A Moment in the Woods. [JuncoxCrow]

[Cloudbat]

"Heal me?" She scoffed. "I'm healing you of your acrophobia!" Score for Juncopaw: big word used in creative comeback. "I promise not to die, not while I need to look out for you, eh?" She winked at him, knowing that though it couldn't last, it was fun.

The silver tabby nearly exploded in a fit of giggles at the black tom's indignant face and proclamation. "Are you suuuuuuure?" she said teasingly, batting her eyelashes.

Then she pouted. "Oh, it is. A terrible problem, indeed." Awww, it was just so goofy the way he batted at the limbs, his brows furrowed in concentration. So. Freaking. Cute. She breathed in, loving his smell, his smooth movements, the strength in his body. Just being with him, teasing him, loving him, felt so good.

"Snrk...haha!" She couldn't help but let a laugh escape her as he looked so proud of having jumped, like, as far as an ant's antennae. "Is that the best you can do?"

But then her laughter turned to a gasp of amazement as he (if somewhat clumsily) continued to leap through the dusty sunbeams to get above her! Well, that just wouldn't do. Carefully maneuvering herself, paws slightly sweaty, the PineClanner elegantly tensed, thought, and gracefully jumped across, to the side, and then up again in a dazzling series of leaps, the branches shaking with each landing and departure.

Having done so, she sat right next to him. "Ha!" The silver tabby announced, smirking. However, she then slipped slightly, so that her paws scrabbled and she leaned onto Crowflower to regain her balance...soft, dark fur smelling of herbs. Mmm. But then, of course she moved away, reminding herself that he was not, and couldn't be, hers.

[Glowy]

"Is that the best you can do?" "Nope," he quipped, pausing for just a second beside her on another branch before continuing on his way up. Once he got used to it, he decided that this whole tree climbing business wasn't so bad after all. Oh, it was still dangerous, yes, but the skill seemed to be partially instinctual. Could warriors from every clan climb trees? They probably could. It was probably just a cat thing. Besides which, this competition with Juncopaw was just downright fun! He couldn't resist sending a challenging glance down her way once he'd found his perch. Oh boy, did that get her going! He just managed to catch a flash of determination in her eyes before she criss-crossed the branches to join him on his own limb. It was... it was by far the most graceful thing he'd ever seen her do. He hadn't been able to take his eyes off her, he'd been so surprised. It was, in a strange way, transfixing to watch her leap through the boughs of the great pine tree. She was there for a heartbeat and then... just gone, only to reappear a moment later, closer. "Ha?" he teased, shoving her shoulder ever so lightly with his own. He didn't want to be too rough and cause her to fall out of the tree. That would be bad. Still, she lost her balance a little bit, forcing her to lean up against him for support. Her face ended up resting against his neck. As she breathed, he felt a slight tug on his fur and the warmth of her breath against his neck. Shivers cascaded down his back- he wasn't used to that feeling. At. All. Nobody ever touched him, not even mistakenly. He was always the one that had to initiate things. Even Finchpaw, his best friend, wouldn't let himself slip up and accidentally brush up against him. "Juncopaw... were you..." he turned to face her, brows raised in a mock concerned fashion, "Were you smelling me?" He tried to contain his amusement as well as his shivers, succeeding only with the latter. First he broke out in a smirk, then a grin, and then disintegrated into full out laughter. He just couldn't keep the act going for very long. She made him smile too much. speaking [bg=5f8219][atrb=width,469,true] [atrb=border,0,true]

[Cloudbat]

She was teaching him! She really was teaching him! For once, she wasn't the one who felt chastened. It was such a nice feeling, like being a leaf gently floating to the ground, enjoying the breeze instead of fighting it.

And then...then her heart seemed to melt and flow through her as he teased her, ever so gently, back. So...awkward, dangerous, maddeningly tempting? Nice. That too.

Oh. My. Earth. He just...no. He could not know. Nope. Never. She had to act natural, even if her insides had turned to jelly.

"Psh, smell you? Now why would I ever want to do that? I bet you smell like...like...dirt!" it just burst out of her. "Don't...don't laugh at me!" But then her nervousness exploded out of her and she was laughing too, laughing so hard she didn't even know why, trying to keep her balance as she rocked back and forth, gasping and wheezing. "AHAHAHA...heeheehee...hoo hoo...snort."

Finally she stopped, and grinned in a half cheesy, half shy way. "Well, we should probably smell our way down in any case, or the rest of the Clan will wonder if I've kidnapped you." She turned, trying to wrench her mind away from laughing - laughing together - and find the best way down.

