Chapter 9: Shadowclan

I sat there, a bit scared for her mate, and scared for the kits as well. I knew that it was not hard for a kit to become sick, and if it did happen, it usually did not end up very well. I looked at the young kits, as I noticed they were already asleep.

The kits looked very young as well. I wondered if they had ever woken up their eyes for the first time. They could not be any older than just a few days, and it would not surprise me if they were born earlier today as well.

I felt a bit bad for the she cat, she must have been freaking out quite a bit, giving birth to probably her first batch of kits, all the while, her mate was sitting there having spasms over and over again. I sat there for a few moments, as I looked to Limp, to see not even she knew what to do at the moment.

I thought back to the day that my best friend, and basically a father to me, Tristan had died... I remember it happening almost like a vivid dream at this point. But there was one thing that I remembered as if it had just happened to me yesterday.

Tristan, the last moments that he had been alive, he had spasms as well. I did not know what this she cat meant by the fact that she said her mate was having spasms. Just based off of what I remembered about the death of Tristan, it probably was not a good sign if he was having spasms.

I did not want to scare the she cat, by telling her my story, about Tristan and the spasms he had just before he passed away, but I felt like I needed to say something about it, or at least find out some more information about all of this before I jumped to conclusions.

I looked over at Limp, as I watched her as she moved around the body of the she cats mate, all the while I could tell that the she cat still did not trust us with her mate still. She had every reason not to as well, we had just came out of the blue and told her that we would "help her".

I went a bit closer to Limp, as I saw the she cat squint at me. I could tell that the she cat mainly did not trust me. I was the tom, and I was much bigger than the she cat. I wish I could think of something to make her feel better.

I nudged my friend Limp, to let her know that I needed to speak to her, privately none the less. She looked at me for a few seconds, and then she nodded to me. The she cat I could tell was beginning to trust me less and less by the second.

Limp looked at the she cat, noticing the look on her face as well, and then she nodded to the she cat, and tried to calm her down a bit. I listened to my friend, to see at how good she really was at being a medicine cat. Medicine cats were supposed to be sweet at calm the cats down that they were treating.

"Do not worry... Um- What's your name?" She asked the she cat. The she cat looked at her for a few moments, not sure how to respond to the question for some reason. I did not blame her, she probably was so worried about her mate, that she could not think correctly.

I thought back on how I had treated my clan mate, Flame, earlier, and I kind of regretted it quite a bit. It made sense as to why he was so worried about his mate, and his kits, just like this she cat was. I should be more grateful for Flame for even trusting me in the first place.

I rolled my eyes at Limp, this was the last thing that we should be worry about at the moment, we did not need to learn the names of cats right now, we just needed to find out what it was that the cat was sick from, so that we could treat it before it got out of our hands.

I looked at the she cat anyways, as she suddenly seemed to realize the question that Limp had just asked her. She looked at Limp, and then she nodded, now that Limp had seemed to be talking her kindly she seemed to have calmed down quite a bit from what she looked like just a few moments ago.

"My name is Shilo, this is my mate Steve... Over there are my kits, Flip, Shiver, and Pepper." She said to us. Still looking at me in my eyes, I could tell that she still did not trust me, but she had gained the trust of my friend Limp, and that was all that really mattered.

For a few moments I thought that Limp was about to start a conversation with the she cat, as she tended to do when she met a new cat, but luckily this time she realized the importance of doing that, and she looked back over at me and nodded before she quickly looked back over at the she cat.

"I am Limp, this is my friend Moon, we are going to help you, and we will take you and your mate somewhere safe. If you like the place where we live, it is a good place for your kits to grow up." She said to the she cat. The she cat looked a bit surprised, but I could see that she was a bit excited, with what Limp had just said to her.

The excitement quickly disappeared as she looked back over at her mate, still a bit worried, as any mate should be with their loved one. She sat there for a few moments, and I began to move back for a silent place for me and Limp to sit at, so that I could tell her my theory on what the cat might be sick from.

