Chapter 3

The beautiful brown she-cat woke with a start. What an odd thing to dream! Briarlight blinked her eyes open and glanced around the newly tidy medicine cat den. Jayfeather was nestled in the corner, twitching in his sleep. Seedkit lay, her flank heaving as she struggled to breathe normally in her sleep. Her heart ached for the young thing. It was a horrible day for the Clan when one of the kits was confined to the medicine den. Jayfeather would fix her soon, though.

Giving a large stretch, Briarlight glanced back over at Jayfeather and vaguely remembered her dream. The last thing she remembered before waking up was twining her tail happily with Jayfeathers, and now here she was, crippled once again in her nest in the medicine cat den.

She gave a huge sigh as she tried to heave herself up onto her forelegs. For the first time in a while, Briarlight felt weak and worthless. A sudden realization struck her like a fierce bolt of lightening.

Jayfeather was a Medicine cat.

He could never love her.

The world around her felt so unreal and dreamlike and she hoisted herself up, and dragged herself out of the moss that was her nest. Jayfeather let out a loud snort before shouting something about flowers and jolting himself awake. Briarlight looked at him with alarm. Had they shared that dream?

The tom gave no indication that they did, so the she-cat simply propped herself up and began to clean her chest. A dirty cat isn't truly a cat at all, she thought to herself with each stroke of her tongue. It took most of her day up keeping her coat clean. It would be hard for her to recover if she somehow contracted a disease because she was too lazy to keep her pelt clean.

The lame brown she-cat glanced back up to Jayfeather, whose nose was now deep in his pile of herbs. She wondered briefly what he was doing, but pushed the thought away. Medicine cat business, not her problem.

It's not fair. Briarlight mulled over in her head. None of this was fair. She was cripple, therefore wasn't allowed to love or be loved. Meanwhile, her siblings were out there making best friends and lasting relationships, hunting and fighting for their Clan. Even Bumblestripe had begun to grow closer to Dovewing. She just sat there, a useless lump, cleaning and being a burden to poor Jayfeather, when he had other things to worry about.

Other things. Just like Seedkit. She pushed herself up once more and pressed her body against Seedkit's burning hot pelt. Her fever was getting worse, and Briarlight could vouch for Jayfeather that he's done everything in how power to heal the kit. What was happeneing to the Clan? After two moons of peace, why did a dangerous illness have to strike now?

"Briarlight,' The brown cat glanced over at Jayfeather, whose nose was now covered in leaves and petals. "Could you watch her for me? I need to go speak with Bramblestar."

Briarlight nodded, but with caution. Bramblestar? Why did Jayfeather need to speak to the leader all of a sudden? Everything was beginning to get too odd for her, so she nestled herself comfortably next to the sick kitten and began to close her eyes.

A pink nose poked through the curtain of honeysuckles, and Lilykit's tabby head appeared. Her whiskers twitched as she pushed her way into the medicine cat den

"Hi, Briarlight!" The kitten chirruped, bouncing over to the she-cat and her sister. She had obviously just awoken from a quick nap, and was now more energized than ever. If only there was a way for Lilykit to transfer that energy into her sister. StarClan knows she needed it.

"Hello, Lilykit. What are you doing here?" Briarlight asked. The kit had been spending more and more time in the Medicine Den then with the other kits in the nursery, recently. Briarlight could hardly blame her though. Sorreltail, while everyone knew she loved her kits to death, was beginning to go back to her warriors duties, seeing as her kits would become apprentices soon.

Lilykit sat down and pressed her nose to Seedkit's fur. All Briarlight could do was watch as the she-kit tried to wake her sister up. Seedkit's flank had gone still a moment ago, but with the nudge of Lilykit's nose, her breathing became erratic once more.

"Will she be okay…?" The kitten asked weakly.

Briarlight looked away. There was no way in StarClan she could explain to a kit that her sister wouldn't be alive for much longer. There was silence for a moment.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather under High Ledge for a Clan Meeting!"