Hmmm...there was a thin branch almost directly below them, which would be an easy jump but an awkward landing. Too dangerous - even she could slip easily, let alone Crowflower, and she wasn't sure it would take their weight.

There was the one she'd just come from...hmm. A bit tricky - going down there was a bit of another branch sticking out - but if they leaped high enough, they should clear it, and it was a good, solid branch with many pawholds.

"Now for your next lesson, young grasshopper." said Juncopaw, making her voice deep and wise-sounding. "What goes up must come down. Watch me, copy what I do, and all will be made clear." She tensed to jump, but instead of going straight up like her last leaps, she curved her body so she soared just over the sticking-out branch and down onto the nice, solid one, her claws sinking into it.

[Glowy]

Crowflower simply arched his brow when she made her little comment about dirt. He smelled like herbs and flowers and all the good things in the world and he knew it! He loved the scent of his job. The medicine cat smelled clean and earthy and warm, not like some of the warriors who were rank with days of sweat gone unattended by cleansing tongues. Sometimes it made him shudder just to think of all the unsavory little critters that latched themselves onto an unclean body... Still, just for the sake of being dramatic, he bent his head down into his long, luxuriously clean (he was a bit anal about being free of things that could make him sick, like mud) pelt and took a good long whiff. "Mmmmm," he sighed, smiling contentedly, "The smell of dirt!" This whiteness of his teeth contrasted sharply with the pitch of his pelt as he flashed Juncopaw a bright, shiny grin. "Well, we should probably smell our way down in any case, or the rest of the Clan will wonder if I've kidnapped you." He was sure the clan would suspect Juncopaw of kidnapping him. After all, he was just the sort to let himself be overpowered by a she-cat smaller and most likely weaker than himself, and abandon his clan. Oh, and Juncopaw was a true scheming mastermind (mistressmind?), bent on domination of the forest. Her insidious plan was to rid the clans of their medicine cats and then infect everybody with a deadly disease. Everybody was so much more useful when they were dead. Yeah right. She probably just wasn't having fun. He was probably being boring. Why did nobody want to be his friend except for Finchpaw? It just wasn't fair! "I suppose you're probably right. We ought to start heading back," he acquiesced begrudgingly, swishing his tail. How were they going to get down from here, though? Getting up was one thing, but getting back down again... he hadn't thought of that. He saw Juncopaw's glance, watched the path of her gaze as she mapped out her next move, and he was terrified once more. What in Love's name was she thinking? You didn't just jump down from trees! His eyes narrowed as he set out his mind to try it. If Juncopaw had managed, then he should probably be able to do it, yeah? His tongue stuck out in concentration as he prepped himself for the jump, trying to remember how Juncopaw had curved her body. He took a deep breath, squeezed his eyes shut tight, and jumped, hoping for the sake of his health that he didn't miss the branch... like he managed to do, somehow. He careened through sheets of pine needles, opening his eyes with a shock. He'd done exactly what Juncopaw had done, and he'd missed, and now he was falling and he was going to die! By some miracle of... whatever was out there, his body righted itself and he landed on his paws. Thankfully for him he landed on moss and dirt, not rocks. He didn't fancy having a stabbed paw. He found himself curling up on the ground, much as a pillbug does for protection, shaking slightly. By the time Juncopaw managed to get herself onto safe land, perhaps he might regain some of his composure. For now, he was just grateful for the fact that he hadn't died in his insane fall from the tree. speaking [bg=5f8219][atrb=width,469,true] [atrb=border,0,true]

[Cloudbat]

Her heart did a little relay race in her chest as he smiled at her, her head getting fuzzy inside. Then she scolded herself. Being swoony was all very well on the ground, but she didn't fancy losing focus and breaking a leg. Of course, then he'd have to treat her. Hm. The silver tabby looked back up at the medicine cat, her gaze expectant.

"Yes, dirt is delicious. Now, are you going to- CROWFLOWER!" She shouted, as he jumped - missed and fell to the ground. Her muscles clenched in horror, her jaw dropping. No! No! NO! Blind with panic, hardly seeing anything but his still black shape on the greenery below, she stumbled down the branches, almost slipping off in her mad haste to get to him.

Seconds later she leapt to the forest floor, body shaking, tail bushed. Her ears were flattened as she anxiously sniffed the air, jumping over to him. No blood...thank EARTH, no blood. Oh earth...if he'd been hurt, she'd never have forgiven herself.

