Willowstar's Love

Chapter Nine

Willowpaw stepped into the medicine cat den to see that a she-cat, Goldenpetal, was sitting in the middle, looking strangely plump. Her mate, Breezelight, was crouched over Goldenpetal.

Sparkpaw laid a paw on her stomach. "Yep, she's pregnant, all right," he mewed.

"I want Smalltooth in here this second! He's the real medicine cat! He's the one who'll know!" Breezelight snarled. "What do you know! You've only been a medicine cat for a half-moon, you fraud!"

Goldenpetal sighed. "Calm down," she murmured. "A pregnancy is natural."

Sparkpaw nodded. "Besides, Smalltooth is off collecting herbs."

"He's always collecting herbs!" Breezelight's tail lashed.

Sparkpaw sighed. "Just stay calm, okay? I might be a new medicine cat, but I know a pregnant she-cat when I see one. So just let me do this and get outta here."

Breezelight hissed, but didn't argue. He stomped out, muttering under his breath.

Willowpaw glanced after him. "Who ruffled his fur?"

"I dunno," Sparkpaw sighed. "Goldenpetal, take these herbs."

The she-cat purred and gently ate the stalks.

"She deserves way better than Breezelight," Willowpaw whispered. "Look how calm she is compared to him!"

"Shush," Sparkpaw muttered. "She'll hear you."

Willowpaw snorted, but kept silent.

"Okay, Goldenpetal, I'd say just rest in the nursery. You aren't due for a few moons, but we don't want anything to happen," Sparkpaw mewed. "Want me to take you?"

"I can manage by myself. But thank you, Sparkpaw." She got up and padded away, dipping her head.

"Wow!" Willowpaw said. "Your first patient!"

Sparkpaw rolled his eyes. "Not really. I just told her to go to sleep."

Willowpaw shrugged. "But you knew she was pregnant! You don't learn that stuff for a while, do you?"

Sparkpaw shook his head. "We learn it pretty early on. It's one of the most common occurrences in Clan life, obviously, so we have to learn how to deliver kits within our first moon of training."

Willowpaw's eyes widened. "I don't want to be a medicine cat, then."

Sparkpaw laughed. "It's actually pretty fun. Tomorrow I get to go to the Light Tree. It's a hollow tree at the edge of BirchClan's territory where we can share tongues with LightClan. Leaders get their nine lives there, you know."

"That's cool," Willowpaw purred. "I heard every medicine cat goes there together?"

Sparkpaw nodded. "Sorta. It's tradition, though, for the IceClan medicine cats to go with the CinderClan and FishClan medicine cats, and the CaveClan cats go with the MudClan and BirchClan medicine cats. It's just a thing. Then we all meet up, go into the hollow tree all together—it's surprisingly huge—and there's this big, golden branch, called the Light Branch. The medicine apprentices go on that, touch their forehead to its leaves, and get dreams from LightClan, if they're lucky. The full medicine cats go farther into the hollow tree, and there's this tiny pool. We call it the Pool of Dreams. They do the same thing as the apprentices, except there's a one hundred percent chance they get a dream from LightClan."

"Whoa," Willowpaw gasped. "That sounds....amazing."

"It is."

"Sparkpaw! Get in here! Goldenpetal says her stomach hurts!" Breezelight's voice shouted.

"It's probably nothing," Sparkpaw muttered. More loudly he mewed, "Coming!"