Mallownose.
"
Don't tell any cat this but once when I was a newly named medicine cat, shortly after Robinwing took ill, I went to fetch some Burnet because I wasn't just allowed to sulk around camp. I crossed into Windclan and walked and walked without paying a whisker of attention." he could still recall the day, it had been a cold, wet New Leaf and he had been feeling under the weather. "
Now, we go through Windclan frequently! We're medicine cats and that's where the Moon Stone is! Yet, I'm a mousebrain of the highest degree, so,"
The chill hadn't let up from Leaf Bare and the ground had practically frozen him from the paws up, he'd been upset, he'd been upset ever since Robinwing became stricken with sickness. His bones practically ached from laying at her side all day and all night, he would speak to her softly while she lied there in her deep, dreamless sleep. She would never so much as stir and he had to force water down her throat sometimes and each day she seemed to get skinnier and skinnier. The once beautiful mottled brown tabby was starting to show her ribs and her haunches would dig beneath her pelt. Sometimes she would move a paw or her ear would twitch in her sleep but she never seemed to wake up, he had been miserable in seeing her like this. It had been like a very real, very dreadful dream and he had begged Starclan to wake him up.
That day had waken him instead with aching limbs and an aching tug in his chest. She hadn't even twitched a whisker as he'd pulled himself to his paws and began going through the herb stock. Everything was getting low and he knew he'd have to leave the den to go collect some but he also knew that his mind wouldn't leave the she-cat in his den. With a high amount of strain, the tom had left the den and brushed soundlessly past his concerned clanmates. Not a word was uttered from him as he'd made his way to the Windclan border and he crossed it quietly. The moors were always loud with wind and it made his ears hum as he walked, he couldn't get his mind off of his mentor, he couldn't focus. He was supposed to be looking for Burnet, he was supposed to be looking for the bitter scent amongst the hissing wind.
"
I lost my way halfway across the moor! Burnet isn't that far from the border but I wandered right past it. I made it down to the tunnel that goes halfway beneath the gorge on Windclan's territory and I was so confused!" a laugh escaped the tom as he shook his head, whiskers twitching with amusement. "
Of course, most of that tunnel has been collapsed so it mostly looked like a big old rabbit burrow and I was staring into it with shock. I was wondering to myself, well Mallownose, you've never seen a rabbit big enough to make a hole like this! Why, this is big enough for a cat to fit in! So I made the mistake of pushing on in this ridiculous hole and I fit, so I was confused even more because a rabbit this big has to be a predator of some sort. I decided to inspect it for this giant rabbit because I got so distracted by the thought of a rabbit being this big. I tried to wiggle in deeper when I heard the patrol approaching behind and I nearly leaped in fright."
The tunnel had reeked of wet dirt and had been full of loose soil and it had left a stain in his coat but he hadn't noticed that one bit. It had started going down and his claws had dug to hold on as he'd descended in search of this rabbit that had to live there. The walls had been plastered in red clay and there were sticks fastening the roof up which only made him all the more curious as to why a rabbit would have been this smart. He'd lost his footing for a moment before the tunnel abruptly ended with piles upon piles of heavy dirt and stone. He swore he could smell the faint odor of cats deep within it's depths and he decided to head back. Clawing up the tunnel was much harder than going down and he heard pawsteps outside and for a moment feared that the monster rabbit had returned.
It hadn't been a rabbit at all, it had been a patrol of very confused cats that were staring at him like he was mad as he climbed out of the tunnel and tried to shake loose earth from his white fur. One had even asked him what sort of herb he thought grew down there and he had been full of embarrassment when he stumbled out a joking "mallow?", they hadn't been amused. He'd been guided by a warrior to the Burnet while they scolded him about going down a tunnel that had been deemed dangerous long ago before most of them had been born. Apparently a cave in had killed a very important cat and he'd been very ashamed to have gone tumbling down it like an estranged kit.
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I was scolded and everything like an unruly apprentice! Some warrior named Heatherclaw told an elder in our clan and I never heard the end of it." he mrrowed with amusement.
"
I felt like I couldn't get that wet dirt out of my fur for ages! And yes, that's quite enough. Look at me going on about the past like an elder." purring with glee, the white tom picked up a mouthful of tansy, talking around the plants, he continued. "
They called me Rabbitnose for a moon. I don't think I'll ever live it down. We can store these on our border beneath a holly bush and take them back with the rest of the stock before moonhigh."