Morningpaw's dark pelt warmed under the hot afternoon sun, her pawsteps quiet on the green grass that lined the riverbank. The past couple of moons had been difficult on the Clan, from the loss of land due to the twolegs expanding their camping grounds, to ThunderClan pushing for Sunningrocks. It had everyone on edge, with their deputy, Freckledusk, being excessively overbearing the last moon.
Double the border patrols. Don't go out past dusk. Apprentices don't leave camp alone. It was ridiculous and she was over it.
The apprentice lashed her tail in frustration, her head lowered to the ground as she gloomed. Morningpaw never cared for being confined to camp, it was suffocating and chafed on her nerves. With one too many cats around she was antsy and felt as if she was trapped, it was as if they'd all crowded into one big den and expected them to somehow still be able to breathe. How anyone could deal with it was beyond her understanding, especially with how high the tensions have been.
Morningpaw's tail twitched again, her steps now going quiet as she sat down. She was in a patch of sunlit grasses, the river not too far off with its calming sounds of trickling water. There was the scent of someone else here, faint, but enough for her to know that someone had been trying to scrounge up the white-petaled flowers that grew plentiful around here. As her nose nudged one of the chewed stems she gave a scoff, almost instantly able to recognize the scent that made her nose scrunch with a bitter taste on her tongue. Of course, it'd be him.
With a new flood of irritation, she crouched down to clean up the mess, plucking the stems that'd been eaten off of. They were lucky that feverfew was a plentiful flower that grew wildly during greenleaf, but that did nothing to ease the growing frustrations she had. Greenleaf was supposed to be a time of respite, not of having various threats pressing at separate borders. All they needed now was to have something else forsake them, perhaps the river would flood or a group of rogues would move in to press at their border behind them.
Morningpaw scoffed at the thought. If one more thing happened to them she'd have a few choice words for StarClan. Course they'd been silent, hadn't they? Maybe they're fighting too. She mused sourly, lifting herself to her paws, now with a mouthful of feverfew. After all, if everyone fought during life why would it suddenly end in death? A lifetime of border skirmishes and hate didn't end because of some star-lit, borderless hunting grounds. It was something that festered and stuck, like a blood-filled tick buried into a horrendously thick pelt.
Those thoughts got brushed away as she made her way into the camp, her long-haired pelt being pulled at by the brambles of the camp entrance. Inside she was met with the chatter of her Clanmates, the camp was filled with those coming back for an afternoon sunbath or to eat before going off at dusk for more patrols. She steered clear of the fresh-kill-pile, knowing that if she stepped one paw too close she'd end up being dragged into some conversation or another.
Instead, she made her way to the medicine den, slipping past the ivy that hung over the entrance of the den. Her ear twitched as she caught sight of Mossytooth beside the rock wall, sorting out the fresh herbs they had collected. After the last leafbare it's been hard to get their stock back to its original size, even during newleaf they had a tough time. Not that she'd tell anyone that, there was no need to have their clanmates even more worried--all that did was create more chaos that she frankly didn't want to deal with.
Morningpaw quietly sat down beside the large white-and-brown tabby, stuffing the feverfew into a crevice on the rock wall. She could smell the overbearingly familiar scent of herbs, which had once stung her nose and made her feel light-headed, but now it has become a silent comfort. The medicine den was often left alone for the most part, thus she didn't need to deal with anyone, but the times she did need to they often listened to her. It was a welcomed change, being able to tell someone to shut their traps so she could focus and them actually listening without her being scolded.
"Ternkit still sick?" Morningpaw asked, twitching one of her ears to the medicine cat seated beside her.
Mossytooth sat hunched over, her thick furred tail twitching back and forth in either irritation or deep concentration. She held down the stem of a poppy flower with one paw, the other paw had her claws sheathed and trying to scoop out the seeds that were being stubborn and not falling loose. At the question, the older she-cat gave a scoff, which sounded more like an angry spat. "Of course he is, stuffing flowers down a runt's throat doesn't fix anything."
The answer was what she had been expecting, still, she couldn't help but feel a pang of ire at her mentor's lack of care. Most of her clanmates were idiots who got themselves into trouble, but Ternkit was just a couple of moons old and there was something about the poor kitten that made her feel guilty. Mossytooth feels guilty too, she thought with her own scoff, the old bat just doesn't want to admit it. "Aren't you just a ball of sunshine?" Morningpaw muttered, swiping coltsfoot and daisys off the stone shelf.
Mossytooth stretched out her aching claws, giving her apprentice a scolding glare. "You are here to help me, not sass me. Now get over here and start collecting seeds, my paws are killing me."
Morningpaw rolled her eyes, going to flick her tail at the large tabby. "Sorry, I can't, got to go shove more flowers down the runt's throat." She said in a sarcastic retort, as she left the den the sound of Mossytooth's grumbling was aimed at her back.
*
The sun greeted her once more as she left the den, her tail-tip twitching behind her as almost immediately she could hear the loud playful, and squeaky mewls of kits. She could see two balls of fuzzy fur running around, tackling each other until they were tumbling into one of the puddles in front of the nursery. As she approached, and they caught sight of her, the two kits jumped to their paws and clambered over to her like some oversized fleas hopping to their next victim.
