Groggy [Kitespring]

Her sickness had a lot of ups and downs, and it didn't take a medicine cat to know that this was a really low point. Dovesight felt awful. Her head was pounding, her stomach felt like it was turned in on itself, and as much as Dovesight wanted to just close her eyes and sleep, she just couldn't bring herself to do so. She couldn't bring herself to sit up and get the herbs she needed, and she didn't want to ask Sandypaw for any either. This wouldn't kill her, right? She could just suffer through it.

She was distantly aware of a shadow blocking the sun from the entrance to the medicine den, the space growing dark. But she didn't fully want to open her eyes. Whoever it was, surely Sandypaw could handle it, right?

Kitespring wanted to make sure that Dovesight was alright. After all, her sister seemed a little weaker than usual, almost like she was hiding her illness, waiting for it to pass.

She knew the feeling. Didn't she do the exact same thing herself, tolerating the pain and suffering so that she didn't have to see her sister panic on potentially losing her last family member she had? It probably wasn't the same sickness, of course, but she hoped that somehow, she could help her sister out.

The russet she-cat stepped into the medicine den, gazing at her sister. At first, Kitespring thought she was dead, but a small groan let her know that she was alive. She lay down on the ground, without even enough energy to lift her head up. It made Kitespring feel awful. "Hey, Dovey?" the she-cat said. "Do you want me to get some herbs for you? You look... sick."

Hearing Kitespring's voice, Dovesight fought down a groan. The one time she wouldn't want to see her sister. Her head screamed in protest as she sat up, taking in her sister's worried expression. She was worried for her. And that made Dovesight feel even worse. She didn't want to scare her littermate like this! That was enough motivation to let Dovesight force a smile to her face.

"Don't worry, Kitey, it's..... it's just a headache. It'll pass. There's just been a lot going on lately. How are you doing? It's been a little bit since you visited me, I was starting to get scared you had forgotten me! But seriously, how have you been holding up? I've missed you, you know."

Dovesight found that the best way to get cats to stop worrying about her was to turn the attention onto them. But that didn't make her words any less true. Kitespring and Dovesight were all that was left, and they both walked completely different paths. And Dovesight would be lying if she said it didn't get lonely, knowing that her way of life was different than any of her Clanmates. It helped when Sandypaw had moved into the den. She just hoped her sister never felt that loneliness.

When Dovesight noted that Kitespring hadn't visited in a while, the russet she-cat shrunk back. Stars, had it really been that long ago? She tried thinking of the last time she really interacted with her sister, and... it was a long time ago, was it Martenpaw's death? She swore that it didn't affect her that much, but maybe it affected her more than she thought. "Yeah, I'm sorry for not visiting you. I didn't forget about you, that's for sure." It made her feel guilty for not visiting her sister more. She wasn't exactly doing much otherwise.

"Yeah, I'm doing... alright. I think." She didn't do much recently. "Did Sandypaw give you herbs to make the headache feel any better?" she asked, still concerned about her sister. "The last thing I'd want is for you to suffer." Dovey was obviously under the weather. Why was she d-

To not worry her. She was hoping that Kitespring wouldn't be worried about her. Kitespring did the exact same thing to her, when she was feeling a little under the weather. Was this how Dovey felt when she did that? Stars, she should've told her the truth, all those moons ago, shouldn't she? Maybe the best thing now would have been to pretend to not have noticed, but she stepped a bit away from that. She can't exactly pretend that she didn't notice now.

"I promise I'm not suffering, Kitey. And I don't need any herbs. We don't have the supply for me to take any. Besides, what's the worst a headache can do?"

She sat up, making room for her sister to join her in the nest. "You still haven't answered my question, you know. How have you been doing? I want to know what's been going on in my sister's life! Especially since so much has happened...."

Stars, things really were rough, weren't they? Martenpaw and Rushtalon were gone, stars Dovesight and Kitespring were the only ones left....

"Are you doing okay?"

Kitespring gazed around slightly. Did she not answer her sister's question? Stars, what was up with her today? "Well..." the she-cat started. What did she do in the past month... well, she went on hunting and border patrols. But that was mundane, and just about every cat in the clan did that. So, what did she do that was special?

...

Why could she not think of anything?

"Well, I'm doing okay, I guess. Nothing that interesting has happened to me in the past... month or so." Why didn't she do anything? She didn't even have the energy to talk to the cats she cared about! What was up with her?

Should she tell Dovey?

Her first instinct was a quick "no". But she also knew that the two of them were in a feedback loop, where neither of them would tell the other about things that were going on, so that they wouldn't hurt the other (even if they knew something was up). Yeah, Dovey isn't dumb, Kitespring's mind told her. She knows something's wrong.

Sighing softly, the russet she-cat looked back up at her sister. "Actually... barely anything happened to me. I barely talked to Poppyshine besides when she organized patrols, I didn't talk with you, and I didn't do much besides go on patrols when Poppyshine told me to." She had never been this vulnerable with her sister before, but she thought that it was important for her to tell her this. "Is this... normal?"

Kitespring blinked. She understood exactly how Dovesight felt after speaking. They isolated themselves from others after Martenpaw's death, focusing more and more on their work as warrior and medicine cat rather than bringing themselves together and actively supporting each other. It didn't help that they seemed to hide their own problems from each other to make them not worry, which only distanced them from each other further.

"Thanks, Dovey," Kitespring responded, gazing behind her to see if there was anyone else waiting to get into the medicine den before turning around. "And same to you. If you need to... I know I'm a warrior, which means that I have patrols and all that, but if you need to talk to me, and I'm in camp, I'll always make time to talk with you. No questions asked." Though Kitespring's words seemed confident, her gaze was unfocused and worried. Stars, was that alright? The russet she-cat had so much trouble trying to come up with the right words to say, and she still wasn't sure if she did in the end.