[AbsurdJinx]

Originally Posted by Charmer

Shinefang felt the younger cat flush against him, warm against his pelt. She seemed so small. Too small to be confronting these hard lessons. He thought of his daughters, who he never got to raise because the foxhearts of Starclan had snatched them before they could even take their first breath. Not for the first time, he wondered if he would have been a good father. He saw the younger cat's face seem to sink with despair. Had he been too harsh? No. He had only told her the truth. Better she hear it from him than wonder if she was the only cat moons and moons later who still carried the ache. In a rare moment of affection, Shinefang wrapped his tail around the apprentice and brought her closer, putting a paw on her shoulder. "Oh Junebug. It gets easier. And you'll get stronger too," the old tom gaze a chuckle. "You're already so strong." There was sincerity in his eye, and a warmth rarely seen beneath his gruff exterior.

Receiving such a comment from Shinefang filled Juniperpaw's heart with warmth. He believes in me. When she first became Geckoleaf's apprentice a majority of her clanmates looked down on her for replacing the former medicine cat apprentice. She had been an outcast among her clanmates - not even Geckoleaf or Russetstar could look at her without being reminded of the former apprentice. And Daydream, who was best friends with Cricketpaw, must also have difficulty looking at Juniperpaw without thinking of their deceased friend. Shinefang was the only one who hadn't known Cricketpaw and therefore couldn't judge her in that area. Juniperpaw looked up at the older tomcat and saw genuineness that had her spilling everything. In a raspy tone, the upset RiverClan member admitted, ``It's so hard, Shinefang! Geckoleaf disappeared, and so did Cloversplash, my mother. My half-brother is obsessing over some hard-headed tom and non-stop talks about him, so it's not like I could go to him for support. And my other half-brother hates me! He doesn't like that I'm `daddy's little girl` and I have the rank I have. My dad's grieving, and I can't burden him with even more issues. My first two patients - the first cats I treated! - I had to kill! The first was a young kit who had internal injuries I couldn't heal. The second was an elderly warrior who also had internal injuries. I had to feed them deathberries and watch them die because I didn't know what to do! The poor kit's family was there... The warrior knew she would die... Will it get easier? Will it really?``