Sticks in the Mud

Barely Grounded

Chapter 1:
POV: Yewpaw

Yewpaw's spiky fur clung to her from the wetness. After the avalanche, she had spent a very long time desperately trying to dig through the snow and get to her clanmates, despairingly telling herself the lie that there might be a chance they were still alive. She had always been a cat who cared deeply for those around her and understood them emotionally, so for them to be taken away from her was devastating. Now, she was with Greyflower and trying to help keep Groundedkit alive. She was filled with pity for the dark cream bundle everytime she looked at her. Groundedkit was covered in scrapes and bruises and shivering like a lizard having a seizure. Yewpaw and Greyflower were taking turns trying to keep Groundedkit warm in a poor shelter of a cliff and Greyflower had no herbs that he could go and get since the herb store in the medicine den had been destroyed in the avalanche.
"Yewpaw. I'm gonna go and try to find herbs for Groundedkit."
Greyflower notified.
"You stay with her; try to keep her warm, ok?"
"Of course, you go. Stay safe ok?"
Yewpaw replied, bringing poor Groundedkit close to her, trying to share her body heat with the kit. She nodded to Greyflower as the dark brown and silver mottled tom went out on his search. Yewpaw than looked back at Groundedkit, seeing her limp body and for a moment filled with fear that the kit was dead until she saw Groundedkit's fluffy chest shallowly move. Yewpaw let out a relieved breath, before humming softly to Groundedkit, hoping she could hear her and that she could possibly comfort her. Than, after about an hour of trying to warm Groundedkit up and keep her alive, just as Yewpaw was starting to get worried, she heard the sounds of a cat padding through the snow. Wait, no... It was multiple cats. Three too be exact. Than, she saw Greyflower come back followed by Fringesplash and Cricketsplash. Yewpaw's amber eyes glimmered with hope. There were more survivors!
"Fringesplash! Cricketsplash!"
Yewpaw exclaimed, about to get up before she remembered, Groundedkit. Cricketsplash than saw and looked sympathetically to the poor kit.
"Outta the way kid, yer wet and will generate a whole lot less heat than I will."
Cricketsplash meowed before abruptly shoving Yewpaw out of the way and carefully licking the moisture away from Groundedkit's fluffy pelt, careful not to rub any scrapes, scratches, or any other wounds raw. All four cats actively tried their best to be of the most help to each other and survive. Cricketsplash and Greyflower were trying to keep Groundedkit alive; Fringesplash was grooming the moisture out of Yewpaw's pelt, which was starting to go back to it's normal spiky texture again; and all four we're discussing how to get through everything that was going on as they used all their pain, hurt, and other emotions and converted it into energy to survive. Right now, they couldn't afford to properly grieve their clanmates or distress over everything they'd lost. They had to focus on what they hadn't lost first.
"So, we can't just stay here on this cliff forever."
Yewpaw reasoned, turning to to Fringesplash, padding the rock underneath them, and then writing slashing it with her claws, hoping Fringesplash got the point. Fringesplash nodded as then Greyflower looked at Yewpaw.
"You are correct, Yewpaw. This is not suitable and we can't stay here long."
He agreed.
"We need to get help from Wishclan."
Fringesplash intruded, not waiting for anyone else to speak as she continued.
"Wishclan is closer to us than Curlyclan."
Greyflower and the others nodded to the molly in agreement as Greyflower looked over everyone.
"I'll go."
The medicine cat determined.
"I'm the medicine cat, so Shystar will be most receptive to me. He might see it as an insult if we sent Yewpaw. No offenses to Yewpaw, of course. Cricketsplash generates the most body heat, so she should stay with Groundedkit. Fringesplash is deaf so it would be hard for her to speak with Skystar, especially when Wishclan lives in caves that you can't see very well in and she can't lip read. That makes me the only logical choice."
"Very well then. Go. And stay safe."
Yewpaw confirmed, nodding to Greyflower and trying to crush the worry in her for her fellow clanmate.