(Outdated) Warriors: Clouded Skies #2 - Frost

Chapter Three

It had been quite a while since Echo had sent Ravenpaw into the past, so it took him a moment to remember the tree that Bat and the others were sheltered under. Smoke and Flint were in the small clearing in front of the makeshift den, sharing a large fish, while Creek watched Bat and Sage from nearby.

Sage looked wary and was looking fiercely around the clearing before looking back at her kits, then back out again. Ravenpaw had seen their kitting a little over a quarter moon before, and now the four were maybe a moon old. She had four—the largest was Alder, a broad-shouldered gray-black tabby; near his size but with a slimmer build, Crow looked just like his father Bat; after that was Ash, a pretty silver-gray tabby with white unders; lastly was Echo, with fluffy silver fur and thick jagged black stripes.

While her littermates had since opened their eyes, she seemed to be less developed and they still stayed closed, so she lay at Bat's paws, trying to get to her paws blindly. Though her eyelids had begun to open, and Sage had finally agreed to let the kits venture outside to see the real world. Bat was hoping it would push little Echo to open her eyes. Ravenpaw was watching next to the older Echo, her transparent fur giving off a misty feel when it brushed against Ravenpaw's. Though he had just gotten here, Echo had explained Bat and Sage's thinking.

"Sage, I think she's opening her eyes," Bat said suddenly, and Ravenpaw looked forward with interest, eyes sparkling.

Quickly, Sage moved next to her mate, staring intently at her daughter as her face flicked and curled as she tried to move her eyelids. Then, they did, and her eyes opened wide for all to see. Ravenpaw felt chilled to his core—kit-Echo's eyes were a bright, cloudy white-gray color, not a soft blue like other kits.

"You... You were blind?" Ravenpaw asked softly, his spine fur on edge. When she didn't answer, Ravenpaw looked over into her bright, glowing green eyes, now with sight in their depths. She had a far off look in her eye.

She meowed suddenly but softly, "it seems we are being cut short.  Goodbye, Ravenpaw." He opened his jaws in denial, wanting to know why she had never told him she was blind, but the scene around him was whipped away suddenly.

"Mossrain!" the call cut through Ravenpaw's sleep, and he raised his head, worried about the fear in the meow but also annoyed he had just learned the first leader of his Clan was blind but he wasn't able to ask questions. The cat who had interrupted his dream was Petalpaw, who stood at the medicine cat's den entrance, shifting on his paws with worry.

Mossrain appeared a moment later from the back den, a bundle of old moss in his jaws. He dropped it and hurried forward. "What's wrong? Who's hurt?" His trained eyes could see that nothing was wrong with Petalpaw, Ravenpaw realized with awe. He would have guessed it was Petalpaw himself was injured; he wouldn't have even thought about another cat.

"Eagleclaw sent for a medicine cat. Goldenpool was sleeping, and I didn't want to interrupt her." 

"What happened? Is Eagleclaw injured? I always told her not to climb to the topmost branches of a tree!" Mossrain hurried to the herb store as if his guess had already been confirmed.

"Eagleclaw's fine!" Petalpaw was quick to ensure the medicine cat his mentor was okay. "Blossompaw got in trouble again and is with Acornstar—she seemed really angry, and Eagleclaw said I needed to get you or Goldenpool. She said you would know what to do." His eyes sparkled in fear.

Mossrain looked over, and Ravenpaw could feel many different emotions coming from his mentor. Fear, worry, stress, all tangled together. After a quick heartbeat, Mossrain shook himself out of it, quickly grabbed a poppy head, and shook out a few seeds onto a nearby oak leaf. He took the oak leaf so the poppy seeds would stay in and hurried from the den, not even giving Ravenpaw or Petalpaw a second look.