Saving The River(ON HOLD)

~Chapter 6~

 Dewpaw leaned over her sister, panic covering every inch of her body. Snowpaw was pushed up against Splashpaw, who was knocked unconscious in the dirt. The white tom rested his head on his paws as he gazed at the gray-blue she-cat with concern. Frondcloud and Lakefern were licking her, trying to wake her up. Hawkswoop had gone back to camp, telling every cat what was happening. Rapidstar was murmuring something to himself, his eyes closed. Eelstorm was watching the river uncomfortably, not knowing what to do. Finally, he announced he was going back to the camp.
"Dewpaw!" Bluemuzzle scolded. "Stop standing there like a dead fish and go fetch some herbs!"

"Right... which herbs do I need to get?" she asked nervously.

"What are the symptoms your sister has?" Bluemuzzle shifted her gaze from Splashpaw to Dewpaw and stared at her with her piercing gray eyes.

"She's unconscious...." Dewpaw started. "She's twitching, and-" She was cut off as her sister let out a yowl. Snowpaw shot his head up and immediately started licking Splashpaw's head fur, then stopped, looking embarrassed.

"My kit!" Lakefern wailed. "Bluemuzzle, what is happening to my kit?! StarClan, what did I do to deserve this?"

"Lakefern," Frondcloud began. "Splashpaw is a strong, confident she-cat. She will be fine. I think...." Her father looked at Bluemuzzle, who sighed and shook her head. "I think all we can do is wait, and have hope."

"You mean we're just supposed to watch her struggle like this?" Snowpaw demanded, standing up. He turned to Dewpaw and Bluemuzzle, and Dewpaw could see the anger burning in his eyes. "You two are medicine cats, and for StarClan's sake, do something useful!"

"Snowpaw." Rapidstar's eyes flew open. "They have tried. There is no herb that can stop it. Like Frondcloud said, we just have to wait."

Snowpaw's eyes cooled down, and he bowed his head. "Forgive me, Rapidstar. It's just hard."

"I understand," Rapidstar spoke. "Love can drive us in the direction of paths that are difficult to follow." Snowpaw blushed, embarrassed. He looked at the ground and stepped away from Splashpaw, then layed down. Their pelts weren't touching anymore. As soon as Snowpaw moved away, Splashpaw started twitching and yowling louder, and the tom looked at her with pain, worry, and guilt in his eyes.

Wait a second.... StarClan, is this a sign? Dewpaw realized.

"Bluemuzzle!" Dewpaw yowled. "This means she can feel her surroundings. When Snowpaw moves away, she yowls-" Splashpaw yowled once more. "-and when he moves closer, she'll grow more comfortable."

"You're right." Bluemuzzle sounded impressed. "Snowpaw, move next to Splashpaw again."

"What if Lakefern tries instead?" the tom suggested.

"We tried that before," Bluemuzzle hissed. "It's you she needs." Splashpaw was now yowling continuously, and her leg was twitching so badly she would break it soon if she kept it up.
"NOW!" Dewpaw almost shrieked.

Snowpaw slowly inched closer, like she was carrying some kind of disease, to Splashpaw. Once he laid down again, the yowls and twitching stopped immediately.

"Right, now don't leave her side," Dewpaw instructed. As soon as she said that, a pang of sadness filled her chest. Watching Snowpaw with Splashpaw, how much he cares about her... I'll never have someone that cares about me that way. She sighed. No. I chose the path of a medicine cat, and I will follow it. This was my choice. And I will stick with it.

. . .

Dewpaw sighed, thinking about Splashpaw. What had happened? Was there something she was keeping from her sister? Dewpaw shook that thought from her head, that was less important, the real questions should be, was she keeping something from her medicine cat? It was Dewpaw's duty to protect her clan and the cat who she'd always found closest, may have been keeping something from her. Some disease, or maybe just a burden that grew too strong she knocked herself out. Did Splashpaw think that it wasn't important? Maybe it would be too hard on Dewpaw to help? Dewpaw grew angry. If that was what Splashpaw thought, she could eat her tail. Dewpaw could handle it, already she had learned most of the herbs and helped treat a lot of her clanmates.

She shook her head out, and looked over at her sister sleeping beside Snowpaw, not envious, but worried and upset at her. She sighed and went back to some tasks Bluemuzzle had asked her to do, only glancing back once at the sleeping apprentices behind her.

She had been working for a while, but from where she was sorting herbs, she could hear the quiet rustle of moss. She turned her head and saw Snowpaw carefully leave the nest. He had rolled the moss up to seem like another body still pressing against Splashpaw, and quietly left the medicine den. Dewpaw stopped sorting and padded over to the entrance of the den, watching Snowpaw grab a water vole from the fresh-kill pile and start to eat the prey. She sighed, and a voice meowed beside her.

"The medicine cat code shouldn't be broken no matter how strong the feeling." Dewpaw whisked her head around to see Bluemuzzle sitting beside her, gazing down.

"No I- I wasn't- Of course not- It's not me-" Dewpaw's fur creeped with embarrassment, and Bluemuzzle gently rested her tail on Dewpaw's shoulders. It was a lot coming from the grouchy old she-cat. Bluemuzzle gazed affectionately at Dewpaw, then looked back up at Snowpaw.

"I know that he always has a place in Splashpaw's heart, and It's fine if you feel the same way," she meowed calmly. Dewpaw's ears perked questioningly. "I liked a cat when I was an apprentice." Bluemuzzle stifled a small laugh. "Reedmouth- that grump always caught my eye. Maybe it's because we were both never the nicest cats in the clan." She sighed. "But still, I couldn't break the code, and he ended up mating with Poppylight and having Ravenstream and Hawkswoop, but I wish it were me."

Dewpaw just gazed at her mentor, wondering what other secrets she might have, of a past life filled with joy and family, not all this grumpiness and sorrow. Dewpaw gently raised her tail to rest on her mentor's shoulders, and they both sat there staring out at the clan feeling more like one, like kin, then Dewpaw felt she could feel with anyone besides Splashpaw and Silverpaw.