k e e p i n g

b e g i n n i n g

        Frondpaw was grooming her tufty brown tabby fur. It was fluffed out against the harsh chilly Leafbare wind, just like every cat's. She curled her tail around her paws, and twitched her nose. It was red and sore, and she sneezed several times a day. "Ugh! I'm sick of this StarClan cursed cold!" Frondpaw lashed her tail, and her shoulders drooped irritably. She was a new apprentice, and didn't take kindly to being crammed up in some stuffy medicine cat den on her first few weeks. "It's only been three days, Frondpaw. You'll get over it," Comfreyleaf snapped. His creamy golden striped pelt was fussing over some herbs in the back of the dried mud shaped den, just like Mossypebble's. The two medicine cats were busy every second of the day, treating all the sick cats before it could get worse. At least mine isn't bad, she tried to reassure herself. For now.
   Frondpaw pricked her ears as a pretty tabby she cat waltzed into the den. "Petalpaw!" She smiled when her sister walked over to her. Petalpaw looked a lot like Frondpaw, they both were tabbies, and had lots of downy fluff lining their legs that didn't seem to grow out from when they were kits, but Petalpaw was more thin and regal with less visible stripes, and was a light gray tabby she cat rather than brown. Her blue eyes twinkled, and she exclaimed, "Frondpaw!"
  As much as Frondpaw tended to envy her beauty, her litter mate always came through and was sweet and caring.
"What are you doing in here?" She asked. "Oh, you still are sick?" Her earnest expression darkened at her sister's misfortune.
   The brown tabby she cat tried not to mind her sister's words that much, and shifted on her paws. I'm not really sick, just a mild cold. "It's alright, I'll be able to hunt and fight soon."
    Just at that moment Silverlight, the eldest and wisest medicine cat of the three padded in. Herbs hung in her jaw, and her paws were caked with dirt from digging. "I brought the Catnip and Chickweed," she mewed, her voice leathery and clear as day, despite the muffling rainbow of green and gold sandwiched in between her teeth.
  Comfreyleaf flicked his ears in acknowledgment, and Mossypebble purred, striding towards her. Frondpaw could've sworn if they weren't medicine cats the two would totally be mates, despite the slight age gap.
    "Give the Catnip to Coldfog, and Smokehail first. Use the Chickweed on cats with milder symptoms." Silverlight dropped the bundle, and slung out orders, waiting for Comfreyleaf to assess her with updates.
"Coldfog is catching Greencough already, even though it's early on in the season, Smokehail is getting better, Pikelegs should heal soon, and so should Frondpaw."
  That's a relief.
Silverlight nodded, pleased. Her sleek silvery white pelt snaked away from them, and she went to go fetch prey for all her patients.
  Frondpaw waited for Petalpaw to start speaking to her again, since she'd been distracted by the medicine cats working. Frondpaw had almost forgotten her litter mate used to want to be a medicine cat apprentice at one point, but during that period apparently it had never occurred to her that there was already too many cats with the job.
Petalpaw, glanced back over at her sister, and smoothed her paw over her gray ears before beginning to speak.
  "F—"
  Before Petalpaw could say anything, the two she cats went rigid at an ear splitting yowl.