Owlpaw rose from her nest. She could feel the harsh, leaf-bare winds outside, breaking through the entrance of the medicine cat den. Her body shivered and she slowly opened her eyes, blinking the sleep out of her eyes. She lifted her head and yawned as her eyes slowly came into focus. She could see from the den entrance that it was still early morning out, the sky was almost white from the snow-filled clouds as snow fell heavily from the sky.
Owlpaw stretched out her limbs and noticed a faint stinging in her throat. She ignored it, knowing that it was probably from the cold weather. She hadn't been feeling the effects of her lingering sickness for a while, so she wasn't concerned. She looked around the den and noticed that Honeyfrost's nest was empty, and Pebblestep had clearly just woke up as well. The older medicine cat was washing her paws and smoothing down her fur.
"Good morning." Pebblestep greeted once she noticed Owlpaw had woken up.
"Good morning." Owlpaw spoke the words, but they came out weak and incredibly rough. She surprised herself at how bad she sounded. Pebblestep's eyes immediately filled with concern.
"Are you alright?" Pebblestep was on her paws and rushed over to Owlpaw, touching her tail to the apprentice's forehead.
"I'm fine, Pebblestep." Owlpaw assured her after clearing her throat. "The cold weather is just hurting my throat."
Pebblestep took a small step back and met Owlpaw's gaze. "We can't just ignore signs of sickness with you." She explained. "You know exactly what you went through as a kit, just because you are doing better doesn't mean you aren't still at risk of greencough."
Owlpaw knew that arguing with Pebblestep wouldn't get her anywhere so she just sat down and let Pebblestep look her over. "I haven't been feeling any struggles with my breathing lately." Owlpaw explained.
"That could be because you aren't doing as much physical work. You're not hunting or patrolling anymore."
"No but I still go all over the place gathering herbs." Owlpaw thought about maybe once or twice when she had felt shortness of breath after a particularly long herb gathering session, but they were few and far between.
"You should take some catmint." Pebblestep replied after looking her over.
Owlpaw shook her head. "I don't even have whitecough, there's no need to waste the herb on me. I'll be okay without herbs, I'll just take it easy today."
"At least take some chickweed. We have plenty. Medicine cats need to take herbs too, our Clan is relying on us to stay healthy." Pebblestep assured her. The medicine cat touched her muzzle to Owlpaw's forehead. "I may be the senior medicine cat but I am also your aunt and I promise Yarrowtail I would take care of you."
"I know, Pebblestep." Owlpaw let out a sigh, admitting defeat. "I'll take the herbs, I don't want anyone worrying about me."
"Thank you." Pebblestep purred softly. "I'm going to go check on the elders, Honeyfrost is out collecting herbs. After you take your herbs, head to the nursery and make sure there's no sickness in there. Maybe give the kits some juniper berries to keep their strength up just in case."
"Will do." Owlpaw dipped her head and watched Pebblestep vanish into the falling snow outside. Owlpaw let out a defeated sigh once the medicine cat was gone and turned her attention to the herb store. She looked at the neat pile of chickweed and flicked her tail. She knew that Pebblestep meant well, and that she was just caring for her but Owlpaw felt like she was back in the days where every cat looked at her like she was one strong breeze from falling apart.
She felt a sense of spite rising deep within her chest and grabbed some juniper berries before turning away from the herb store, without taking the chickweed.. She would simply just tell Pebblestep she took a small amount, she wasn't going to waste herbs when she wasn't even sick to begin with.
With the bundle of juniper berries secured, Owlpaw stepped out into the falling snow. The SunClan camp was nearly empty, with only paw prints in the snow showing that there had been life within the camp. She knew most of her Clanmates were taking shelter in the den from the harsh cold weather outside.
As she breathed in the cold air, she felt the sting return to her throat but she knew this was normal for the freezing season. She hurried to the nursery to prevent the sensation from getting worse. She stepped into the nursery and saw the residents inside, along with Blossompaw to her surprise.
She was laying down with Oatkit, Juniperkit, Thistlekit, Doekit, Mintkit and Acornkit jumping all over her and playing. Sedgefern and Dovepool were near Petalbreeze who had Ivykit and Lightkit sleeping peacefully against her belly, keeping warm. Blossompaw looked up and her eyes lit up when she saw Owlpaw.
"Hey there!" Blossompaw greeted happily. Upon her noticing Owlpaw, the kits did too. All six kits scrambled to their paws and clumsily ran towards Owlpaw.
"Hi, Owlpaw!" Thistlekit greeted happily. "What are those?"
"These are juniper berries." Owlpaw mewed, setting down her berries. "They're going to help you all keep strong and healthy." The kits gave the berries a curious sniff. "But I also wanted to check if there were any signs of sickness within the nursery?" She questioned, looking to the three queens off to the side.
