Mapleheart

Kit Name: Maplekit 

Medicine Cat Apprentice Name: Maplepaw

Medicine Cat Name: Mapleheart

Gender: Female

Rank: Medicine Cat 

Apprentices: Toadpaw (formerly), Honeyblossom (formerly)

Status: Deceased 

Cause of Death: Starvation

From the time she was a kit Mapleheart was a worrier. As a kit she agonized for moons over whether or not to approach the clan's medicine cat and ask to be their apprentice when she was old enough. She eventually did end up working up the courage to ask and the medicine cat readily agreed. 

While Mapleheart was ecstatic over being able to train as a medicine cat her father and brother were less than impressed. Mapleheart's mother died of green cough two moons after Mapleheart and her brother were born despite the best efforts of the medicine cat. Mapleheart's father blamed the medicine cat for the death of his mate and lost faith in the cat's ability to help and heal. He told Mapleheart that she would be wasting her time training under the medicine cat and Mapleheart's brother parroted their father's words. 

Defending the medicine cat was one of the few times Mapleheart dared to speak against her father and it greatly strained their relationship. After Mapleheart and her brother were made apprentices their father put almost all of his attention on Mapleheart's brother, not that that was all that different from how things had been before. Mapleheart's father had always favored her brother, he just finally started blatantly showing it after she became an apprentice.

With her relationship with her family strained and no close friends of her own Mapleheart put all of her focus into her training. She did her best to memorize everything the first time her mentor told her, but often failed or mixed herbs up when reciting them. 

During her training Mapleheart often put herself down when she made mistakes, no matter how small. Her mentor worked hard to train her out of the habit and help her realize how capable she really was but never fully succeeded. As she grew older Mapleheart stopped voicing her self doubts out loud but they still ran rampant in her mind.

During her training Mapleheart become close with Roseheart, who had begun her training a few moons before Mapleheart. Roseheart gave Mapleheart plenty of tough love when it came to helping her build up her confidence but it worked. While Mapleheart's mentor was kind and gentle Roseheart gave Mapleheart's the hard truths and shoves in the right direction. Mapleheart came to treasure Roseheart's friendship and often saw her as her closest friend. 

After the death of her mentor life quickly became a whirlwind for Mapleheart and she spent the moons following her teacher's death doing what felt like the work of ten cats. She faced some resistance and distrust from some of the clan due to her mentor's past shortcomings but after Longstar spoke in support of her the resistance greatly lessened. 

Mapleheart was quick to notice when Toadpaw began showing interest in her work when he was a kit but refrained from asking him about becoming her apprentice as she wanted him to be able to make his own decision about his future path without her meddling. Toadpaw did end up asking to be her apprentice and she welcomed him as readily as her own mentor had welcomed her. 

As a mentor Mapleheart was constantly worried about whether or not she doing things right. Mapleheart spent nearly every half moon asking Roseheart for advice and later questions about her own experiences with her apprentice (Minnowleap). More than anything Mapleheart was afraid of falling Toadpaw so she did everything she could to support him and teach him at the same time. 

When Toadpaw first came to her saying that he had been visited by Starclan Mapleheart was hesitant to believe him. However, the young cats insistence and faith in what he had saw slowly had her believing him and allowing him to speak to Longstar about the messages he received. 

In her heart Mapleheart was against the idea of attacking the River clan camp, however when Longstar asked her opinion on the matter as a medicine cat she set aside her own options and spoke in trust of Starclan. If Starclan was telling the clan to fight, then surely there had to be a good reason. 

As Mapleheart watched her clanmates fall to Riverclan warriors it quickly became clear to her that something wasn't right about the messages Toadpaw had received. She had hoped to speak more to Toadpaw after they had finished treating those injured during the battle but then Toadpaw ran away and was killed. The next time Mapleheart saw her apprentice it was during her half moon visit to Starclan and it was there she learned the truth about Toadpaw's "Starclan Messenger".

 Mapleheart partly blamed herself for the destruction Silverfur caused but she also blamed Starclan for not intervening. The situation shook her face in Starclan and she skipped the next half moon meeting. 

After Toadpaw, Mapleheart did not take on an apprentice for awhile. Longstar tried to suggest several kits that could have been convinced to train as a med cat but Mapleheart didn't want to force a cat that wasn't completely willing to become a med cat and be bound by all the rules that came with the title. 

By the time Mapleheart took on Honeyblossom as an apprentice there was no denying that Mapleheart was old. Roseheart had died and Minnowleap was speaking of a kit that she would likely be taking on as an apprentice. Mapleheart's time had come and gone and yet she remained. 

When training Honeyblossom Mapleheartvspent a great deal of time warning her of cats from beyond Starclan's borders that would try and trick her if given the chance. Mapleheart never told Honeyblossom about Toadpaw herself, his death still haunting her moons laters. Instead Honeyblossom heard the story directly from Toadpaw, unbeknownst to Mapleheart. 

When Honeyblossom received her full med cat name Mapleheart felt so proud her heart felt like it would burst. She and Honeyblossom worked side by side for a number of moons and Mapleheart was able to see firsthand that she had taught Honeyblossom well.

Mapleheart died after a particularly cold leaf bare made prey so scarce the clan couldn't keep everyone fed. Mapleheart was always one of the first to give up her share of prey and she ended up passing away in her sleep due to starvation. She was led to Starclan by Toadpaw and reunited with her mother and Roseheart.