"Smokepaw, Smokepaw, you have to tell me what you feel. Use your words." Smokepaw could barely breathe, vomit still dribbling out of her jaws, her eyes wide with shock. She let out a small whine that grew into a louder whine. I'm dying. I'm dying. I'm dying. I can't do this. I can't do this.

"She was saying she couldn't walk. It was like she had just rolled in catmint or something, she kept falling." Newtstream murmured, Kiwipaw treating the tortoiseshell's wounds but watching Smokepaw's spectacle from the base of the willow tree

"Poison. They were poison cats," Eelpaw offered from where she stood next to another medicine cat also treating her wounds. Sandleaf nodded, giving Smokepaw a comforting lick, and started applying cobwebs to open cuts. Bundles of wound-healing herbs were laying out, a few opened and resting on thin willow leaves. They were several paces from the willow's base; Smokepaw had gotten up and tried to leave moments after being brought into the den. She had thought it was a good idea in the moment, but then she had fallen because she could barely walk, and then she started vomiting and crying out.

"I can see that. It looks like her body's trying to get rid of whatever kind of poison it was-- Kiwipaw go get some yarrow, thyme, and... wintergreen. Now, now, let's go." The gray tabby apprentice nodded with an exasperated sigh, padding off to herb storage.

"Smokepaw, it's going to be okay...," Newtstream eased, but Smokepaw didn't pay any mind. How would she know. She's not throwing up practically every fish she's ever eaten, she's not unable to feel her whole body, she's not unable to walk in a straight line without falling.

She felt her stomach heave again, and she shut her eyes tight, her mouth opening to rid herself of anything, but nothing even came out.

"Sandleaf, I think she may be dehydrated. She's not even puking water." Kiwipaw meowed, dropping the freshly retrieved herbs. The dilute calico medicine cat flicked her tail.

"That's the least of our worries. Now, Smokepaw's been poisoned. Currently she's in danger of what?" She promoted her apprentice, beginning to chew up the yarrow.

"Dying," the swirled tabby drawled, eyes carefully watched Smokepaw as she shook. Sandleaf flicked an ear in annoyance, spitting out the poultice.

"It's unlikely since we're here. What else?"

"Hn..."

"Shock. She's in danger of shock; she's lost a lot of blood. It will kill her before the poison, if the poison is even lethal." Smokepaw let out a small whine again, her head feeling light. StarClan. StarClan. I don't want to die. I don't want to. I can't. I have so much I have to do-- I swear I'll fight until my last breathe if it means I don't die.

"So she needs to eat the thyme." Kiwipaw raised a brow, and Sandleaf nodded. Kiwipaw purred, pleased with herself, passing a few thyme leaves. "Alright Smokepaw, chew on these. Take a deep breath." The water apprentice did as she was told, her breathing heavy.

      "Okay. Good. Good." Sandleaf soothed. "I'm going to apply some yarrow to the bite." True to her word, the yarrow leaves she had chewed up were pasted onto her hind-leg. The tom had bit her right at her ankle, and the poultice instantly cooled the area. Smokepaw sighed into the first sensation she had felt since the numbness had started.

      "It's.. it's numb. Everything is numb," she finally choked out. Sandleaf gave a grim nod.

      "Yeah, I figured when Newtstream said you couldn't walk. That's a pretty rare poison type, and it can really reek havoc. Lucky for us, it wasn't very strong. I used the yarrow to draw out the poison, but some still went through your system." Sandleaf explained, sitting down neatly. Kiwipaw started on cleaning Smokepaw's wounds, taking off the bloodied cobwebs. Since all the wounds had stopped bleeding, she started in with golden poultices and fresh cobwebs.

      "What... what's going to happen..? To me?" Will I be able to move properly again? Will I be able to move water?