As I began to move back, I nodded for Limp to follow me, but just before Limp walked towards me, I heard the she cat begin to speak one last time. I was beginning to get a bit frustrated, but I did my best to keep my calm.

"Thank you Limp, and Moon, I hope you can save him, he has been getting progressively worse and worse by the day..." She said to us. I looked at her and then nodded. Maybe this was the perfect timing for us to find them, I had to thank Starclan for that.

She most likely probably would not have trusted us if we had come the few days before now. She might not have even been in this location in fact, but I had my doubts on that because her mate was probably not moving around at all, at the moment.

Me and Limp sat down beside each other at a nearby tree, neither of us saying a thing to one another for quite a few moments. I then realized why that was so, I was the one that needed to speak to Limp privately, so it made sense as to why she was waiting for me to speak first.

I nodded to Limp, as the memories began to flood back to me, about the day that Tristan had died, and the spasms that he had been having. I had been mewing as loud as I possibly could for help, but neither of my owners were anywhere near, and I doubted that the male owner would have helped us anyways.

I closed my eyes, trying not to think about it. But I realized that I needed to, if I wanted to save to life of Steve. If I wanted to bring some more good cats into my clan. I opened my eyes and then looked at Limp, as I could tell that she was a bit worried with the look that was on my face.

I shook my head, realizing that if I wanted to be a strong leader, than I should not be having that look on my face. I knew Kettle had grown up a lot more as a leader than I had. Youngtail made sure to remind me of that very often.

I was the leader of all the clans though, I was the one that had brought them back. We would not be here today, if it were not for me. I had to step up as my role as the leader, I could not keep acting like this any longer. I nodded to my friend as I began to speak to her.

"Limp... I was a lot younger when this happened. It was my friend, and he had died from spasms just like this cat. I am not sure if it is the same thing or not, but I think he might have eaten something that was poisoned." I said to her. She looked at me for a few moments, and then she squinted her eyes at me.

I could tell that she was not so sure if what I said could be true or not. I did not blame her either, she was the medicine cat, not I. I was not even sure if my friend had been poisoned or not. He was fairly fat and his heart might have randomly stopped up on him.

She looked at me for a few moments, and then she looked up at the sky. It was dark by now, and there was no sun anymore. I could see what it was that she was looking at though. She was looking up at a star, just 1 in specific.

I looked at her a bit confused, but she did not seem to notice me staring at her a bit weirdly like that. I shook my head as she finally looked back down, and she turned her head over towards me, and she nodded to me, as she began to speak to me.

"He has food poisoning then... I believe that you might be right, I am not sure what the cure is to that. If you give me some time to think on it, and to pray to Starclan. You go calm her down for now." She said to to me. I looked at her for a few moments, still not too sure about that.

It was not the fact that I did not think that Starclan would help us, it was more the fact that I was not sure if she would even trust me. I looked at Limp, and then nodded to her anyways. It was up to Starclan... This was not like the times of Youngtail.

The reason why the clans had failed back then, was because the cats of the clans did not believe in Starclan, they thought that it was a funny myth and a hoax. We believed in them, and we knew that they would help us get through this.

I then began to walk back over to the she cat, giving Limp her space, and some time to try and think of what the cure was to save the life of this tom. The she cat saw that I was the only 1 coming back, and I could tell that she was a bit worried.

I wish I was the 1 in Limps shoes right now. I did not blame her though, I was actually fine with the fact that she was not freaking out, and getting upset like she used to do when she could not focus. I looked back at my friend as I saw her with her eyes closed, I then shook my head and then kept on walking to the she cat.

As I got close to her I saw her move a little bit in front of her kits, I could tell that she did not trust me with them, I did not think on it that deep though, as I sat there beside her, just thinking of what to say, to get her to calm down.

I could tell that she was having a small panic attack, and I was not acting like a very good leader at the moment. I breathed I softly, closing my eyes, just trying to calm myself down. I could admit, that not even I was calm at the moment.

