By the next sunrise, Eagleclaw had broken down mentally. Instead of just waiting in the clearing for the search patrol she occasionally sent out to return, she had one out constantly and waited impatiently in the clearing, pacing back and forth. The moment the tired warriors returned, a new patrol was sent out. It was obvious she wanted to leave camp herself, but Goldenpool and Mossrain had forbidden it. After all, they had no leader. If anything were to happen to Eagleclaw, they would be without guidance.

Even now, Goldenpool sat in the snowy clearing, watching the she-cat from the entrance of the nursery. There was currently no guard on the camp, for every able warrior was either taking a quick nap because they were too tired to patrol or out in the territory. Shaking out his coat, Ravenpaw continued through the clearing, nodding to Goldenpool as he slipped past her into the nursery.

Stormkit and Heatherkit were currently chasing Dustkit and Maple through the den, stumbling over nests and mewling in excitement. The moment they noticed him, each kit turned on their paws and crowded around him. Little paws pummeled his side as Stormkit leaned up and pressed on his shoulder.

"What are those?" she asked, sniffing the leaves in his jaws.

"I don't think he can answer, little one." He looked over at Dappletail with a grateful gleam in his eyes. Mossrain had decided yesterday that the elder should move to the nursery to keep her warm since the elders' den was already drafty and there was nobody else to warm her. She was also very old, so the danger was even higher. After all, she was only a few moons younger than Berrywhisker, and was nearing the possibility of passing away--the threat of whitecough, or even greencough, was too much of a risk, even with catmint in storage.

Ravenpaw brought the herbs in his jaws over to her nest, dropping them down in front of her. The she-cat sniffed the herbs skeptically, then eyed him coldly. "Mossrain wants you to keep up your strength," Ravenpaw told her.

She rested her head down again. "Save them for someone else."

Ravenpaw sighed, sitting next to her and watching the kits as they continued their play. They were obviously restless inside the small den, but they were too young to be out in the snow for too long. Goldenpool wanted to wait for the sun to rise higher before letting them rush out to freedom.

"Eat the herbs, Dappletail, please." He leaned down and nosed the burnet closer to her muzzle.

She looked at him for a moment, whiskers twitching, then finally licked them up, cleaning her muzzle afterward. Her face curled in disgust, but she forced it back to normal. She sunk deeper into the nest, looking over at the kits. Ravenpaw followed her gaze, feeling calmed by their happiness. If everything was okay for them, why couldn't it be for him? He was still young, and needed to focus on life.

"I should get back," Ravenpaw murmured softly. He stood up, but barely got across the den before the kits realized he was leaving and crowded around him.

"Can't you stay and play?" Maple pleaded. Since he visited so often, the little she-kit had gotten rather close to him, and after learning from Rain that it was Ravenpaw who brought her father back to her, she had become even happier at the sight of him.

"Yeah, can't you be a fox?" Stormkit cried.

"You're the greatest fox ever!" Dustkit agreed.

For a moment, Ravenpaw's heart tugged him two ways. The kits so needed some exercise and fun, but Mossrain was waiting for him to help with the injured cats in the Clan. It was time to check over each injury, and he knew Mossrain was going to task him with that. But their pleading eyes were more than he could handle. He let a soft growl grow in his throat, eyes shining in happiness as the kits squealed and ran away, tails puffed in excitement.

He followed them slowly, giving them plenty of time to reach the other side of the den. They tucked against the woven bramble wall, quivering with delight. "I'm hungry for kits!" he growled, making his voice deep, but he couldn't hide his amusement and he would never try to stop the joy filling his chest.

"Run!" Stormkit cried, and the four kits suddenly scattered. Dustkit ran along the den wall, Maple darted for Dappletail, Stormkit ran right for Ravenpaw's legs, while Heatherkit hesitated, trying to decide which way to go. Ravenpaw tried to swipe at Stormkit, but he was actually surprised that she managed to avoid his sweeping paw and raced away. He blundered unsteadily for Heatherkit, now acting a little more like a badger than a fox, mostly to allow her to get her head and hurry away. She tried to race after Dustkit, but Ravenpaw leaped after her and softly knocked her to the ground.

"No! Help me!" she cried, scrambling over the soil. 

Ravenpaw couldn't stop the purr in his throat. "Haha! Time to eat!" He brought his muzzle down to Heatherkit's side, playfully nibbling her fur.

