Mapleshade's Second Chance

Maple

"Hold still, Redpaw! Honestly, if you keep fidgeting, I'm never going to be able to treat your bite."

"I'm trying! It still stings, you know."

Maplelight purred with amusement as she watched Spottedpaw attempting to treat a wound on Redpaw's shoulder. Maplelight had taken Redpaw out for a quick hunt as her mate took care of the elders. Her mate's apprentice had been hunting a rat earlier that afternoon that turned on him and bit him. He seemed fine, but she had taken him to see Featherwhisker so he could get it treated in case of an infection. As it turned out, however, the medicine cat was out collecting herbs, meaning Spottedpaw was left to care for her brother.

"Not bad, Spottedpaw," Maplelight remarked, observing the job the younger molly had done. "You're a natural at healing."

"Thank you, Maplelight," Spottedpaw purred, her amber eyes glowing with pride.

"Can we go back out now?" Redpaw asked hopefully. "My shoulder feels loads better and I wanted to try catching a squirrel."

"Oh, no you don't," his sister meowed sharply. "You're going to stay in the camp for the rest of the day. I don't want you aggravating your injury again."

Redpaw looked over at Maplelight, but the calico molly just shook her head. "Sorry, Redpaw, but I'm not going to argue with a medicine cat."

"Aw." He frowned in disappointment. "Okay, then."

Maplelight chuckled quietly, then stiffened as another scent wafted over her scent glands. She turned her head to see Thistleclaw pushing his way into the medicine den, his jaws full of pigeon feathers. His eyes narrowed when he saw her, and Maplelight returned his gaze coldly. Although she had no way of knowing what business he had in visiting the medicine den, she knew he couldn't be up to any good.

"Thistleclaw," she greeted the older warrior sharply. "What are you doing here?"

"That's none of your business, but if you must know, I came to give these to Spottedpaw for her nest," Thistleclaw snapped.

"Is that so?" Maplelight asked, sneering. "How very...caring of you, Thistleclaw. Tell me, what did you do to get yourself in trouble again?"

The spiky-furred warrior growled at her and stormed over to Spottedpaw, dropping the feathers at her paws with a huff. Spottedpaw took the feathers and muttered what Maplelight assumed was some sort of thanks, but she couldn't help noticing that the tortoiseshell molly didn't meet Thistleclaw's gaze. She also couldn't help noticing that Spottedpaw hurried over to her nest with her feathers as quickly as possible, as though she couldn't wait to get out of his presence.

'Can't say I blame her,' Fireheart thought wryly, watching as Thistleclaw turned around and stalked out of the den. Shaking her head, she turned to look down at Redpaw, who was staring up at her with wide eyes.

"Sorry about that," she apologized softly. "He just annoys me, that's all."

The younger cat purred, his eyes gleaming with amusement. "That's okay. You're right, he is annoying."

Maplelight shook her head. "Come on, we should get going. I'm sure Spottedpaw has a lot of work to do until Featherwhisker gets back. Go and get something to eat, but don't leave the camp."

Redpaw nodded and scampered out of the medicine den, heading straight for the fresh-kill pile. Maplelight followed more slowly, meowing a quick goodbye to Spottedpaw as she left. As she stepped out into the clearing, she looked around for something to do. She had been planning on training with Redpaw all day and as such hadn't been assigned to any patrols. Now that he would be spending the rest of the day recovering from his rat bite, however, her entire afternoon looked to be open.