☁ 𝒜𝓈 𝒞𝓁𝑜𝓊𝒹𝓈 𝒞𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒮𝓀𝓎 ☁

Chapter 16

𝒫𝑒𝓉𝒶𝓁𝓌𝒾𝓈𝒽

~ ✵ ☁ ✵ ~

She was shocked to see Junipernose in the Healer's den once she entered. His brown paws shifted anxiously and he looked exhausted. He let out a relieved sigh once he saw her. "Petalwish! Where have you been?"

"I'm sorry, Junipernose." She felt terrible, knowing that her mentor was sure to be angry with her deep within all of his other emotions. "I went out to get herbs and something happened." She figured there really wasn't a point in explaining right then and there. Her green eyes shifted to the far backside of the den, where Leafpounce lay asleep in his temporary nest. Or at least she hoped it would be temporary. "What are you doing in here? Shouldn't you be in the elder's den-like Brackenpounce?"

"Leafpounce needs me more than Brackenpounce does. She'll be fine on her own for the time being." He told her.

"But you've retired. I can take over from here..." She insisted, but the creamy brown tom shook his head, his focus returning to the sleeping golden tabby. "How's he doing? Stoneshade informed me things weren't going well."

"He's... okay," Junipernose answered. "I don't think it's something any herbs can fix though. He'll have to pull through this on his own."

If he can. She thought to herself. She let out a sigh, staring at the golden tabby tom for a long moment, remembering all of the time they had spent together as apprentices. Even though she was younger than Leafpounce, she always felt bad for the tom. He was an incredible warrior, especially when it came to his hunting skills, but the tom was looked down on by the other CliffClan cats for his heritage.

She had been told that he was only a kit when he had been found, abandoned, and left to die in the cold. Many cats thought they shouldn't take him in because of his oddly-shaped paws. Instead of the usual five toes a cat normally had, Leafpounce had eight toes on both of his forepaws, which was rumored to be bad luck according to legend.

But Rainstar wasn't going to throw away another potential warrior for her clan, and she especially didn't want to go against the Warrior Code. So, he was taken in as a member of CliffClan, but Petalwish still caught the scornful glances that were cast at him by other warriors every once in a while.

She liked his odd paws though. That was what made him unique after all, at least in appearance. His personality was great too. He was loyal to his clan, but he also shared the same cheerful and joking temperament as his former mentor, Stoneshade.

Petalwish strode out of the den to check over her clanmates, remembering the sight of wounds she had seen on some of them. The first cat she saw was Strikestorm, who had a large cut on one of his back legs, clumps of dried blood covering the gray fur around it. He was lounging lazily just outside the warriors' den, catching the last of the sun's dying rays before it disappeared completely over the horizon.

"Strikestorm." She greeted, with a polite dip of her dark orange head, but the muscular warrior just glared at her, his cold yellow-green eyes narrowed into slits as she padded closer.

"What do you want?" His voice came out in a low, sneering growl as he spoke.

"As your healer, it is my duty to check over your wounds," she replied, nodding toward his leg and flicking one of her ears at him. "such as the cut on your leg."

"Hmph," To her surprise, she stretched out his injured leg, still casting her suspicious glances every once in a while. "What were you doing out of camp all day? Conspiring with another clan perhaps?"

Petalwish looked taken aback, her eyes wide in surprise. "What?" Was that what every cat thinks I've been doing all this time? "N-No." She stammered, trying to assure the tom that she was loyal to her clan, but she only seemed to be making herself look worse. How was she supposed to explain what she had been spending the day doing? How would every cat react to her run-in with the wolf, followed by her interaction with the Clanless Clowder? "I-It's a long story..." Her voice trailed off, and with a helpless sigh, she realized how awkward their conversation was getting and how suspicious she seemed to Strikestorm.

As if the thought of the prior events were a reminder, the gaping wound in her shoulder began to throb once again, and she could feel a slight trickle of blood beginning to spill out onto her orange fur. But she didn't let it distract her. Instead, she continued cleaning Strikestorm's own wound.

Once she had applied a poultice on the cut, she broke away from the gray and white tom and headed for the leader's den. The reddish-brown she-cat had dozed off in her mossy nest, looking peaceful as she slept. Petalwish was about to wake her but hesitated. Whatever had gone on while she was absent, it seemed like it had drained every cat's energy. She turned and padded away, leaving her mother to rest. She wanted to know what exactly had gone on in the clan, but she could wait until tomorrow when Rainstar was awake.

Finally, she curled into her own nest in her den. Junipernose had gone to the elder's den for the night and it was so quiet that Leafpounce's shallow breaths eventually lulled her into a dreamless sleep.