Chapter Twenty-one: Dreamcloud
Windstar's eyes widened.
"They are?" He cried. "But-but-it's too early!"
Dreamcloud fixed him with his gaze. "I highly doubt these kits are going to wait."
"Er... true... but it's STILL way to early!"
The queen sighed, and shook her head, lying down. "I'm the one having them," She mewed. "And you're the one acting like a little mouse." She gave a slight wince. "Just get Calicofur." Her eyes lit up. "Or did you rescue Leafpool?"
Windstar looked away.
"I'll get Calicofur."
xxx
"It isn't broken," Calicofur murmured, carefully straining her ears. She was waiting for that clicking sound that came when the bone was back in place. "It's just dislocated."
Rainwhisker gritted his teeth, and closed his blue eyes at the pain.
"How did you get it like this, anyway?" Calicofur asked, trying to distract him as she rolled his leg a bit more in a circular pattern.
"Tried jumping over a log," He hissed. "I was after a rabbit; didn't exactly make it all the way over."
She shook her head in amusement.
A familiar scent made the she-cat freeze; she wasn't surprised at all when she heard the normally hard, matter-of-fact voice, this time tinted with slight fear and nerves.
"Calicofur!"
The medicine cat apprentice turned her head quickly, and saw a pale shadow slinking through the ferns, pale green eyes trying to get her attention.
"Er," She meowed, looking around. "Ferncloud-can you please just keep rolling his leg like this?" She gave a quick demonstration to the she-cat. "Until you hear a click. Then get him to my den and feed him some poppy seeds."
Rainwhisker lifted his head. "Where are you going?"
"Medicine cats only," Calicofur muttered, then turning sharply into the darkness. Soon, things would be getting even more complicated. She knew it.
"Windstar!" She hissed as the handsome white tom slunk from the bushes. His pawsteps were quick, and his eyes wide. The scent of Twolegs clung to his fur, and she wrinkled her nose. Another scent was there, more woodsy and nice.
"Calicofur," He panted. "I know I should give you an explanation-"
The she-cat gave him a blank look. "You think?"
"-but there are more important things going on now."
"Such as?" She asked, but then saw the panic on his face, the way his pelt was bristling.
No, no, no. Not yet, it was too soon...
"Dreamcloud's having the kits!" Windstar blurted out.
"Why do I have to be right?" Calicofur moaned, then gave him a hard stare. "If she dies-"
"I'm baming you," The tom finished in a hiss, narrowing his eyes. "Now, get your herbs. She's in a clearing near the border, and she can't be moved since it's so early."
Calicofur blinked. "How do you know this?"
The tom shrugged his broad shoulders. "Insight, I guess." Then ran off at full speed.
Grumbling under her breath, Calicofur padded quickly to her den, gathering as many herbs that she could. This would be difficult... Faintly, she remembered, as a kit being so interested in being a medicine cat-she had just gone through her warrior training for the skills-talking to Leafpool all the time...
"One of the things my mentor, Cinderpelt, told me," Leafpool mewed. "Is about Silverstream's kits, the first litter of kits she delivered. Two of them-"
"Stormfur and Feathertail," Calicokit finished.
Leafpool's amber eyes sparkled. "Yes. Now, Silverstream, their mother, had gone into kitting early. This is one of the worst things that can happen to a queen. We're both lucky it didn't happen with your mother. Sorreltail was right on time."
Calicokit shifted from one paw to another. She was kind of proud of being in the first litter of kits Leafpool had ever delivered.
"Anyway," Leafpool continued. "Something happened... the kits being so early made it so that Silverstream lost a lot of blood, and... well, there was nothing Cinderpelt could do. She tried her best, and the kits were fine, but Silverstream didn't make it. When a queen is early... well, sometimes, there's nothing at all that you can do."
"She'll be fine," Calicofur meowed, striding out of the den. But a voice in her head murmured, Oh, Leafpool, where are you?
