Lilypaw bounded after Thrushpelt as the sandy-gray warrior led the way back to the ThunderClan camp after a long morning of training. They had been practicing battle moves since dawn and her entire body ached. Despite her exhaustion, however, Lilypaw couldn't keep a small spring out of her step. After nearly a quarter moon, she had finally mastered the jump and pin. It was one of the more complex moves taught to ThunderClan apprentices, and Thrushpelt had initially been hesitant about teaching it to her since she was only three moons into her training. But Lilypaw had begged him to at least let her try, so he had finally relented. Due to the move's difficulty, it had been a slow process, but after days of practicing, she could perform it with her eyes closed now.
"Should we stop and collect some moss for the elders on our way back?" Lilypaw asked.
Thrushpelt shook his head. "Thistlepaw, Rosepaw, and Sweetpaw are taking care of that today," he meowed. "When we get back home, you can take a piece of fresh-kill from the pile and join your denmates for a meal. You've earned it."
"Thanks, Thrushpelt. I'll bring something to Leopardfoot too while I'm at it," Lilypaw replied happily. The black molly was pregnant with Pinestar's kits, and the rest of the Clan expected that they would arrive within the next half a moon. Lilypaw was pleased since it meant she wouldn't be the youngest cat in ThunderClan anymore.
When they arrived back home, however, it became clear that something was wrong. Mews of distress could be heard coming from inside the camp and the air was thick with the stench of fear and worry. Her fur bristling with alarm, Lilypaw rushed through the gorse tunnel and into the clearing, trying to figure out what was going on.
"What's happening?" she asked, racing over to Bluefur, who was pacing back and forth anxiously. "Why does everyone look so upset?"
"It's Leopardfoot," her sister answered, glancing over to the nursery. Lilypaw looked over as well and saw Featherwhisker disappearing through the entrance. "Her kits are coming and it's not going well. She's been in labor since just after dawn, but..."
Her voice trailed off and she shook her head. Lilypaw just stared at the blue-gray warrior in shock and horror. Leopardfoot's kits couldn't be coming now. It was still too early for them to be born.
"Are the kits going to be okay?" she asked worriedly. "I mean since they're being born so early?"
"We don't know yet. We'll just have to wait and see," Bluefur meowed, her gaze flickering over to the nursery again.
Lilypaw felt a stab of frustration. This was the first litter born in ThunderClan in several moons, and now it looked as though they might not survive two days. For that matter, they would be fortunate to survive being born. A wail of pain arose from the nursery and she suppressed a shudder. Sensing her distress, Bluefur placed her tail on her younger sister's shoulder.
"Come on, you should have something to eat. You've just been out training all morning and you need to keep your strength up," she meowed.
"Yeah, alright," the white-furred apprentice agreed, allowing Bluefur to lead her to the fresh-kill pile.
As she padded after her sister, Lilypaw spotted Snowfur and Thistlepaw sharing tongues on the other side of the camp. Snowfur waved her tail in greeting when she saw her but Thistlepaw looked away pointedly. Barely resisting the urge to roll her eyes, she nodded back to her white-furred sister before continuing on her way. Her closeness with Snowfur had been a constant source of jealousy for Thistlepaw, sparking several petty arguments between him and Snowfur whenever he felt that she was giving Lilypaw too much attention. Of course, he always ended up groveling to her later, but Lilypaw couldn't see why Snowfur hadn't told him to grow up and stop throwing tantrums already. The fondness she held for the spiky-furred tom made her sick.
Lilypaw selected a squirrel from the prey pile and carried it over to the mossy stump where the apprentices ate while Bluefur headed over to the nursery. She sat down next to Lionpaw and Goldenpaw, who purred in greeting. Lionpaw pushed his mouse over to her and she looked up at him in confusion.
"We can share if you want," the golden-furred tom meowed by way of explanation.
"Sure, why not?" Lilypaw agreed. "You can have some of my fresh-kill too. The squirrel is pretty big and I'm not too hungry."
Lionpaw purred gratefully and took a bite out of the bushy-tailed rodent. Out of the corner of her eye, Lilypaw thought she saw Goldenpaw's whiskers twitching with amusement. She was about to ask her friend what she was laughing at when another cry of pain was heard from the nursery and the humor vanished from her face.
"I hope Leopardfoot will be alright," Goldenpaw murmured.
"Me too," Lionpaw agreed.
