Disclaimer: I don't own the Warriors series!
Title: Resilience
Summary: With a harsh Leaf-bare on the horizon, the Clans are in a bad way. Petalkit is growing up under the stern gaze of her father, Ravenfur, when suddenly everything changes. Stuck in RiverClan until WindClan can produce enough catmint- something no Clan has in these temperatures- she does what any kit would do. She adapts.
Chapter Title: The Meeting
...
Ran (February 13th)- No biggie! With how often I associated dark brown on Petalpaw's paws to dry blood, it makes sense to think it was more of the same. It was my mistake. =)
A Warrior at Heart- Petalpaw is- slowly- learning to forgive herself, and I'm super proud of her. =) Yeah, Volespring is pretty great. She can be bossy, but it's usually just her way of trying to help take care of the Clan she's supposed to watch over.
mynameisname (February 14th)- Thanks!
Sharpbreeze (February 19th)- Thanks a lot! =)
...
"We have to keep going!" Whitestripe shrieked over the wind, her eyes squeezed shut. Petalpaw was in no better state, feeling the bitter snowflakes cut into her fur like claws. "We'll find shelter eventually!"
"Let's dig a place!" Petalpaw urged, remembering the stories she'd been told of the tunnelers. She'd take a tiny hole over dying in a blizzard any day.
But her mentor shook her head. "The snow would fill it back in before we'd make much headway!"
Together, the medicine cats forced themselves to walk through the endless snow and ice, one paw after the other. A dark, foreboding part of her wondered if their paws would survive the trek- Petalpaw shook the thought away, mildly embarrassed by her fear of losing feet over the very real threat of losing her life.
"This way!" a familiar voice called, and over the empty smell of snow she caught a whiff of the gray tom. Petalpaw forced her eyes to crack open just a little, detecting a blur of fur running on the snow.
"It's him!" she gasped aloud. Something else occurred to Petalpaw. "Hey, I know this place!"
"You what?" Whitestripe yelped.
Petalpaw craned her head up. In the distance, she could see the rising cliff and incline. "This is the way to Checkers' cave!" she cried, taking off in a sprint. "Follow me; I know the way!"
"Petalpaw, wait!" the medicine cat huffed, trying to keep up.
The gray tom's tail seemed to be calling to Petalpaw, daring her to catch it. The WindClan cat spaced her body out, belly fur brushing against the snow as she urged her legs to move faster. The conditions weren't nearly as promising as they would've been on the moor in Greenleaf, but Petalpaw knew she could make it work. For the first time in moons, she felt brave and confident. I can do this!
Petalpaw jolted out of her dream by a small paw thumping her in the haunches. Startled, she propped her front paws up, blinking away exhaustion. It wasn't like she didn't wake up from dreams often enough, but it hadn't been since she was a kit that she'd been interrupted before the dream could complete itself. Is something wrong? Petalpaw looked at Blackstorm and Cherryfur, but the mollies were fast asleep. Tansykit had found a spot between her mother's shoulders, while Hollykit- still angry with her, or so she gathered- had gone to the far end of the nest.
For a brief, horrible moment, she couldn't spot Patchkit, but then something sharp jabbed her. She twisted her head around to find Patchkit draped across her back legs and Blackstorm's tail, pouting. "If I'd known WindClan cats ran in their sleep, I wouldn't have curled up here!"
"Sorry," Petalpaw whispered sheepishly, and set her head on her paws. She looked out into the dark clearing and found sleep out of her grasp.
The black and white she-cat stumbled out of the nursery the next morning, the sky just beginning to lighten, and almost ran nose-first into Whitestripe. Petalpaw stumbled backwards with a cry of shock. "How long have you been sitting there?"
"Not long," Whitestripe meowed. "We need to talk about our dream."
"Our dream?" Petalpaw yawned. "What do you mean-" She straightened suddenly, eyes wide. "Wait. That was actually you? And not a dream you? Is that even a thing for medicine cats?"
"Sometimes," the brown and white tabby admitted, herding her away. "Come on. We need to wake Graystar."
"We do?"
"Cats don't share dreams for no reason, Petalpaw," she said. "This must affect all of RiverClan."
"Oh." Petalpaw felt a creeping feeling in her belly. "No pressure, then."
