Blackstorm hesitated, glancing over his shoulder one last time as Honeyfrost vanished into the trees of SunClan territory. His heart ached as he watched her go, he would now have to return to his life in AshClan, without her by his side. It was time to return to menial tasks of gathering herbs, counting herbs and taking prey to the kits. Blackstorm was grateful that the Clans were at peace, but he felt a forever creeping sense of uselessness.

With a heavy sigh, Blackstorm padded back into AshClan territory, breathing in the calming scent of pine trees. It was quite the walk from here to his camp which was on the entire side of the territory. He walked slowly, despite his fear of being caught by Skyfeather. Part of him wanted to be caught, maybe then he could find a way to be with Honeyfrost, but then he would be putting her at risk as well. He never should've started seeing Honeyfrost, but now he couldn't stop, and he didn't want to.

Blackstorm finally reached camp at the peak of dawn, he avoided Harewhisker who was standing guard by going around a side entrance of the camp, pushing his way through a hole in the thorn barrier around the camp and stepping into his den. Skyfeather was still sound asleep. Blackstorm fell into his nest, feeling exhausted. He was sacrificing sleep for Honeyfrost, but he wouldn't have it any other way.

Blackstorm's eyes fluttered open, he winced as the rays of the sun shone directly onto his face. He lifted his head, letting out a long yawn. He looked around the medicine cat den, Skyfeather wasn't in his nest and there wasn't any trace of him in the den. Blackstorm stood up and stretched out his limbs. He peered out of the entrance of the medicine cat den, it was sunhigh already, Blackstom didn't realize he had fallen asleep. Why didn't Skyfeather wake him up?

Blackstorm stepped out of the den, looking around camp. Rabbitpaw, Dustpaw, Leafpaw and Primrosepaw were all sitting with their mentors. He knew that today was their warrior assessment, though he didn't really care. Maybe he should care more about what was going on his Clan, but new warriors were made all the time. Primrosepaw was a former rogue, daughter of the horrible cat Hornet who threatened to kill Honeyfrost. Blackstorm of all cats knew he shouldn't judge her based on her parents, but he couldn't help but feel a sharp pang of distrust towards the she-cat, but his Clan had welcomed her and he ignored his own feelings.

"There you are, Blackstorm." Blackstorm's ears twitched as he heard the voice of his mentor. He looked over his shoulder, spotting Skyfeather coming from the elder's den. "Glad you're awake."

"You could've woken me up soon, you know." Blackstorm reminded him.

"I tried to." Skyfeather replied, he didn't sound annoyed but Blackstorm's pelt still burned. "But, you seemed really tired so I let you sleep." Skyfeather's blue eyes looked around camp for just a moment before focusing back on Blackstorm. "We're going to LichenClan camp."

Blackstorm tilted his head, what possible reason did the two of them have to go to LichenClan? "Why?" Blackstorm questioned.

"I want to explore the unclaimed territory for herbs, mainly for wintergreen. I found some nightshade near the river. I got rid of it, but you never know where more could be. We don't have any wintergreen near our territory but the other might. I don't want some mousebrained apprentice eating some nightshade and not have any way to save him."

"Okay, but I still don't see why we need to speak with LichenClan about it."

Skyfeather twitched his nose, was Blackstorm annoying him? "Because I want passage through their territory. Even if we were to go directly through the gathering hollow the only crossing for the river is into LichenClan territory. I spoke with Riverstar and she said we could."

"Alright." Blackstorm nodded. "Are we leaving now?"

Skyfeather nodded. "I want to make it back before nightfall if possible." With that, the two medicine cats padded out of AshClan camp. When they had first found the camp it was just a stone outcropping with the means to make dens, but in their time living here, the Clan had formed a large bramble barrier around the edge of it. It took a while, but it finally felt like a home.

The two of them moved through the pine trees quickly, they weren't too far from the "border." AshClan only neighbor was SunClan, on the other side of the territory was a small part of forest that was different from AshClan's pines. This territory had been debated being owned by AshClan or LichenClan, but for now it remained unclaimed territory as this part of the forest lead up into the mountains and to the Spirit Garden.

Skyfeather veered away from the mountains and towards the gathering hollow. "We'll cross the river and wait for a patrol to find us. Medicine cats or not we shouldn't go marching into other territories right now, it shows respect to the other Clans."

Blackstorm didn't reply, he just nodded along and followed Skyfeather. They soon reached the gathering hollow and Blackstorm felt his heart ache. He would be back here tonight with Honeyfrost, he wished he didn't have to make such a long journey but it was worth it for her.

