“H-hey! W-wait for me!!” I yelped out as I neared the thick-furred, striped tabby she-cat ahead of me; my paws thumping against the cold, muddy ground of the forest floor. It was my first day outside the camp (and my home), and my mentor was showing me the borders of the other Clans.
My mentor, Runningbrooke, didn’t slow down and I was forced to speed up. My tail twitched and my paws and muscles were burning when she finally stopped, and I could scent the unfamiliar smell of kittypets as I neared my mentor.
My brother, Sorrelpaw (a small speckled tom), and his mentor, Frostpoppy (a thick-furred, pure white she-cat), strode up to us. Frostpoppy licked my brothers’ ear comfortingly, before padding up to Runningbrooke.
“Hm...seems like your apprentice is a bit slow, Runningbrook.” she said, giving a playful look to her sister.
“Yours isn’t doing so well either, Frostpoppy.” my mentor replied, swiping her sisters’ ears softly and playfully before returning her gaze to my brother and I.
“Now, Sorrelpaw, Flamepaw; this is the border separating us and the Twolegs.” she waved her tail to the planks of wood in front of us, gesturing that it was the border between our two sides.
“Remember, if you cross this to the other side, the Twolegs might pick you up and take you away, and keep you trapped inside their dens and feed you those tasteless pellets and disgusting slop.” Frostpoppy added, giving us both a stern look to add to her warning.
We nodded, our breath regained as we sat beside each other and listened intently to our mentors. My muzzle scrunched up in disgust as Frostpoppy told us these things; I am perfectly happy living with my Clan and eating mice. But I could tell my brother was excited; his tail was twitching and he was shaking in his excitement. I nudged him slightly, signaling him to calm down some. He’s always been a hyper cat, even when we were kits; he’d always play-attack the elders or anyone who got near him.
Runningbrooke and Frostpoppy then began to lead us in the direction of a large stream, and bounded over it quickly with us behind. While we were running, I kept thinking about how much I really wanted to be a warrior. Do I really want to? Or do I just want the attention I’d get with my bright, ginger fur, that’s so similar to the famous leader from ThunderClan? My thoughts were getting the best of me, and before I knew it I had run muzzle-first into Runningbrooke’s side, making both of
us fall back.
“Oi! Watch it Flamepaw!” she hissed, and I withdrew from on top of my mentor.
“Sorry,” I mumbled back, and sat next to my brother again.
My thoughts started racing again, and even though I’m already in warrior training, I kept thinking about Echosong and how lonely she must be as our only medicine cat. She has so many herbs to sort, and so many cats to take care of; it must get hard doing all of that by herself.
“Flamepaw!! Are you listening to me?” Runningbrooke hissed at me, and I whipped my head up to look at her.
“Oh! Um..” I hesitated, and she swiped at my ears roughly, but with her claws sheathed.
“Pay attention, apprentice,” she gave me a slightly harsh glare.
It’s true that I’m her first apprentice, and that she wanted my brother Sorrelpaw. Runningbrooke wasn’t very fond of me, just as I wasn’t of her.
“Yes, Runningbrooke.” I nodded my head some, before straightening some to show my full attention.
“Now, as I was saying..” she gave me a hard glare before she resumed her lecture, tail tip twitching irritably.

“Flamebright!! Hurry up and get those herbs sorted and put into the storage! You’ve been daydreaming all day!” I was torn from my memories by my mentor and friend, purring with amusement.
I turned towards her with an apologetic flick of my tail.
“I’m sorry Echosong, just reminiscing.” I say, and stand to sort out the catmint and dandelion and dock leaves.
“What about? Before you became my apprentice I presume?” she gave another amused purr, and gave my chest fur a couple of embarrassed licks.
“Yeah, but I’m happy with the choice I chose.” I mewed back, and went back to my work sorting through the herbs.
“I’m happy you made that choice, too, Flamebright.” Echosong nuzzled the top of my head softly before leaving our den, and I, again, went back to sorting the herbs.

