Tawnystar's Promise

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

Rosepaw sighed, her head resting on her paws. The barn creaked, sending showers of snow onto the ground. She had caught GreenCough, making her stay with the other sick cats. Weedwhisker had passed a few days ago, because the cats were so squished in the Elders Den that his GreenCough had gotten worse. After his passing, Tawnystar had ordered all the warriors to scout out a place that all the sick cats could stay and not spread the sickness around. They had found an abandoned barn, and had been placed in the horse stalls. All of the other cats were alone, but because Rosepaw was the only cat with barely any GreenCough, she stayed with Redkit and Stonekit, who had gotten GreenCough. The tiny kits were barely sick, but since they still had moments where they vomited or coughed, Rosepaw had been given some CatMint to take care of them. Stonekit was doing well, eyes bright and ears up. Redkit's eyes were a bit glazed, and he vomited a lot. But Rosepaw thought he would get better, because she seemed to have a special bond with him. How could StarClan take him away?

"Am I too early?" Rosepaw looked up. Birchfall was looking down at her.

She gazed into his amber eyes, and shook her head to get out of her daze. "Oh, uh, no. Redkit and Stonekit are asleep though." She looked down at the two kits, who were snuggled against her belly.

Birchfall walked forward, curling himself around Rosepaw. She breathed in his soft scent as he spoke. "Your a wonderful foster mother."

Rosepaw purred. "I'm not fostering, I'm temporarily taking care of them." She licked Redkit's neck-fur. His dark reddish coat sparkled in the Leaf-Bare sun.

"Pretty cozy place, isn't it?"

Rosepaw looked up to see a white Tom with gray patches sitting on the roof boards. "What are you doing here?" Her fur bristled. "RiverClan is staying here!"

The Tom chuckled, leaping onto the stall divider. "Pretty tough for a sick kitty."

Birchfall stood up defensively. "How dare you speak to her like that! What are you? Some kind of skinny kittypet?"

The Tom's smile disappeared. He looked at Birchfall with wide, shocked blue eyes. "Woah. You mean, you ARE a clan cat?"

Rosepaw nodded. "Yes. What's your name?" She felt as if she needed to tell the Tom all about clan life. But what would Birchfall think? Maybe he thought the opposite.

The Tom twitched his tail. "I'm Smoke."

"Well, Smoke, can I tell you about clan life?" Rosepaw ventured.

"Tell me about eating bones?" He put a disgusted face on. "No way!"

Rosepaw let out a purr of amusement. "We don't eat bones! How did you ever learn about that?"

Birchfall seemed to calm down, as he lay back down. "I don't trust him." He whispered.

Rosepaw ignored him. "Please, let us tell you."

Smoke seemed to be more interested. "Ok." He stretched out along the divider.

Rosepaw began. "Let us tell you about stages. Now, a kit is born with 'kit' coming after its name. As for these two, their called Stonekit and Redkit. Mind you, kits get all different names. Like Runningkit, Mousekit, Shrewkit, Bluekit, Silverkit, and a lot more."

Smoke nodded. "I would be called Smokekit, then?"

Birchfall nodded. "Yes. Then comes being an apprentice. An apprentice trains for battles, and is trained to hunt. To be trained, the apprentices get mentors. Mentors are trained warriors who are able to train apprentices. If your an apprentice, your name ends with 'paw'. So, this is Rosepaw."

"And I would be Smokepaw. Very well." Smoke seemed to be even more interested at the mention of real life as an apprentice. "Are those your kits?"

Rosepaw shook her head. "No. Apprentices can't have kits, and I am an apprentice. Only warriors can have kits, because try don't need to focus on training."

Smoke tilted his head to the side. "Then why are you with those kits?"

Rosepaw sighed. "Because all the RiverClan cats in this barn are sick with GreenCough. I'm not that bad, so I'm staying with Stonekit and Redkit."

Smoke smiled. "I see where they get their names. Although, Redkit does seem to be under the weather."

Rosekit looked down. Sure enough, Redkit was up, trying to retch. She sighed, grabbing some marrow so that when he vomited it out, he could eat some catmint. He chewed the herbs up, swallowing them with a pained expression. Rosepaw felt her heart lurch. "He's not getting any better."

Birchfall licked her ear. "Your at least trying."

Smoke purred. "And what about a warrior?" He tried changing the subject.

Rosepaw flicked her tail. "This is Birchfall. When he was an apprentice, his name was Birchpaw." She tried desperately to make clan life sound fun. "And he doesn't have an apprentice to train, because he earned his warrior name a few days ago. Anyways, warrior names don't end with a certain word. Birchfall got his name because three moons ago he fell off a cliff and his leg got twisted. The clans have Medicine cats, so they train like an apprentice, but they train to heal injured cats. Our medicine cat, Honeyleaf, mended him. Now look, I bet you couldn't even guess that he fell!" She purred. "Two of our cats have passed from GreenCough. Birdwhistle and Weedwhisker. But they were both warriors, you hear? Birchfall has a brother named Pineheart. So, really, all cats get the ending to their name that suits them."

Smoke nodded. "So I could be anything like...Smokefeather?"

Rosepaw nodded. "May I ask, why did you use Smokefeather?"

Smoke looked down guiltily. "I had a sister named Feather. She got hit by a car, and so the best thing to do was to give her to the house-folk. There they took great care of her. Now I go visit her sometimes."

Rosepaw smiled. "Well, you've got us to talk to now!"

Smoke smiled. "I've got cats who care."

A/N sorry for such a long chapter! But anyway, I thought that I'd dress it up by adding a new character to my story! And I'm sorry about the sudden GreenCough an deaths, but RiverClan is getting really big, and no cats are passing. Anyways, I'll be sure for that not to happen! (I also want to say that I never planned the GreenCough to happen, but it did.) also, I have to say that I know that Sunflowers parents were Birdwhistle and Weedwhisker! (Also Sweetpaw and Thistlepaw, but whatever)