The Roaring Winds

Chapter Three: Doubts

Chapter Three: Doubts

Rosepaw trekked through the forest, her paws splashing lightly into the dark puddles that lined the marsh. The air was thick with its compressed, cold touch that was held by the dense fog that shrouded the surroundings. She shivered beneath her thick, ginger tabby fur as a cold wind brushed through her pelt, reaching the skin.

    She sniffed the air, frustrated by the continuous odor of water and mud. Her emerald green eyes narrowed as they searched the forest floor, intent on finding a specific element.

    Rosepaw's white paws dipped into a deeper puddle, which was startlingly icy, causing her to bristle slightly. She looked around, attempting to hide her irritation as she realized she had entered the swampland. The murky water only went up to her belly at its highest, but it was by far, the coldest place in the territory.

    "What exactly are we looking for again?" Rosepaw flinched as she heard the sound of the irritated meow.

    She turned her head toward Toadpaw, who was standing on the brink of the water, looking at her with dubious eyes.

    "We're looking for mallow and feverfew," Rosepaw meowed. "We should be able to find it along the edge of the water, but bigger clumps might be found near the shore."

    "And what exactly do mallow and feverfew look like? Oakstump didn't bother to tell me anything when he told me to go with you," Toadpaw responded with a flick of his tail.

    "Mallow is a white flower with a dark pink center. They might appear in a pink or rosy color, but that's unlikely. Feverfew are also white flowers. You just search one way and I'll look in the opposite direction. We'll loop around, then meet at the other side of the water," Rosepaw explained.

    Toadpaw nodded and began to walk away from her. Under his breath, Rosepaw heard him muttering, "does she even know what she's doing? Might as well get this over with."

    Rosepaw swallowed a lump in her throat and began to walk through the water, scanning the banks for any mallow or feverfew clumps. An annoying ringing sound had begun to fill her ears combined with the sound of water rushing.

    Not again! Not again... Rosepaw thought to herself with a small growl. Rosepaw tried to focus on the task ahead, putting all her mental energy in walking forward and looking around for flowers. She spotted a patch of mallow growing near the edge of the waterbed and fetched it in her jaws. Its sharp tang filled her nose.

    "Do you really know what you're doing?" The voice was quiet, barely above a whisper, but it echoed in her ears, getting louder and louder with each heartbeat. The buzzing in her ears still persisted and she flicked her forepaw, drawing up water to her chest, to ground herself into reality.

    "Yes, I do," Rosepaw murmured. "This is mallow, obviously. It's a white flower with a splotch of dark pink crimson in the center. It has a distinct scent, which I can smell right now."

    The she-cat continued walking onward, her forepaws starting to numb from the frosty water. She tried to redirect her thoughts to the changing seasons, but that only made the voice come back again.

    "The coming of leaf-bare will mean there are fewer herbs around. Do you really think you'll be able to heal your Clanmates? You'll probably fail at the task before the end of leaf-fall." 

    The near-frozen water didn't seem important anymore. Rosepaw kept walking subconsciously, but her mental energy kept straying back to her thoughts.

    "Oakstump and I will have enough herbs in our store to make up for the lack of them. And besides, every half-moon, all the medicine cats exchange herbs. It's how we got our large stocks of borage, after all. Oakstump traded our stock of horsetail for Paletalon's borage."