A/N: Tysm for anyone who has stayed with me for the journey of this book! As a 2 year anniversary special, I have provided a 4.3k+ word snippet of the book in Speckledpatch's POV!

SPECKLEDPATCH's POV

Speckledpatch stretched her muscles, purring as the sun's soft, warm rays gave her a gentle embrace, the heat perfuming the air more than usual. She delicately placed her muzzle beside a flower, inhaling its sweet and fruity scent. It'd been a moon or two after she'd left MistClan...for good this time. Speckledpatch knew this was a decision she'd never regret and every sunny morning filled with the melodies of birds only accentuated the thought.

Someone new... the flowers whispered among each other as Speckledpatch heard the voices babble around her. Speckledpatch had discovered, when she was just a young kit, that she was able to understand the language of plants and flowers, allowing her to have conversations with them for hours on end. The medicine cats mistook her affability with the surrounding vegetation as inquisitiveness and a keen interest in herbs, thus, Speckledpatch has fallen into the path of a medicine cat.

Who? she asked the flowers softly. Who's the new being that has arrived here?

Reeks of darkness, terror, blood and death... the flowers shivered around her and immediately, surrounding flowers took up and repeated the message as it travelled far into the distance. Speckledpatch wasn't sure if they were consoling themselves or replying to her.

Regardless, Speckledpatch continued to traverse through the meadows, away from her habitation, towards the source of the flowers' message. The sun had slowly inched higher into the azure blue sky and Speckledpatch purred. Her mother had warned her of the dangers of the outside world so many times, yet she was thriving here, away from the chaos of MistClan and everything else.

A small scowl flitted across her face as she remembered the other message her mother delivered, two nights before her final departure from MistClan. How dare Echostar hide such an important piece of information from her! She had every single right to know her roots and family members. It was her mother's fault that Speckledpatch was almost thrown into a river last moon for approaching WillowCland and confronting Fernstar about their history. Well, it wasn't Fernstar, but her deputy, Doespots, that hinted for Speckledpatch to be disposed of in the river that WillowClan bordered MarshClan with for suggesting such a ludicrous statement. Thhankfully. Fernstar had alrwady been told about Speckledpatch by Echostar and that irked her even more. How dare her mother tell her sister but not her about their relationship.

Speckledpatch sighed and opened her mouth as she began to sing, the flowers' thoughts and words dimming as they leaned closer to listen to Speckledpatch's voice.

Shhh... ambient flowers hissed vehemently at their neighbours that were chattering, wanting to hear more of her singing.

Singing was her way to cope with any negative thoughts, coupling that with frolicking through the meadows with her companions. It lifted her mind away from reality, allowing whatever she was downcast or exasperated about to calm down and drift away from her thoughts, meaning that by the time she stopped, her mind would've returned back to normal and she could continue the day properly, without anger or sorrow clouding her thoughts and thus, her actions.

Death, destruction, darkness...she's here...she's here... the flowers conversed anxiously, warning each other.

Fear twinged slightly in Speckledpatch's heart as she continued to sing, closing her eyes as she tried to shut out the possible situations that spiralled within her mind. What if Echostar hadn't fully convinced her clan that she'd left as it was StarClan's will for Speckledpatch to leave MistClan as she was a barrier from the clan to flourish to its highest potential, but that StarClan required Speckledpatch to be kept alive, otherwise the entire clan would perish along with her.

She laughed at her thoughts, knowing that MistClan would leave them alone, for her ex-clan was so concentrated at improving their own clan, they'd sacrifice kittens if it boiled down to that.

"Hello!" a voice rang out behind her and Speckledpatch jumped in her fur, spooked.

She masked it as well as she could and turned around to see a small, lithe calico-tabby she-cat with spring green eyes, staring up at Speckledpatch from her crouched position amongst the grasses. She inhaled the she-cat's scent and flinched internally after immediately placing it as MistClan, holding her breath as she stood a few fox-lengths away from the she-cat, who was most likely an apprentice, after taking into consideration her size and overall demeanour.

