Warriors: Cloak of Time

= Chapter 6 =

Ottersplash watched the moon through half - lidded eyes.

Her tail flicked, and her whiskers twitched. Ottersplash was anxious. Waiting had never been something that the molly was fond of.

And due to current events, she found she was on edge anyway.

Her paws were shaky, her world seemed hazy.

Moonlight's Embrace was dying.

Ottersplash didn't know what to do. Her Clan, SilverClan, couldn't survive without the white flowers. If they died.. well, it would have to be an omen. SilverClan would have to split and join the other Clans.

The concept alone made nausea writhe inside her stomach, bursting at her seams.

She could feel it, too. The energy inside the soil drifted like golden orbs through her veins, sustaining her. She could feel it ebb, she felt her spirit and energy decline.

Ottersplash closed her eyes. She didn't like to be here with all of these thoughts. These days she tried to throw herself into her work, to avoid dwelling on the fact that StarClan might not want SilverClan there.

The thought filled her with an agony that she couldn't place a claw upon. It was more panicky than a burn, more raging than a gash. The agony was incomparable, it was unrelenting and wild.

That was if she let herself succumb to it.

And Ottersplash could distract herself with mannerisms and medicine duties. But it was times like these when she could do no such thing.

Her hazel eyes darted warily, and her purr was one of deep anxiety. The brown she-cat didn't know what to do with herself.

Willowfeather, the ShadedClan medicine cat trotted over; she had been searching for Hazelfern. The long - furred molly gave a rueful sigh.
"She's very late. I hope she's alright!"

Her blue eyes blinked in concern.
"Is everything alright, Ottersplash?"

Ottersplash was tempted to blurt her troubles out to the kind medicine cat, after all, it would be the logical thing to do. She had promised Stormflight after all. But she needed both medicine cats to be there.

"I'm worried about Hazelfern, that's all," Ottersplash replied, her fluffy brown coat buffeting slightly in the breeze.

Willowfeather's expression was one of sympathy, while Ottersplash's unease grew deeper. These feelings were unusual and unwelcome to the usually enthusiastic feline; she wished she could forget and erase time to simpler days. Says where she didn't fear the possible inevitably that SilverClan were disposable.

Willowfeather mumbled something, Ottersplash turned to listen. Whatever she said must've been of little importance, Ottersplash allowed herself to become distracted by the she-cat's clouded eye. She was blind in her left eye, and for some reason, it fascinated Ottersplash.

Dedicated to medicine, she wondered if there was a cure for blindness, or what caused it.

Her time for pondering was broken by the frantic breaths and hurried footsteps of a young apprentice.

Ottersplash turned and looked at the apprentice with interest.
Webpaw! The HeatherClan medicine cats were finally here!

But casting her gaze around the Moonfields, she saw no sign of the older medicine cat.

"Webpaw? Where's Hazelfern?" Willowfeather called, her gaze wavering with disquiet.

Webpaw stopped as she reached them.