Cinderpelt’s Heart is a short story written by Turtledapple. It’s about Cinderpelt feeling like she isn’t a good mentor to Leafpaw, and Yellowfang comforting her.- - - - - - - - - -
Cinderpelt laid wide awake in her nest. In the next nest over, she could hear Leafpaw’s quiet breathing as she slept.
Cinderpelt’s blue eyes were filled with guilt and shame.
Leafpaw had only been her apprentice for a moon, but Cinderpelt didn’t feel like she was a good mentor.
She wasn’t sure if she should try to be the kind of mentor Yellowfang was to her, or do something else, but whatever it was, she felt like she wasn’t doing a good job.
Cinderpelt gazed at Leafpaw as the brown tabby apprentice slept.
She liked Leafpaw quite a bit. But mentoring was difficult. It’d always seemed easy when Yellowfang mentored Cinderpelt, but perhaps it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
Closing her eyes, Cinderpelt eventually fell asleep.
When she woke up, she was in a place she recognized from trips to the Moonstone: StarClan.
And there she was. Yellowfang, her eyes gleaming, her dark gray fur matted as ever.
“Yellowfang!” purred Cinderpelt, running to touch noses with her former mentor.
“My dear apprentice.” Yellowfang purred.
Cinderpelt shuffled her paws. “Do you have something to tell me? Advice to give? A prophecy?”
“Yes. I’ve come to give you advice.” Yellowfang’s eyes softened. “It seems like you’re questioning if you’re a good mentor to Leafpaw.”
“I am,” Cinderpelt confessed. “I just feel like I could never be as good of a mentor to Leafpaw was you were to me.” She looked at the ground, wondering what Yellowfang would say.
Yellowfang did not speak for a moment, but then she spoke.
“Oh, Cinderpelt. You’re doing just fine. I know that it can take time to get used to having an apprentice, but I think you’re a good mentor.
“You’ve done nothing but encourage Leafpaw. Stop being so hard on yourself. Just don’t give up.”
Cinderpelt’s throat was choked up with emotion. This was what she needed all along. Somebody to tell her that she was good enough.
“Thank you, Yellowfang,” she meowed. Her blue eyes gleamed.
Yellowfang nodded her head in reply, and slowly, started to fade away. Cinderpelt found herself waking up.
Yawning, she stood up, and gently nudged Leafpaw.
Leafpaw opened her amber eyes. “Hello,” she mewed, standing up.
“Ready to gather herbs?” Cinderpelt asked.
Leafpaw nodded. “I’m ready.”
“Then let’s go,” mewed Cinderpelt, exiting the medicine cat den with her apprentice.
Like Yellowfang said, all she had to do was not give up. She would be alright.
THE END