyClan,” he began. “He’s a tom, right?
Fierce. He likes bossing other cats around.”
Moth Flight’s mouth grew dry as he went on.
“Is he suspicious of other cats? And proud? Gray with blue eyes?”
Moth Flight backed away, startled. He was describing Clear Sky exactly. “How do you know?”
“I’ve dreamed of him,” he murmured. “I dream I’m bringing him catmint to help a sick kit.”
“Catmint?” Moth Flight pricked her ears.
“It’s an herb that grows behind the barn. It looks a bit like nettles but the leaves are smaller and they don’t sting. You’ll know if you ever see some. It smells great. And it helps coughs.” Micah whisked his tail impatiently. “I keep having the same dream. The kit’s always sick and the gray tom’s ordering me to hurry with the catmint.” He blinked at her. “But I can see now—it wasn’t a dream! None of my dreams have been dreams.
I’ve been seeing my destiny!” His fur rippled with surprise. He lifted his gaze toward the moor.
Moth Flight shifted her paws nervously. He’d just discovered that the life he’d planned was not the life that had been planned for him. “Do you mind?”
“Why should I mind?” Micah shrugged. “It’s pointless to mind your own destiny. You just have to face it.”
Moth Flight wondered how he could be so calm. Fear hollowed her belly as she tried to imagine the moons that lay head of her. “Aren’t you scared?”
“No,” he meowed softly. “One path is as good as another.
It’s not knowing which one to take that’s scary. Now that I know where I’m meant to be going, there’s nothing to fear.” He looked at her. “For either of us.”
“Do you promise?” Her mew quavered.
“I promise.” His green gaze was steady. Starlight sparkled in its depths.
Moth Flight reached out her muzzle and touched his. Her heart slowed as his nose brushed her cheek. She felt soothed by his stillness, aware of the moonlight washing their pelts.
Chapter 14
“Wake up.”
Moth Flight felt a muzzle nudging her shoulder. She lifted her head, blinking at the bright sunshine. Where am I? Confused for a moment, she saw Micah, standing beside her on the smooth, wide rock at the foot of Highstones.
Memories flooded her. The night before! The spirit-cats!
The moonlit stone!
Heart leaping, she scrambled to her paws. “We have to get back and tell Wind Runner!” They’d talked until dawn had crept over the moortop, and then slept. Now the sun was sinking behind them. “Come on!”
“There’s no hurry. We can eat first.” Micah jumped off the rock and sniffed for prey underneath.
“There isn’t time. It’s full moon tonight. We have to get back and tell her before the Gathering. Then she can let the others know.” Moth Flight leaped from the rock and headed across the stony ground, toward the fields. If she could convince
Wind Runner that the Clans needed to have medicine cats, then Wind Runner could explain everything to the other leaders.
They might not believe me, but they’ll believe the WindClan leader.
She heard Micah’s paw steps hurry after her. “What’s the Gathering?”
“The Clans meet every full moon to share tongues,” Moth
Flight explained quickly, her eyes fixed on the meadow ahead.
“They swap information about dangers, like Twolegs or dogs, and how the prey’s running. It helps keep the peace.”
“Do the Clans fight?” Micah sounded surprised.
“They did once,” Moth Flight told him. “Now we meet and share so that we’ll never fight again.”