"Crowflower..." she whispered, leaning over him. "Please, please be okay. Dear earth, I'm so sorry. Forgive me..." Juncopaw couldn't help it; she broke down, lying next to him, trembling. She couldn't lose him. She just couldn't. And yes, part of her acknowledged that it was pathetic. But her heart didn't care as it beat so quickly, one for every day that she'd loved him.

Juncopaw became lost in memory...

She was hungry, tired, and scared, but filled with a weary sense of accomplishment. These cats would take her. She had a home now. The kind black-and-white tom led her into camp, showing her everything. "And here's the medicine cat den." He'd added. "Look! There's the apprentice, Crowpaw. He's about your age." Other cats of her age? How exciting! Friends...friends to make. She hoped they'd like her. She nervously padded up the little black tom, his big green eyes turning to her curiously. "Hi!" He'd chirped. "Would you like a flower?" The little cat smiled, offering her a white daisy. Juncopaw looked at it in wonder. No one had ever given her anything before. No one, out of the blue, had ever been so friendly. Who was this extraordinary tom? It didn't matter. All her naive, foolish heart knew was that she liked him, right there and then, just for his simple kindness.

OOC: I hope it's okay if I powerplayed Crow-y a little, Glow. I just wanted to do that memory. ^^;

[Glowy]

Crowflower stirred as a breeze brushed his ears, shifting slightly on the ground but not raising his head. He needed to breathe in the smell of the land, let it saturate his body from the inside out that it might reassure him of the fact that he was still living. He would gladly muddy up his coat on this one occasion. He was breathing and was also conveniently free of pain. What more could he ask for? Juncopaw was all out of sorts, though. He supposed it must have looked dramatic, his exodus from the tree. She probably thought he'd died or something like that. Ridiculous. Couldn't she see his breathing? She probably wasn't thinking to check for vital signs, poor girl. The smallest thing could set her off, overruling the common sense that he was sure she had been born with. Then again, she'd not been trained as he had. Her first instinct would not be to check for breathing and a pulse. He'd better make some movement, to let her know he was alive. So he sat up, smiling easily, and rolling his shoulders to assure her that he was fine. "No need to apologize, Junco," he murmured, licking a paw and drawing it over his ear. "I'm quite well, as you can see." He smirked, eyes twinkling. "I was just taking a moment to admire the smell of the dirt is all." Bits of loam flew from his body as he shook his fur out. That whole 'I-can-be-dirty-as-anything-right-now-so-long-as-I-am-alive' thing was wearing off quite rapidly now that his heart was beginning to quiet itself. speaking [bg=5f8219][atrb=width,469,true] [atrb=border,0,true]

[Cloudbat]

Oh. Oh. Ohmygosh. He was all right. It was all she could do to take deep, grateful breaths as her shoulders relaxed and she breathed in his comforting, only somewhat-like-dirt smell. The silver tabby slowly raised herself and took a few steps back, crunching a few dead leaves as she did so.

"Ah...yeah...right." She felt dazed. Junco! He'd called her only by her prefix! Like...like a friend. A companion. The sheer simple familiarity of the gesture made her sigh with adoration...and then she tried to disguise the action with a cough.

The fake cough turned into a real one as he shook himself and bits of dirt flew down her throat. "Oy!" She choked. "Glad you're - HACK - so - COUGH - admir - GACK -ing. PTWAH!" She turned and spit the yucky glob to the side, in a clump of bushes, then felt embarrassed. Then felt silly about being embarrassed - it was his fault she needed to spit.

"But next time, try sharing your admiration of dirt by saying it and not spraying it." She grumbled. "Or I'll spit on you instead of the bush." Not that she would ever in a million moons do such a thing, but hopefully it would help him remember not to shake off on her.

"Sooo...we're going back, then?" She said, trying to sound offhand, though she was slightly anxious. This had been fun and exciting, but Aspenheart probably had duties for her. The apprentice sighed. She could happily spend the day with Crowflower instead, but that wouldn't serve the Clan, and he more than likely had duties of his own to attend to...though she wondered what those might be.

Well, picking herbs, of course. She remembered when she'd been interested in being a medicine cat...but Lynxpelt hadn't been interested in taking a second apprentice. She couldn't blame him - she'd have probably messed up herbs even more than she did hunting and fighting.

