CLIMB TO THE HEAVENS — medicine cat ceremony

[BEESONG]

Honeybee is plunged into the icy waters of sleep almost as quickly as he'd touched the crystals. He sinks down to the cool stone floor, his eyes growing heavier and heavier until he could not force them open any longer. The cinnamon tabby gives in, and settles his head upon his forepaws. It's a foolish move to fall asleep, completely vulnerable, next to the cat who'd been his enemy in war a mere half-moon ago. But the call of the glimmering crystals had been too strong to ignore, and Honeybee naively hopes that answering it would somehow rid him of the nightmares each night.

Darkness settles over him. Honeybee floats in a weightless void for a few heartbeats, and then a starlit mist wraps around him. When he blinks, he is no longer in the void, but in the pine forest. Honeybee glances around at the coniferous trees looming over him, his brows pinched together in confusion. It's the pine forest, but it's different. Starlight shines in each leaf, every blade of grass, every flower petal.

It's beautiful.

They're too wrapped up in admiring their surroundings, they do not notice the approaching figure until they're mere fox-lengths away. Honeybee's jaw goes slack when their eyes meet familiar pale yellow ones. They recognize the large blue tabby instantly, their gaze misting over. "Rain?" Honeybee steps forward, whiskers held taut. Stars are caught in the late leader's translucent slate fur. He looks just as he had the day he'd descended from the stars to deliver the prophecy. Honeybee has so many questions, but the one that falls from trembling lips is, "Why am I here?" Had they died? Are they now a starry ghost, too? Had Cicada taken advantage of their vulnerability after all?

No, that couldn't be... When they look at their own paws, they do not gleam with starlight like Rain's.

@Jay ​

 

[Rain]

All of the cats who had once resided in the pine group were who Rain considered his family, no matter if they saw him as their father figure or not he felt as if he must take care of them, guide them in life and now in death he would do the same. Honeybee was a familiar face, one of his own and he had come here at the summons of the starry cats. The road ahead for this tom would be rough and Rain knew he would be asking a lot but he was certain he was up for it.

Sympathy gleams in his light green eyes as he looks upon the tabby standing before him. “Honeybee, you’re here because I have a request to make of you. It is important, otherwise I would never ask for such a thing. It is your destiny” he emphasizes the word destiny. What a great thing to have someone to tell you what your purpose would be in life. He is almost envious, his own end is not something he ever would have chosen for himself but he would die a million times again if it meant protecting his loved ones. “What I’m asking of you may seem unfair right now, and you might hate me for it but I promise you It’s for the good of others and yourself, otherwise I would never seem to do so” he knows that if he himself had been asked to live among his enemies, to live under someone who had killed the cat he once lived under himself, he would refuse. He would not blame Honeybee if he did so. “You must learn medicine, how to heal, the cats of your clan will need you as much as you need them. Star Clan will guide your paws please do not be afraid.” He watches the tom for his reaction before telling him the next part, the part that would be difficult. “We need you to do it in River Clan though, to heal alongside Cicada. Can you do that?” He knows he’s asking for a lot but it’s what is needed. Patiently he waits for the answer. ​

✦ ★ ✦​