Looking for Assistance (Cont.)

It wasn't too long after they had all left the Thunderpath when the three cats entered the camp through the thorn entrance. The camp seemed to be rather clear of cats although Gingerheart wasn't sure how long that would last. What would Sagestar say about bring a Windclan cat into their camp? She hoped that he wouldn't be too upset, although bringing him here was under Softwhisper's orders. Sagestar couldn't argue with that... could he? The young warrior sure hoped not. After getting into the middle of the camp, she glanced at one of the edges of camp and motioned with her tail. "Softwhisper's den is over there. I'm sure he's waiting for you."

As the three cats entered the Shadowclan camp, Falconfang's eyes immediately scanned the entire clearing: it gave him a headache, but that wasn't his main concern. He was in a rival clan's camp! The camp was seemingly empty of cats - barring the three - but if any one cat happened to wander out, they might think the Windclan warrior was intruding and attack him. He didn't truly think they would, but...

Shaking the disturbing thought from his mind, Falconfang nodded at Gingerheart and Rustfang, mewing "Thank you" - sarcasm-free - before heading towards Softwhisper's den. He just hoped that the medicine cat would be there.

Nightwing bounded over. "Whats going on?" She blinked. Her eyes wide in confusion "And why is there a WindClan warrior doing in our camp?" Nightwing had hardly noticed Rustfang was there.

Falconfang turned in surprise to see another Shadowclan cat running towards him. "Hi," he mewed nervously. Hopefully she didn't think he was here as a spy or something. "I was just getting treatment from your medicine cat. I mean you no harm." He internally sighed with relief that his voice held steady in the face of the she-cat's confused gaze.

Gingerheart immediately turned to Nightwing and rolled her eyes. "Softwhisper's orders..." she growled, the more she was hating this whole escorting job. Why couldn't Softwhisper just turn Falconfang away? It wasn't their problem Windclan didn't have a medicine cat. With a sigh, Gingerheart quickly turned her cold stare right back onto Falconfang. She wasn't petting him out of her sight in case he tried anything, although it did seem he was too weak to do any damage.

Sagestar had been alone in his den at the time, thinking over many different things, when the alien scent of WindClan had drifted his way. Instinctively, his first reaction was that of hostility, barring his teeth and feeling the fur along his spine bristle. The tom quickly leaped on his feet before pausing a moment. Wait - Surely, he couldn't be the only one who detected the intruders... Why was everything so quiet? He then considered that WindClan no real reason to try to attack them, nor could they.ever figure out where their camp was without a ShadowClan patrol finding them.

The tom flicked an ear and stepped outside, his pelt still ruffled. Be saw Gingerheart and Rustfang, as well as the lone WindClan tom between them. "What's going on here?" He demanded, echoing Nightwing, eyes slit. It was when Eb was done with this post, though, that Gingerheart answered. "Softwhisper has no buisiness treating a WindClan cat. Can't they tend to themselves?" He looked between his own cats and Falconfang. Surely, they had their own medicine cat.

Softwhisper had just finished preparing the herbs when the cats got back. Good thing he left ahead of them; the bramble twigs had yet to be chewed, but he would do that when it was time to let the WindClan cat rest. The willow bark he had clenched in his jaws was still dripping from the water he pulled it out from. Good. He had to drip the water in Falconfang's eyes to help with the blurriness of vision, and he would take a small part of the twig off for Falconfang to chew to reduce the pain. The lavender and bramble would be used after this was taken care of.

Softwhisper rushed out of his den with the moist willow twig. What was this? Oh! Of course. He forgot to explain to Sagestar. Well . . . he didn't exactly have much time to prepare. Setting the twig down in front of him, he looked at his brother sternly. "I'm sure they can, Sagestar," Softwhisper lied. He didn't want to tell his brother about WindClan's predicament just yet. "But there is a cat in need. I need to heal him," The orange cat wasn't exactly lying. He just wasn't explaining everything as he should. Lie of omission. Sagestar wouldn't be upset, right?

As if Nightwing's confusion and Gingerheart's suspicion wasn't bad enough, now the leader was out and glaring at Falconfang! With Rustfang right there and Softwhisper within his den, it felt like all of Shadowclan was now in the clearing, standing there and casting suspicious glances at him. He could hear their whispers, their dismissive tones: they obviously didn't care about helping him, and if it hadn't of been for Softwhisper and Rustfang, he might've been just left there to suffer! What a horrid clan!

Luckily, Softwhisper chose this time to exit his den and reassure the suspicious gathering throng of cats. Falconfang sighed with gratitude, but something caught his attention: the medicine cat didn't just come out and say Windclan was without a medicine cat. Why? Did he think that the information wasn't needed to be heard by the leader? A nervous chill went down his spine, nearly causing him to shiver: maybe Shadowclan wasn't as trustworthy as he had liked to think. Making a mental note to tell Raccoonheart that they should start patrolling the Thunderpath border a bit more, he stepped forward to stand next to Softwhisper and wait to be invited into his den.

Nightwing looked crossly at the WindClan warrior. "If they can take care of themselves, then why don't they do it?" She shook her head and walked back to the edge of the camp, to continue grooming her self. Nightwing had longer fur for she had to spent more time getting the mud out of it.