Morningpaw's blue gaze briefly glanced at them before she impatiently flicked an ear. "Go play." She ordered gruffly, her voice muffled by leaves and flowers that she carried in her maw.
Loachkit, a wiry-furred smoky colored kit, gave a squeaky protest. "But we want to help! Ternkit's been really sick."
"Yeah! He won't even play with us anymore." Pipitkit added, the white and black speckled kitten having a wobble in his steps.
The medicine cat sighed, pausing in her steps as the two kits continued to get underpaw. She always hated having to go to the nursery, these kits were nosy and didn't understand personal space. It was one of the things that always got Mossytooth into a mood, which usually left this as a job for Morningpaw to do, at least when she did it Dandeliongaze didn't come complaining that they were being too insensitive or rude. The less they had to deal with that, the less they had to deal with having Freckledusk scolding them like they were misbehaving apprentices.
"Maybe he doesn't want to play with a couple of jumping fleas," Morningpaw replied, setting the herbs down at her paws. She already knew that if she didn't deal with them before entering the nursery to check on Ternkit then they would just continue to cause trouble.
Loachkit's fur fluffed out, a mock bristling look that only made the kitten look even more like a ball of wiry fuzz. "We're not fleas!" The smoky grey she-cat protested.
"You jump around like a bunch of little fleas," she retorted bluntly, a trace of mirth shining in her eyes. "With bites that are just as annoying."
Morningpaw's gaze watched Pipitkit from the edge of her gaze, the tom was ready to pounce. At her teasing, he leaped forward--missing by a good margin, far too much than what a normal kit would. She's seen Loachkit make the same pounce without issue, on wobbly legs, and with no grace, but that was expected. Pipitkit on the other hand often seemed to have trouble with his coordination and even his balance. With how much time she spent in the nursery for Ternkit she had started to notice the increasingly concerning pattern.
As Pipitkit tumbled onto his back with the failed pounce she reached out, subtly helping the kit back onto his paws. She said nothing, instead silently she flicked her tail-tip back and forth in thought. It could be nothing, just the kit having a bit of an issue getting used to his paws, he did have big paws just like Cricketgaze. But there looked to be more to it, she could feel that very annoying itching of concern that crept up into her thick pelt. Which she promptly tried to shake away as she grabbed the herbs again, slipping away from the two kits as they started to chase after a stray leaf.
Morningpaw finally had gotten to the nursery, pushing past the tight squeeze of the bramble entrance. It smelled strongly of milk and herbs inside of the den, something that made a pang of familiarence hit her. She had only left the nursery some three moons ago, and while those memories slowly faded she got to revisit them each time she came into here. At the far corner of the nursery she still could see the scraps of their old nest, ripped up to be added into the soft mossy ground that made up the den.
Even with it being greenleaf they only had one queen, Dandeliongaze. The she-cat was an abnormal one, being the sister of Warblerface the two had gotten into plenty of trouble. It didn't help that the queen's mate was Cricketgaze, another bizarre cat in their Clan with eyes that were the size of two moons. But being peculiar didn't mean they weren't intriguing, and truly the queen was an endearing she-cat, and from what Morningpaw had seen, a good mother.
Dandeliongaze was sitting in the nest, looking just as tired and worried as she usually did. But the white and black patched queen did well with hiding it with a grateful smile and purr. "It's time for his medicine already?" The queen asked, but with how her tail had been lashing back and forth in nervous energy Morningpaw could tell that the she-cat had been anxiously waiting.
"It is," Morningpaw replied simply. She crouched down, her ear twitching as she pressed it to the side of the kit, paying attention to the way that his breathing sounded. It was wheezy, and she felt her chest give that uncomfortable squeeze of concern with how the kitten shook when he got a coughing fit. During this time Dandeliongaze had already started to chew up the coltsfoot, something that the queen was insistent she did for her kit.
As Dandeliongaze fed the chewed-up pulp of herbs to the sickly kitten, Morningpaw sat back up. She could see that the kit wasn't doing very well, already he had been born the smallest, and then with the bout of whitecough...it didn't look good. The black she-cat fluffed out her fur, not looking away from the white and black kitten as her thoughts shadowed her face. She tried not to show such things, not to a queen who already was having trouble holding onto hope.
"You should consider moving him out of the nursery," Morningpaw finally said, her voice in a quiet tone. She knew that it didn't sound good, but they couldn't risk the other two healthy kits getting sick, and by this point, a turnaround for Ternkit was looking slim.
Dandeliongaze shook her head. "The medicine den is no place for a kitten," she replied, sighing as her large ears flattened in worry.
"It's safer for--"
"Ternkit stays right here, with me and his siblings." Dandeliongaze's voice cracked, and the white fur of her tail bristled.
The medicine cat apprentice dipped her head, silently accepting the queen's words, even if it made her feel a flicker of annoyance. Shouldn't she care that her other two kits could become sick? Morningpaw scoffed, pushing herself to stand, she was unwilling to just sit around inside some stuffy milk-scented den. "Have it your way," she replied, seizing the remaining herbs up before she left the den.
If Dandeliongaze wanted to be stubborn then she'd let her, after all, Morningpaw had one more hardheaded cat that she needed to deal with for today, and she could feel the beginnings of a headache start to form before she'd even started talking to him.