A few sunrises later, Mosspaw and Jayfeather were in their den sorting through their low supply of herbs. "It's leafbare. We are really low on most every herb. Do you think you could go see if there is any catmint? I want to be prepared in case anybody gets sick."
Before he had even finished speaking, Dustpelt padded into the den with a cough. "Do you have anything for Graystripe? He's been coughing all night and none of us got any sleep."
Jayfeather padded up to him and listened to his breathing for a second. "Mosspaw, go get Graystripe and bring him in here." Mosspaw nodded and bounded out of the den and headed towards the elders' den.
"Graystripe? Could you come with me, please?" The old tom cat looked up with streaming nose and eyes and padded after Mosspaw into the medicine den. When the old cat coughed again, Jayfeather looked up and gasped.
"Graystripe, why didn't you come to see me sooner?" Jayfeather growled at him. "I could have stopped it from turning into Greencough. And yes, that is exactly what you have. Go lay down in there. You too Dustpelt, you've got Whitecough." He turned to Mosspaw. "Was anyone else in the elders' den coughing?"
She thought back to when she looked into the medicine den. "Come to think of it, I think Sandstorm and Brackenfur were, too."
Jayfeather growled. "Ok. Will you get them and check to see if anyone else is coughing. Warriors and apprentices include. Check the queens, as well. I want to make sure Greencough doesn't get in the nursery. With so many kits and expecting mothers, we don't want anybody in the nursery getting sick. Send anybody who's sick to me. Then come back."
Mosspaw nodded, and then headed out of the medicine den. She poked her nose back into the elders' den and when she spotted Brackenfur and Sandstorm, she flicked her tail to get them to follow her out. "Is anybody else in there coughing?" They shook their heads and she sent them on to the medicine den.
She padded across to the Warriors den and stuck her head in. When she heard Cherrytail coughing, she sent her on to the medicine den. Nobody else seemed to be coughing, so she went on to the apprentices den. Yellowpaw, Redpaw, and Rowanpaw were all coughing so she led them to the medicine den.
When they entered, she left and padded over to the nursery. She stuck her head in and nobody seemed to be coughing, so she headed back to the medicine den. Jayfeather was padding between all the different cats sniffing at their pelts and touching his muzzle to their fur.
When Mosspaw entered, Jayfeather looked up at her and flicked his tail for her to step outside. When he followed her out, she could see the worry in his eyes. "We have an outbreak here. Go tell Bramblestar that we need to isolate the cats that have Greencough or Whitecough. I don't know where. We can't keep them in here with Briarlight. I'm not sure her system could fight off a bad case of Greencough, or even Whitecough."
