(Outdated) Warriors: Clouded Skies #2 - Frost

Chapter Eighteen

Five days after the two new kits had joined the Clan, and only one day after the loss of the unnamed tom, Ravenpaw worked on cleaning Russetdawn's wounds, though his ears were perked and angled to listen behind him.

"Just lay still." Mossrain ordered to Blossompaw, and Ravenpaw could hear his sister moving around in her nest, shifting as Mossrain tried to look her over.

"I'm uncomfortable! And my back hurts!" Blossompaw argued. Worry spiked Ravenpaw's heart. Did she need a poppy seed? He waited for the order to grab one, but it didn't come.

"That means it's healing. And if you don't want it to hurt, then lay still."

"I want to get out of this nest!" Ravenpaw turned his head when he heard Mossrain hiss in displeasure, and saw Blossompaw trying to stand. As her back curled, she cried out and dropped back onto the moss, breathing heavy.

"It's been a quarter moon since your injury, Blossompaw, you need to give it time." Mossrain seemed annoyed with the young apprentice.

"Well, how long until I can leave?" She growled fiercely, eyes hard and ears flat. Unable to watch her gaze, Ravenpaw turned back to Russetdawn, watching her eyelids flutter open and closed, her breathing fast but smooth. She had woken up earlier, but only for a moment. In those waking moments, she had been able to see Foxpounce and her kits briefly, before she fell asleep again.

Now, she was going in and out of consciousness, and Mossrain had told Eagleclaw to keep Foxpounce and his kits out of camp because they continued to stick their heads in and check on her, blocking the light the clearing gives the den. But Mossrain was hopeful about her recovery. Her wounds were healing incredibly nicely, just like the rest of the Clan. Most of them had only scars, now, though a few warriors had to go easy--Grayblaze and Foxpounce especially. Grayblaze could still only go on small patrols, while Foxpounce was sentenced back to the same after the travel through the forest when they rescued the kits. It seems he had reopened a wound.

"I'm not sure." Mossrain's uncertain voice brought Ravenpaw back to real life, and he began to cover Russetdawn's stomach wound with a pulp. "I plan to ask them tonight at the Moonstream."

While Blossompaw snorted and sighed with a roll of her eyes, Ravenpaw shifted in fear and excitement. He was so happy to be returning to the Moonstream and to see the other medicine cats, but a few things kept him back; Blossompaw was untamable and wouldn't stay in the nest if left alone, Russetdawn was still injured despite slowly healing, and he was worried about what he would find in StarClan. He trusted them to have taken in the unnamed tom, but what if, in the slimmest possibility, they hadn't? Would Ravenpaw go to the Moonstream, and find him not there? Where was his spirit, if not protected by StarClan's mighty gaze? Would he be forced to wander eternally, searching for his sister? Or was he with his mother, if she was truly dead?

"What's the use to ask dead cats?" Blossompaw scorned. "They're dead."

"They are wise," Mossrain argued softly, obviously trying to withhold any anger he felt toward the defiant she-cat. "Many medicine cats are up there, and a few of them have dealt with a situation like this, I'm sure of it. I just need their opinion. I will tell you what I find out later tonight."

"Useless," Blossompaw muttered as she turned her head away, resting it on her front paws. Mossrain looked saddened but left the apprentice behind him and padded over to Russetdawn's side. He sniffed her wounds then nodded, satisfied.

"She should be alright for tonight."

"Can we leave her alone?" Ravenpaw asked, but he flicked his ears towards Blossompaw, too scared to mention her by name in case she overheard.