“So you didn’t see what did this to him?”

Goldenbranch was gently holding a poultice onto Troublepaw’s scratched flank. The apprentice was wriggling and resisting but Goldenbranch was preoccupied talking to his mentor.

“It wasn’t a cat, it was small. It smelt like a rabbit but… weird.”

“Great starclan,” Goldenbranch muttered worriedly. She didn’t want to scare the apprentice but she privately had thought the wound smelled a little.. odd. Not like any disease she’d known but odd.

She sighed and took the pressure off the wound. “Get some rest, Troublepaw,” she said, and the fluffy young cat nodded, sinking sheepishly onto his paws.

“Newteye. A word.”

The reckless she-cat was more trouble than her apprentice. She should be the one named that, thought Goldenbranch crossly.

“Do you not think I have enough to deal with with leafbare on the way without you running headlong into danger with an apprentice,” she hissed as they walked out of earshot of Troublepaw. Newteye rolled her eyes and scoffed.

“He’ll be fine,” she said, tail twitching. She hated being told what to do, Goldenbranch had observed. Too bad.

“He won’t be if that weird smelling rabbit was diseased. Which way did it go?” She snapped. Newteye looked ready to argue, but the deputy crossing the camp eyed both of them warningly. Their poor relationship was well known, and they were expected to keep it civil for the sake of the clan. Goldenbranch sheathed her claws and after a moment of breathing deeply forced her back fur to lie flat.

Newteye’s was still spiking but she growled and strode off towards the camp entrance.

Goldenbranch was no warrior, but she felt at ease in the territory anyway. Even the crankiest brat of a warrior wouldn’t be stupid enough to let their medicine cat get hurt on their watch - not even Newteye. Even so, when she detected that same weird smell, Goldenbranch felt a little unnerved.

“Yeah, I did think it was a bit weird,” muttered Newteye begrudgingly. Was she feeling guilty for letting her apprentice get hurt? Goldenbranch fought down the initial selfish reaction and tried to have a little grace.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” she mewed in her nicest, kindest voice. Newteye nearly turned her ire on the medicine cat once again, but stopped short when she saw the genuine sympathy on Goldenbranch’s face.

She thought the warrior was about to speak when there was a rustle. They both jerked their heads towards it, Goldenbranch dropping to a crouch just a second later than Newteye.

A rabbit- larger than usual but not unnaturally so- had sprang out in front of them. It’s fur was a glossy black and it’s eyes were pale. Goldenbranch’s immediate thought was the disease rabbits got where their eyes clouded over, but this rabbit was different. It somehow looked straight at them, despite the distance, and the wind was blowing towards them, carrying their scent away. And it’s scent- it was cold, like the scent of a winter’s morning, stinging their noses.

Goldenbranch realised that Newteye’s fur was brushed all the way out, which was unnerving in the extreme. The warrior looked at her with a look of expectation. “Is it a sign from starclan?” She whispered uncertainly.

The rabbit’s ears tilted forwards.

“I do not serve your starclan, though I walk similar paths. Your young one will be okay. Do not look for me again.”

The air filled with mist, obscuring the view of the strange black rabbit that spoke cat with a voice made of thousands of voices.

Wordlessly, the two she-cats went back to camp as fast as they could without actually sprinting.

“So we’re telling people not to hunt the weird talking rabbit right?” said Newteye without looking at Goldenbranch as they entered camp.

“And we never speak of this again,” agreed Goldenbranch, keen to go back to bickering with Newteye like nothing had ever happened.