Paws pummeled his side as Stormkit attacked him, trying to knock him off balance. "Let her go!" she cried. Dustkit joined the attack, mewling and pawing at his shoulder. Maple did her best to climb on his back, and he allowed himself to carefully collapse. Heatherkit scrambled away then jumped on his flank. He realized how big the kits were getting when all four were climbing on him, though they were still quite small and harmless. He fought back very weakly, barely nudging his paws into their sides to unsteady them. After all, they were either balancing on two back paws or standing unsteadily on his fur.

After a little more of playful struggling, he went completely still, and Stormkit let out a yowl of excitement. "Ha! The fox is dead!" she yowled.

"Yay!" With a squeal, Dustkit tackled her. In an instant, Heatherkit and Maple had joined in. Ravenpaw dragged himself up and watched them for a moment, then nodded goodbye to Dappletail before leaving the den. Cold immediately pressed against his fur, chilling him to the bone. Shivering, he fluffed his short coat and began to hurry across the clearing. But then he noticed a patrol entering camp, consisting of Oakcloud, Petaldust, Shadefur, and Rain.

He was happy to see that Rain held a squirrel in his jaws, with Shadefur and Petaldust right by his side, chattering happily with him while the tom looked a little awkward. Ravenpaw walked up to them, and when his brother noticed him, Shadefur meowed excitedly, "you should've seen Rain hunting! He ran right up a tree to get the squirrel and actually caught it! It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen!"

"Yeah!" Petaldust agreed excitedly, tail lashing wildly. "I've never seen someone climb that fast! Are you sure you don't have warrior blood, Rain?"

The tom flicked his tail nervously, ears twitching back. Ravenpaw looked at him proudly. "Congratulations, Rain," he meowed. "Why don't we bring that squirrel to the nursery?"

With a grateful gleam in his eyes, Rain followed him toward the den. Ravenpaw waited outside for him to drop off the squirrel. When he appeared after a few moments, the tom meowed, "Dappletail volunteered to separate it."

"Shadefur and Petaldust seem to like you," Ravenpaw meowed, settling with the tom outside the nursery wall. Inside, he could hear the kits squealing in excitement.

"It's odd," Rain commented softly, checking around to make sure no one was close enough to overhear, but the other members of the Clan were on the other side of the clearing or already leaving camp again. Eagleclaw was fiercely asking Oakcloud at the forest entrance if he had seen Acornstar. "I've never had any cat actually like me before, except for Violetfrost and my sister."

"Well, we're allowed to show feelings here; we can be ourselves--and so can you." Ravenpaw touched his tail to Rain's muscular flank, which was still filling out nicely after having been starved for so long. With leaf-bare coming, he would likely get skinnier again, but never like before. "You don't have to hide your feelings anymore."

"I have to hide where I came from," Rain answered softly.

"But not who you are." Standing, Ravenpaw touched his nose caringly to Rain's cheek then started to pad away. Looking back, he meowed, "let me know if you want to talk--I'll be there."

"Thank you, Ravenpaw," Rain meowed, then turned and disappeared into the nursery. Ravenpaw knew the tom would likely soon go back out on patrol, but he would want to check on Maple first. Padding across the camp, Ravenpaw slipped into the medicine cat's den, seeing Mossrain crouched over Grayblaze's stomach, licking the wound clean.

"Perfect timing! Will you grab me some cobwebs?" Mossrain asked.

"Sure." Padding over to the piles of herbs, Ravenpaw scooped up a pile of the white webs and limped back to his mentor, handing them over to the gray tom. Swiping them carefully, Mossrain held them in his paw while chewing a poultice of marigold and goldenrod. He licked it thoroughly into the wound then covered it with cobwebs. Grayblaze let out a soft growl.

"Is it healed yet?"

"Oh, completely--that's why I'm putting herbs on it." Mossrain leaned back and licked the residue of herbs from his muzzle. "Stop worrying. It'll be a few more days."

"What about me?" Silverstrike asked. It looked like he had already been treated, with his ear freshly wrapped and his fur smelling of herbs. His scratched cheek had healed, and he was flicking his tail without pain. His paw was uncovered, but there was still a thin scratch over the pad.

Mossrain padded over, sniffing his injured paw. "This is the wound that worries me. Walking around will almost definitely infect it. But I think it'll close tomorrow, and you can go on very soft patrols. Stick to moorland border patrols--the soft grass will keep the paw safe." Then the tom went to Brightflower, sniffing the cobwebs plastered to her side. "You should be good to leave tomorrow as well, maybe two days. We'll see how the night goes."