"Who are you and why do you seek me?" Speckledpatch meowed, her voice seeming stuck in her throat as she prepared for the worst.

"Um, you interest me?" the calico tabby seemed confused in both body language and tone of voice so Speckledpatch inched closer, a flicker of hope flaring within her chest that this cat was no threat to her.

"You're a clan cat. Why so far away from home?" Speckledpatch pressed, the final question to see if this apprentice truly was trying to haul her back to MistClan to be tortured, thrown into the abyss...or worse.

A pang of guilt stabbed her heart as she watched the apprentice's entire demeanour sag beneath her gaze, drooping like a limp leaf, but then as though a bolt of lightning struck the apprentice, the calico's dull green eyes connected with hers and she meowed, shock evident in her voice,

"You said clan. Who are you? Were you formerly a clan cat as well? Did you get exiled too-"

Just as abruptly as the she-cat started speaking, she stopped, horror flickering in her eyes and Speckledpatch couldn't help but smile. This apprentice wasn't here to drag her back to MistClan. She had been outcasted just like her, although she couldn't shake off the nagging sense that there was something so familiar in the apprentice's appearance. She looked like she'd lived through a hard life, yet her beauty glimmered, evident in the bright daylight that danced and weaved throughout her fur, accentuating her lithe figure and green eyes.

Shhh...listen...watch...be wary...small cat smells of danger... the flowers and field echoed to each other, anxious and waving around wildly, spreading the message as far as they could.

"What is your name?" the apprentice asked Speckledpatch and she wondered if the calico caught Speckledpatch examining her appearance and promptly replied.

"My name is Speckledpatch. Now tell me, what is yours?" Speckledpatch laughed at her paranoia, and at the flowers for their paranoia, yet the MistClan wariness that had been implanted into her at birth couldn't be removed, no matter how hard she tried.

"Maplepaw...aren't you the cat who elders and queens tell stories about?" the calico apprentice meowed, her voice soft, yet carried a tone of wariness and anger. Anger that had clearly been driven into Maplepaw's core since her youth.

Echostar's still alive? Speckledpatch bit her bottom lip and widened her eyes in both fascination and joy. Most MistClan leaders' reigns were either short but had a huge impact on the clan or they were somewhat long, yet all died a gruesome death. She was surprised her mother was still alive, after that barbaric battle with a badger family in MistClan's terriory and also wanted to hear what story Echostar had spun of her to tell the future generations.

"Echostar told you the story?" Speckledpatch breathed, her entire body tense in anticipation.

"Who's Echostar? Cinderstar's our leader. Also, what story?" Maplepaw meowed, confusion scribbled over her features.

Speckledpatch's heart plummeted at those words. Her mother hadn't survived after all, but she supposed it would be better in StarClan for Echostar than in MistClan. MistClan was a living prison for those cats, even though they either refused to acknowledge it or genuinely believed their clan was the best.

"Echostar was the leader before Cinderfawn, I mean, Cinderstar. She was my mother...and I never said goodbye. As for my tail...it's a long story," Speckledpatch whispered, her head swimming with the thoughts of the flowers, Maplepaw's information and her mother.

Maplepaw's head tilted to one side, eyes catching more of the sunlight, giving her an appearance of something not unfamiliar to that of a StarClan cat.

"I'm patient. Could you tell me please? I'll tell you my story in return."

Speckledpatch looked up, slightly dazzled at the appearance of Maplepaw before beginning to speak,

"Okay, then. I guess since we're both exiles, it seems only fair. I was an inquisitive kit, a curious one. Even after I nearly got myself killed with a near-death encounter with a fox. The medicine cats followed me ever since they realised my inquisitiveness. They whispered about me all the time and soon enough, I joined their ranks as an apprentice. When I became a medicine cat, I willingly left the clan. It was as if the outside world was calling to me and I couldn't stay in MistClan, penned up forever. I was so overjoyed when I snuck out of camp that night that I frolicked, sang and danced the entire night long. When it was sun-rise the next day, I ran across a Thunderpath but was so tired that I couldn't move another pawstep. That was when a monster rolled over my tail and I amputated it. It took me some time to adjust to life without one, but you know, Echostar always told me to look at the world as if the sparrow is half-uneaten than half-eaten. And that is my story."