It was Sedgefern who answered. "Not that I am aware of." She replied. "No one's been coughing, a few sneezes here and there but that's about it."
"Well let me know if anyone start's coughing or anything, even the smallest thing. We want to take care of it right away before it possibly becomes worse." Hypocrite.
"Of course, Owlpaw." Petalbreeze purred. "We promise we'll let you or the other two medicine cats know right away."
"Thank you." Owlpaw looked down at the six kits who were still looking curiously at the berries. Oatkit was gently nudging one with his paws. "You need to take these, they will keep you strong."
Thistlekit listened right away, eating one of the berries. He instantly made a face and shook his head. "That's yucky!" The other kits instantly shied away from the berries and seemed uncertain.
"I know they don't taste great but you need to eat them." Owlpaw urged them. "They'll keep you nice and healthy."
The kits all exchanged an uncertain glance before they all took a step back from the berries. Owlpaw was never good at convincing kits to take herbs, that job usually went to Honeyfrost or Pebblestep.
"Come on you lot." Blossompaw rose up, looking down at the kits. "The first kit to finish their berry gets the first badger ride!"
Instantly all five sets of eyes lit up and they scrambled to eat their berries. "I'm done!" Mintkit announced, holding his head high.
"No I finished first!" Oatkit argued.
"No I did!" Doekit chimed in. Owlpaw was genuinely impressed, they had eaten them in the blink of an eye. And Blossompaw isn't even a medicine cat, maybe she's just good with kits.
"How about..." Blossompaw gave them a coy look. "You all get on!" She announced and ducked down, allowing all six kits to climb on her shoulders and back. She was clearly struggling against all of their weigh but she kept them steady as she carried them on her back.
"I will leave you to have fun." Owlpaw dipped her head and turned out of the nursery, back into the harsh cold. She took a few steps before a few coughs escaped her throat. Her chest burned slightly after she finished. She looked around cautiously, the camp was still empty, she just hoped that Blossompaw didn't hear from inside the nursery. I'm fine. Owlpaw told herself, she would take herbs if she felt any worse.
Owlpaw padded back to the medicine cat den, Pebblestep was still in the elders den but Honeyfrost had returned. She was setting herbs in their herb store, and Owlpaw noticed she was adding chickweed. At least now Pebblestep won't notice that I didn't take the chickweed. "Welcome back." Owlpaw replied, clearing her throat as she did.
"Thank you." Honeyfrost waved her tail slightly. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah," Owlpaw nodded. "Just a bit of a sore throat, I already took some chickweed."
"That's good." Honeyfrost mewed softly. "You should take it easy today, though. Don't want the sore throat turning into something more."
"Will do." Owlpaw dipped her head and returned to her nest, washing her pelt to try and warm up. I hate not being busy, but if it gets them off my case, I'll rest.
*****
Owlpaw spent a good portion of the day resting, but she hated not doing anything. She wanted to keep her paws busy, she felt useless and she couldn't help but feel like Pebblestep and Honeyfrost were treating her like a kit again.
But resting didn't make her feel any better, her breathing was starting to become labored, her throat was still store and her head felt heavy. Maybe I should take the herbs. She thought, twitching her tail.
She suddenly heard pawsteps and Blososmpaw's head poked into the den. "Hi, Owlpaw!"
Owlpaw cleared her throat and lifted her head. "Hi, Blossompaw."
"Come share fresh-kill with me. Rushpaw and Oakpaw are busy and I don't wanna eat alone."
"Sure." Owlpaw stood up, she hadn't had much of an appetite throughout the day so she hoped maybe eating something would help her feel better. She walked towards the entrance, stumbling slightly as she did so, but managing to recover.
"You alright?" Blossompaw tilted her head.
"Yep." Owlpaw said. "I've always been a bit clumsy." She reminded her sister and pushed forward. Blossompaw seemed slightly unsure but waved her tail and Owlpaw followed her to the fresh-kill pile. The harsh cold weather only made her throat feel worse, but she kept it down.
Blossompaw picked up a squirrel. "Come on, we can eat in the apprentice den so we don't freeze our tails off." Owlpaw just quietly followed her sister. The walk to the apprentice den seemed to take so long. Was the camp always this big?
She looked down at her paws, and they began blurring into the snow beneath them. She looked up at Blossompaw, her multi-colored coat was beginning to blur into one, shapeless color. Help. She tried to find her voice and call to Blossompaw. Her mind was spinning, the world was slowly vanishing around her.
She tried to take a deep breath, but her lungs failed her. I can't breathe. She took one final step forward but it never found the ground. Owlpaw felt her body become as heavy as stone before falling towards the stone hollow, falling into pure darkness.