Suppliants

The muddy slush beneath Swiftnose's paws squished uncomfortably between his toes as he padded onward with a slight limp. His wounds had stopped bleeding a while ago, but he could still feel the painful sting. The journey from SkyClan land to WindClan's territory had been tiring, but he pressed on for the sake of his leader. It was close to sundown when the pair of medicine cats(as Nightpaw was with him) came upon the moorland Clan's camp.

Nightpaw padded alongside his mentor, his frame though larger, was battered just the same. He continued and wasn't to the point of limping, since his injuries were not placed to make him do so. Though he did flinch slightly when he stepped the wrong way, causing the pain to inflame.

Padding along the wet moorlands, Falconstar came upon an odd sight: the two ThunderClan medicine cats limping upon WindClan territory. Frowning slightly, the leader changed coursed and stopped in front of them, addressing them formally - they were medicine cats, after all - but warily all the same. "Greetings Swiftnose," he mewed to the main medicine cat, giving him a curious glance. "What brings you to WindClan territory? Is Dewstar alright?" Knowing Dewstar, she was just sending her medicine cats to scope out their territory. It would be best if these two medicine cats explained their business quickly. Maybe they needed another medicine cat.

"Ah, Falconstar. Hello." He dipped his head with respect to the WindClan leader. "It's quite the coincidence that you should ask. Dewstar has contracted greencough, and we suspect that it is rapidly progressing into blackcough." It was no use lying or coming up with a half-truth; that was no way to gain a Clan leader's trust, especially in a time of need. Swiftnose tried to keep a positive attitude, but it was hard to keep looking on the bright side with his following words. "Leafbare has left us without enough herbs to care for her. We have used them all on those of our Clanmates who have also fallen ill or who have met the claws of ShadowClan trespassers. Nightpaw and I had gone to Twolegplace in search of catnip, but a few rogues chased us out." He didn't mention that they would probably need a few dressings themselves, but it was probably obvious because of the scratches on his chest, forelegs, and even a few nicks around the ears.

OOC;; Too lazy to do other characters, so here.

IC;; Ravenpaw, having come back from Sunningrocks with a few herbs in her mouth, was walking by, not noticing the visitors at camp. Slipping into the medicine cats' den, one of the leaves she did own was catmint, considering that she had gone and collected enough before leaf-bare struck. Doing a quick sort that would be thoroughly looked through later on, she headed straight out afterwards, only now seeing the ThunderClan medicine cats. Blinking a couple times in slight confusion as to why they would be here, their obvious wounds showing that something was deeply troubling them and clearly, medicine cats don't normally show a wound as they heal, not fight. Choosing to ignore them, while the fact that she was easy to spot within the mesh of cats, the black she-cat started to head out of camp again, though this time, not for herbs or towards ShadowSky, but just for some peaceful quiet time. This unfortunately, was to be interrupted.

Swiftnose met Ravenpaw's gaze before she looked away and turned to leave. He realized that she was going to ignore them without a second thought and he took a single step towards her, calling out to the other medicine cat. "Wait, Ravenpaw! We need to ask a favor of you!" His ears flattened against his skull when the thought occurred to him that the entire camp would have heard them, but they were in deep need and rival Clans were the least of ThunderClan's worries- for the moment.

Usually, she'd just continue to leave and completely ignore them, but since this was another medicine cat who was her senior, Ravenpaw turned back, her tail waving slightly before asking, "Help...?" A monotone voice that always just seemed to give off chills, yet in a calm and cool system. The she-cat had noticed their condition, but simply shrugged it off. She didn't usually like to give away the supplies she had worked to gather so much, and the fact that a rival clan was begging for them when they should be used for her own clan seemed really off and farfetched to her. Often, she rebelled against the code of the medicine cats - never really look outside of borders to extend to the needs of others. But... perhaps Swiftnose had a reason for this. Signaling the toms into her shared den with Shadeheart, the black medicine cat headed back in before taking a seat. This must be important if it should be worth coming to an enemy clan.

Nightpaw watched Swiftnose speak, though realized that he spoke rather loudly to Ravenpaw. As Ravenpaw allowed them into her den, he dipped his head to her and entered, waiting for Swiftnose to continue.

He sighed inwardly with relief and then followed Ravenpaw, curling his tail around his paws when he'd gotten in and sat down. "I know this probably looks like we were careless, but we need herbs for our Clan. We had gathered enough to last us before leaf-bare and we would have done just fine. But sometime earlier in the season, we were attacked by a well-organized group of rogues. They took our prey and destroyed our herbs. Their leader paid for it with his life, but they still got away having done their work. Recently, Dewstar caught a terrible bout of greencough that I'm afraid will develop into blackcough before too long and she's too stubborn to ask for help from RiverClan and we are not exactly on friendly terms with ShadowClan." Swiftnose's own mentor, Hailstorm, had died a while ago. He hadn't even gotten the news until it was sometime later. Because he had no real friendship with old Mallowroot, ThunderClan's last and only connection to ShadowClan was effectively cut off and with the recent border disputes, risking either of the medicine cats was a dangerous idea and, quite frankly, very stupid.

Listening to the senior medicine cat's explanation from the rogues to black cough, though, she could faintly hear it with her poor sense of sound, Ravenpaw pondered on the fact that, while they were fellow medicine cats, she couldn't just hand out such precious herbs like catmint to the opposing clan. This was a decision that needed Falconstar and even Snoweye to help with - while she would recommend what was best, it required their acceptance and approval on the choice before giving the plants away. However, they would have to trust her judgment on this one. None of the WindClan cats have gotten sick at all this leaf-bare, so that was fortunate for one, and moreover, they haven't been using their supplies as often as she'd like, though at least, it was possible to go gather more. Giving a slight nod to the two, the black she-cat gave them the catmint that she had just collected, beckoning to them to take it. It wasn't like she cared that rogues attacked their camp or anything nor did she feel sympathy for them - all it was that it seemed like the right thing to do - and that was the only reason she bothered to hand it to them.