“Flamepaw! Pay attention!!” Runningbrooke yowled at me again, making me 
jump slightly.
My mentors fur bristled with annoyance, her ears pressed flat against her head.
“If you’re not going to pay attention on your first day of training, then go back to the hollow!!” she hissed, and I had to take a step back from her so not to get any spit on my muzzle.
"I-I’ll pay attention Runningbrooke! I promise! I’m sorry!” I mewed back, sounding quiet compared to the older warrior.
“Make sure you do!” she growled at me, before continuing with the lesson again.
My brother beside me gave a sympathetic look, and I sighed softly in response before asserting my full attention to my unwanted mentor.
I had a feeling that today was going to be a long day that day.
--Time-Skip--
When we had finally arrived back at the hollow, Sorrelpaw and I were worn out and we just about fell muzzle first into the first patch of sunlight we saw.
“We’ll do some hunting training tomorrow, okay Sorrelpaw?” Frostpoppy said as she walked up to us, and my brother nodded excitedly despite his weariness.
“Okay!” he responded, and Frostpoppy gave a purr of amusement as she flicked him with her fluffy tail softly.
I saw Runningbrooke talking to Sharpclaw, my father and the deputy of our Clan. He looked back at me with a slightly soft look, despite his name, and I looked down some. I was absolutely sure that she was telling him about my spaciness today, and I hung my head some and shared tongues with my brother for the afternoon.
Runningbrooke rudely interrupted us by pulling me away from my kin by the scruff and above the rocks by the SkyRock. I managed to break free from her teeth, even if I lost a tuft or two of fur.
“What is it, Runningbrooke? What do you need?” I asked politely despite her rudeness.
“We will be going over the borders again tomorrow, and this time you will pay attention Flamepaw.” She gave another harsh glare, and I gave another soft sigh but nodded.
“Yes, Runningbrooke,” I replied, sitting next to the SkyRock some as my mentor made her way down the precarious rocks, and back with the rest of the Clan as I watched from above.
Runningbrooke seemed to purr with all the other cats, even the newest warriors and Sorrelpaw: but when it came to me she was cold and distant. I pondered over this, until I came back to the thoughts of earlier.
Do I want to be a Warrior? Or a Medicine-Cat?

“Flamebright! Ow.. I think I sprained my paw..” I heard an older mew come in through the entrance of the den, and I turned to see Duskstripe limp in; his front left paw held up as he slowly trotted up to me.
“Let me take a look,” I said, and nudged his paw slightly with my muzzle; he immediately flinched like I had bit it.
“It seems that way Duskstripe; what were you doing to hurt your paw?” I questioned the tabby tom, and he gave a few slightly embarrassed licks to his chest fur.
“I was playing around with Flurrypaw and Bluepaw and got my paw caught in a couple stones,” he responded, still licking his chest fur embarrassedly.
I purred with amusement as I picked up a few elder leaves, stinging nettle, comfrey and some cobwebs.. I set the herbs down in front of the older tom.
“Eat a few of the elder leaves while I work on making the rest into a poultice for your sprain.” I crouched down and started chewing the elder leaves, comfrey and stinging nettle into the poultice, their juices flowing into my mouth and coaxing me to swallow a few myself, but I needed to save these for Duskstripe’s sprain, so I continued with the chewing until I had a good poultice.
Duskstripe had already eaten the elder leaves, so I worked on putting the poultice on his paw. Once the poultice was on, I wrapped it with some of the cobweb to keep it from coming off.
“There you go, Duskstripe. Tread carefully with that paw, and no more playing around with the apprentices warrior.” I teased, and he gave a slight shake to his pelt.
“Okay, thanks Flamebright!” He purred some and bounded out of the den carefully.
“Seems like you’re already a new favorite.” Echosong teased as she walked
out, making my pelt feel a bit hot.
“He had a sprain, it was no big deal.” I started sorting out the herbs I hadn’t used for Duskstripe and put them back into their respective piles and holes.
“You did a good job,” She praised, and I licked my chest fur again.
“Are you going to keep embarrassing me all day Echosong?” I teased back, and she gave an amused purr again.
“No, I suppose not. Have you finished sorting the herbs?” She asked, and I nodded in response.
“Yes, but it looks like we’re going to need more chervil, coltsfoot, oak leaves and parsley.” I replied, looking back in through our store.
“Let’s go collect some now, if you don’t mind. I just found the perfect spot for feverfew to grow; we don’t have any in stock, and it’s almost leaf-bare.” Echosong meowed, sounding worried.
“Okay. Let me just put away the rest of these herbs and we can go.” I purred towards her, brushing some scraps of my previous herbs back into their piles.
“Alright, I’ll meet you at the Fallentree.” She said before padding out.
I sighed happily, putting away the cobwebs before following moments after.
“Ready? Let’s go.” Echosong said once I arrived at the tree.
I nodded in response, and followed the smaller cat as I drifted back through my memories.

