*+* Third POV *+*
Littlepaw ran into the medicine cat den, Leafpaw quick behind her. The DarkClan she cat slowed down as she entered the den and smiled as the strong yet sweet scent of herbs hit her pink nose.
Leafpaw looked around the den, her ears pricked as if she wanted to memorize every leaf, rock, and herb in there. Littlepaw chuckled, and guided her friend to the herb wall.
"Alright. We need chamomile, coltsfoot, maybe a little feverfew in case anyone has a headache, and juniper berries. Anything else?" Littlepaw said as she pulled out a little of each herb she mentioned, then turned to Leafpaw.
Leafpaw scanned the herb wall. "Poppy seeds would work to some of the queens. Do you by any chance have thyme? It could work to reduce the shock." Leafpaw asked as she scanned the wall.
"Yeah. It's up here." Littlepaw stood on her back legs and leaned on the wall as she reached up to get the thyme leaves. Leafpaw thanked the ForestClan apprentice and scanned the wall one last time.
"I guess that's all. Let's go back before some get worse." Leafpaw said worriedly and trotted out of the den after grabbing a few of the herbs Littlepaw pulled out. Littlepaw nodded and trotted after her friend.
"QuietHeart! Here are the herbs." Leafpaw and Littlepaw dropped the herbs beside their mentors. The two medicine cats turned to them and scanned the herbs.
"Great. Thank you. Littlepaw take the poppy seeds and thyme to the queens. SunFlower helped install them in the nursery." QuietHeart pushed the mentioned herbs closer to her apprentice, who nodded, took a few, and left instantly.
"Leafpaw, could you take the coltsfoot to that group over there? They inhaled the most smoke." FrogLeap pointed at a group of cats who were laying on the clearing.
The sight cause a chill to rise on Leafpaws neck. "Yes FrogLeap." She nodded, took the herbs in her jaws, and left immediately.
Littlepaw slowed down as she approached the nursery. She walked in, and the sweet scent of milk and warmth overwhelmed her.
"Hello Littlepaw." A sweet voice brought her back to the queens, who were all cuddled around their kits. Littlepaw couldn't help but smile.
"I'm here to give a few herbs to the DarkClan queens." Littlepaw smiled, addressing SunFlower.
The cream colored she cat had her four kits sleeping against her belly. "Thank you. BlackBerry and FawnTail are over there. SoftHeart is sleeping though. I can give them to her later if you want." SunFlower pointed at the three she cats.
Littlepaw bowed her head thankful and walked to the DarkClan queens. "Hello. My name is Littlepaw. I'm QuietHeart's apprentice." She said as she approached the queens, then bowed her head respectfully.
"Pleasure to meet you Littlepaw. I'm BlackBerry. This is FawnTail." A dark brown she cat purred to her. Her pelt was so dark it almost looked black. Beside her was a pale cinnamon she cat, with large white spots all over her body.
"Nice to meet you too. Here. Take this." Littlepaw divided the herbs she had, giving them equal amounts of each herb, and making sure to leave some for SoftHeart.
She handed a small pile to each queen and they ate it. They smiled at Littlepaw and thanked her with a bow. Littlepaw bowed back and walked to SunFlower.
She lowered the herbs beside the queen as the cream she cat looked up. "Would you mind giving them to SoftHeart when she wakes up?" Littlepaw asked.
"No not at all. I'll give them to her as soon as she wakes up." SunFlower purred and dragged the herbs to her side with her paw. "Thank you." Littlepaw smiled and left the den.
As she left the nursery, Littlepaw saw Leafpaw giving a few herbs to Cloudpaw. She smiled and padded to them. "Littlepaw!" Cloudpaw meowed excited.
He was laying down with his tail swishing as he called her name. Leafpaw turned to her, and Littlepaw slowed down and sat down next to her friend and brother.
"Hello. How are you doing?" Littlepaw asked her brother. "I'm better now, thanks to Leafpaw." He meowed happily. Littlepaw turned to Leafpaw and licked her cheek in a thank you.
"I owe it to you. You helped save my clan's life. Thank you so much for helping." Leafpaw thanked Cloudpaw with a smile. Cloudpaw purred. "No problem!" He smiled back.
Littlepaw and Leafpaw started chatting with Cloudpaw for a little, before FrogLeap and QuietHeart called them.
"We'll be right back, brother." Littlepaw smiled and stood up, followed by Leafpaw. "I'll wait." Cloudpaw nodded and the two she cats left the white tom.
*+* A Half-Moon later *+*
"Thank you for saving my clan WillowStar. We will never be able to thank you enough for everything you've done." WolfStar said to the ForestClan leader. Littlepaw was sitting beside her mentor, who was sitting beside their leader.
Behind the DarkClan leader, DarkClan cats were getting ready to leave. Whether eating something small, or saying goodbye to their ForestClan friends. Littlepaw couldn't help but feel sad about the clans departure.
She had seen many cats grow a friendship, only to become rivals and enemies again in no time.
The apprentice was happy that DarkClan was able to heal so rapidly, and that their clan didn't lose many cats, but she hated the idea of having Leafpaw away from her again.
After a while of WolfStar thanking WillowStar, Littlepaw was dismissed by her mentor, and hurriedly padded to Leafpaw, who was saying goodbye to Cloudpaw. The two had grown as close friends.
Littlepaw was happy that her brother and Leafpaw had gotten along well. She got beside them, and gazed the the beautiful she cat in front of her.
Littlepaw smiled as Leafpaw stepped forward to hug her. Littlepaw hugged the she cat back, drinking her scent before she had to leave.
