Lucid Tides book 1 - Flowering Hearts

Chapter 17 - The truth

Sagestar walked into the Medicine den, Cedarleap dipped his head.
"Lilysplash, are you alright? You had a hard fall there"
"I'm okay, just a little dizzy-"
"we're holding the funeral for Snakestorm at sundown, before your meeting with the other medicine cats"
"meeting?"
"I sent a patrol to notify the other clans, the medicine cats wanted to speak with you and so there's going to be an emergency moonpool meeting."
"ah" He smiled gently, trying to shake the thoughts from his mind. Sagestar left the den and Cedarleap looked at Lilysplash.
"are you sure you're feeling okay?" Cedarleap pushed some wet moss toward Lilysplash.
"are you okay? You seem..tense"
"I wanna talk to you..about something strange"
"nothing can be stranger than the day i've had, its alright"
"I..think I want to be your mate"
"wh-"
"like, we've known eachother since kithood, but I feel more for you than I do for anyone else- its weird"
"Cedarleap- I- don't know how to reply- I-I'm a medicine cat-" He tried to ignore the obvious thoughts of him and Heatherweb, but they weren't mates, were they?
"thats..fair" Cedarleap sighed, Lilysplash felt bad, what was he meant to say here? He could argue he loved Cedarleap back but he'd gotten so caught up in the Thrushpaw situation he hadn't given Cedarleap a second thought.
"let's just.. think about it for a while, I'm still trying to gather all my thoughts"
"oh- right" Cedarleap laughed a little, gazing at Lilysplash softly.
"do you know Deerwind's daughters' names-?" Cedarleap asked
"no actually, I don't" Lilysplash lied, seeing the look on Cedarleap's face.
"I do! The calico one is Rabbitkit and the brown one is Harekit"
"That's nice, I'm assuming Harekit is after your mother?"
"That's what their mother told me"

Cedarleap and Lilysplash sat beside eachother in silence for a few beats that felt like hours.
"I should go- you need rest" Cedarleap sighed, turning to leave.
"wait- I don't think I'll be able to sleep, do you wanna come lay with me-?"
Cedarleap smiled and laid down beside Lilysplash, their tails entertwining.
"this is nice" Lilysplash purred, nuzzling into Cedarleap.
"I couldn't agree more."
It didn't take long for Lilysplash to fall asleep, the warmth of Cedarleap was nice.

"Lilysplash- Lilysplash it's sunset" Cedarleap roused Lilysplash, who blinked his eyes open sleepily.
"right-" He mumbled, getting up slowly.
Cedarleap led Lilysplash outside, and followed Sagestar out of camp to where they were burying Snakestorm.
Lilysplash teared up a little, leaning against Cedarleap
"I know she wasn't the greatest- but I still cared about her" Lilysplash sighed, Cedarleap wrapped his tail around Lilysplash.
Lilysplash heard a rustling from behind him, and tried to avoid the smell of Snakestorm to scent for any cats.
In a flash of white fur, Heatherweb burst from the bushes and pinned Lilysplash to the floor.
"Heatherweb! What are you doing here-?"
"I wanted to pay my condolances to Snakestorm before the meeting, I figured we could go together"
Lilysplash got up, Cedarleap sitting on one side of him and Heatherweb on the other.
"Cedarleap" Heatherweb dipped his head.
"Heatherweb" Cedarleap smiled gently.

Heatherweb and Lilysplash watched as Sagestar and Snailwillow threw dirt over Snakestorm's body. The funeral was pretty short, after she was done being buried Sagestar and Snailwillow remained to sit vigil. Cedarleap saw Heatherweb and Lilysplash off with a soft smile.

Heatherweb and Lilysplash made their way down to the bay, Lilysplash guessed it was safer to travel in groups, seeing as both Heatherweb and Lilysplash's clans are further from the bay than the other two.Bluebranch and Heronpath were speaking at the Moonpool, Shredrun was nearby, laying next to the Moonpool. Heatherweb and Lilysplash slipped past the two talking toms and sat beside Shredrun.
"how are my little lovebirds doing?" Shredrun rasped, making Lilysplash jump.
"what-? We aren't- you must be confused-"
"I may be blind Lilysplash, but I'm not deaf. I hear the rumours."
"Shredrun, I appreciate the joke but we really aren't-" Heatherweb chimed in.
"Lilypaw! I was thinking you weren't going to show up!" Heronpath jeered loudly from behind them, Lilysplash rolled his eyes.
"It's Lilysplash now, actually- you were here when it happened-"
"right right, Lilyripple. My new apprentice wants to speak to you"
"apprentice?"
"Thrushpaw, you met him on your little visit to my camp several moons ago?"
"Thrushpaw-? I thought he-"
"hush hush, he's coming now"
Lilysplash looked up and saw the red tom walking down toward the bay.
"Did you make him walk here by himself??"
"he's gotta learn somehow" Heronpath sighed
Lilysplash ignored Heronpath and approached Thrushpaw, he looked a little bigger now, and there was a scar below one of his eyes.
"L-Lilypaw?"
"Thrushpaw-?" Lilysplash rubbed against Thrushpaw, purring quietly
"I missed you" Thrushpaw admitted, smiling.
Heronpath trotted over.
"quit talking, we need to get this meeting over and done with."
"yes Heronpath." Thrushpaw dipped his head and started walking to the Moonpool.
While they were walking, Lilysplash noticed Heronpath had a limp, and upon further inspection he spotted a snake bite on his paw, the skin barely healed.
'the snake bites the most untrustworthy...' Lilysplash thought, inching away from Heronpath.