Whitestripe didn't pause at the entrance, or even wait to announce her presence, simply pushing inside with an air that this was totally normal. Petalpaw was impressed by the way she breezed into Graystar's den. Graystar was much bigger than both of them, and (presumably) a powerful warrior- enough so to gain all of RiverClan's respect and admiration. But none of that seemed to matter to the medicine cat, who unsheathed her claws and dug them none-so-gently into Graystar's scruff.
"Up," she grunted. "We gotta talk."
Graystar let out a low growl, cracking open a single eye. "Oh, dear. Two medicine cats standing over me when I'm not sick. That's never a good sign." She sat up with a sigh, taking a second to scratch. "It's a surprise to see you awake so early, Whitestripe. I haven't even assigned patrols yet."
"We had a dream." Whitestripe gestured between herself and Petalpaw. Petalpaw tried to keep herself very still and out of the way, like a rabbit.
"Grand," Graystar groused. "I imagine, from your tone of voice, it's not a pleasant one."
"It's not mountains of fresh-kill and soft moss, no."
She finally opened both eyes. "Are we talking the destruction of RiverClan big? Or can I eat some fresh-kill before I decide the fate of my friends?"
"I think we all need to abandon the camp," Whitestripe meowed. "Until Greenleaf."
Petalpaw blanched. How did she get that out a sprint through Leaf-bare?
Graystar stared at Whitestripe for an agonizing few heartbeats, eyes dark, before she finally let out a long sigh. "Y'know what? Screw it. I need a full belly for this." She pushed through them, fluffy tail lashing. Petalpaw could hear her grumbling under her breath. "Middle of Leaf-bare, just lost a queen and a kit, and she wants us to move the entire camp... should've just stayed a warrior... not enough herbs in the world to prepare me for this... could've settled into the elders' den and had munchkins clean the ticks from my pelt, but nooooo... just had to be an overachiever..."
"Don't worry," Whitestripe said, completely unaware of the true source of Petalpaw's surprise. "She's always like that in the morning."
Graystar returned with a bird and her deputy, grumpily shaking some feathers at them as she passed. Petalpaw was pleased to see that Volespring looked much better at balancing on her three paws, gimping over to sit beside the leader, who was demolishing her fresh-kill in her nest. The wraps on her ear and eye were gone, the wounds scabbed over and needing proper breathing room, though Petalpaw noticed she hadn't even attempted to open the eyelid. It must be blind, then. Or maybe it got ripped out? She shuddered at the thought.
Graystar finished the prey, let out a burp, and kicked aside a leftover bone. "Okay. Got a full belly now, so mean leader is gone for the day." She sat up properly, tail winding around her paws. "Why do you think we need to move camp?"
Whitestripe explained the dream, from the blizzard to Petalpaw pointing out they were near Checkers' cave. Petalpaw stared at her paws. It all sounded much less scary when it was said aloud. I thought medicine cats kept this type of thing to themselves. Have I been too secretive?
"So a bad storm is coming and you think that rogue can offer us shelter from it?" Volespring asked dubiously.
"It makes sense," Graystar admitted, to her surprise. "From what I was told, Checkers lives at a higher elevation, and the added bonus of the cave could give us protection. Wall up the cave, keep the wind out, keep everyone together."
"Right."
The gray she-cat blinked at her blandly. "You do recall that RiverClan has survived blizzards before, yes? It's not easy, but we're not kittypets."
"Besides," Volespring added. "WindClan would be in more danger than us- they have practically no cover. If they can get through okay, why can't we?"
Petalpaw flinched, feeling sick to her stomach. What about Raintail and Stripepaw and Beepaw? Lichenfang and her babies? Ravenfur? She'd totally forgotten all about the equal danger her Clanmates could be in. Everything before now had only applied to RiverClan, but weather didn't stop in one Clan.
Whitestripe kept her voice even, though her tail-tip flicked irritably. "All due respect, Graystar, we're kind of due for a hard stomp on the foot from StarClan. We stole a kit."
Volespring snorted. "Because she's been so badly taken care of, right?"
"StarClan can't punish you for taking me," Petalpaw butted in, forcing herself not to back down when they all looked at her. "Because I came back this time. I could've slipped away at any point when we went to see Checkers, but I didn't. This is where I'm needed. I've made my peace with that."
The brown and white tabby brushed her ear with her nose, and Petalpaw got the feeling she was proud of her. Whitestripe turned an eye on the leader and deputy. "I don't know how WindClan will work through this, but they have before."