The river appeared over the small hill and Blackstorm and Skyfeather approaching the slow moving water. Blackstorm looked at the sparkling water, nerves creeping up his spine. He hated water, and crossing the river would never get easier for him, he was glad that they no longer had to cross a river to reach the gathering hollow.

"Be careful." Skyfeather advised as he jumped onto the thick log that crossed the river. He walked across with ease and landed on the rocky banks on the other side. Blackstorm followed his mentor, leaping up onto the log and forcing himself not to stare down at the water below. He hoped that Skyfeather couldn't hear his racing heartbeat.

Luckily, Blackstorm reached the other side and jumped down into the stone. "We'll wait here." Skyfeather mewed and sat down. After a few moments of silence, Skyfeather spoke up. "So what's been keeping you up so much lately? I notice you've been sleeping in more and more."

Blackstorm tensed, he could sense Skyfeather looking at him but Blackstorm refused to meet his gaze. Instead, he just shrugged. "Trouble sleeping, and staying asleep I guess. Been like that ever since we reached the new territory, I'm probably still adjusting."

Skyfeather made a small noise of acknowledgement. "Well, maybe you should take some poppy seeds tonight so you can get a full night's rest."

"That's not necessary, I'll be okay." Blackstorm finally looked at Skyfeather. "I'll get over it."

"Well I can't have you sleeping until sunhigh everyday. You're a full medicine cat now, you have responsibilities. I took an apprentice so I wouldn't have to deal with the brunt of everything myself, you can't do much healing when you're sleeping the day away." Blackstorm winced at Skyfeather's sharp tone. So he really was annoyed.

"I'll be better about waking up earlier, I promise." Blackstorm flattened his ears, turning his gaze to his paws. He nudged a smooth brown stone, wishing the conversation to be over. I'm forgetting my responsibilities, throwing them away for Honeyfrost. I can't do that. His heart twisted at the thought.

Voices began passing through the trees and Skyfeather stood up. "That should be a patrol." He mewed, squinting to see through the thick trees. Blackstorm stood up as well, waiting for the LichenClan cats to arrive.

Eventually the cats broke through the trees, at the head of the patrol was Rowanwhisker followed by Briarpaw, Foxtail, Rowanwhisker and Flowerheart. "Greetings." Skyfeather called out to the patrol, getting their attention. Rowanwhisker came to a stop and lead her patrol over to the two medicine cats.

"Hello, Skyfeather, Blackstorm. What brings you to LichenClan territory?" Her eyes were mildly suspicious, but not hostile. Honestly, what harm could two medicine cats bring. Blackstorm flicked his tail but held his tongue.

"I would like to speak with Timberstar and Roseheart." Skyfeather explained. "It won't take very long."

"Alright," Rowanwhisker nodded. "We'll escort you to our camp."

"Thank you very much." Skyfeather mewed gratefully and he and Blackstorm began following the patrol. They weren't very deep into LichenClan territory when Briarpaw bounded up to Blackstorm. She was a very young apprentice, leaving the nursery less than a moon ago. She still looked a kit with bright eyes and fluffy fur.

"So," The apprentice began. "What do you do as a medicine cat?"

Blackstorm gave the apprentice a quizzical look. "You never thought to ask your own medicine cat that?"

Briarpaw shrugged. "Roseheart is always busy, I know you heal and stuff and talk with StarClan, but what do you do when you're not doing that?"

"We gather herbs, check on our Clanmates and make sure that everyone is healthy. Right now, things are pretty peaceful so we don't have much to do, but sometimes an apprentice will step on a thorn, or an elder will have aching joints so we almost always have something to do."

"Ohhh." Briarpaw looked at Blackstorm with interest. "Because I think Emberkit wants to be a medicine cat, she's really young but she's always wandering off to Roseheart's den."

"Maybe she does." Blackstorm recalled when he was a kit, his memories started after Skyfeather stepped up to be a medicine cat, and he was always drawn to the scent of herbs. When Nightheart wrenched her claw while they were playing one day and went to Skyfeather.

Blackstorm had been inside the medicine cat den for the first time that day and it changed his world. He watched Skyfeather treat Nightheart and he wanted to do it do, he wanted to help. He knew from that day on that he wanted to be a medicine cat. Blackstorm genuinely loved what he did, he loved healing and having such a close connection with StarClan. And I'm breaking the medicine cat code. Blackstorm thought with a painful tear in his heart.