Maplepaw blinked and Speckledpatch shifted uncomfortably in the grass before the calico began speaking,

"Is it true that you sing?"

She was doing everything she could to avoid looking directly at Maplepaw. In the sunlight, the apprentice looked like a divine being that had been sent down from StarClan to their world. She looked like she didn't belong here, amongst mortals like her. She gingerly tore her eyes away from a passing butterfly before replying,

"Yes, I do sing. Why is it that you ask me?"

She reprimanded herself for expressing her MistClan agnst and watched as the MistClan apprentice quivered like the surrounding flowers before responding, voice quiet,

"In my foster mother's story, she said that on calm nights in new-leaf, we will be able to hear a cat singing."

Speckledpatch's whiskers twitched slightly, yet pride shone through her body as she realised that must've been what Echostar told the young kittens of the clan. Her mother was trying to keep her alive, if not in body, then in spirit in MistClan and another stab of sorrow attacked her heart, but quickly moved on as she asked,

"Now, you promised that you would tell me your story. What is it?"

Speckledpatch almost felt guilty for asking that question as she watched the apprentice's demeanour wither once again and heard her clear her throat before the calico began to speak,

"My mother died when I was born along with one of my sisters. I was then given to Heatherstalk. I can't hiss. Never been able to since a flood ruptured some part of my throat. And now I'm apprenticed to Tinycloud of all cats."

Poor cat, Speckledpatch thought to herself before a bolt of recognition struck her. Now a cloud partially blocked some of the sun's rays and sent them scattering behind the apprentice, creating a semi-halo around her body. No cat could ever appear that ethereal or god-like, unless...unless...

"Who was your mother?" Speckledpatch asked, voice stuck in her throat again.

The apprentice's features contorted with exasperation as Maplepaw rolled her eyes and snarled at Speckledpatch,

"Take a guess. Begins with 'Scorch' and ends with 'Flame'."

Speckledpatch's heart began beating erratically at the name of Maplepaw's mother, a cat hell-bent on either destroying the clans or herself, probably both. Regardless, she wasn't going to form an opinion on the apprentice because of her deceased mother.

A spirit...Can you feel it? Hungry, angry... the flowers wailed at each other and she jumped slightly. It'd been so long since she last heard of a lost spirit wandering through her portion of the meadows. Most dead spirits had better things to do than to roam here.

"Hey, Maplepaw. Has Heatherstalk ever told you that any act of kindness, no matter how small, is never wasted?"

The apprentice scoffed, looking away from Speckledpatch, tail thumping erratically, clearly not wishing to hear anything else that involved wisdom and replied,

"I have been told that one sentence many, many times. But it wasn't Heatherstalk who told me about it. It was my sister, Silentpaw."

Speckledpatch's eyes clouded with pity at the MistClan apprentice. The thick masses of clouds temporarily darkened the sky, enough to allow her to take a proper look at Maplepaw without being blinded by her appearance. Every single cell of the apprentice screamed pain and torture, so much that it was a miracle she was still alive and walking on all four paws.

"Come on, young one. Let's go to my habitation. I have many, many stories to tell you. You may not be a kit anymore, but that does not mean you don't get to learn about the truth."

She turned around and began to slowly walk back to her habitation, however, after realising the apprentice wasn't following her, she turned her head around and asked,

"What's wrong?"

Maplepaw gave an unintelligible grunt as a response and Speckledpatch blanched at the wound on her back, the apprentice noticng it moments later.

She knew Maplepaw was in no shape to walk, so sighed slightly before saying,

"Wait right here, I'll be back soon."