“Flamepaw! Flamepaw wake up!! It’s time for training!” I heard the shrill mew of my brother in my ear, and I groaned softly in response before stretching and curling my tail and padding softly out.
The sun was just washing over our hollow, soft dew drops resting on the tops of rocks and tree’s leaves.
“Flamepaw! Over here! Now!” I heard Runningbrooke call, and I sighed again and said farewell to my brother and trotted over to my mentor.
“Flamepaw,” she said when I stood in front of her. “You have two choices, and you have to make them now!”
I must have shown obvious confusion, as she huffed some in annoyance.
“What I mean is, you need to choose between becoming Echosong’s apprentice, or continue with me. I will give you only till sunhigh to make your choice.” She growled softly to herself after and joined Sharpclaw’s hunting patrol.
I was kind of shocked at her change in attitude, so I walked down to the silver medicine cats den to ask what she might have meant.
“Echosong? Are you here?” I asked as I walked in, the lovely aroma of so many herbs flooding my senses.
“Yes? What is it Flamepaw?” She asked as she padded out of the separate den where she slept.
“I was wondering something… Do you know why Runningbrooke told me to choose between you as my mentor and her?” I mewed softly, even though the choice in my mind was clear; I wanted Echosong to become my mentor.
“Well, maybe it’s because you kept spacing out during the trip out to the borders.” she teased slightly, and I gave my pelt a shake to rid of any embarrassment.
“It’s already spread through the Clan that fast?” I asked, looking up at the teller she-cat.
She let out a purr of amusement.
“Of course not, Runningbrooke’s only told me and Sharpclaw so there’s no need to worry.” Echosong licked the top of my head some as she started padding towards her stores of herbs, and I had to stop myself from stepping next to her and asking about all the different herbs there was.
“Which of you two do you think I should choose?” I asked, getting as serious as I could as an apprentice.
“You should choose whichever your heart desires, Flamepaw. No one would think any less of you.” I saw her starting to organize her herbs, and I could scent Coltsfoot, Goldenrod, Mallow and all kinds of other herbs as she moved them.
I was surprised that I could remember the names of all those herbs, the last time I was in here was a few moons ago back when I was still Flamekit.
“Okay, I’ve made up my mind then.” I said assuredly, and sat up straighter.
“Good, go and tell Leafstar if you plan to change your mentor.” Echosong mewed back in reply, it being muffled slightly by the holes of the herbs stores.
“Alright, I’ll see you later Echocong!” I said before bounding up the slope to the leader's den.
“Leafstar?” I mewed respectively, waiting for her to call me into her den.
“Come in, Flamepaw, what is it?” I heard her, and shifted on my paws uncomfortably as I padded into her den.
“Um, I was wondering if I could become Echosong’s apprentice?” I asked shyly, still not used to my Clan leader.
“Oh, well isn’t this a surprise?” She purred with delight. “I’m sure Echosong will be happy to have you as her apprentice, Flamepaw. Let’s call a Clan gathering, shall we?” Leafstar said as she stood, stretching, and walked out and into the clearing, bounding up the Rockpile.
“Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Rockpile for a Clan meeting!” she yowled across the rocky clearing, and every cat (including myself) gathered underneath, looking up expectantly at our Clan leader.
Sharpclaw’s patrol had just returned; they dropped their prey in the fresh-kill pile and padded silently to the back of the cats.
“I gathered you all here to say that Flamepaw,” she had looked down at me with a soft gleam in her eyes. “has wished to transfer from warrior training over to medicine cat training.”
Echosong seemed to glow with pride as the other cats yowled congratulations to the medicine cat, causing her to lick her chest a few times out of embarrassment.
“Flamepaw! Flamepaw!” the other cats of my Clan cheered my name, and I felt as if I was glowing with pride along with my new mentor.
Echosong padded forward, and touched her nose against mine as I purred in excitement and happiness.
I turned to face the cats of my Clan with the same purr as every cat congratulated me; all except Runningbrooke, who seemed more upset about losing her first apprentice. Once the excitement died down, I padded up to my old mentor, touching my muzzle against her flank softly.
“Thank you for letting me choose, Runningbrooke.” I gave a grateful look to the warrior, bowing my head respectfully to her.
She nodded back.
“Go to your mentor, I feel she may need to show you a few things now.” Runningbrooke said with a soft, almost unnoticeable purr.
“Okay,” I nodded back to the thick-furred warrior. “See ya later Runningbrooke!”
I bounded across the rocky clearing to my new mentor and den, stopping to touch her nose again gratefully.
“Welcome to the medicine cats’ den, Flamepaw.” She greeted, her eyes shining with her own excitement at her first apprentice.
“Thank you.”

The sun having already gone down, the cats of my Clan started filing into their respective dens. I sighed softly to myself, before walking back into my own den that I shared with Echosong. We had gotten back not long ago, laden down with freshly picked herbs and roots. Echosong had already curled up in her nest when I walked back in, her nose tucked under her tail as if already asleep. I purred softly at my denmate before I laid in my own nest, curling up, with my orange fur touching the silver cat laying next to me. I closed my eyes, and almost instantly fell into my dream-world.

I sometimes wonder how my life would have differed had I
chose to become a warrior instead; then I remember that I wouldn’t’ve been happy living a warrior’s life, fighting battles and dying in battle. The life of a medicine cat is the life I chose all those moons ago, and it’s the medicine cat code that I chose to live by then. The medicine cat's’ life is the life for me. I knew it the moment I stepped out of the nursery and smelled the first scent of herbs.