Blackstorm was grateful when they reached LichenClan camp and he could pull his mind away from his own thoughts. The LichenClan camp was on a large plateau with a thorn barrier around the edges. There was one tree in the back of the camp that stood taller than the rest, the roots twisted away and revealed that the tree itself was hollow inside.

"That's Timberstar's den, follow me." Rowanwhisker dismissed the rest of her patrol and guided the AshClan medicine cats to the large tree. The entrance was covered by a large, flowering shrub.

"Timberstar?" Rowanwhisker called into the den. "You have visitors, may I come in."

A chuckle came from inside the den. "You don't have to ask, Rowanwhisker. You're my friend come on in." Rowanwhisker purred and pushed her way through the brush while Blackstorm and Skyfeather did the same.

Inside the den was Timberstar eating a squirrel, he looked up with confusion passing over his gaze as he looked at Skyfeather and Blackstorm. "Hello there." Timberstar mewed, swallowing a piece of prey. "What can I do for you?"

"I discovered some nightshade in our territory and we do not have much yarrow growing around, so I was wondering if we could have passage through your territory to search the unclaimed territory beside yours for wintergreen. I don't want an apprentice accidently eating any toxic herbs and not have a way to treat them."

Timberstar thought for just a moment. "I don't see why not, I'd prefer it if you stuck to the river while you traveled. I trust you two, but it may but my Clanmate's at ease."

"Of course." Skyfeather dipped his head. "Blackstorm and I will be the only ones travelling there. Thank you so much."

"My pleasure." Timberstar nodded. "I'm always happy to help." Blackstorm looked at Timberstar and thought of Jaggedstar, the former LichenClan leader was just as kind, LichenClan were a peaceful Clan and Blackstorm appreciated that. Now that I think about it, the only violent Clan around here is us. Blackstorm twitched his ears.

"Why don't you stop by and say hello to Roseheart while you're here, I will find a cat to escort you back to your territory."

"Thank you, Timberstar." Skyfeather mewed. "I think we will go say hi to Roseheart." The four cats turned out of Timberstar's den and back into LichenClan camp. Rowanwhisker guided them to Roseheart's den which was made out of two boulders.

Skyfeather and Blackstorm stepped inside. "Hello." Skyfeather called in, getting Roseheart's attention. Blackstorm was surprised to see that Roseheart wasn't alone, at her paws was a little bright ginger get playing with a torn up oak leaf. That must be Emberkit.

"Oh," Roseheart was slightly taken aback. "I wasn't expecting you two, is everything okay?" Skyfeather nodded and explained what they had told Timberstar. "Well that's good." Roseheart mewed, stacking up a pile of moss balls. Blackstorm admired how neat her den was. And she does this all on her own. "I haven't found any poisonous herbs but I'm sure they're around, I'll have to keep an extra close eye out."

"Who is this?" Skyfeather motioned towards Emberkit, the small kit was staring at the two medicine cats with huge green eyes.

"This is Emberkit." Roseheart purred. "My little "helper."" She chuckled. "Though she mostly helps by keeping me entertained for now."

"I'm gonna learn all of the herbs!" Emberkit jumped up, trotting in proud circles around Roseheart's legs. See this," Emberkit ran behind Roseheart and dragged out an ivy leaf. "This is a borage leaf!"

"Close," Roseheart mewed. "That's an ivy leaf, we use them to store herbs. Borage is used to help queens produce milk so they can feed kits."

"Oh," Emberkit dropped the leaf and stared at it intently for a long while.

"Looks like you already have an apprentice, four moons before she's ready." Skyfeather purred with amusement.

"She's fun to have around." Roseheart purred, giving Emberkit a small ball of moss to play with. "It gets lonely in my den, ever since Barkclaw died I haven't had anyone to spend a lot of time with who wasn't sick or injured. Emberkit keeps me entertained, but I'm sure when she's ready to become an apprentice she'll join me in here."

"That would be nice." Skyfeather purred, watching Emberkit play. "Having a new apprentice is fun, I remember when Blackstorm first became my apprentice. He was very dedicated." Skyfeather cast a glance at Blackstorm that made him feel awkward, his belt burned and he looked away. "Well, we should be going." Skyfeather mewed. "It was nice to see you again Roseheart."

"You too." Roseheart purred and watched the two of them leave.

"Bye bye!" Emberkit called out from behind them, Blackstorm couldn't help but appreciate the small kit. She would be a great medicine cat, he could already tell. As they left LichenClan camp, Blackstorm couldn't help but wonder if he was a good medicine cat.