She bounded away as fast as she could, wondering it Maplepaw's small frame would bleed dry before she returned with the necessary herbs to patch up her wound. Screeching to a halt, she inhaled, calming herself down, tapping into the conversations of the flowers as she took a few seconds to think and redirected her paws towards the grassy moors of WillowClan, biting her tongue to snag back the annoyance of asking a favour from her sister.

She leaped into the dip of WillowClan's camp, wincing as she landed awkardly on her left forepaw but tore into the leader's den, ignoring the wide-eyed stares of the cats around her.

"Fernstar!" Speckledpatch bellowed, causing the sleeping leader to shoot out of her nest and rocket upwards, hitting the ceiling of her den before whipping around to face Speckledpatch.

"Damn it, Speckledpatch! Couldn't you have woken me up more gently? What do you want? You know if it wasn't Echostar's last wish for me to take good care of you, I would've listened to Doespots and dumped you into that river," Fernstar rubbed her head, wincing from the impact.

"I'm sorry, but look, there's a bleeding apprentice–MistClan–I need your help–carry her to my habitation–she might bleed to death if we dally any longer," Speckledpatch spoke hastily, tearing out of Fernstar's den the moment she stopped speaking, only hoping her sister would take her seriously, not that Fernstar was obliged to, of course, since they barely knew each other, they might just as well be strangers.

"How far away?" Fernstar meowed, startling Speckledpatch into a bush to her left and hissed curses at a giggling Fernstar as she clawed her way out of the dense bushes.

"We're even now at least," Fernstar purred, swatting Speckledpatch's ears playfully and Speckledpatch gave a huff, attempting to mask her irritation and failing, a smile creeping up the side of her face as she turned away.

The pair slowly approached Maplepaw, who'd now fallen asleep, or unconscious. Regardless, her wound would ache like a thousand fires burning at once by the time her eyes opened again. Quietly, she gestured for Fernstar to crouch down and Speckledpatch grunted as she tried to haul Maplepaw evenly across both their backs.

She took a step forward, but realised her sister had already taken three steps forward and hissed quietly to Fernstar,

"This isn't going to work if you travel at your own pace."

"I'm sorry," the WillowClan leader shot back, "that you didn't specify how fast I was supposed to walk."

"We don't want to disturb her wounds as much as possible. I thought you were smart enough to know that, considering the knowledge that warriors in your clan have of herbs could rival that of medicine cats in any other clan," Speckledpatch snipped in return.

Fernstar mumbled something about 'rogues not knowing anything about how WillowClan functions' and Speckledpatch gave a quiet hiss of annoyance for her sister to shut up as the pair slowly managed to find a balance and briskly stepped into Speckledpatch's habitation, depositing Maplepaw into Speckledpatch's nest, as there was none other available.

Some of Maplepaw's had trickled onto both their backs and Speckledpatch rushed to her store of herbs and found some dandelion leaves, crushed them and mixed them with a poultice she speedily crafted up before chewing it and applying pawfuls of it to Maplepaw's back. Speckledpatch gestured to Fernstar to bring her the stash of cobwebs, which she threw amply onto the apprentice's wound, gently patting the cobwebs to make sure they'd adhere to Maplepaw's calico pelt properly.

After the apprentice's grave wound was attended to, Speckledpatch sat back and heaved a sigh of relief before looking at Fernstar and choking out a semi-audible,

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," Fernstar meowed, a triumphant smile carved into her face as she trotted back to her clan's territory. "You can ask for my help any time...Speckled."

Speckledpatch stared at Fernstar's back and blinked, confused, and echoed to herself, Did she just call me...Speckled?

A warm, fuzzy feeling spread through her chest though and she couldn't help as a smile of her own flickered across her face, only dampened by the unconscious apprentice beside her...and the constant whispers of the flowers of death and destruction.

Evil is here...so scary...can't run...small cat...danger...