Juncopaw also remembered someone saying that PineClan medicine cats were chosen from lineage - a select family - but there was none yet. Did that mean Crowflower would have to have a mate, and kits? The thought twisted her heart. There were plenty of she-cats in Pine...she-cats far prettier and more suited to Clan life than she was.Though maybe Crowflower didn't want a mate.

Still, she wanted him to be happy even if he wasn't with her. But she had no idea how to ask without revealing her own liking of him if he was interested in any she-cats. Blargh.

[Glowy]

Sometimes Crowflower truly did not know how to act around Juncopaw. She was so unpredictable sometimes... it was almost like trying to sleep on a bed of sharp stones. No, that was the wrong analogy. Juncopaw wasn't dangerous. She was just... quirky. Only she would sigh and then try to turn it into a cough. Oh, yes, he knew. He wasn't as gullible as she might think. He couldn't contain the smile that jumped to his face. It was horrible. She was choking on dirt and decomposing leaves. It really shouldn't be funny. He was a medicine cat. He ought to be filled with all sorts of feelings of concern and the like. Just to think of all the infectious things her body was being exposed to... Nevertheless, it amused him to no end to see her try to cough with dignity. Dignity. Of all the things she could be worrying about, it was her dignity that concerned her the most. Oh, yes, he caught that flash of embarrassment that crossed her face. Juncopaw was such a peculiar creature. "Hah, spit on me. That sounds like something my mother would say. Been taking lessons from her, have you?" He purred, wrapping his tail around his paws. He was happy as a lark. Being out here with a friend in all the beauty of nature... what more could a tom ask for? Yessiree, he was quite content simply to sit and absorb the wildness of his home. The breeze was picking up its pace, bringing with it an icy edge and the smells of the upcoming season. Sharp, clean, and strangely sweet, it sent shivers down his back. "Sooo...we're going back, then?" "Not even close," he pretended to be shocked at the suggestion, even adding a little gasp for dramatic effect. "My dear friend, we came out here to have adventures, but everybody back at camp thinks we're doing something productive. We can't very well go back empty-pawed. We'd best get ourselves some herbs. It can't hurt to stock up for leaf-bare." His tail swished in the leaves as he rose to his paws, and he raised an expectant eyebrow. Would she follow him? speaking [bg=5f8219][atrb=width,469,true] [atrb=border,0,true]

[Cloudbat]

Swallowpelt?! The young she-cat looked at her crush in horror. She didn't want to sound like that terrifying she-cat! It was hard to believe he was Crowflower's mother, even though she'd known that already. They were just so drastically different. "Ah...no. I'd only take lessons from Swallowpelt if...I wanted to scare everyone into submission. Even so she would probably kill me with her deadly glare...I mean I know she's your mother and all...but she's scary." Juncopaw looked at him fearfully, hoping he wouldn't take offense.

Juncopaw took refuge from such strange thoughts in the breeze that stirred her fur and whirled the leaves around. Mmm, it carried the scent of the pines...she closed her eyes in delight, breathing deeply.

Buh? He was talking again? Juncopaw shook herself out of dreamland. Hmm, he did have a point. Perhaps even Aspenheart might not be so irritated if he thought she'd been helping the medicine cat.

"That's true." she agreed. "It is getting colder and all. The problem is...I don't know what any herbs look like, so all I'm going to be good for is fetching and carrying." She blushed under her fur, looking away. It was only natural she didn't know - she was a warrior apprentice, after all. Still, admitting any lack of knowledge in front of her crush made her feel inferior. The "dear friend" certainly hadn't helped her embarrassment either, even if it pleased her at the same time. How could one tom make her feel so many different things at once?

[Glowy]

Crowflower had to take a good, deep breath and remind himself that barely anybody saw his mother the way he did. His mother was a generally frightening, off-putting she-cat with the temper of a badger during her best moments. It was no small wonder that Juncopaw wouldn't want to be like her. The night-pelted tom did admit that his mother could use a serious attitude adjustment, but still, everybody's stark lack of a capacity for compassion took his breath away. "Oh, come on, she's not that bad. She just has to get to trust you is all." He swished his tail and padded ahead, keeping in mind to try and smell out some herbs. Juniper berries would be nice. He'd always admired them, for some reason, more than all the other berries he used. They were all so... red, and bright. Juniper berries looked cool, like a refreshing breeze on a hot Green-Leaf day. The dustiness was so interesting to him, how it lightened the color of the fruit. And they had such a tangy, distinctive scent. As if all that wasn't enough to make Juniper berries awesome, they were green on the inside. Green! Green like a brand new blade of grass! "I'm sure you know what a few herbs look like. You can tell the difference between a dandelion and horse-tail easily enough," he said with a twinkling smile. "But if you really want, you can leave the leaves to me and you can find some juniper berries. They grow on a soft bush, have a peculiar tangy scent, and are a dusty blue, like a washed out cloudy sky." This time, when he smiled, he smiled for her, hoping that it would reassure her and speak the words that he'd left unsaid. I believe in you. speaking [bg=5f8219][atrb=width,469,true] [atrb=border,0,true]