     "You should be able to heal fully. It'll finish running its course through you. It's only a temporary toxin, but there have been several cases where some of the toxin will randomly give another jolt through your body. A WindClan warrior was bitten by a poison rogue with this toxin a season or two ago. She made a full recovery, but every time she exerted herself too much, she'd start having symptoms again." Smokepaw gave a small nod. "That might not happen to you, but we really won't know until you start moving around again. We'll have to start doing some exercises and medicine to get you back to normal again, as well. We'll start with a Wintergreen treatment to treat the toxin."

      "How fast until she's back on her paws?" A sleek white cat padded in, ginger tail waving behind her. Smokepaw picked her head up. Rosecall.

      "Oh. I've never personally dealt with the Limp Toxin, but from what the WindClan medicine cats told me, within half a moon she should be back to walking on water or whatever you make her do." Rosecall breathed, then flicked her tail. Sandleaf pushed some wintergreen leaves to the apprentice to eat, and she chewed them up, shivering at the cool, bitter taste.

"We'll have to push your warriors ceremony," she said simply. "Another moon or two of training--"

"What? I'm already a moon late for my warrior ceremony--"

"Rosecall." Smokepaw looked up, mouth shutting at the voice. Miststar. The she-cat padded in. Her fur was white and medium-long, her gray tail high. Her head was tipped high with grace, sapphire blue eyes hiding behind the ash mask touching her face. "I decide when my apprentices become warriors. Smokepaw will become a warrior as soon as I feel she is ready." Miststar cast a look to Rosecall, who cast one back. An uncomfortable silence filled the air.

"She was bitten with Limp Toxin. She's doing really well though." Kiwipaw meowed awkwardly, eyes moving to Sandleaf for approval. The poised leader looked down to Smokepaw, her eyes suddenly much more soft.

"Thank you, Kiwipaw. Could I have a moment with Smokepaw?" She glanced to Sandleaf, Rosecall, and Kiwipaw, who all slowly nodded, and dispersed. The gray point paused a moment, then sat. "Smokepaw, how do you feel?" The charcoal footed apprentice blinked.

"Fine."

"You're looking much better than when you first stumbled into camp, that's for sure," she breathed. "I just heard Eelpaw's story, and got caught up with Pearlfrost. My deputy says you fought very bravely, and Eelpaw says you 'saved her tail.' I'm very proud of you." She shut her eyes to show her gratitude, rather than purr.

"I mean... I got poisoned. And we had to retreat. It's not anything to be proud of."

"It's not about how we fall, it's about how we keep going." The she-cat meowed simply. Smokepaw looked to her paws. "I want to seek your advice for how RiverClan will keep going after this second attack." Smokepaw's eyes widened.

"I honestly don't think I'm qualified to advise you, Miststar. I'm the claws, not the head."

"You have the strongest control of water I think I've ever seen. It listens to you without doubting you. If StarClan would will that great of power to you, I think it wise to see how 'the claws' would do at being 'the head.'"Smokepaw grimaced, but nodded.

"Good. ThunderClan attacked both of our patrols yesterday and today without being provoked. They nearly killed one of our other warriors today; Minkpool nearly died and was the reason you retreated. They also are trying to claim our territory. What do you think our response should be?" She promoted, eyes carefully watching the apprentice.

"We could go with our claws unsheathed and fight them. Laurelstep said that's dumb though, he said there would be more death and injury if we did that. He said diplomacy is the way to go, he said that's what you would want to do." Miststar raised a brow.

      "But what do you think?"

      "I think Laurelstep is right. ThunderClan has a really strange determination to greatly injure us, so if we fight them, they won't hold back. I think.. I think they want a war, too. So. Diplomacy. Yeah. Diplomacy. We save RiverClan lives." Miststar nodded.

"That's what I was thinking. We'll have a constant lookout watching the territory at an outlook post. If ThunderClan finds out, it'll ruin any diplomacy, but if ThunderClan tries something and we're not ready..? I don't think I could survive knowing I could've had that lookout's warning." Smokepaw nodded in agreement. She's smart. A lot smarter than I thought. She flicked her feathery gray tail, standing up. "I best be going. Oh, and Smokepaw...."

