option 1, accept the offer

Barkpaw nodded and mewed quietly, "Please help, thank you Clearmask."

His silvery coat shimmering under the moonlight above, the tom lifted Barkpaw up effortlessly and placed him on his back as gently as possible. Breathing in the scent and feeling his short-lengthed fur, they caught up the line of cats and headed to the future.

~~~

The water around the lake rippled as the wind whispered softly to them. The shore of the island was rocky with thorns peeking out of them. Walking across the fallen tree gently, the island changed into a lush miniature forest, bathing in the open air, made up with dense bushes and trees around the edge. 

An open patch of grass with a great oak tree could be spotted. Shadows could be spotted. They formed together to become an ocean as the waves moved around. 

"Barkpaw, where are you?"

Hearing the familiar voice, Barkpaw thanked Clearmask as he glanced around the open patch of grass. Grass tickling his paws, he spotted his mentor calling him from a root of the tree. Squeezing through the crowd with his helpless limp definitely was not easy, but he managed to reach the root of the tree with ragging breath and dizzy head.

Lilypetal helped him climb up the root by lending him a paw. Reaching the root, he breathed tiredly and rubbed his sore paws. 

But his sharp yellow eyes were busy studying around, focusing on every face in the crowd. Glancing at the cats sitting on the other roots, he spotted a she-cat with the colour of the sky who was licking her paws. Her yellowish-green eyes winked under the pale moonlight. Beside her was a coal black she-cat with ginger patches. She stared at the leaders with twitched tail, clearly wanting the gathering to start as soon as possible. Her green eyes dimmed with impatience, sparks were added on her white chest and paws by the moon.

Glancing at another tree root, the shimmers of silver and white caught his eyes. Looking at Barkpaw, the she-cat rolled her eyes and looked away.

A voice whispered, "I can see that you are curious about the medicine cats in the other clans. The blue cat is Rainsplash. She is always the one who makes our days brighter. We used to chat a lot together. The black cat with ginge patches is Sorrelflame. She is incredibly talented to become a medicine cat at nineteenth moons, which is so hard to achieve. As for Snowycliff... she is usually a bit impulsive, but she means well..."

Meeting her gaze as Barkpaw turned around, Lilypetal winked as pride was shown in her eyes. She kindly encouraged, "The gathering will start soon, grab your time. Go and talk to one of them, maybe you will have a cat as your new friend. Who knows?"

>> Rainsplash

>> Sorrelflame

>> Snowycliff

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