"May Starclan light your path, young one."
Rainpelt had never said these words before. So far, deputy was a tiring job.
Leafstar was sick. She could probably still hunt and fight, but Rainpelt had kept her in her den. She still had 7 lives, but she was going to need every life in order to rebuild the clans.
Rainpelt was the only other warrior, and he had quite a few mouths to feed. There was a sudden influx of kits joining the clan, and they were all needing to be fed.
The clan had no medicine cat. Rainpelt was trying his best, but it was quite hard to find poppyseed when you did not know the difference between that and catnip. He was growing tired. He had to do border patrols, as well as hunt, and hunting in leaf bare is not a stroll in the forest.
He came back into the camp, and put a single, scrawny mouse where the fresh kill pile should have been.
It looked like he was going without food again.
He sighed as he heard more coughing from Leafstars den. He sighed, stretching his muscles out before he padded over to her den. She was inside the cave walls, where the humidity was caught. It's cool feeling reminded him of walking through the fine mist by the waterfall they had.
Her body was laying down, her flank moving up and down.
Rainpelt used his tail to gently stroke the side of her pelt, and her breathing seemed to become more relaxed instead of forced. If she didn't get better soon, things really could get worse then they were now.
Hazekit, the newest member of the clan, was playing moss ball with Skykit. The deputy had just finished her naming ceremony - which Leafstar had been to sick to attend - and both kits were waiting eagerly to become apprentices.
Mintcloud and Frostshard padded into the camp, carrying a few fish. Fish? How do you get fish?! He then remembered they were still used to being rouges, so they had probably learned to fish while trying to survive, just the two of them.
Rainpelt stretched. Even during leaf fall, it seemed that these cats were able to bring in more prey then any clan born cat was able to. Without them, the two warriors would have starved already.
Rainpelt walked over to the fresh kill pile, and picked up a plump salmon. Resisting the urge to gobble it up, he took it to Leafstar, who was now stretching in her den. He padded through the lichen curtain, and the same cool feeling enveloped him. "I thought you might be hungry."
Leafstar nodded, gobbling down the salmon down quickly. When she finished, she licked her whiskers. "Aren't you going to eat?" Rainpelt shook his head. "But the clan leader is supposed to eat last!"
Rainpelt touched muzzles with her. "But you need to regain your strength. Your sick. I'll be fine. I promise." Leafstar shook her head. "You should have eaten first." Rainpelt purred. "I already made sure that the rest of the clan was fed. I will be fine."
Leafstar looked at him skeptically for a moment longer, but didn't push the issue further. She padded out of her den, her pelt warming up as the sun shone down. It was still chilly, but warmer then the cave.
She stared at Frostshard and Mintcloud for a moment, who were sharing tounges in the clearing. "She will be expecting soon. I wonder if Frostshard knows." Rainpelt shook his head. "I do not think so. Based on the look she gave me when I brought it up as I brought them back here, she does not want him to know." Leafstar stared at her for a moment longer.
"Well, more kits is going to be a burden. They are so energetic! We've already got quite a few of them recently, and now there are more on the way!" Rainpelt purred agAin, twitching his tail.
"It looks like we may be able to rebuild the clan after all. But there were 4 clans in the old forest. I honestly think that we should make more then one clan. To remember the old warrior code."
Leafstar looked at him. "Why? We are fine now, and no cat would be able to take the position of leader." Rainpelt had already thought about this long and hard. "Maybe the next kit that we raise should be a clan leader. We can make Thunderclan, Riverclan, Shadowclan, and Windclan, along with Leafclan. We could even be able to restore all of the clans to their former glory!"
Leafstar stared at him. "Well, I guess we could. It would be quite hard though. Let us focus on rebuilding Leafclan first. Then we can worry about the other clans."
Rainpelt rubbed his muzzle into her side again. "Don't worry. We will be able to do it. Someday."
The small ball of moss rolled past the two warriors, with the two kits not far behind. They squeezed in delight as they both leapt on the ball at the same time. The ball shot away again, and just like the previous time, they chased after it eagerly.
Rainpelt purred in amusement. "I feel like an elder watching them! They are so energetic..." Leafstar let out a small chuckle. "Well, I do say that you were probably three times worse when you were a kit. You were jumping off of the walls!"
Rainpelt used his paw to give a light cuff to her head. "Untrue. I had to sit there and listen to the stories of the old clans! You were scary back then!"
Leafstar whipped around, amusement filling her eyes. "Excuse me? Scary?" Rainpelt chuckled again. "You still are at times!" This comment caused Leafstar to jump on him, and they rumbled around the clearing, just as the kits had been doing only moments before.