[TIMESKIP TO MAPLETHORN'S PERMANENT EXILE]

A glowing firefly flickered across Speckledpatch's face as she reached a paw out to grasp it, a kitten-like demeanour enveloping her being as she chased after it. For a while, it was beyond entertaining, but she realised she had only returned back to where she landed in the beginning of the dream, a soft, mossy patch of loose forest with overarching trees obscuring the light, the scarce number of fireflies the only source of light.

She was drawn by something in the distance, a faint, golden light, reminiscent of the sun and cautiously approached it. Before she could grasp it, a leaf gently floated down and covered her whole face as she sneezed-

Speckledpatch sneezed once again as she awoke abruptly, some of the last grains of pollen finding their way up her nose and she sighed, cleaning her face with her forepaw before heading off to collect some more herbs before most withered away under the harsh paw of leaf-bare. A strange, flickering feeling had slithered into her being and she couldn't shake it off, no matter how hard she tried.

[***]

Speckledpatch beamed into the sun's face, not many days would be like this in the coming leaf-bare and she would relish it while it lasted.

Last days...we'll be gone soon, the plants whispered and Speckledpatch wondered if they'd finally accepted her as one of them and allowed her to converse with them normally.

It's okay, Speckledpatch purred in their language, I'll be waiting for your return next new-leaf.

Next new-leaf? She could hear the plants' confusion. Despite how complex they were, most of them couldn't see far into the future, so they only talked about their imminent deaths, something that becomes rather morbid and gloomy after a few days.

Speckledpatch gently loosened some dandelion leaves from a nearby plant, hearing its wails of protest, but she quickly calmed it down. It was painful to be a medicine cat, especially if all the plants that she harvested herbs from would cry out in horror at being stripped of their leaves, berries or roots, yet being able to converse with them to reassure them that they weren't being killed.

The sun was beating directly onto her back now as she rolled amongst the flowers, savouring her last moments with them and felt a pang of sorrow in her chest. Maplepaw had been such interesting company for that one moon, it was unlikely she was going to forget her, however, Speckledpatch would most likely not see the apprentice for the rest of her life. Maplepaw's fiery personality seared a mark into her soul permanently. Giving a sigh, she shook the apprentice from her mind, a task now impossible as the tendrils of Maplepaw's dark, misty, fragrant scent crawled around her body, invading her nostrils and stalking into her lungs.

Speckledpatch carried the small pouch of dandelion leaves and wrinkle patch leaves, a powerful painkiller that'd only sprouted recently in these parts of her lands. She'd experimented on herself, a stupid and doltish exercise in itself, but realised it numbed all pain so much she could barely feel her own paws...and she wasn't even injured when she made an experiment of herself. It could possibly do wonders for any injured loners that wandered upon her habitation.

Speckledpatch picked up the herb sachet and merrily strode back to her habitation, pleased to have accomplished her goal for this morning–later in the afternoon would she go out and fetch some comfrey and milk thistle. She hummed to herself, a soft whisper to begin with, one that gradually grew louder, even though her jaws were occupied with her herb sachet.

As she wandered back to her habitation, a small clump of poppy flowers caught her attention and she dropped her herb sachet, the opportunity too good to miss and harvested a pawful of poppy seeds and couldn't help it as she tuned into the nearby plants' conversations.

So cold...we'll be gone soon...shhh...darkness is here again...remember the cold, harsh cat?...she's back...she's back...the flowers whimpered to themselves and to her.

Speckledpatch stopped breathing for a few seconds, hardly daring to think that it could be that she-cat that had returned to her after all these long, lonely moons without her and turned around, expecting to see nothing but thin air and that the flowers had been mistaken.

The lithe, compact figure of Maplepaw greeted her, and Speckledpatch was blown away by how much Maplepaw had grown over the past few moons, her bewitching dark beauty now even more radiant than before.

"Maplepaw," Speckledpatch purred, carefully treading towards the MistClan she-cat, afraid that if she moved too suddenly, Maplepaw would disappear in a blink of an eye and never reappear again. She rubbed her head against Maplepaw's, just to confirm that the apprentice was indeed living and not some apparition that she was hallucinating about.