I could almost feel the worry of the she cat in the air, I could tell that she was nervous, and she was stressed at the same time. I knew that she trusted Limp, because she was also a she cat more than she trusted me. I could still tell that she did not fully trust Limp though.

I opened my eyes, as I saw that she was breast feeding her kits, and I looked away, a bit embarrassed for looking at her while she was doing that. I knew that queens did not really care that much, but it still felt a bit weird to me that I was watching her feed her kits with her breast.

After a few moments I calmed down, and I just kept my eyes locked on her face. She was too busy looking at her kits to notice me, so I coughed to get her attention. She moved her head to me, and she squinted her eyes at me, waiting for me to say what it was that was on my mind. I then began to speak up, not too loud to freak the kits out any though.

"I know you don't trust me... But we are going to take you somewhere safe until your mate is okay. After that you can make your decision, but I want to let you know that we live in a safe environment with many other cats that help each other out, you are welcome to stay if you choose to do so." I said to her. She looked up at me for a few moments, but this time she did not squint her eyes at me.

She just nodded her head at me, as she then looked back at her kits. I could tell that she was not really focused on what I had just said to her, so I figured I would let the clan do the talking for her once we took them there. I knew that they would let her know that she was safe in our clan.

I did not feel like I should bring up the fact that there were other clans at the moment as well. You could call in greed or what not, but I also kind of wanted her to choose our clan over the others. I knew that the other clans had more kits than us, even Riverclan, and most cats that I had come across, hated water.

I looked back at Limp, over at the tree that we had been at together just a few moments ago, but I did not see her there. I instantly began to grow a bit worried... She had not ran off like she had that one day again right? I looked around the yard, and then I spotted her on one of the fences thankfully.

She was looking around, as if she was looking for something. I looked at the she cat to make sure that she was okay, and that she was safe with her kits. Once I knew that she was going to be okay, I then began to walk over to Limp, to see what it was that she was looking for.

As I drew closer, she turned her head to me, hearing my footsteps as I drew closer to her. She looked at me for a few moments, as if she could not focus on something. She then nodded to me, and I could tell that she was a fair bit worried, as she began to speak up to me.

"I know what the cure is, I just don't remember where it might be at." She said to me. I looked at her for a few moments, and then I looked down at the ground. I suppose that Jayfeather had not given her enough to for her to learn her herbs to her fullest potential.

I shook my head, I remember a small amount of what Jayfeather had taught me, but I was pretty sure that he had taught Limp a lot more about herbs in the time that he was with her, than the time that he had spent with me. But still, maybe there was a small chance that she just did not remember where a certain herb could be at.

I looked at her for a few moments, as I saw her turn her head back around, as she began to look across the yards to see what it was that she was looking for. I still did not have very much clue as to what it was that it could possibly be.

I feared for my friend, because I knew how she began to act when she could not focus. So I figured I might as well try and help her through what it was that she might possibly be looking for the help Steve. I began to speak to her to get her attention.

"What is it that you are looking for Limp?" I asked her. She sat there for a few moments, just staring around at the yards over and over again, as if they were going to majestically appear in one of them all of the sudden. She then looked back over to me.

I thought she was going to get bad and say something along the lines on "I am the medicine cat, not you", but she actually looked a bit calm, as she nodded to me, and she began to speak to me.

"I am looking for stinging nettle, I just have no clue what that is... I have never heard to before, I am just hoping I find something that looks stingy." She said to me. I looked at her for a few moments, and then I nodded to her. I then began to try to think of what could possibly be stinging nettle.

I remember hearing it one time, Jayfeather said it to me once. I just could not focus my mind to remember what it was that he had said to me about that herb. I sat there with my eyes closed, and then it came to me, as I then began to speak loudly to Limp.

"Stinging nettle?! That is in the woods! I believe that is in Shadowclan!"