Dawnstar's Message

Chapter 32

~Hey you guys! Thank you for reading... I would appreciate more fans, if you please!

This next chapter is dedicated to Tigerheart. I don't know how exactly to dedicate something to someone... but still! Tigerheart is awesome~

CHAPTER 32

Dawnstar lay on the ground. His eye was getting swollen; he had to get up before it got worse. As he got to his paws, his head started reeling from the growing bruise above his eye. The sun warmed his pelt, but it didn't ease the pain nearly enough. Unsteadily, he made his way back in the direction that he thought his mate Cherryfoot had gone.

My mate? he thought unsurely. She could be my mate. I love her. Hopefully she still loves me... probably not after I tried to maime myself on a tree when I found out about our kits..... THE KITS! "I can't have kits with a medicine cat!" he said aloud. He looked around to make sure no cat had heard him. At this point, I can barely trust the birds above my head...

Dawnstar walked on in an eerie silence. I'm going to have kits! I mean, Cherryfoot is. I already had a kit when I was way to young! Whispershine is the only kit I need. Cherryfoot is great and all, but what am I going to do with more kits? Raise them, you mouse-brain! a voice seemed to say in his mind. I love her, but medicine cats can't--- "OW!" He tripped in a rabbit hole. Dawnstar tried to put weight on his white paw, but it felt like beestings to touch it. He limped on through the warm forest.

When he got back into camp, it was after sunhigh. Cats were leaving for patrols and such. He slipped in, as discreetly as a cat could with a twisted paw and a bruised face, and snuck behind the bushes to the medicine den. Dawnstar snuck into the rock cave and, thankfully, saw only Finchpetal in the dim light. The creamy she-cat's eyes lit up when she saw him. She trotted over.

"Dawnstar!" There was so much affection in that quiet voice. He slipped past her and went to the back of the den, where she followed him.

"What's wrong with your face?" Finchpetal asked bluntly.

Dawnstar sighed. "Do you know about Cherryfoot?"

"How she stormed in here and started organizing herbs, like she does when she's irritated?"

He smiled. "That's her nervous tick..."

Finchpetal gasped. "You guys sneaking out together... oh my gosh!" She smiled. "You guys are mates!"

"Correct."

The young she-cat was about to say something positive, judging by the upturned corners of her mouth, but then it turned to a scowl. "Medicine cats can't have mates, you know. Obviously."

Dawnstar grunted. "Or kits, so shut up about it."

Finchpetal gasped. "GREAT STARCLAN! Kits? Are you kidding?"

Dawnstar frowned and shook his head. "Afraid not. Cherryfoot told me, I felt guilty and kind of... bruised myself on a tree, she got mad, and now I look like this." He motioned to his swollen eye and paw. "Please help me."

Finchpetal's eyes were dull with sadness. "I can heal your wounds, but I can't help you with the Cherryfoot problem. First of all, you'd have to figure it out on your own. Second, StarClan doesn't approve of medicine cats having mates in the first place. Let me get some herbs for that foot."

Dawnstar licked his paw as the medicine cat gathered random plants from the rock crevice. "I know that StarClan doesn't approve of us being together, but maybe you could convince our ancestors to allow it...?"