Warriors: Starlight

Mini-Story 1: Kitty-got-Greencough

Chronology: Unimportant (pre-leaf-fall)

Main characters: Fireheart; Yellowfang; Sandstorm; Stormkit; Graystripe.

Chapter Cover Art:
Fireheart and Stormkit

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With leaf-fall around the corner, Fireheart felt his paw pads grow stiff and tight. He watched his breath forming into thin wispy clouds with every exhalation. He glanced down at the warm lumps of fur beside him, their breaths slow and strong. There, there, kits. Keep at it. Leafbare will be over before you know it. He swivelled his head to stare out at the rapidly-fading fire-orange sky as the sun disappeared somewhere beyond the ravine.

He began lapping at his tail, teasing at a clump of knots that wove themselves out of neglect. Fireheart dedicated more time to cleaning the kits than he did himself, and it was starting to show. He needed to start taking better care of himself. For that matter, his children needed to learn to clean themselves properly. Self-care and cleanliness were the absolute minimum expected of a clan cat. The fiery tom was well-aware that he should take care not to coddle them, but Graystripe was insistent that they give them at least until they were 4 moons old to rely on their parents. Easy for that furball to say. He wasn't the one pawed with the job.

He gave up teasing and began gnawing. If it refused to conform, he'd rip it out. As he began biting down, he heard a meep come from Stormkit. Oh StarClan, I must've pulled at your fur. "Sorry, baby. I didn't mean to nip you." He whispered. But after a moment of pause to assess what possible strands he could've accidentally nabbed, it came again, "meep..." the kit breathed lightly. Fireheart got closer, looking the kit up and down. He narrowed his eyes.

He certainly didn't cause that.
What could possibly be tugging at- he paused in thought as his gaze passed over the kit's tiny chest, rising and falling in quiet, shallow huffs. That wasn't right. He realized with a start that it hadn't been his strong breaths he'd been listening to, but Featherkit's. Stormkit's breaths were just so weak that he never noticed how erratic they were. His eyes darted left and right in a panic, falling to the golden queen in the corner of the den.
Goldenflower will know what to do. "Goldenflower!" He hissed under his breath. "Goldenflower!" He repeated. After the second, the queen's eyes broke open with a yawn and a couple of tired blinks.
"What is it, Fireheart? Can't it wait until dawn?" She murmured through drowsy laps at her pelt.
"I think something's wrong with Stormkit." he persisted, alarmed. "His breathing is so... shallow." he fumbled. Goldenflower's eyes jolted a bit and she slunk silently across the den to his nest. She leaned down, ear to the kit's chest, before bolting up, wide-eyed.
"Take him to Yellowfang immediately." She urged. He was stunned for a moment before a sharp nudge from the queen got him sloppily to his paws. He picked up Stormkit, careful not to disturb his sister and darted across the camp, the bundle whining weakly in his maw, not batting miserably like his usual self. Something was seriously wrong. Visions flashed through his mind. He'd shake one, and another would pop up.
He crashed through the medicine den, head darting all over,
"Ywowfwng!" he called through muffled jaws. Say her name and she shall appear.
"What is it, Fireheart? Can't it wait until dawn?" She muttered, wiping her eyes, which broke into wakefulness when she keyed in on the kit dangling limply from his jaws. "Put him down here." She commanded, gesturing at a patch of moss bedding. Fireheart placed him gently down and Yellowfang turned to him "speak, mousebrain!" she yowled. His mind was icy and brittle, like the sheets of frost covering the rocks outside the camp.
"Um-uh, so his- his breathing.. and- and he's not moving much... and mewling and" he rattled off whatever came to mind. She clapped a paw on his muzzle.
"That's all I need." She meowed, getting to work, ear to his chest, nose to his mouth, and prodding. It felt like moons watching her inspect, poke, prod, and all he could do was sit and watch. After a moment, she sat back and looked at him. It felt like a season had passed by the time she looked up. "He has greencough." She meowed grimly. "He'll have to stay here for the night so I can observe him." She huffed. The fiery tom stared blankly at the medicine den wall, then stood up and paced the den entrance, dazed. He was stunned by Yellowfang's words. Moreso, though, her composure.
"Yellowfang. How do you seem so... calm?" He hazarded. The medicine cat didn't turn around, but sighed and kept working. "How are you not panicking as well!?" He mewled. He knew immediately that Yellowfang was not the real target of his frustration, but he had to get it out. The panic rising in his chest was so heavy that it had nowhere to go. She whipped around, glaring at him.
"Of course, I'm panicking! On the inside. But outbursts won't change anything, will they? Fireheart, breathe." she scolded him like a kit but dropped her tail to his shoulder comfortingly before continuing, "You are the closest thing I have to a son that I can be proud of. I am certainly a medicine cat, but I love this kit like it were my kin. I promise you, Fireheart-" She murmured impatiently, sparing a glance at Stormkit's tiny frame as he squirmed, "-I care very much so. That is why I don't want to waste time chittering like songbirds when I should be working. Like the time I'm wasting right now!" She huffed, turning around and getting back to work.
Fireheart had no words. So much meaning was exchanged in so few words, but he hadn't the mental energy to unpack it at all. There was no comfort to be found in her words – not unless they resulted in the survival of his son. Not when he might lose a kit to his inattentiveness. He scraped across his mind, mentally rifling through his memory. How could he not have noticed that Stormkit was so ill? Such severe symptoms don't just appear from nowhere, right? How could I have missed this? Surely, there were no signs, right?
Right from dawn, they were all playing moss ball together. Featherkit, Tawnykit, Bramblekit... Stormkit... didn't play. He finally recalled. Stormkit lay in the nest, complaining that he was too tired.