Wait-Windstar was back, so he had to have rescued Leafpool. She was probably just treating the missing cats.
xxx
As she waited for Windstar to come back, everything was a blur for Dreamcloud. She didn't know how exactly she knew the kits were coming. It wasn't like there was much pain-not like she expected. Just one sharp stab. But then, it was as if things were swirling around in her stomach. And she knew those things were kits, so it was 'time' as other queens had called it.
As Windstar ran off, she began to think. Was this like what her mother had experienced?
"I wish you were here, Mother," Dreamcloud sighed, just lying there. But then, Squirrelflight would know, and that wasn't good...
"I'm not even on my side, yet," Dreamcloud thought. It was true. She was just lying on her stomach, not quite comfortable, really. "Maybe I was wrong..."
She couldn't have been wrong, could she? Medicine cats said that queens knew even better than them when kits were coming, even when they weren't their own.
Whiteleaf had told her a lot about when her two kits were coming. Dreamcloud had actually been there right as the second was born. She shuddered.
Not pretty.
"This is odd," She thought. "Something very important in my life is happening, and no StarClan cat is here to annoy me-"
"Dreamcloud! Are you all right?"
The queen turned her head to find Silverstream standing in front of her, eyes wide.
"Right on time," Dreamcloud sighed, amber eyes glittering. "You know, it would be very nice if I just had two cats around while I was kitting. If I am kitting at all."
"Trust me," Silverstream mewed. "You are. And you'll know very soon."
"Lovely. So tell me, why are you here? Am I going to die?"
"I can't tell you that," Silverstream mumbled, looking away.
Dreamcloud lay her head on her paws. This was getting too messed up for her own good, and for the good of her kits.
Lifting her head, she muttered, "That tom better be back soon."
Silverstream squinted. "Wow. I've never seen a cat run so fast."
Right on cue, Windstar was back, skidding to a halt, dust flying around, a white blur. "How are you?" He asked. "Are you all right?" He noticed the other she-cat. "Oh, hey, Silverstream."
Double take.
"Silverstream?"
"Why am I so unwelcome?" The dead queen muttered, sitting down a few feet off. "How's this?"
"Much better." Dreamcloud touched noses with her mate. "I'm fine. Nothing's even really happening yet. I guess it'll be a while before I feel p-"
A long, sharp spasm of pain made her halt, eyes wide, her whole entire body stiff... her muscles were clenched.
"Dreamcloud?" There was a note of panic to Windstar's voice. "Are you all right? You're all right, aren't you?" He gave her a quick lick.
Dreamcloud's erratic breathing slowed, and the muscles relaxed after a moment. She closed her amber eyes, then opened them.
"Pain."
"What?"
"Nothing," She sighed. "I just guess that that was when I really started to feel pain... and it was pretty bad. But don't worry, for StarClan's sake."
"It's normal," Silverstream put in.
"Is Dreamcloud Ok? Are you Ok, Dreamcloud?"
Calicofur bounded towards them, her voice muffled through the herbs she was carrying. Her blue eyes were huge, but had a certain calm in them now. The calm of a medicine cat.
"You look like a medicine cat," Dreamcloud said in an amused tone. "With your herbs and everything." Accompanied with the amused tone, though, there was confusion, delirium.
"Just be quiet and concentrate on the kits," Calicofur meowed in a soothing, but firm voice as she set her supplies down. She began to bark out orders. "All right-Windstar, I want you to talk to Dreamcloud, and DON'T be a nervous wreck. When I give you a kit, you lick it as much as you can until it's breathing right, and then put it next to her so that it can nurse. Got it?"
"Yes," Windstar said, trying to stay calm.
"Good," Calicofur murmured. "Now, Dreamcloud. Do your best, and don't give up, all right?" She touched noses with her friend, blue eyes pleading, then looked up to see a starry cat.
"Silverstream-wait. I won't ask."
xxx
Hours past, and nothing. Windstar nervously gave his mate a lick. "Dreamcloud, you'll be all right," He whispered, looking into her eyes.
