Twilightmoon's Silence

Chapter 50

Fallen Leaves! Twilightpaw stiffened. She spotted the orange-and-white tom, who had a bundle of thyme and tansy. He looked younger than when she saw him in the cave.

I'm not sick. I don't need tansy. She wrinkled her nose at the herbs. Tansy was used to treat Whitecough, not bruises and scratches.

"Come here, these'll make you feel better," Fallen Leaves explained, his green eyes not betraying that he already knew her. 

Or maybe he doesn't know, Twilightpaw thought, knowing that the Fallen Leaves in the tunnels were long dead. 

"Eat these," Fallen Leaves ordered. "I'll treat your scratches with tansy."

He nudged the thyme in front of her, and the calico kit licked it up obediently as he chewed up the tansy. He smeared the pulp onto her wounds, and she winced as the healing juice seeped inside. 

"Did I do alright?" Fallen Leaves asked Broken Shadow anxiously. 

"You were perfect," The she-cat purred. "Not bad for a softpaw."

"Soon I'll be a sharpclaw!" He declared. 

"Of course," Broken Shadow agreed, but Twilightpaw saw worry in her light gaze. "It's hard to know that my kit will be an experienced sharpclaw soon."

"At least your kit will become a sharpclaw," Rising Moon meowed bitterly. "Today, my kit died before becoming a softpaw."

"Rising Moon, eat these," A ginger tabby tom held up a paw, where a few poppyseeds stuck to his pad. "You need to rest."

"I don't want rest, Cloudy Sun!" Rising Moon growled. "I want to see Gray Storm again."

"Oh, Rising Moon," He murmured. "We both know that you will never see him again."

Twilightpaw felt sleep crashing over her, and she stumbled over to Gray Storm's grave, where he was already covered by soft sand. She curled up besides it, and closed her eyes, wishing again and again that they hadn't went to find fire ants to put in Jay's Wing's nest.