Briarlight's ears pricked. Jayfeather was definitely up to something. Running about, worrying the Clan about being ill, now troubling Bramblestar with all of his babble. Seedkit had just caught something. It was obvious that the illness was terrible, but so far, no other cat has gotten it. Perhaps it's not infectious.

The she-cat watched as Lilykit pounced out of the medicine cat den to see what was going on. She angled her ears towards the entrance of the den, not wanting to leave the side of Seedkit.

"ThunderClan," The tabby leader yowled from his perch, "Our medicine cat has been sent a sign!"

"A sign?"

"Is it the dark forest?"

"He's lost it."

The ThunderClan cats began muttering harsh words about Jayfeather, but the she-cat couldn't help but feel that they were right. He's had a lot of stress on him lately. There must be something messing with his head.

Briarlight heard the grey tabby begin to speak. "Our ancestors have warned me about a murderer who is going to be returning." The crowd of Clan cats grew silent. A murderer? Returning?

Echoing her thoughts, the familiar voice of the apprentice Molepaw speak up. "Returning?" He asked, his voice shaking. "Dark forest cats?"

This caused panic to ripple through ThunderClan. Briarlight could just imagine nervous Brightheart huddling her newborns close to her belly, while Daisy wailed about never being safe in the Clan, all the while never leaving because of her grown kits.

With a sigh, the crippled cat dragged herself from the comfortable position next to Seedkit and peeked her head outside the den to watch the drama unravel.

"Jayfeather, aren't you being a little ridiculous?"

That was the voice of the one and only Berrynose. Briarlight scoffed. The crème tomcat had always been a bossy tail. She didn't agree with the way Jayfeather was acting, but at least she was polite enough not to mention anything to his face.

"No."

It was as simple as that. Jayfeather sulked into his den, once again shoving the lame cat to the side. Of course, she didn't blame him. He was upset. No one took him seriously.

"Jayfeather?" She asked as she nosed into their den to find him hunched over his herbs. Seedkit mewled in her sleep. Briarlight limped over until she was behind the grey tomcat. She could see his ears folded back.

"If it helps, I believe you…"

But of course, she didn't. No one did, except maybe his brother. But Jayfeather was her friend, and she wasn't going to let him sulk like he usually did. The Clan needed him now more than ever. Especially Seedkit.

There was no answer from him. His pelt quivered under her gaze. Was he crying, perhaps? No, Briarlight thought. Jayfeather wouldn't cry, especially not if he knew that she was standing right being him.

A hiss escaped from the tomcats body and took Briarlight by surprise. "Go away."

What? He wanted her out? Why? All she was trying to do was help him. And so she stood there, the stubborn she-cat, glaring at the back of Jayfeather's head. He wasn't an idiot. He knew she wouldn't leave.

"Listen, Jayfeather." Briarlight began, pressing her nose to the medicine cat's shoulder. He twitched, but thankfully didn't pull away. His fur was still on end, and he was visibly upset. Briarlight didn't know the words to console a medicine cat whose clan had lost faith in him.

But truthfully, how could they? After all this one cat had been through; his blindness, finding out who his real parents were, being accused of murder, losing his sister, holding the power of the stars in his paws? He had saved the other clans from complete destruction. Why would he start lying now?

Briarlight didn't say another word. Anything said could only upset him more. She continued to sit behind him with her nose against his grey pelt until his fur began to tickle her. She held back a sneeze as Jayfeather turned to face her. His blind eyes just seemed so… lost.

"Lay down…" Briarlight whispered as she lead him to his nest. The sharp-tongued tom would generally retort if someone ever tried to lead him anywhere. He would make some crack about him being blind but not stupid. This time, though, he let the she-cat lead him away, his brain too foggy to thing about anything, especially walking around.

Briarlight licked the tomcats forehead as he closed his eyes. She didn't care if he really was half-clan, or if he was crazy. He was always going to be the same Jayfeather to her; the one that saved her life.

With that last thought, she carried herself over to her own nest, considering dragging it over to meet Jayfeather's, but deciding against it. After a quick look-over of Seedkit, Briarlight curled up herself and drifted off to sleep.