"It's Maplethorn now," the MistClan apprentice, no, the MistClan warrior replied, her dull green eyes shining with joy.

"Maplethorn," Speckledpatch corrected herself and beamed, "I had a hunch you'd come back.

"You didn't throw out the nest," Maplethorn blinked, Speckledpatch taking it as the warrior's way of asking how she knew that Maplethorn would return to her.

She couldn't reveal that she had the ability to listen to what the surrounding vegetation was saying, fearing that Maplethorn would think she was insane. She remembered the dream last night and lied,

"Of course I didn't! I had a dream that the one maple leaf that evaded my paws stopped being blown away and returned, falling softly, delicately next to me."

"You believed it?" Maplethorn meowed, voice cold, an incredulous gleam sparking in her eye and Speckledpatch withered slightly underneath her gaze, but continued to smile.

"Of course I do. It's something that, as a former medicine cat, I can never forget. I think your sister, Silentpaw, might agree with me."

The she-cat exhaled, looking down at her paws before her gaze flickered back up to Speckledpatch. When those dull green eyes connected with her olive-green ones, she felt a shock coursing through her body, like the warrior's gaze alone warmed her up better than any nest. She stiffly stepped forward and gingerly licked the warrior's ear before her eyes darkened as they landed on the teeth marks on the warrior's leg and tail.

"You're wounded," Speckledpatch whispered, the soft redness edging inside the exposed flesh a clear sign of early infection. "You didn't tell me you were wounded."

She left her herb sachet by the poppy plants and quickly leg Maplethorn to her habitation. It'd been so long since Maplethorn returned and the fact that the MistClan warrior returned injured sent multiple shocks of nostalgia coursing through her body.

"It's nothing major," Maplethorn meowed, but then winced and added to her statement, " Not very major."

Speckledpatch bit her lip as she inspected the wounds, "Teeth marks."

She leaned forward and tentatively sniffed the lacerations on Maplethorn's back, tail and hindlegs, wincing at the acrid smell, another indicator of early infection. "Maplethorn,  the moment you leave, you get caught up in all these fights again...the last thing I want is for you to injure yourself, so please, avoid fighting unless it's absolutely necessary."

She saw Maplethorn's spring-green eyes darken as the she-cat looked towards the ground but said nothing more as Speckledpatch led Maplethorn back to her habitation. She hastily face-pawed as she remembered that she'd left the painkiller bundle back at the poppy plant patch, however, attending to Maplethorn was evidently more important, so Speckledpatch hastily conjured up a poultice to dab onto the calico-tabby's pelt.

"It's a good thing you came when you did," Speckledpatch remarked, her little tail stub vibrating with worry, smearing the poultice on Maplethorn's wounds. "If you came a bit later, these wounds would've become infected pretty quickly."

"They're infected?" Maplethorn gasped in alarm, dull eyes shot through with sparks of anxiety, bolting upright and Speckledpatch winced at the precious medication sliding down her back.

"Lie down," Speckledpatch reprimanded her gently, aiming a soft blow to Maplethorn's head, and bit her scruff, much like what a mother would do to her kitten, to reinforce her point before spreading another clump of poultice on Maplethorn's tail and hindlegs. "No, your wounds aren't infected...yet. I'm hoping I can draw out the early signs of infection before they actually become infected."

After she applied the poultice completely, Speckledpatch realised

I'll tell her one day, Speckledpatch promised to herself as she gazed up at the sky surrounding both of them, listening to the quiet whispers of plants rippling and cascading in waves around her.

A/N 2: Thank you once again for anyone who's stayed with me up to this point and as another special treat, I may or may not give another portion of the book in either Scorchflame, Silentpaw or Shadepool's POV for Halloween or Christmas!

(this chapter may or may not have been spoilers as to what may happen later in the book (Speckledpatch's plant powers))

but shhhh-