"I'm sure she'll be fine. Featherwhisker will take good care of her," Lilypaw meowed with more optimism than she felt. "Mind you, I'm more worried about her kits. It's still so early. It doesn't seem like they have much of a chance."
"I know," Goldenpaw meowed, looking down at her paws sadly. Shaking her head, she looked up again and continued, "Let's talk about something else for now. How did your training session with Thrushpelt go?"
"It was great," Lilypaw purred, feeling a spark of happiness. "I finally got the jump and pin right today."
"That's awesome," Lionpaw exclaimed. He and Goldenpaw knew how hard she had been working to master the move. "So what move will you be learning next, then?"
"I'm not sure," she answered, frowning thoughtfully. "I guess I'll just go with whatever Thrushpelt has planned."
After she had finished her share of the meal, Lilypaw headed into the apprentices' den to take a short nap. It had been a long day so far and she knew the hard part was only just beginning. The sooner she could curl up in her nest and get some rest, the better.
When Lilypaw woke up again, it was to the sound of someone fidgeting and moaning quietly in pain. Alarmed, she sat up and looked around the den before she realized it was Sweetpaw. The tortoiseshell apprentice was curled up tightly, her eyes shut tightly and her face twisted in agony. Concerned, Lilypaw padded over to Sweetpaw's nest and nudged her gently with her nose.
"What happened?" she whispered, careful not to raise her voice in case she woke up any of her other denmates.
Sweetpaw's eyes fluttered open briefly. "Bad mouse," she croaked weakly.
"I'll get Featherwhisker to bring you some herbs," Lilypaw meowed, turning and hurrying out of the den.
As she pushed her way outside, she nearly bumped into Rosepaw, who was staggering towards her nest. One look at the ginger-tailed apprentice was enough to tell Lilypaw that she had fallen ill as well. A pang of worry stabbed at her chest. It looked as though Rosepaw had eaten the same mouse that had made Sweetpaw sick. Lilypaw didn't know much about food-related illnesses–almost nothing to be more accurate–but she had heard stories of cats who had died as a result of eating bad prey.
Did they not know the mouse was bad? she wondered. They can't have, surely, or else they wouldn't have eaten it. But if the mouse smelled and tasted normal, why are they so sick?
She walked across the camp to the medicine clearing, pushing her way inside the fern tunnel. Inside the medicine den, Featherwhisker was giving Bluefur a bundle of watermint. Lilypaw waved her tail at her sister in greeting, but Bluefur merely nodded. The dull pain in the blue-gray warrior's eyes told Lilypaw all she needed to know: her sister had gotten sick from the same cursed mouse.
"You too?" Lilypaw asked sympathetically.
"Yeah," Bluefur grunted. "Stupid mouse."
Featherwhisker glanced up at her. "Are you feeling ill as well?" he asked gently.
"No, no, I'm fine," Lilypaw answered, shaking her head. "I just came here to get some herbs for Sweetpaw and Rosepaw. They both look pretty bad. Sweetpaw could barely open her eyes when I tried to ask her what was wrong."
"Alright, just give me a moment and I'll go fetch something from the stores," the medicine cat apprentice meowed, turning and disappearing into the back of the den.
After he had left, Bluefur swallowed some of her medicine and meowed, "Leopardfoot's kits arrived last night. She has two daughters and a son."
Lilypaw blinked. In the wake of finding her denmates and sister ill, she had forgotten all about the new arrivals. "Are they alright?"
"Not really," Bluefur murmured sadly. "They were all pretty weak when they were born. The poor tom can't even mew, let alone feed."
"Oh no," Lilypaw sighed. Poor Leopardfoot.
"Leopardfoot hasn't chosen names for them yet. She's still weak herself, so she'll probably wait for a few days," her sister continued. She let out a sigh. "I just hope her kits survive long enough for her to name them. Goosefeather said he didn't expect them to survive the night."
"Where is Goosefeather anyway?" Lilypaw asked with a frown. "Shouldn't he be out here helping you?"
"He was here earlier. This watermint was from him," Bluefur explained. "I don't know where he went now, though–probably looking for omens again or something. He seems to be under the impression that the mouse was a sign from StarClan."
Lilypaw snorted. "Yeah, it was–a sign that someone needs to get better at checking the fresh-kill to make sure it's okay to eat."
Bluefur chuckled and flicked her tail over Lilypaw's ears. "Don't let Goosefeather hear you saying that."
"I won't," Lilypaw meowed, then added, "let him hear."
