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Alderheart left camp as planned, as had become a habit, at the quarter moon. The sky was only just dotted with clouds, and the last memories of rain still teased the inside of his nose. It was a refreshing respite before the scornful heat of Greenleaf, and made for a good days to slip from the camp without notice.
I’m going to get more Goldenroot, he would tell Jayfeather.
His mentor would just nod and reply, “good, good,” before sending him on his way. Alderheart suspected the old gray tabby knew more than he let on, but was content to let the matter rest in exchange for an afternoon alone.
Passing through ThunderClan territory was easy, though he knew to time his travels so they did not overlap with Ivypool’s patrols. She always seemed to keep one ear and her whole nose trained at the ShadowClan border, and would be quick to suggest an escort.
It does get a little awkward, he admitted, but it helps get news of her sister.
This time though he did not pass a patrol, nor did any creature pay him much heed as he circled SkyClan’s borders. Their addition to the lake complicated his travels, but he would not grieve them for it for even a moment.
Eventually he crossed onto an old dirt road where the two forest parted in the middle. Unlike the foul smelling stone roads, two-legs seemed to prefer to take the path on foot, and rarely did the sputtering of an engine interrupt the rhythm of birdsong and rustling leaves.
“You’re early!” Puddleshine sat up from behind a bed of flowers. Two-legs had put it there last summer, filling boxes with strong-scented soil and flowers of many colors. It helped cover up their scent, and they would have good warning of any approaching patrols.
“I got lucky,” Alderheart said, bounding up. His tail raised and curled at the end, and Puddleshine returned the gesture from where he sat, waiting for the tom to come close.
“I’ve never seen a cat as good at sneaking out of camp as you, you know,” said Puddleshine. “I guess you do have a little ShadowClan in you.”
Alderheart did have kin in ShadowClan, and the reminder usually filled him with apprehension. Hearing it from Puddleshine, though, it felt like a compliment.
“So what’s so important,” asked Alderheart, “that I had to make it today?”
Puddleshine turned his nose towards a patch of flowers, each stem lined with brilliant blue blossoms. “I wanted to see this,” said Puddleshine. “The Bluebells were in bloom the first day I could walk on my own again. Everytime I see them, it reminds me of you.”
He began to bend down, dragging his claws over the slender stems and bringing bundles of the flower to the grass. Alderheart leaned away, bashful as his fellow medicine cat continued to collect the small ring of flowers. “They’re poisonous.”
“Only if you eat them,” said Puddleshine. “I think you’ve proven you can handle yourself around a little poison.” He hunched down low, mischief in the flicker of his tail as he shuffled the stems with his claws. Alderheart wondered what he was up to, recognizing the patience and precision needed to make their herb bundles in his manipulations.
Puddleshine rose again with a circle of flowers braced between his teeth. He leaned up, balancing on two legs and then leveraging his paw on Alderheart’s shoulder to reach up between the tom’s ears. Alderheart blinked, his pelt swimming with surprise as the smaller tom crowned him with flowers. It felt a silly thing, wearing the blossoms like a kit who had plowed straight through a two-leg garden, but the way Puddleshine looked at him with it on made him purr.
“My Bluebell,” Puddleshine touched his nose to Alderheart’s. The giant tom sat for a moment, unable to muster a response beyond the giddy thrum from his chest. Then in a moment of inspiration he hopped, neatly sailing over Puddleshine, to root around in the flowers.
“B-bluebell? Then, what are you?” Alderheart wondered, the crown staying tight about his ears as he searched for a suitable answer.
Puddleshine followed after, the same amused sway in his step as he afforded Alderheart the same patience he’d just showed. “Isn't it obvious?”
The two-leg garden was now looking quite a mess, with bundles of tops removed from less-than-discrete portions in the middle. Alderheart, despite his fidgeting, managed to create a respectable likeness to Puddleshine’s gift in white and golden petals. He lifted it up, tipping his head up just enough to place it atop his friend.
Puddleshine’s muzzle slid beneath his, the edges of his teeth grazing over Alderheart’s jawline. The ginger tom gasped, and leaned back just enough to meet Puddleshine’s eyes.
“We serve our clans,” said Puddleshine, “and StarClan, always.”
“Always.” Alderheart agreed. The two cats walked back towards the pine, their tails raised and tips nearly brushing as they sought out the shade. They lay together in the brown, dried needles that wreathed the trunk of a pine feeling the soft layer rolling beneath their fur.
“No matter what happens, I'll always remember what you did for me.” Puddleshine rested his head against Alderheart’s shoulder. “No matter what happens, I’ll always hold you close as kin.”
Alderheart was speechless. Had Puddleshine always felt that way? What about me? It’s not like I… His pelt ruffled in embarrassment, eyes wide as he realized what he had been doing for moons. Stealing small conversations at Gatherings, sneaking off into ShadowClan territory just to steal a few words and a few minutes of companionship. O-oh...
He shook his head, and Puddleshine looked back. Alderheart feared that the other medicine cat had taken offense at his silence, but instead just watched with the same tender amusement as always. After a long hesitation, Alderheart leaned down and began to wash his tongue over Puddleshine’s ears.
“Me too,” Alderheart said.
Puddleshine narrowed his eyes affectionately. Then he flopped onto his side, and thrust himself up between Alderheart’s forelegs so his head rested beneath the ginger giant’s chin. “Good,” he said. “Because that’s about this close.”
Alderheart’s paws curled. He’d lain beside Puddleshine before, watching over his recovery in the ShadowClan medicine den, but never had they shared tongues like this. His companion seemed to revel in his hesitation, which made it just a little easier to bear.
Half-beams of sunlight cut through the branches from above, bathing them in stripes of warmth. In a little while he would have to get up, collect his herbs, and leave both the territory and Puddleshine once more. That time had not yet come, though, and until the sun passed over the very top of the pine, he would not let go.