Crowstar's Mission {COMPLETE}

Chapter 17

"Crowpaw." He replied, keeping his voice steady. He held his paw out for Cooper to see. Cooper looked at his paw, giving it a slight sniff.

"That is pretty bad." Cooper nodded. "I'm sure Ivy will be able to take care of you. Come with me." Cooper brushed past Crowpaw and Flint outside of his den. Crowpaw turned and watched Cooper walk to the den next to his own. "This Ivy's den, Ivy is my daughter and she's been taught about herbs." He explained. "Ivy," He poked his head into the den. "Can you come out here, please?"

After a brief moment a she-cat stepped out into the light. Crowpaw couldn't help but stare when he saw her. She was a beautiful gray tortoiseshell with soft, kind green eyes. On her forehead she had a pure white marking in the shape of a star, it reminded him of the star in his dreams.

Ivy looked at Crowpaw with curious eyes. "Hi there." She greeted with a sweet voice. Crowpaw had to take a moment to shake his head.

"Hi." He replied awkwardly.

Beside Crowpaw, Flint let out a chuckle. "I'll leave you all to your business." He flicked his tail over Crowpaw's ears and went over to his and Sabra's den.

"Ivy this is Crowpaw." Cooper explained. "Flint found him and he has an infected wound on his paw. We were wondering if you could treat it?"

"Let me see it." Ivy stepped forward and Crowpaw held out his paw. The she-cat gave it a sniff and then looked up at Crowpaw. "Yeah, I can treat this. I have the herbs for it."

"Great." Cooper dipped his head. "I'll let you treat him, let me know how it goes." He looked at Crowpaw for a moment before returning to his own den.

"Come with me." Ivy mewed kindly and turned back into her den while Crowpaw awkwardly followed her. Her den was spacious and smelled strongly of herbs, it brought back memories of the medicine cat den. "Sit down." She instructed kindly and grabbed a mouthful of herbs, including cobweb and the golden herb that Skyclaw used.

Ivy chewed the herb into a poultice and rubbed it on his paw. The juices of the herbs were instantly soothing to Crowpaw. "So, where are you from? Are you a kittypet? Rogue? Loner?" She looked up with curiosity as she wrapped his paw with cobwebs.

Crowpaw thought for a moment, he supposed that he was a loner. Since he had been living away from the Clans for over a moon. "I'm a loner, but I'm not from around here. I came from quite a long ways away.

"Oooh." Ivy purred. "Sounds interesting." She started cleaning up her herbs. "So what's your story?"

"My story?" Crowpaw asked, tilting his head.

"Every cat has a story. Why are you travelling?" Ivy turned back to look at him. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I'm just interested." She licked her chest out of embarrassment. "Sorry if I'm being nosy."

"You're not." Crowpaw assured her, he never considered that every cat had a story. His own wasn't exactly a happy one.

"Good to know." Ivy's eyes glowed for a moment, then she looked at his paw. "I should be able to treat the infection, but it might take a while for your paw to fully heal. I'm sure my father would let you stay here, but when you're better you would have to provide."

"Provide?" Crowpaw questioned, looking at his paw.

Ivy nodded. "Every cat around here is required to provide through hunting. You won't be able to hunt on that paw, but when it's healed you would just have to hunt for us for a while and then you would be free to go, well you're always free to go but you'd be expected to hunt."

"I see." Crowpaw thought for a moment, wondering if staying here was a good idea. He would have his paw treated and he would have plenty of prey. Maybe it would be good for him to live with a group again, plus he could leave whenever he wanted. Not to mention, part of him really wanted to get to know Ivy. He wasn't sure what is was about her, but she had already caught his interest. "I guess I'll stay if you'll let me."