Bluefur shook her head as Featherwhisker finally reemerged from the back of the den with a bundle of herbs in his jaws. He placed them down in front of Lilypaw, who picked them up gratefully. Nodding to the two older cats, she turned around and padded back outside.
"Make sure to tell Sweetpaw and Rosepaw to go easy on the herbs. Too much medicine can be just as bad as not giving them any at all," Featherwhisker called after her.
"I will," she called back.
She walked back across the camp to the apprentices' den, passing by Thistlepaw as the gray and white tom headed over to the fresh-kill pile. Lilypaw felt her lip curl in disgust as he selected a thrush from the pile and sat down a few paces away. How could he even think about eating when his sisters were writhing in pain in their nests? Didn't he care about anyone besides himself and Snowfur? He didn't even look upset about the fact that they were sick.
Lilypaw padded into the apprentices' den with the bundle of herbs still in her jaws. Rosepaw lifted her head slightly as she entered, blinking dully at her. Feeling a pang of sympathy, Lilypaw set down some of the leaves next to the older apprentice's nest.
"Here, eat these. Featherwhisker gave these to me to give to you," she whispered. "I'll give the rest to Sweetpaw."
"Thanks," Rosepaw croaked, leaning over and nibbling at one of the leaves.
Lilypaw nodded and took the rest of the bundle over to the other side of the den where Sweetpaw was still curled up in pain. She didn't even have enough strength to open her eyes now. Gently, she placed the herbs at the tortoiseshell molly's head, nudging it towards her with a paw. Sweetpaw sniffed slightly at the medicine but otherwise made no move to eat any of it.
"Come on," she coaxed gently. "You need to eat these or else you won't feel any better."
For a moment, she thought Sweetpaw had gone back to sleep. Then, slowly, she leaned over and began to chew one of the leaves. Breathing out a sigh of relief, Lilypaw licked her friend's ears gently before going back outside and heading over to the fresh-kill pile. To her displeasure, Thistlepaw was still there, his thrush lying half-eaten at his paws. Without even looking at him, she picked up a rabbit and carried it back over to the mossy stump.
"Lilypaw!" Thistlepaw called out to her.
"What do you want?" Lilypaw asked exasperatedly, looking back over her shoulder.
Thistlepaw just looked at her. "Are Rosepaw and Sweetpaw okay?"
"No," she snapped, worry for her friends and anger at Thistlepaw's earlier lack of concern making her even more short-tempered than usual. "They're moaning and writhing in pain because they ate a bad mouse yesterday."
"Well, how was I supposed to know?" Thistlepaw protested.
"How could you not know? We all share the same den," Lilypaw meowed in disbelief. "Are you trying to tell me that you didn't notice how much pain they were in? Sweetpaw can barely move, for StarClan's sake!"
"I was a little busy," the older apprentice meowed defensively.
"Oh, don't give me that heap of fox dung, that's only an excuse and a pathetic one at that," she snapped back. "You're always too busy to think of anyone other than yourself and Snowfur. I've never once heard you ask one single thing about anyone else, oh no, it's all about what an amazing warrior you're going to be and how the other Clans are going to tremble in fear when they see you. Well, news flash Thistlepaw, not every single thing in the world is about you. I know for a fact that if you were bedridden with food poisoning, Rosepaw and Sweetpaw would both be making sure you were well taken care of, yet you're out here stuffing your face as if nothing happened. Do they mean anything to you?"
"Of course!" Thistlepaw snapped. "Just because I don't show concern the same way you do doesn't mean I don't care."
"You're not showing concern at all! You didn't even notice they were sick, remember?" Lilypaw shot back.
"What does it matter to you?" Thistlepaw growled. "They're my sisters."
"Sweetpaw and Rosepaw are my friends. And if it bothers you so much, maybe you should consider not acting as if your Clanmates and kin are only worth your time if they grovel at your paws," Lilypaw replied coldly, spinning on her heel and stalking away. "Oh, and while you're at it, stop throwing temper tantrums every time Snowfur talks to me. You don't have any right to tell her who she can and cannot talk to and you're not the only cat in the world she cares about."
Without another word, she stalked over to the mossy stump. Leopardfoot had just endured long and painful labor, her kits were whiskers from death, Sweetpaw, Bluefur, and Rosepaw were ill, and Goosefeather was apparently searching for death omens. As far as Lilypaw was concerned, Thistlepaw could deal with his own problems.
All is not well in ThunderClan right now...but Lilypaw is being sassy behind her medicine cat's back, so the entertainment hasn't died down at all.