Wavepaw watches Ivyhawk count herbs, eyes fixed intently on his every move.
Stalks of sweet-sedge and bundles of catmint move fluidly between the golden tabby's paws and are pulled into neat, precise piles.
A few bundles of other herbs- the ones RiverClan owed ShadowClan soon, much to Ivyawk's chargin- were set aside- examining it closely, Wavepaw finds that it contains a few heads of poppy, along with catmint, sweet-sedge, and dock leaf.
Wavepaw knew it annoyed Ivyhawk and a few other RiverClan cats that their leaf-bare herb stock was being siphoned off to ShadowClan, but Shellstar insisted on not listening to their valid complaints.
Ivyhawk said that the RiverClan leader was scared of Slightstar, and even though she hadn't met the ShadowClan leader yet, she had heard a couple things about him.
Wavepaw settles deeper into her shell-lined nest, shivering.
The RiverClan medicine den remained bearable despite the biting cold, thanks to the insulating materials Ivyhawk claimed to have put in moons ago.
An uncomfortable chill remained, but RiverClan cats were more than used to swimming in freezing water and things of the sort.
Lingering curiosity from Wavepaw's meeting with her grandfather floats around in her mind- his hesitatance during their conversation was a bit strange, to say the least.
And now Wavepaw wanted to learn even more about the uncle that had disappeared, since everyone seemed to believe he was dead.
Ivyhawk was a good candidate for asking questions to, mostly because he wasn't either of her parents and wouldn't find a way to make the conversation about Shellstar or Fallowtail, respectively.
"Ivyhawk?" she mews, tipping her head.
"Yeah?" the golden tabby replies, twitching an ear in his apprentice's direction but not turning around.
"I have a question."
Wavepaw feels her mentor tense up just a little, but stays quiet.
"About what?" Ivyhawk mutters, sounding annoyed now.
He looked and sounded tired, but was apparently too proud to tell Wavepaw why he wasn't getting any sleep.
Despite his insistence of being difficult, though, she hoped he'd get a good night's rest sometime soon.
The medicine apprentice draws in a quiet breath, curling her tail around herself.
It was now or never.
"What happened to my uncle?"
Ivyhawk remains silent; Wavepaw lurches forward as the strongest tension she's perceived bursts from the golden tabby's figure.
The RiverClan medicine cat growls quietly to himself, blank expression contorting into a pained one.
Something wasn't right about him, and Wavepaw could tell he knew something she didn't.
"...He's dead, Wavepaw," Ivyhawk mews at last; leaning closer to her mentor, Wavepaw notices the slightest twitch of his right paw as he speaks the words.
She feels inclined to brush it off as a fluke, but keeps watching the golden tabby.
The nervous tell, coupled with his fluctuating tone, made it look like he didn't believe the words coming out of his own mouth.
His breaths came out in shallow puffs before rapidly regulating, and his fur bristles erratically.
Angling her gaze downward, Wavepaw feels her focus break and her body relax.
YOU ARE READING
𝚂𝚗𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚂𝚞𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 || 𝚂𝚑𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚂𝚎𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚜 #2
Adventure''The Clans are plagued by darkness, but a seer of truth will bring peace.'' As Wavepaw of RiverClan begins her apprenticeship, the shadows of a scandal that shattered her family push her to uncover the secrets that bind her Clan's past to an uncer...
