Lemonsplash's Acceptance (#Wattys)

Chapter 8

Lemonpaw woke to find herself in a moss nest, softly lain with feathers. She was in the medicine den back in camp. The scent of comfrey and marigold filled the air as she tried to remember what happened in the battle.

She noticed that Scarletfall had left her a small bundle of wet moss next to her nest, and she reached out to get a drink.

Ouch! Lemonpaw pulled back wincing in pain. She scrunched her golden yellow eyes at the pain crippling under her belly fur. She rolled onto one side to lick her belly and saw the long deep gash had been plastered with cowebs, dock leaves and marigold. Comfrey was wrapped around her injured shoulder.

"Ah, Lemonpaw, your awake!" Lemonpaw raised her head to see Scarletfall walking into the den, a bundle of fresh herbs in her jaws.

"Looks like you'll have to stay here for a while I'm afraid. Your wounds were quite bad, but you'll recover."

Lemonpaw sighed and shuffled her paws as she to a drink from the wet moss. The pain throbbed bit she managed to quench her thirst, before laying back down heavily.

"I'll just go and fetch you some fresh kill, then after you have eaten you can have some poppy seed to ease the pain."

Lemonpaw nodded, and rested her head on her paws as she watched Scarletfall go outside into the clearing. The medicine cat grabbed a juicy vole of the fresh kill pile and dropped it at Lemonpaw's paws.

"Here you are! Eat up and you'll recover quicker!" Scarletfall purred.

Lemonpaw scuffled in the nest to work out the least painful way to eat, when a tortoiseshell tom walked into the medicine den.

"And how is the patient?" Sycamoretail asked, resting his tail lightly on Lemonpaw's shoulder as she crouched to eat. "I wanted to visit you before the gathering tonight."

Oh, yeah. Thought Lemonpaw. Tonight was supposed to be my first gathering, where I would get to meet cats from the other clans... But I can't go now...

Sadness filled Lemonpaw's eyes as she took another bite of the vole. She looked up at her mentor.

"Don't worry Lemonpaw! You'll be able to go next time." Sycamoretail didn't know what to say to console his injured apprentice. He nuzzled her flanks, burying his nose in her long fur and breathing in her sweet scent, before turning to leave the den.

Scarletfall padded up to Lemonpaw with a few poppy seeds, wrapped in a large leaf. She placed it gently in front of Lemonpaw.

"There you are, get some rest, my dear."

As Lemonpaw lapped up the seeds she suddenly felt very drowsy, and she fell into a deep sleep.

***********

Many days passed, and Lemonpaw was still in the medicine den.

Sycamoretail brought her fresh kill everyday, but she noticed that her mother was still to appear.

She felt deeply disheartened at the fact that Hopeflight hadn't even come to see how she was!

My mentor visits me daily, why doesn't my mother? Does she even love me, or care about me?

AN: Short chapter! But that's how it's meant to be! Hope you like it so far! The real story develops now! Please comment, and thanks for reading! XD!