"Thank you, Mossrain." Brightflower watched him warmly, a soft purr in her throat. The tom touched his nose to her's then went to the herbs in the corner of the den. Ravenpaw joined him, picking through the herbs to find the best ones. Ravenpaw had noticed Mossrain's mood rising throughout the days, despite Acornstar's disappearance. After all, his family was healing--Maskdapple had even been allowed to leave the den just yesterday, she just had to be careful with her shoulder. Mossrain had told her she wasn't allowed to run, only walk. 

"Excuse me!" Blossompaw growled from her nest.

"Yes, excuse you," Mossrain answered without looking back.

"I want to know when I can leave!" Her tail lashed.

"I'm sure you do." The gray tom continued to sort his herbs. Ravenpaw looked at him with uncertainty. Noticing his gaze, Mossrain sighed, getting to his paws. He stalked over to Blossompaw, sniffing her spine. "Get up and circle your nest," he ordered.

Struggling to her paws, the white and silver she-cat curled herself around a few times, wincing slightly as her spine curled.

"Keep doing your exercises, we'll test you tomorrow. If you can circle your nest five times without wincing and stretch without collapsing in pain, you'll be fine to leave the den. But you'll only be allowed border patrols, no hunting."

"I can stretch without collapsing in pain!" Blossompaw growled.

"Don't you dare even try!" Mossrain hissed. Blossompaw watched him for a moment, then whipped her head away and attempted to stretch out her spine. She had barely started to stretch before she suddenly cried in agony and crumbled into her nest. Mossrain spat in anger. "You fox-brained kit! You move again and I'll keep you in that nest for a moon!"

Whipping around, Mossrain lashed his tail in her face and stalked, not for the herbs, but for the den entrance. "I'm going out! Ravenpaw, bring herbs and cobwebs to the entrance of the den, and don't let any cat leave camp unless you've checked their wounds!" Without waiting for an answer Mossrain left the den. Ravenpaw raced after him, emerging into the cold clearing to see his mentor going to where Shadefur and Petaldust were deep in conversation. After talking to the two toms, Mossrain padded off with Shadefur by his side. They headed down the moorland pathway and disappeared from Ravenpaw's view.

With a sigh of defeat, Ravenpaw padded back into the den, going to the herbs and scraping them into desired piles. As he carried some the entrance, his eyes landed on Blossompaw, who was curled in her nest with bristling fur. She looked at him for a moment before turning her head away. For the first time, Ravenpaw felt angered by her presence. Why did she always fight with Mossrain? He hated watching them fight, and looked forward to the day he and Mossrain would be able to have a conversation without her interrupting to ask when she could go free.

He instantly felt guilty for his thoughts but pushed the feelings away as he brought cobwebs to the den entrance and settled into a sit. His tail curled around his paws, watching the clearing. It had emptied out of cats, and he found it was quite boring just sitting there doing nothing. While he was waiting, he cleared the area in front of him of snow, and he was incredibly glad when Jaypaw finally appeared from the apprentices' den, limping unsteadily on three legs.

"Jaypaw!" Ravenpaw called, his tail flicking. His brother's eyes lit up, and he hurried across the clearing, tottering from his wounds.

"What are you doing out here?" Jaypaw asked, touching his nose to his cheek.

"Checking wounds. You can be the first." Ravenpaw let out a purr at his littermate's amused expression, and the tom settled down into the snow

"My stomach has kind've been hurting," Jaypaw meowed, rolling over onto his side to show the cobwebs plastering his thick white belly fur. Ravenpaw peeled them off to reveal the healing claw scratches on his skin. He licked his brother's long fur away from the wound, then chewed up some goldenrod then carefully spread it into the wound. Jaypaw winced, then relaxed with a grateful sigh, sinking into the cold stone under him.

Once he was finished, Ravenpaw secured the herbs with cobwebs then leaned back, spitting out the tangy remains of the poultice. "Let me check your shoulder, too," Ravenpaw meowed, and his brother rolled back over and let him remove the slightly red-tinted webs that covered his shoulder. The deep clawmarks were healing well, but the movement of Jaypaw walking had disrupted the sealing skin. "You need to stop moving your shoulder--moving your muscles is breaking the skin open again."

"Well, that's not fun," Jaypaw commented.

Ravenpaw snorted with amusement. "No, I wouldn't think so." Ravenpaw reapplied some goldenrod and then the cobwebs as well, tying them to his brother's bright fur. "Try to pick somewhere to be and stay there. If you keep disrupting the healing it'll take forever to get back to training."

"Well, I want to get back to it as soon as possible," Jaypaw meowed, getting to his pale gray paws with a slight groan. Then he sat down next to Ravenpaw. "I might as well stay here. It looks like you need the company, anyway."

