Snowflight's POV

I was shocked when I suddenly saw an unfamiliar cat walk into the medicine cat den, his pelt reeking of mud and water. It was so strong that I almost had to wrinkle my nose as the scent overcame me. The tom's head was lowered and his pelt was covered in so much mud that I couldn't identify his fur color at first. Having taken another sniff as he walked deeper into the den, I then realized that it was RiverClan scent that was flooding through my nose.

I stared at the entrance of the medicine cat den as the tom entered, Brambleclaw following him in just heartbeats after.

"This is Rainstorm of RiverClan," Brambleclaw meowed, confirming what I had thought. "He fell in some mud while we were at the lake collecting water, so we took him here to recover before he returns to his territory."

"Stupid mouse-brain," I heard Jayfeather mutter. I tried not to purr with amusement at his comment as Rainstorm walked deeper into the den and sat down in the newly made nest Jayfeather was setting.

Brambleclaw watched Rainstorm, his eyes narrowed before averting his gaze to me. "He's a bit of a stubborn one," he whispered jokingly. "Think you can handle him?"

I tried to suppress a mrrow of laughter, lightly flicking my tail over to Jayfeather. "I deal with it often enough with that furball over there," I purred to Brambleclaw, sniffing as I heard Jayfeather snort from behind me. "But in all seriousness, don't worry! We've got him handled."

I lashed my tail in goodbye to Brambleclaw who nodded to me before he left the den. I then walked over to the herb stock where Jayfeather was beginning to sniff through the different kinds and sorts.

I analyzed Rainstorm's situation. He's dirty, for one, I thought, glancing back at the mud-covered tom. He seems pretty shaken...

I leaned in closer to Jayfeather. "Do you think he'll need thyme for the shock?" I asked, about to pick up a few thyme leaves. I was pretty sure thyme was what we needed, but I always felt like I needed to confirm, just to be sure. I seem to be questioning myself more after becoming a full medicine cat! I realized.

"That would probably be best," Jayfeather answered, nodding with approval. "You can give him those and then get some wet moss to clean him off. After he's clean, we can see if he has any wounds that we need to treat."

"Alright!" I meowed, nodding to my former mentor and picking up the thyme. I slowly walked over to the dirty tom and placed the thyme right in front of his muzzle.

"Eat these, please," I urged Rainstorm gently, keeping in mind that Brambleclaw had told me he was stubborn. "They will help you to calm down. I can imagine that what you just went through was pretty stressful!"

Rainstorm simply grunted before almost immediately licking up the herbs, chewing them, and swallowing them all.

"Good!" I praised, giving Rainstorm a slight tap on the shoulder with the tip of my tail. Then, I quickly turned around and left the medicine den to get water, as Jayfeather had told me to do. As soon as I slid through the entrance and out into camp, sunlight beamed all around me, and I felt I could barely keep my eyes open.

Great StarClan, a cat could become as blind as Jayfeather if they stared at my white fur reflecting against the sun!

I almost thought that I would have to walk all the way to the lake with some fresh moss to get water, but to my luck, I saw my mother, Lilypetal, holding some damp moss in her jaws. I quickly ran over to her, ready to ask her for a favor.

She turned her head to me as I ran up in front of her. "Hi, Snowflight," she meowed kindly through a mouth full of moss. "Need something?"

"Your moss, actually," I purred, pointing my nose to the moss.

"Absolutely!" Lilypetal exclaimed with no hesitation. She quickly placed the moss on the ground for me to grab. I nodded to her in gratitude and picked it up in my jaws.

"Thank you so much!" I whispered to her. A wave of affection then flowed through me as we touched noses, and I took in my mother's familiar scent.

"Hey, want to know something?" Lilypetal meowed after she pulled away.

I tilted my head with intrigue. "What?"

Lilypetal's hazel eyes glowed with admiration. "I'm very proud of you," she purred, touching her muzzle to my cheek. "ThunderClan is in such good paws with you as one of their medicine cats."

I sighed as I was overwhelmed with affection all over again. "Thank you," I purred back through my mouth of moss, licking Lilypetal's shoulder. "I love you, mother."

"And I love you," Lilypetal meowed softly before nodding back to the medicine den. "Now, that moss wasn't just for you, I hope? You had better get back to your den before Jayfeather or Rainstorm throw a fit!"

I let out a mrrow of laughter. "No, it wasn't," I meowed, then turning to walk back to the medicine den, my mouth still full with wet moss. "Bye, Lilypetal!"

The hot sun shone on my fur as I trotted along, and I tried my best not to let myself drink the nice, cold and fresh water in my mouth. I bit down hard on the moss and narrowed my eyes, determined as I continued to walk back to the medicine den.

The Clan always comes before you do, I told myself. I couldn't bring myself to drink this, no matter how badly I would want to! I would feel much too guilty!

When I finally arrived back inside the den, Jayfeather was hovering over Rainstorm. He looked up at me with his blind eyes as I walked in.

"It's about time," he muttered, slight annoyance appearing in his meow. I lightly tapped the tip of my tail on his shoulder, letting out a snort, and then looked down at Rainstorm.

I froze and looked back at Jayfeather, suddenly lost for what I needed to do next.

Sometimes I hesitated to ask the gray tabby tom for help, now considering that I wasn't really his apprentice anymore. Him being quite snappy and frustrated with every cat around him would be another issue for some, but Jayfeather was usually pretty gentle with me, and had been throughout my medicine cat apprenticeship.

I had always admired Jayfeather, but I had to admit, walking into the medicine den for the first time as a medicine cat apprentice had been a little nerve-wracking, because I knew that Jayfeather had never handled an apprentice before. I was worried that he would show me no mercy - snapping at every little thing I did, and hammering me with questions about herbs whenever he got the chance.

Well, the latter did happen every so often, but overall, Jayfeather had been very patient with me and had managed to be a brilliant mentor. I couldn't have learned more from anyone else, I knew that. And the fact that we were a lot closer in age that most apprentices and mentors would likely be maybe made things a little easier for him.

"Pour the moss on him by the pool," Jayfeather commanded, clearly noticing my hesitation. "Just lick off what's left, and then I can do the rest."

I gave Jayfeather a small grunt to show that I had heard him as I helped Rainstorm to stand up. I then led him over to the small pool of water that we had in the medicine den for us. I took the moss by my paws and squeezed as much as I could on Rainstorm. I was shocked that the gray tom didn't even flinch once as I poured the freezing-cold moss on him, but then I realized he was in RiverClan, and he was used to water, of course.

After I poured the water on Rainstorm, I started to lick around his flank. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Jayfeather standing close beside me, observing everything I did. Even though he couldn't see, he still seemed to be watching in admiration.

Thank StarClan, I thought with relief. When Jayfeather approves, all is right in the world!

When I finished treating Rainstorm, I looked at Jayfeather for approval one last time, my eyes wide with concern as I awaited confirmation.

"Good," he meowed and nodded curtly. The gray tabby tom then picked up a few herbs from our stash and padded over to stand beside me. "I can take it from here," he meowed through a mouth of herbs. "Great job, Snowflight."

I nodded to him, touching my nose to his ear briefly, before walking outside to find the setting sun. I sighed with slight exhaustion, but extreme satisfaction as I watched it start to sink behind the trees.

It's great to be a medicine cat, I thought happily, settling down and lying my head down over my paws.