At first, Sagestar said nothing, lashing his tail in slight annoyance at his litter mate. His emerald gaze flickered momentarily in Nightwing's direction, as him and the she-cat seemed to be sharing the same thoughts. "Indeed." He meowed, "Where did you find him? What left him so helpless that you had to take him all the way to our camp. Have you considered by his knowledge of our whereabouts, the rest of WindClan will know as well? That puts us in danger." The gray tabby frowned and eyed the WindClan tom. True, he didn't look all that well, and took a bit of pity by the cats condition - but this tom wasn't one of his warriors. "We have to be concerned about ourselves before any other." He wondered aloud, "Already, the leaf-bare winds are rolling in. We have to be prepared and we can't spare charity to any other clan." His little speech had been to every cat in the clearing, but he turned his attention back to Softwhisper. "Does Stormstar know about this?"

"What's done is done," said Softwhisper cautiously, eyeing his brother. Or his leader, rather. Sagestar was his leader first. He did his best to look calm, but if Sagestar was any good at reading micro-expressions, the Medicine Cat was incredibly uncomfortable. He didn't like denying his leader's orders, but sometimes it had to be done. If it felt wrong to lie to his leader, it felt worse to deny Falconfang a fair chance. Softwhisper became a healer so that he could do just that. "I have work to do. We can discuss this later." Softwhisper didn't say this maliciously. His tone was matter-of-fact and he wasn't going to bend on that. Compassionate? Sure. Stubborn? Definitely.

He picked up the willow stick, turning his attention to Falconfang. "Lay down and look up," Softwhisper ordered. He had to help with the blurriness before they entered his den and got to work on the actual injury. The water from the dripping twig was to be dropped into the WindClan cat's eye.

Reluctantly, Falconfang laid down and looked up, very aware of all the Shadowclan cats staring at him as if at any moment he would jump up and start killing their kits or something. He knew what was to happen, but that wasn't really helpful in preparing him as the water dripped into his eyes. Unable to stifle a hiss of annoyance, the Windclan warrior unsheathed his claws and dug them into the ground, fighting the incredible urge to shut his eyes: the feeling of water dripping into his eyes was one of great irritation. Still, he attempted to at least look like he was handling it well: it was bad enough that all these cats were glaring suspiciously at him; they didn't all need to be mocking him too.

It was a matter of fact that, other than anyone close to him, Sagestar wasn't the best at picking up subtle hints in conversation; but as Softwhisper was the cat he grew up with, he could understand enough to get the point. The gray tabby sniffed, knowing the medicine cat wasn't going to go back on this - and felt it was too late to force him otherwise.
"Treat him, then get him off our land." Sagestar meowed lowly, and a bit bitterly albeit. "I don't want anything like this ever happening again without my consent."

With that, the tom flicked his tail and walked over to the two warriors who had brought Falconfang. "What happened exactly?" He asked, looking to Gingerheart first.

"Well," Gingerheart began. "I was out patrolling with Rustfang when I saw the Windclan warrior on the other side of the Thunderpath. He had asked for Softwhisper, but I really didn't want to take any chances. Windclan could have dealt with it themselves. But Rustfang thought we should help him and then Softwhisper showed up and said it was okay and that Falconfang could get help if he could cross the Thunderpath. He managed it, but I have no idea how." She took a deep breath before continuing on with her part of the story. "I wanted to take him back. He seemed like trouble even though he was pretty hurt, but Softwhisper wouldn't let me and told us to bring him back to camp."

Softwhisper decided he didn't much like Gingerheart as he listened in on her recounting of the story. She pointed everything back at him . . . well, he supposed it was his doing, but to act as if their Medicine Cat had done something terrible? He was only being compassionate. It made him feel strangely that he didn't belong in ShadowClan at all, but also deepened his loyalty to his Clan. He didn't understand these feels, so he just kept working on Falconfang.

After dripping twig-water unmercifully into the injured cat's eyes, Softwhisper broke the moist piece off. He pushed it towards Falconfang. "Chew on this," He said. It helped with pain. Or at least it was supposed to. Softwhisper turned to the ShadowClan cats, addressing his brother. . . who he felt at odds with. The cold cat in front of him seemed foreign, but he guessed that was how Sagestar always was. Unfeeling to all but ShadowClan's interests. The Medicine Cat decided he should be more like his leader. But unfortunately that was easier said than done.

"I'll be in my den if you need me."

Please, don't. Softwhisper thought. He regretted the feeling, but if the only way he was going to find solace today was to heal a WindClan cat. . . he'd rather not be interrupted. Softwhisper somewhat loathed his brother right now. Without his consent. As if having WindClan in their debt was so bad. Wouldn't Sagestar want his Clan healed if Softwhisper and Mallowpaw suddenly died? Wouldn't it be worth it, healing one lousy WindClan cat?

No, it wouldn't. As long as it didn't matter now, it didn't matter ever. Softwhisper wished his brother could see through his eyes for just a moment. Despite being a good Leader and cat, Softwhisper felt Sagestar was a nearsighted fool. A bitter, proud fool. It was no wonder that rumors of ShadowClan's shrewdness circulated evenly throughout the other Clans. Strength and prosperity . . . in exchange for what? Infamy and hatred?

"Come, Falconfang," Softwhisper mewed, walking into his den, head held high.