"Yeah?"

"Be sure you don't tell anyone what was said here. The outlook is top secret; very, very few know about it," she murmured. Smokepaw nodded earnestly, half-pushing herself into a sit out of respect.

"Yes, Miststar. Of course," she dipped her head. Miststar closed her eyes in satisfaction. She waved Sandleaf back over, and excused herself as she padded out of the cover of the willow.

"What did she say?" Kiwipaw bounded over, eyes bright, Rosecall trailing after.

"Just... she asked what happened. Wanted to know more details of the patrol and battle." Kiwipaw nodded while Sandleaf checked the dressings over.

"Makes sense. Hey, you get to hang out in the medicine den now, right?"

"Not for long," Rosecall butted in. "She's going to start her rehabilitation tomorrow morning. I want her able to spar at her usual level before the moon is full."

"Rosecall, don't you think that's a little unrealistic? That's a barely five sunrises--"

"She can do it. If you need some incentive, call me in. I'll make sure it gets done." Sandleaf pinned her ears back in annoyance.

"I'm in charge in this den, not you, Rosecall. Unless you suddenly have the ability to heal cats, I don't want to hear that kind of tone. Go boss some other apprentices around, I don't want to see you in this den unless you're half-dead." Rosecall curled her lip, and turned, shouldering through the low-hanging willow branches. Sandleaf breathed out, her eyes casting down to Smokepaw. The dark gray apprentice blinked blearily. "Why don't you go lay in a clean nest. Kiwipaw will clean up this mess, and I'll get some herbs ready for you. You need rest." She nosed the apprentice up, and for once she didn't protest.

"I'm tired...," Smokepaw whispered, using Sandleaf heavily as support to walk the distance to a fresh moss and reed-fluff nest. Newtstream and the other warriors from both yesterday and the day's patrol were in the nests up against the roots of the tree, carefully watching.

Sandleaf helped her settle in, laying down briefly next to her. Smokepaw curled tightly, pulling her tailtip to her nose. The feeling in her body had started to slowly leak back, starting with her ears and then her shoulders. Suddenly, all the shooting and groaning pain of the cuts started gnawing at her. Smokepaw let out a small whine, shutting her eyes.

"I know. It's going to be hard. You're going to appear a lot more vulnerable, and it's going to be humbling." Smokepaw breathed, flicking her ears back with annoyance. I don't want that. I don't get to be vulnerable. I have to be strong. "It's going to be okay." Sandleaf stood, and padded off to herb storage.

      "Hey Smokepaw?" Smokepaw opened her eyes, glancing up. Laurelstep was snuggled in next to Thymeclaw, the injured white and ginger warrior now awake and much healthier looking.

      "..yeah?"

     "We can cancel that practice today." She laughed, wincing at the pain that shot through, and closed her eyes again, letting sleep overwhelm her.

//
AN
That last line was a reference to something Smokepaw had said to Laurelstep in chapter three lol. Laurelstep is such a smart-ass (smart-tail?) but times are dark fur (OOH THAT TYPO PUN IM KEEPING IT OMG) this smart talking boi. He can't make all of his gay flirty cracks since he's worried about his lover omg. Protect him. Also I feel like in general he's a pretty good leader/smart guy. I can't wait for his humor to really shine.

I wanted to use more than just my own characters as main characters for this chapter but nobody else signed up a medicine catttt so yeah Sandleaf is my girl, as is Miststar, and Newtstream, and Eelpaw, and Pearlfrost. Holy cow. For a reader insert there's a whole lot of me lol. I used Eelpaw because Rosepaw, who would've also made a good fit for the role, wasn't submitted yet. Newt was just an extra I was going to have her basically almost die but it didn't work out like that.

DANG I haven't had any authors notes in Waterfall so far look how talkative I've been. I need to stop talking.

OKAY QUESTION THEN: Who's your favorite character so far?