"Of... of course I will." The queen's spunk hadn't left her, even though she was tired and in pain. Suddenly, she stiffened again, and let out a wail. Windstar pressed his face to hers, murmuring something in her ear.
Suddenly, Dreamcloud's cries subsided, and she was still and relaxed, closing her eyes.
A purring Calicofur suddenly placed a tiny bundle at his paws. He blinked, the sight not registering.
"Huh?"
Calicofur rolled her eyes. "Lick!" She urged. "That's your daughter."
Windstar gaped. "My... daughter?"
Half a second later, his tongue was going rapidly against the pale, wet fur of the little she-kit. For a moment, nothing happened, but finally, the kit's sides began going up and down, up and down. Her ears were closed, her eyes were closed, but she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Pale ginger, like her mother, but with no markings, and MUCH paler, almost white.
"Look," Windstar murmured, placing the kit at Dreamcloud's side. He pressed his face up against hers. "She's beautiful, and she looks just like me.(AN: I just think that to brighten the mood, that's exactly what he would say)"
Dreamcloud blinked down at the kit, amused. "Sorry," She sighed happily. "I beg to differ." She gave the kit a small lick.
"She's smaller than most kits," Calicofur surveyed, examining the little bundle. "But she's very healthy. You're lucky."
"What should we name her?" Dreamcloud asked.
"Names should come after all the kits are born," Windstar said sternly.
"What if-oooooow. Guess I have more." Dreamcloud glared at her bulging stomach, then lay her head on the ground.
Windstar paced a bit, and watched his daughter, but it wasn't that long before a second bundle was laid at his paws, this one brownish with white flecks.
"Your son," Calicofur mewed before going back to her duties.
The tom was soon breathing fine and by his sister.
Windstar sat down next to Dreamcloud, purring, watching her.
"You did it," He sighed.
"Thanks," She whispered. "I mea-"
But a long spasm passed through her body, and she let out a wail. Windstar jumped to stare at Calicofur.
"You said it was over!"
"It... it looked like she was," She whispered, but then was back over to her, herbs in her mouth. "Dreamcloud, eat these, now."
"I... I can't," She sighed, eyes closing. "I can't do it."
Windstar began quickly passing his tongue over her forehead. "You'll be fine," He murmured. "You'll be fine. Just look into my eyes and concentrate."
"Look into his eyes, Dreamcloud," Silverstream called softly, unable to do anything.
The queen was still.
"No," Calicofur murmured. "Dreamcloud, you're my friend! Just make it, please!"
"Please," Windstar begged. "For me. For our kits, please try! I won't be able to live without you, Dreamcloud."
Her body began to tremble. Everything was silent, even the two newborn kits, and Dreamcloud slowly opened her eyes, locking them on Windstar's. A spasm passed through her body, one of great pain, but she didn't make a sound. Just stayed looking into Windstar's eyes. Two pairs of eyes. One amber, one leaf green.
Finally, after what seemed to be seasons, Dreamcloud closed her eyes, sides heaving.
"You really did it, this time," Calicofur murmured. "Really." But there was a worried tone in her voice.
"What's wrong?" Both Windstar and Dreamcloud asked. Calicofur carried the kit over. She had revived it herself, but the kit was even smaller than the other two. Flame colored, like Firestar, but with longer fur like Dreamcloud, a she-kit.
"Those two will be the right size when they're older," Calicofur breathed. "But she probably won't. If she makes it."
"She will," Dreamcloud sighed, looking down at her three kits. Two daughters and one son. "What'll we name them?"
"If it's all right," Windstar whispered. "I would like Rockkit for the tom."
"Perfect. And Birdkit for our firstborn." Both looked at the flame colored kit, and said one name at the same time:
"Scarlettkit."
xxx
Birdkit, Rockkit, and Scarlettkit! YAY! But I don't know, Scarlettkit might die...