"So have we," Graystar replied firmly.
"This is about more than just the blizzard," Whitestripe said. "While I was in that dream, I saw Featherpaw. You know what that means."
Graystar and Volespring exchanged a look. It was the leader who answered. "Badgers. A lot of them."
Featherpaw? But the only cats there were me, Whitestripe, and...
Petalpaw jumped to her paws. "THE GRAY TOM IS FEATHERPAW!?"
"StarClan's sake, Petalpaw!" Volespring scolded, good ear flat against her skull. "You almost gave me a heart attack. Tone the voice down."
Shock and mortification surged together in her chest at the bemused looks they were giving her, but it wasn't enough to make her sit down. "He's been haunting me since I got here! I wasn't even sure if he was real!"
"Featherpaw is plenty real, Petalpaw," Whitestripe meowed, forcing her pelt to lie flat. "He has a habit of slipping around RiverClan when badgers come." She sent her apprentice an ashamed look. "I'm sorry, Petalpaw. I should've realized he would come to you too."
"Me and Carpjaw and my brother- we got it into our heads to go fight badgers one night. Only two of us came home." Stonebird's words echoed in Petalpaw's mind. Of course! Why didn't I think of that before? She gave her chest fur a few licks in an attempt to soothe herself. "He came for Poppykit," Petalpaw whispered. It felt wrong to be talking about Poppykit's death so soon, but it felt equally wrong to hide that information now that she knew who he was. Who Featherpaw was.
"Good," Graystar said gruffly. "She's in safe paws."
"Graystar," Volespring prompted. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but Whitestripe may have a point. The snow will cut us off badly. The badgers won't be any more well off." She flicked her injured ear. "Starving badgers will find us easy prey."
She closed her eyes, processing her deputy's words. "It's a few days walk. How would walking that far not hurt us just as badly?"
"Snow cuts us from the inside," Whitestripe replied. "Claws and fangs sink in from the outside."
Graystar shook her head, as if doing so would make her words any less true. "We can't leave right now," she decided grimly. "Let's give it a few days, at least."
"Is that wise, Graystar?" Volespring challenged. "We have two medicine cats at our pawsteps right now."
"If we're to survive, we need to be prepared." Graystar turned her head to her deputy. "Volespring, I want you to look over the preparations. Have them gather as much leftover fresh-kill as we can spare and bury it in the snow."
She dipped her head. "Should I tell them why?"
"No. We don't want to cause unnecessary panic. Just say you want to be prepared for any heavy weather." She flicked her tail to Whitestripe and Petalpaw. "You're dismissed. Get some fresh-kill in your bellies, then take a nap. It sounds like you've had a long night."
Wait! Petalpaw opened her mouth to argue. I wanna know more about Featherpaw! Whitestripe gave her a good push, and she reluctantly padded out, tail lashing with frustration. Her first solid lead, but no further information. It was downright infuriating!
"We should keep this between ourselves," her mentor murmured as they walked to their regular den. "Especially the part about Featherpaw. It'd rip Stonebird's heart out."
Petalpaw pushed her chin into her chest. She wanted info, but she also wanted to be courteous to the elder who'd barely survived Greencough. "You're right." She risked a look at her. "Aren't you scared?"
Whitestripe tilted her head to the side. "Of what? Nothing's happened yet."
"Of being wrong, I guess." She shrugged. "This is all pretty serious stuff, and you were the one who told Graystar to do it. If you're wrong, then what?"
"I'd rather be wrong than leave my Clanmates to be torn to shreds by badgers," Whitestripe meowed mildly. The black and white molly flinched, so she draped her tail across her back. "Listen. It's scary stuff. But we have to do what we think best for the cats we take care of." She nodded to the warriors Volespring was sorting into patrols. "There's not a warrior here who wouldn't do the same. Even Dawnbelly, though his sense of right and wrong is plenty askew."
Petalpaw took in a deep breath through her nose, exhaling it through her mouth. "You're right."
Author's Note: Eyyyyy, longer chapter ahoy! =) (Told ya'll Checkers wasn't gone.)
Fun Fact: I originally intended for Featherpaw's name to be revealed much, much later. Like one chapter away from the epilogue. Then I was gonna edge the reveal back a bit. Then I realized it would detract from later scenes to keep such an impersonal moniker for him, so I plugged it in here instead.
-Mandaree1