☁ 𝒜𝓈 𝒞𝓁𝑜𝓊𝒹𝓈 𝒞𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒮𝓀𝓎 ☁

Chapter 4

𝒯𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒸𝒽𝓅𝒶𝓌

~ ✵ ☁ ✵ ~

I'm a lot like him. She thought to herself, watching as the red and cream tom's tail twitched nervously while he watched Thornflame limp into the den, her paw raised to avoid using it to walk. The senior warrior informed him of what happened, showing him her injured paw.

Her own heart was pounding in worry, but they both sighed in relief when Thornflame notified them that a thorn had gotten stuck in her paw pad. Nothing else. Both she and her mentor had extreme anxiety, always worried some cat would end up dying in their den once any cat got hurt or sick. But luckily, pulling a thorn out of a paw was a breeze compared to many other things they could've had to deal with instead.

Twitchpaw continued sorting herbs as she was before Thornflame approached the den. The sun was beginning to set, painting the sky and clouds with a variety of beautiful hues.

Twitchpaw loved sunsets and sunrises and always liked to fascinate herself with the weather when she had time to. But her job in the clan as a healer apprentice wasn't flexible at all, so she was mostly just able to watch the sky during the morning and evening before or after her duties. She'd have to miss watching the sun sink beneath the horizon that night though.

Almost the entire day, her mentor Oddblaze had been in CliffClan's camp, helping their clan's healer, Petalwish. Just recently an illness had affected some of the cats of the clan, although most were able to recover quickly, as it wasn't very severe. But eventually, after treating the ill cats of CliffClan, the young dark orange healer had fallen ill as well as a warrior and an elder in the clan and Oddblaze had been helping Petalwish almost the entire day. Twitchpaw had her paws full the entire time he was gone, but she was relieved once the red and cream tom made it back.

I hope it won't be like this every day once Oddblaze isn't here to help me out. She thought, her pelt prickling in worry as she began to imagine having to do so much on her own. How does Petalwish do it?

Petalwish had only been a full healer for about four moons, and two moons after her apprenticeship ended, her mentor had retired. She carried a lot of responsibility in her clan for such a young cat and Twitchpaw really admired her for that very reason. They both seemed to get along pretty well considering all the times they had met once she became Oddblaze's apprentice. Twitchpaw would even hope they would make good friends one day.

I'll be a full healer soon enough. Twitchpaw realized as she finished stocking the last of the fresh herbs. But Oddblaze is young, so I'll be able to keep everything under control by then. She assured herself, but her whiskers twitched slightly in doubt. Right?

It was Thornflame who distracted her from her thoughts. "Well, since I have to stay off of my paw and can't come along with you two tonight, mind if you tell my good friend Pounceheart I said hello?" She asked the both of them.

"Sure, we can!" Twitchpaw purred. She had never spoken to the tom or even met him, but she always heard he was a great hunter who loved to joke around. She mostly knew about him because of the odd nicknames he'd give to the cats he met. I wonder what he calls Thornflame since they're such good friends.

That's when she heard Burningstar's yowl ring out to the clan, calling for the cats who were going to the clan gathering. Twitchpaw followed Oddblaze out of the den as they made their way to their leader. Smokeflight and Tigernose, two FlameClan warriors were already waiting, and there was only one cat who joined the gathered cats just behind Twitchpaw, who dipped her head respectfully upon realizing one of the elders, Branchberry.