Pick A Flower

Chapter 3;The Plan Begins

  Hollowpaw walked back to VineClan camp, her eyes peeled for a blue flower. She had the tansy in her jaws, the strong scent blocking out all others. It was fine though, Hollowpaw knew she needed the feel and not the scent of the flower she was looking for. The plain around the flowering fields where paths were chosen still had flowers, more with colors of pink and multiple shades of all the colors. 'Light blue.' She reminded herself, her yellow gaze traveling around to look for the color of her description. Hollowpaw's memories were rolling through her head as she desperately clung to the times she'd seen a cat pick the Flower of Leadership. It had only been once, when she was three moons and Stonestar had just become leader. She remembered the black and white tom known as Wispednight picking up the delicate light blue flower.

"Yes!" she mewed in triumph as her eyes landed on the flower she was looking for. She ran over, careful to not crush is as she skidded to a stop. She rubbed a paw against it. It was smooth and somewhere in between soft and rough. 'Now I just need to plant this in the camp and find a kit willing to change the culture of our Clans and teach them what it feels like. Though, I need to find a way to get rid of Wispednight or Stonestar when it was the kits' turn.'

She grabbed the flower and continued to camp. She was sure some would be suspicious of the flower she was holding, but because she had picked a purple flower and not a red, she guessed most would disregard it. She still didn't want to get caught though. Hollowpaw entered camp, sticking to the shadows as she headed towards the nursery to plant it somewhere it could grow but go unnoticed. She unsheathed her claws as she found a good spot, and began to dig into the dirt, her white paws getting splays of dust on them. She sat down the tansy and placed the blue flower in the dirt of the hole she'd made. Hollowpaw pushed the dirt back over it and licked the dirt off her paws before grabbing the tansy again and heading back into Featherlfight's den.

"Well, you got tansy, I'm proud, Hollowpaw," Fernflight mewed softly as Hollowpaw came in.

Hollowpaw only nodded in reply, placing her tansy stems into the store among the other herbs. She stuck her head back out and looked at her mentor. Fernflight was picking through the patients' nests, which, by the smell of it, were freshly made, for thorns.

"Iceberry is close to kitting," Fernflight mewed, not looking up from her work, "they're due in a moon."

Hollowpaw nodded in response. "I'm sure she'll have some great additions to the Clan." 'If the flowers don't lie and say they'll betray or kill us!'

Fernflight seemed to sense the bitterness that laid beneath Hollowpaw's skin. She turned to the brown apprentice, her green eyes soft. "Still miss Snowpaw?"

Hollowpaw sighed, there was no way to hide it from the experience she-cat. "Yes."

"Well, just remember it's for the good of the Clans, the flowers told us he would become a murderer. We had to stop him before he hurt anyone," Fernflight mewed.

Hollowpaw opened her mouth to defend her brother, and Bluepaw, but a yowl split the air first.

"Iceberry!" Fernflight gasped. "The kits are coming early! Hollowpaw, get some raspberry leaves and maybe a sturdy stick and meet me in the nursery."

Hollowpaw nodded, fleeing into the herb storage to grab the green and soft, spiky-edged herb. Her pawsteps were quick as she turned and hurried out, her fluffy brown tail disturbing a few of the leaves. She didn't stop to pick them up as she ran to the nursery, grabbing a sturdy-looking stick on the way. When she got there Fernflight was already murmuring to the she-cat and two kits were already there.

"Two more, Iceberry, just two more." Fernflight's gaze turned to Hollowpaw. "She needs the raspberry leaves."

Hollowpaw nodded, setting herself up beside the white she-cat, her own brown fur fluffed up in anxiousness. This was her first kitting. She shoved a raspberry leaf towards the laboring she-cat, muttering an "eat this, you'll feel better" before turning to Fernflight for further instruction.

"There's only one left," the elderly she-cat announced, "but it's not wanting to come out."

Hollowpaw's yellow eyes lit up with more anxiousness. "What do we do?"

Fernflight's gaze was uncertain. "I don't know," she admitted, "I've never had something like this happen."

Hollowpaw raked her brain for herbs. "Would yarrow do any good?" she knew it expelled poison from the body, but could it help with this? "Or honey?"
den
"No, neither of those are things that would help."

Hollowpaw's eyes were desperate. "How about stinging nettles? They bring down swelling but maybe that's why the kit's not coming out?"

"That's a good idea, and we might as well try," Fernflight mewed with a nod, "go get some I'll stay with Iceberry."

Hollowpaw barely let her finish before she ran to the medicine den. 'Stinging nettles. Stinging nettles.' Her eyes were wild as she tried to remember which was the herb. In desperation, she grabbed a random herb and ran back to the nursery. As she entered, dead welled inside her as she scented death. She let go of the herb she'd grabbed and looked at Fernflight, whose eyes were closed as she let out a defeated sigh.

"We were too late," she mewed, "I guess that she had some sickness as well, she was coughing before she died. Well, coughing blood."

"A-are the kits okay? The ones that got out?" Hollowpaw let out a breath she didn't even know she'd been holding at Fernflight's nod.

"Weak, but alive," Fernflight mewed. Her gaze raked the den, no other queens were here. "We need to find someone to take care of them, but everyone around isn't going to want to leave behind their warriorhood."

"I'll take care of them," Hollowpaw offered, surprising herself.

"Are you sure you could handle them?" Fernflight asked.

Hollowpaw gazed down at the three living kits of the gold-and-hazel-eyed, white cat. One was white like his mother, another white with little splashes of gray, and one smaller than the rest, a small gray she-kit among two brothers with white paws. She nodded. "I'll do my best."