"I'll see you soon." Leafpaw smiled when she back away. "Yeah, see you soon." Littlepaw meowed. FrogLeap called his apprentice's name and she padded to him.
The dark tom nodded to his leader, who bowed his head at WillowStar, and started walking towards the camp entrance. Littlepaw waved her tail in a goodbye to Leafpaw, who waved back, and disappeared through the vine tunnel.
Littlepaw sighed and walked towards the medicine cat den, where QuietHeart was waiting for her. "It was fun having DarkClan over. Too bad FrogLeap and Leafpaw couldn't stay. I was getting used to them already." QuietHeart said sweetly as she turned around and walked to the back of the den. "Yeah." Littlepaw sighed and walked after her mentor.
Thoughts dragged Littlepaw's mind away from her mentor, but her mentor swishing her tail at her face brought her back a couple seconds later.
"Wh-What-Huh?" Littlepaw shook her head and looked at her mentor. "Were you even listening to me?" QuietHeart asked, twitching her whiskers.
"N-no. Sorry QuietHeart." Littlepaw said looking down. QuietHeart huffed, then sighed and stood on her back legs to peek inside the herb holes. "As I was saying, we used many herbs to help the DarkClan cats. We should head out and look for more." QuietHeart said, dropping herself down and turning to her apprentice.
Littlepaw hesitated a little before looking back at her mentor.
"Come on! It'll be good to take a walk. We've been very busy lately. We can stop by and hunt something." QuietHeart smiled. Littlepaw sighed.
"Alright." She meowed and both medicine cats walked out of their den.
-----
"Alright. We need to look for juniper berries, watermint, and chamomile." QuietHeart said as they entered the forest's undergrowth. The forest was humid.
The sky above them was a dark grey color, and a strong wind that blew their furs indicated the arrival of leaf-fall. "Looks like it'll rain tonight." QuietHeart meowed, looking up at the sky. Littlepaw agreed with a nod.
"Why don't you go that way. There are a lot of juniper berry bushes towards that direction. I'll look for chamomile and watermint near the river." QuietHeart stopped, and Littlepaw stopped behind her.
"Sure." She shrugged and trotted away towards the opposite direction as her mentor.
Littlepaw opened her mouth and tried scenting the berries. It was hard to find juniper berries around that time, but they would need a lot if they wanted storage for leaf-bare.
The brown tabby pounced over a trunk and kept walking. The mist flooded the undergrowth, and the cold air gave her chills. She took a deep breath and smiled. That kind of whether made her feel calm and happy. In her opinion, the gloomier the better.
As she kept walking, she was able to see a few bushes with tiny blue circles, cramped up together on the small branches. "Bingo." She purred and approached one of the many bushes.
The small apprentice started by grabbing one of the most berry-populated branches and pulling it out. She carefully placed it on the ground beside her, and pulled out a second one. Then a third, and lastly a fourth.
She walked to another bush and pulled out two branches. Littlepaw looked at the ones she had collected, and thought that it was good enough.
She picked up the branches covered in the small blue berries and padded away to look for her mentor.
----
The two she cats arrived to ForestClan camp by the start of sun down. The breeze was getting colder as the day started to reach it's end.
The sky was still covered in dark clouds, which seemed to be getting darker. Littlepaw looked around camp, surprised by the little activity around them.
Her eyes quickly found her brother. The white tom was sitting down on the far edge of camp with Dawnpaw and Snakepaw beside him. They were all sharing a large dove.
The brown medicine cat apprentice smiled at her brother and walked after QuietHeart.
"Alright, I think we brought enough. We even found catmint and chickweed." QuietHeart purred happily as she dropped the herbs in front of the wall they used for storage.
"Yeah. With leaf-bare kicking in, I'm glad we were able to find them before the snow did." Littlepaw agreed happily. She walked beside her mentor and helped her sort the herbs.
Littlepaw climbed the wall and placed the juniper berries in one of the empty holes, then helping QuietHeart place the catmint and the chickweed in the holes they corresponded in.
"I'll go fetch something to eat. Do you want anything?" QuiethHeart asked right before leaving the den. "Huh? Oh. No thank you. I'm not hungry." Littlepaw said as she shook her head.
"Are you sure?" QuietHeart asked. "Yes I'm sure. Thank you though." Littlepaw nodded with a smile. "Alright. I'll be right back." QuietHeart smiled and pounced away.
Littlepaw watched her mentor leave the den, and waited in silence. The apprentice sighed and walked to her moss bed. She laid down with her paws beneath her chest and her tail curled around herself.
After a couple minutes of waiting, QuietHeart appeared from the entrance and walked to the small cave at the back were their moss beds were laying, one occupied by her apprentice. "I miss Leafpaw and FrogLeap!" Littlepaw sighed when her mentor laid down and dropped herself to her side dramatically.
QuietHeart chuckled and shuffled her apprentices forehead with her tail. "We'll see them in a little. We need to meet the others too remember? We're going to the Star Pond." QuietHeart explained as she took a bite out of the raven she brought for herself.
"Oh I forgot! When are we leaving?" Littlepaw asked excitedly. "In a quarter-moon." QuietHeart said, then laughed at the pout of her apprentice. "Don't worry, time will fly by quickly." QuietHeart giggled and Littlepaw nodded.
'I hope so.'
Authors Note:
Alright!!! This chapter is done! I am still trying to make them longer (1970 words). I'll try to get one to at least 2,500 words or less. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart for staying all the way here. I love you all so much! Btw, yes, Warrior Cats probably don't know what "Bingo!" is or means, but before anyone harassers me in the comments, I didn't know what else to put instead of that. I'm sorry. Alright, See ya guys!
🖤 Defected Out! 🖤