Squirrelflight's Hope

Flurry pushed her way through the ferns that masked the camp entrance. She was carrying herbs in her mouth. Squirrelflight tasted the air and smelled marigold leaves. The ginger-and-white she-cat crossed the clearing and stopped beside Leafstar. She dropped the herbs beside the SkyClan leader and shook out her pelt. “How does your leg feel?” she asked Leafstar.

“It’s sore, but it’s feeling better.” Leafstar moved her leg closer as Flurry leaned down to look at it.

Squirrelflight had been impressed by how many of the Sisters were skilled in using herbs. Sparrow, Flurry, Sunrise, and Hawk had all tended to Leafstar’s wound in turn. “Do you all know how to treat wounds?” She watched Flurry strip the marigold leaves from the stem.

“Of course.” Flurry kept her eyes on her work.

“The Clans have only a few medicine cats,” Squirrelflight told her.

“What if they get sick?” Flurry blinked at her. “Who looks after them?”

Leafstar stretched her muzzle forward to sniff the marigold. “They look after one another. And they have apprentices,” she mewed.

“I guess we’re all apprentices here,” Flurry explained. “The mothers teach their kits, and the sisters learn from one another.” She began to chew the leaves into a poultice.

Squirrelflight was beginning to get used to the strange way the Sisters addressed one another. The younger cats often referred to the older cats as Mother, whether a she-cat was their mother or not, and cats of a similar age called one another Sister. Names were used sparingly, except for the toms, who were only ever referred to by their names.

As Flurry began to lap the poultice gently into Leafstar’s wound, Moonlight padded into camp, trailing long honeysuckle vines from her mouth. Snow, Creek, and Sparrow followed, dragging more vines after them.

“Is that for the new den?” Leafstar had stopped hiding her curiosity and was as quick now to ask questions as Squirrelflight.

Flurry finished applying the poultice and looked at her campmates. “We’re building Moonlight’s birthing den.”

“Are her kits due soon?” Squirrelflight hoped her estimation that the Sisters might be gone by leaf-bare was correct.

“The kits will come in about a moon,” Flurry told her.

Moonlight dropped the vines beside the gorse bush and headed across the clearing. “Is the wound healing, Sister?” she called to Flurry as she neared.

“Yes, Mother. The swelling has gone down,” Flurry told her.

“Good.” Moonlight stopped beside her and nodded politely to Squirrelflight and Leafstar. “Have you eaten?”

“Sparrow brought us prey,” Squirrelflight told her. She dipped her head. “I wish you’d let me help with the hunting. I don’t like being treated like an elder.”

“An elder?” Moonlight looked puzzled.

Leafstar stretched her injured leg tentatively. “An elder is an old cat. In the Clans, when warriors become elders, they only hunt if they want to. Younger warriors and apprentices make sure they are well fed and cared for. Elders need never leave the camp.”

“I could never stay in camp all day,” Moonlight meowed.

“I don’t like it much.” Squirrelflight flicked her tail-tip irritably. “I need to stretch my legs.”

Leafstar’s ears twitched. “If you let us go, we could both stretch our legs.”

Moonlight sniffed Leafstar’s wound. “We’ll let you go when we move on. For now you’ll have to put up with living like your elders.”

Squirrelflight looked on as Creek and Sparrow wove the vines between the branches to build the gorse den. “Can I help here, then?” Two long days of doing nothing had left her restless.

“That would be kind.” Moonlight straightened. “Leafstar should rest this leg, though.”

“I’m happy to watch,” Leafstar told her.

Moonlight led Squirrelflight across the clearing. Flurry padded after them. Stone was still scraping earth from the den. He paused as Squirrelflight reached him. She peered inside and saw that he’d created a wide dip around the central stem. Branches had been broken off to open up the space inside, but the remaining walls were still thick enough to keep the den cool. It looked a lot like a warrior den.

Tempest padded around the pile of vines. “We’ll need more.”

Moonlight nodded to Snow. “Sister, take Creek and fetch more,” she meowed.

Snow dipped her head. She made her way out of camp, Creek hurrying behind her.

Tempest beckoned Stone and Grass with her tail. “Use these to reinforce the back of the den,” she told them.

“Sure.” Stone glanced at his brother. “You weave from the inside and I’ll weave from out here.”

Grass picked up a vine in his teeth and dragged it into the den while Stone hauled another vine around the back.

As Tempest watched them disappear, Squirrelflight saw sadness in the tabby’s gaze. Was she thinking about their father? Where was he?

“We’ll work on this side.” Moonlight pulled the remaining vines around the back of the den.

Squirrelflight followed, glancing at Tempest. “It must have been hard for her, raising her kits alone.”

Moonlight’s eyes widened. “She didn’t raise them alone. She had us.”

“But she must miss her mate.”