The Call of the Tide

Chapter 8

(Why am I writing this when I have deadlines for stuff looming ever more threateningly closer?)

Tidepaw made her way back down to camp, her heart full of grief. She didn't care that she was stumbling into rocks and stones. The pain felt distant. Does life even matter when your brother wasn't there to share it with?

When she entered camp, Moraytooth and Floodgaze engulfed her. She struggled to breathe around her parents' fur.

"We were so worried when you didn't come back to camp last night," Floodgaze gasped.

Tidepaw's tail drooped even lower. "I'm sorry."

"Are your paws bleeding?!" Moraytooth called for Wavebreeze.

"They are?" She glanced down at her paws and saw red marking the places she'd stepped. "I must've cut them on a rock or something. It's not a big deal."

But Moraytooth and Floodgaze forced her to sit while Wavebreeze checked each of her paws.

"You scraped them up pretty bad," she mewed. "Why don't you follow mw into my den and I'll get your paws treated?"

Tidepaw followed, shuffling her paws as she walked.

"Try not to shuffle your paws, Tidepaw," Wavebreeze murmured to her. "You'll only make it worse."

I don't care.

Inside the medicine den, she began pulling out some dock, marigold, cobwebs, and goatweed. (I tried looking up if these plants grew in CliffClan-like territory, but I wasn't getting anywhere, so we'll pretend that they all do even if some or none of them do, okay?)

"What's the goatweed for?"

Wavebreeze ignored the question and began making a poultice out of the dock and marigold. As she was applying the poultice and cobwebs, she asked, "Where did you end up last night? We thought we might find you down at the shore, but you weren't there, and Dunemist said that you weren't in your other hiding place either."

"I went beyond that. I didn't even know if I was still in the territory or not." I don't even know if I actually met my brother or not.

"Eat this," Wavebreeze said, pushing the goatweed closer.

"What's it for?" Tidepaw sniffed it and wrinkled her nose slightly.

"It helps to ease the pang of grief."

Tidepaw turned away from it. "I don't want that."

"Are you sure?"

Tidepaw nodded. "How...how was the vigil?"

"It was beautiful, but I think Gravelpaw missed it, too. He didn't feel like he was present."

"He was with me," Tidepaw said without thinking.

"Ah, of course," Wavebreeze mewed. "Spending one last night with his sister." Her voice was thick with emotion. "You're all set to go."

"Thank you."

That night, despite the strain she knew would put on her paws, she climbed back up to the cave. She sat down to wait.

"Boo."

"Gravelpaw!" She buried her face in his shoulder. "I missed you."

She felt him tense slightly. "I told you I'd come if you needed to see me."

"We both missed your vigil."

"Yeah," he purred. "When I felt you enter the cave, I left. I only was there for the part where Sandstar gathered the Clan around to share tongues. I felt kinda awkward about leaving, but then I remembered that no one else could see me."

She purred and snuggled into his shoulder. "Are you able to leave this cave?"

"No, not really. Why?"

I just wanted to show you a spot a little farther down the cliff. I was going to show you soon, but then...."

"Let's go check it out."

She happily led the way down to the spot Dunemist had shown her. "Dunemist brought me here after our disaster first Gathering," she mewed with a purr. "It's better when the gulls are awake, especially right when the sun is coming up or going down."

"It's beautiful. I'm glad it's not any farther down; I don't think I could go much farther than this."

They sat there for most of the night, talking and playing. As morning neared, Gravelpaw licked his sister's shoulder and murmured, "I have to go now. Don't come back until after your paws are healed, okay? I don't want you to get hurt."

Tidepaw was about to protest when he glared at her. "I mean it, Tidepaw. You need to look after yourself. Okay?"

Tidepaw huffed. "Fine."

"Thank you." He nuzzled her flank one last time before leaping back up the rocks and disappearing into the cave.

Tidepaw let out a sigh and climbed back down the rocks and snuck back into camp and the apprentice's den.