AN:: I only have two comments for you guys. One, I'm about to upload spam a couple of chapters, so be prepared. And two, I deleted the author's notes/update..updates. That's all~
Don't forget to R&R, and enjoy~!
"Hollypaw? Are you coming?"
"Yes, I'm coming, just…hold on a moment…!"
"Well hurry up!"
Hollypaw puffed, stretching her scarred leg out again and pulling it close to her body. It had been a few days since her assessment, and she hadn't seen or heard anything from Solsticestar since the day she saw him in the tree. She hadn't been able to sneak out to see him, either; Thunderclan was keeping an even closer eye on its borders, and she hadn't had a chance to sneak out and see the Starclan warrior at all. She hardly expected any of the other apprentices to be able to see him either, with the tensions between the clans.
"What's taking so long?" Ivypool cut into Hollypaw's thoughts, stalking up to the apprentice and flicking her tail tip angrily. "What are you doing that's taking so long?" Hollypaw set her leg back down on the ground, wincing a little and averting her gaze.
"My leg's really sore today," she admitted, shuffling her front paws. "I was seeing if stretching it would make it feel better…" She averted her gaze, ears flattening. She hated admitting that her leg was bothering her; it meant more fussing from her mentor, her parents, and the medicine cat, all of which she didn't want.
Just as she knew it would, Ivypool's gaze softened and concern flickered in her eyes. "Do you need to see Jayfeather?" She asked gently. Hollypaw stared at the ground. Any other day she would've vehemently denied it and continued through the pain; but today her leg ached even when she didn't put pressure on it, and she didn't know what else to do. She nodded slowly. "Go on and see him, then." Ivypool meowed, touching her nose to Hollypaw's ear. "We'll continue on with the patrol and I'll take you out later, when you feel better." Hollypaw ruefully watched her mentor pad back to the border patrol, feeling the worried gazes flick over to her before they left.
Heaving a sigh Hollypaw stood and padded toward Jayfeather's den, sticking her head inside and letting her eyes adjust. Jayfeather was busy talking with Birchfall, both toms backs turned to her, and she listened quietly. "My leg is fine, Jayfeather. I think I just need to stretch it."
"So you think you know more than I do?" Jayfeather asked, an irritated tone in his voice. Birchfall faltered, looking down.
"No…but you haven't let me out of your den since I stumbled and fell a few days ago." He grumbled, sitting down heavily in his nest. "Hollypaw was barely in here for a few days before she left."
"Well she didn't have a broken leg." Jayfeather sniffed. He swung around and looked at Hollypaw, his nose twitching. "What do you need, Hollypaw?" He snapped. Hollypaw flinched.
"M-my leg is really sore today…" she mumbled, stepping into the den slowly. "Ivypool sent me to see you…" Jayfeather sighed, standing and padding up to her. She stood still as the medicine cat walked around her, sniffing her leg and prodding it gently.
"It might be the weather that's bothering you." He meowed after a moment, standing up. "It's going to rain later today. Has your leg bothered you at all otherwise?" Hollypaw shook her head, forgetting for a moment that he was blind.
"No." Jayfeather nodded, padding deeper into the den and reappearing a moment later with a bundle of herbs. He set them down, unrolling a leaf the reveal small berries hiding inside.
"This is ragwort leaf and juniper berries," he meowed, pointing at them with his claw. "They're used to help aching joints and should help your leg. Eat them and then rest a while." Hollypaw nodded, lapping up the foul tasting herbs and padding out of the den. She paused, sitting down beside the apprentice's den and staring around the camp.
Briarlight was playing with the kits, tossing a moss ball across the camp and watching them hare after it, squealing in delight. Firepaw was backing out of the elder's den, nodding and talking to them as he left. Otherwise the camp felt empty.
Hollypaw turned her nose up, twitching her whiskers. Heavy clouds hung in the sky, and she could smell rain on the wind. Maybe I'll be like grandpa and feel when it's going to storm, she thought, grimacing. It's sad that cats don't know about Ibuprofen or Tylenol…or morphine.
The pain seemed to appear out of nowhere. The past few days had been getting cooler and cooler, yet her leg hadn't hurt in the past. Not even when a brief shower hit the forest on one of the warmer days. When she had woken up and first noticed the pain, her immediate thought was that karma had come for her – she told Jayfeather that stretching her sore leg was why she was leaving camp at night, and now her leg was actually sore. Maybe it really was just the weather, but for all Hollypaw knew it was most definitely karma punishing her. If there were dead cats that spoke to them and cats with knowledge of herbs, prophecies of what was to come, and cats who had a knowledge of and an established hierarchy, who was to say they didn't believe in karma, or some other variant?
"Hey Hollypaw." Hollypaw snapped out of her thoughts and looked down to see Foxleap padding up to her. "Why aren't you with Ivypool on the border patrol?"