[Cloudbat]

Juncopaw blinked several times, staring into space. Trust? As far she could tell, Swallowpelt only trusted her family...not related to her? Forget it. Not that the silver tabby blamed her...she envied the large dark she-cat her loving kits and mate. Sure beat Juncopaw's family.

The one you left for an insane dream, the bitter voice in her head reminded her. The one who raised you and kept you safe. Your Twolegs.

Juncopaw shook her head, trying to dislodge the ghosts. Yes, she owed the Twolegs a debt, and ultimately, leaving had been foolish. If she was really honest with herself...the only reason she hadn't deserted PineClan was because of Crowflower. Sure, she liked the nobility and honor and stuff. But she wouldn't deny that sometimes she missed the abundance of food and the warm blankets.

Useless dwelling on it, though. Despite the fact that...she did it all the time. Save me from myself, she groaned mentally.

Mouse-brain! She'd missed most of Crowflower's words. All she heard was "washed out like a cloudy sky." "Uh-huh. Yup. Totally." She nodded, trying to conceal the fact that she'd barely heard a word he'd said. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

But still, her mind had returned enough to catch his fleeting smile, his eyes that seemed like they were fashioned from the very stuff of life itself. Her heart missed a beat. How could something so simple carry such meaning? Was it only because she wanted it to?

Though she couldn't say it aloud, she sent him a silent message for what he'd done.

Thank you.

[Glowy]

Crowflower smiled brightly and nodded. Excellent! She knew what she was doing, then, and wouldn't freak out or be a goof and pick the wrong berries. She seemed pretty calm. Just to be safe, though, he'd better remain close to her. There was no telling what trouble Juncopaw could get up to when she was left alone, considering how generally silly she was. At least it kept life interesting. "Come on, I know just the place. And there's more than one thing we can collect, there, too." He started off toward the little patch of medicinal magic. It was incredible how many herbs just happened to be growing so near to one another. There was yarrow, sage, juniper, poppy, and almost everything useful and good! Yep, he would be able to keep a good eye on her there. "My mentor, on one of the occasions he decided that he cared I existed, took me here," he explained once they had arrived. It was one of his only fond memories of his training. "He just set me loose and let me explore all over the place. He would explain what all the plants were, and how they were used, if I asked. He didn't answer many of my questions, but he answered those ones. This was one of the only places that I had value to him, it seemed." He spoke while he worked, nodding his head occasionally to himself. "The berries are over there," he said with a sweep of his tail toward the bush. His brows contracted in concentration, and he occasionally muttered a few unintelligible things. speaking [bg=5f8219][atrb=width,469,true] [atrb=border,0,true]

[Cloudbat]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=width,500,true]

[bg=#a6bee4] Juncopaw felt barely six moons old again, stunned as she'd been to be assigned to one of the most important cats in the Clan - except now her crush was her mentor. But it wasn't an unpleasant feeling - she felt like a baby bird, just learning to fly with the best teacher possible. On such a beautiful day, too. It was going to be leaf-bare soon, and it was fairly chilly (especially with the breeze whooshing about), but her silver fur was thick and the sunlight streamed down through the ancient trees. The slightly damp grass sprung up after she'd stepped on it - experimentally, she paused and pushed hard on it. It sprung up again after she did do - slowly, uncurling like dead fern fronds. She smiled. Plants were so...so...adaptable. They could live through anything. Maybe that's why I like leaves so much - they might die every year, but they always return. They're survivors. Oops! Crowflower was way ahead of her. She galumphed up to him, almost tripping over herself, but just managed to skid to a halt - and saw the amazing diversity of plants she'd almost crushed. Even she, a warrior apprentice, could appreciate the magnificent amount of healing potential before her. "Wow! Wow wow wow!" She knew she was talking over Crowflower, but this was just...so...awesome. But then she shut her mouth and listened to him. It was sweet and sad...it must have sucked to have such an uncaring mentor. At least Aspenheart trained her well, when he got around to it. "Gosh...I know it must have stunk for you...but at least this is awesome. Sorry for talking over you." She added, ducking her head in embarrassment. However, Juncopaw then realized he was instructing her and perked up her ears. Okay, berries. She looked where his black tail was sweeping and spotted a bush. Washed out like a cloudy sky...as she carefully padded over to the leafy configuration, she could understand his description - that really was the best way to describe their color. "Thanks!" She meowed back to him - quietly, but so he could hear. This would be fun! The apprentice sat down and carefully began nipping the berries off their stems - first checking to see if they were rotten or not. Even I can remember that.

