Bluefur's Choice

Defiance

Spottedleaf's death left a hole in the Clan that no other cat could fill. Who would heal them if they got sick or injured?

Even Tigerclaw seemed concerned. Bluefur overheard him talking to Thistlestar one day: "ShadowClan has the advantage in this fight; even if they've lost one medicine cat, they still have another."

Thistlestar dismissed his worries. "We are warriors. We can still defeat them in battle."

And battle they did. It was a common occurrence for a cat to raise an alarm call now, to inform their Clanmates of ShadowClan or RiverClan trespassing on large swaths of land. And as much as Thistlestar maintained that ThunderClan would be fine without a medicine cat, it didn't stop an undercurrent of fear from sweeping through the ThunderClan camp.

There were no serious injuries at first, but it soon became obvious that most cats had no idea what to do with herbs. Brindleface and Mosstail had taken to collecting familiar looking leaves and setting them out in front of the medicine den as they had seen Spottedleaf so many times, relying on vaguely remembered conversations with the former medicine cat in hopes that they would stumble upon the proper procedure for storing herbs and working out their identities. Most of their hard work ended up for naught- even if they determined what the herbs were, much of the supply rotted in the warm, humid greenleaf air.

As the moon went on, the sense of panic grew among the ThunderClan cats. Several elders fell ill, and despite cats' best efforts, their condition worsened with each passing day. The fighting with ShadowClan continued; there was a small skirmish by the Thunderpath, and a short few days later Longtail and Sandpaw developed infected wounds. Bluefur was hopeful that their youth would help them fight off the infection even if they couldn't receive the proper herbs, and thankfully, within a quarter moon they had recovered enough to patrol again. But she knew every cat wouldn't be so lucky.

Frostfur's injury healed to the point that she could take on reduced warrior duties, but no cat was sure whether her choice in herbs worked or if it was just luck. Either way, her improvement did nothing to convince Thistlestar of the importance of having a cat well-trained in healing herbs, in spite of other cats growing sicker all around them.

It didn't take long for it to become obvious that Thistlestar was unwilling to enter into a negotiation. During a Clan meeting, Bluefur proposed asking another Clan's medicine cat for advice; perhaps ThunderClan could send a warrior to apprentice under them. Unsurprisingly, Thistlestar was having none of it.

"Send one of our warriors to another Clan?" he snarled after Bluefur suggested the idea. "Have you gone mad?"

Other cats had objections to her plan as well. "We haven't any warriors to spare if ShadowClan continues to attack," Longtail spoke up. "And surely no Clan would train an enemy warrior for nothing in return. They would have us exchange territory or prey-"

"Then that is what we must do." Bluefur's meow had carried through the clearing. Ultimately, while her protests had earned her sympathetic looks from some of the cats, no other warrior spoke up.

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Several days later, Bluefur was about to head out on a hunting patrol when she noticed one of her kits near the medicine den. Mistyfur was examining a heap of herbs and leaves, her tail twitching in concentration. She was gingerly setting aside a few pieces when Thistlestar stalked up.

"You're wasting your time," Thistlestar growled.

Mistyfur continued sifting through the leaves as though she hadn't heard him. "Speckletail's paw is infected. I'm bringing her herbs."