"My leg's bothering me." She sighed, lying down and tucking her paws under her chest and wrinkling her nose. Foxleap looked up.
"It could just be the weather." He reasoned, looking down at her. Hollypaw nodded.
"That's what Jayfeather said," she sighed, shaking her head, "which means that every time it's going to rain or something I'm going to be useless."
"You won't be useless." Foxleap meowed, shaking his head. "You might just need to get herbs from Jayfeather every time it happens."
Hollypaw rolled her eyes. "Oh sure, I'm sure he'd like me using up all his herbs because of a sore leg."
"It's what he does." Foxleap meowed.
"Or maybe I could just not take herbs and get a day off every once in a while." Hollypaw meowed, smiling a little. Foxleap shook his head.
"Ivypool won't let you get away with that." He quipped. "Nor would Squirrelflight." Hollypaw gasped dramatically.
"They would really make me work while I'm in pain?" She whimpered, her eyes wide. She rolled onto her back, putting a paw to her forehead. "Oh, the horror!"
Foxleap purred in amusement, rolling his eyes. "Of course," he meowed, prodding her stomach. "Otherwise everyone would be wanting off work for minor pains."
"See, but I have a legitimate excuse." Hollypaw reasoned, sitting up and shoving his paw away. "I was attacked by a fox. Two foxes, if we count you." She gave him a pointed look, her eyes narrowing. Foxleap looked away, shuffling his paws.
"Yeah, about that…I don't think I ever apologized." He glanced at her, looking away again. "So…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you like that when you were a kit." Hollypaw shook her head, nudging his side.
"It was an accident. And I forgive you." Hollypaw tucked her legs under her again and looked around the camp, blinking. "By the way, where's Nettlepaw?" She asked, looking up at the russet warrior.
"Squirrelflight took him on a patrol." He meowed.
"And you didn't go with?"
"No, I was helping Jayfeather collect herbs at that moment." He sighed, shaking his head. "Making me do apprentice duties when there are apprentices ready to do it for him…but, then again, he found me in the forest and asked me. So I couldn't really say no." He shrugged, glancing down at Hollypaw. "Besides, Ivypool went on a patrol without you. It's not unnatural for mentors to do something without their apprentices, and the other way around…" Hollypaw shrugged, standing and arching her back in a stretch. A cold breeze swept through the clearing, making her shiver and hunch her shoulders.
"Won't be long before leaf-bare is here." Foxleap meowed, watching as leaves were swept off the trees in the wind. He glanced down at Hollypaw. "You haven't seen snow yet, have you?" Hollypaw opened her mouth to reply, snapping it shut a moment later and shaking her head. She had been ready to tell him about all the snowmen and snow forts she'd built, and all the snowball fights she'd had with her friends and neighbors. "It's nice, at first." Foxleap meowed, staring up at the sky. "Until it starts to get so deep you can't walk or hunt properly. Then it's just annoying."
A thick drop of water landed on Hollypaw's nose and she shook her head, staring up at the sky with narrowed eyes. Water was beginning to dot the dusty ground in the camp, and Dovewing was calling her kits back inside. "I'll talk to you later." Foxleap meowed, bounding over to the warrior's den and slipping inside. Hollypaw slipped into the apprentice's den, shaking the water off her nose, and listened as it became a steady patter-patter sound, then a dull roar.
Hollypaw stared out the den entrance as Ivypool's patrol came back, sprinting to their respective dens and disappearing inside. Hollypaw had to step back as Lilypaw and Molepaw squeezed into the den beside her, puffing and shaking out their soaking fur.
"Hey Hollypaw." Lilypaw meowed, flicking her tail and sitting in her nest. "How's your leg feeling?"
"Better." Hollypaw meowed, stretching her leg out. The ache was gone now, leaving the barest hint of pain behind. Lilypaw nodded.
"Ivypool was worried about you." She meowed, running her tongue between her claws and pulling out scraps of tree bark. "She doesn't want you to fall behind on your training or anything because of it."
"I won't." Hollypaw meowed instantly, curling her tail around her paws. Lilypaw shrugged.
"I didn't say you were. I just said Ivypool hopes it doesn't happen."
Firepaw burst into the den, shaking out his fur and soaking Hollypaw and Lilypaw's freshly groomed pelt. "Hey!" Hollypaw battered at him with her paws, flicking water off her ears angrily.
"Sorry," he gasped, taking a quick step away from Hollypaw. "Squirrelflight's patrol came back, and they're all beaten up! They ran into a Shadowclan patrol!" He meowed, his eyes sparkling with worry. Hollypaw jumped to her paws, eyes wide.
"Are they okay?" She asked. Molepaw and Lilypaw stared at Firepaw, leaning forward to listen. He shook his head furiously.
"Squirrelflight's got a torn claw, and Mousewhisker and Blossomfall are pretty beat up…" Anxiety filled his gaze, and he stared at Hollypaw. "And they said Nettlepaw was taken by the patrol!"