Ravenpaw tried to hide the overwhelming excitement inside of him. He was happy his brother decided to stay and loved the slight brush his fur against his. "If you want to, it won't be that much fun though. I'm just waiting here for any injured cat to pass by."

Even as he spoke, a patrol consisting of Boulderclaw, Flamepaw, Stonecoat, and Frostfall padded in from the forest entrance. They held quite a bit of prey in their jaws, and Ravenpaw felt his stomach rumbling. "Boulderclaw?" he called softly, nervous to raise his voice. His father instantly padded over, dropping his mouse on the ground.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"Mossrain told me to check every cats' injuries. Could you ask the patrol to come over here so I can check them? I just... I didn't want to order them over here."

Boulderclaw purred with amusement. "Sure. While I do so, share this mouse with your brother. You deserve it." He touched both cats on their forehead with his nose then padded off to the rest of the patrol.

Ravenpaw leaned down and took a bite of the mouse, shivering at the lovely warm feeling of the meat. Jaypaw took a bite as well, and they took turns sharing the prey until it was gone. While licking the remains off his muzzle, Boulderclaw padded over with the other cats. Ravenpaw decided to check Frostfall first since she was in the worst shape.

"DId Mossrain say you could hunt?" he couldn't help but ask as he looked at the claw marks on her haunches, which were bleeding softly.

"He told me to stay on border patrols, but there's only two a day and the Clan needed fresh-kill. My health was of least importance."

"Not to me." Ravenpaw was surprised by how much he truly meant it--he didn't know Frostfall too well, but he did not want her risking anything. Then he remembered; she's going to have kits. Sometimes his visions slipped from mind, but he was still surprised that he had forgotten that, when Stormkit was four moons, Frostfall would be close to kitting. After covering the freshly-coated wound with cobwebs, Ravenpaw told her, "stay in camp until tomorrow, and don't go on any more hunting patrols. You're lucky you didn't break open your scratches."

He checked her neck and back next, finding both the wounds were healing very nicely. The bite wounds on her neck were actually barely even there anymore, just tiny punctures in her skin. Ravenpaw next checked over Stonecoat, but the claw marks on his haunches were barely even noticeable. "I don't think you need herbs or cobwebs anymore. Just keep it clean and you should be fine." He hoped he was right about his diagnosis.

"Thanks, Ravenpaw," Stonecoat meowed. His mew sounded unnaturally sad. He noticed an empty gleam in his eyes, but before Ravenpaw could ask him what was wrong, Stonecoat got up and padded away.

"He misses Shadefur," Boulderclaw told Ravenpaw softly. "He'll be okay, don't worry."

Ravenpaw managed a nod, checking Boulderclaw's side wound. "I think you're okay, too. Just don't overwork yourself." He decided to lightly cover the scratches with goldenrod but left them without cobwebs. "Don't rub it off," he warned.

"I'll do my best." Boulderclaw rested his muzzle on Ravenpaw's forehead. "You're doing amazingly--I'm incredibly proud of you, little one. I'm proud of you, too, Jaypaw. Just a little while more and you'll be able to get back out there." He padded away softly, heading away for the warriors' den. He was hopefully taking Ravenpaw's advice and was going to rest. But then he suddenly turned away and went to the moorland instead. Ravenpaw said nothing.

Flamepaw settled in front of him in complete silence. Ravenpaw checked his flank and his chest, finding that both the wounds were healing nicely. He covered both with goldenrod and cobwebs, then meowed softly, "are you doing okay, Flamepaw?"

The tom's cold eyes locked onto his, but he said nothing. He stood and stalked away, his tail dragging through the snow without notice. Ravenpaw watched after him sadly, wishing he had an herb to help the tom feel better. He could barely remember what the tom's voice even sounded like.

"Poor Flamepaw," Jaypaw whispered.

"I don't know what I would do if I lost Snowfern," Ravenpaw murmured. How could he ever go on living, knowing his mother would never live again? Even if he could see her in StarClan, it wouldn't be the same. He suddenly realized how careless he had been when Russetdawn died. He had only been sad for the unborn kits who never saw life, he didn't even think of the she-cat or her family. StarClan was not alive--they were ghosts of the past. Russetdawn was dead, and would never have the experience of life again. But yet, despite the fact that she would never live again, she had been calm. Even as her family and her Clan mourned her body, Russetdawn had admitted she was okay with death, and even the death of her kits.

Living is everything, but we have to be ready to die.

Question #1: Who is your favorite character in Ravenpaw's story? What about Rowanpaw's?

Question #2: Is there a character in either story that you would like to know more about, or see have a bigger part?