[Glowy]

Sometimes what Crowflower liked to do was collect new plants and experiment with them, just to see if they would be of any particular use. Rainpaw had recently told him about a plant called... chuckweed, chookweed... something like that. It had tiny little white flowers and large triangular leaves with perfectly smooth edges. He'd said it might be useful for some reason, since the "cowboys" back where he'd lived had grown some in their garden. He'd said it might be useless, too, though, because he didn't know if the cowboys had grown it on purpose or not. He said there was a word for that, for a plant that nobody wanted. Weed. When you found a weed, you were supposed to yank it up out of the ground and throw it away because it was useless, and even harmful to the plants that were "supposed" to be there. He didn't see any of the... chickweed here. That was what it was called. Chickweed. He'd have to keep looking, he supposed. Maybe he should ask what would be so useful about the chickweed, first. A lot of twoleg plants that they took care of were completely useless for a medicine cat. Big broad flowers whose stems were riddled with thorns and whose petals were deeper red than blood, trailing vines that hung down out of baskets with brightly colored flowers on them, little perfect bell-shaped flowers in all different colors... he'd seen all those and more, that one time he'd wandered near to a twoleg place as an apprentice. The kittypets said that their twolegs didn't put them there for good reasons, just to make things pretty. He shook his head. Twolegs were such funny things. They could cut down trees with no remorse, but if something ever damaged the plants that they had put in the ground, it was a tragedy. He realized after a while that Juncopaw had said something to him. She'd said a few things, as a matter of fact. Sometimes he could've sworn that the world didn't exist, that it was just him and whatever he was concentrating on. "Hmmm-wha? Oh. Yes. Yes, it did stink. It wasn't all bad, though. I got to explore a whole ton, and I taught myself a lot of things and got to discover the world. I saw a little bit of your world, too, but only through a wall of wood. Did your twolegs have a... oh goodness... a place where they planted things?" He managed to stop what he was doing and look at his friend. He figured that since he was starting a conversation, he might as well pay attention to the poor soul. Aside from that, he truly was interested to know about her life before the clans. speaking [bg=5f8219][atrb=width,469,true] [atrb=border,0,true]

[Cloudbat]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=width,500,true]

[bg=#a6bee4] Juncopaw stopped just as she bending down to nip off another berry (her tongue was starting to get numb) for her whiskers to poof, surprised, as Crowflower responded. She thought he'd been completely absorbed in his work, as she was in hers.But hey, I'm not complaining. He what? He'd seen Twolegplace? How? PineClan was the farthest territory from the Twolegplace...she shook her head. It didn't matter.What matters is that he's interested in me.Little Juncopaw. She felt far more pleased than she knew she should, and tried to hide her wide grin by momentarily looking at the ground. Then she looked up, with rare force and purpose, and gazed straight into her love's green eyes. "My world..." She said it almost wonderingly. For a moment it wrenched her heart - they were so different. But maybe...maybe she could overcome it. "Oh yes, you mean a garden. That's what they called it. And they did - a huge, beautiful garden. There were plants in there I've never seen in the forest. Huge pink and white flowers, vines that wrapped around tree trunks, flowers that smelled so sweet it could take your breath away. But I wasn't allowed to see it much...my mother, Sefri, was always telling me that gardens turned cats' minds funny. She told me how her sister had turned mad from being in it too much, and had eventually only loved her plants. She spat that her sister had run away with some mad old rogue to learn 'how to deal in poison and insanity'. But I don't think that's true. I think her sister just wanted to help cats, like the kittypet version of a medicine cat. I wish I'd known her, but she left long before I was born."Juncopaw shook her head, overwhelmed by the memories. The apprentice could practically see her fat, spoiled mother telling her the tale in her haughty, condescending tone. Little did she know that her 'traitorous' aunt had in fact become the medicine cat of her Clan's most hated enemies. Fate has a strange sense of humor, sometimes.