A soft cough, and a sudden drop [Open]

The Leafbare winds were hard on everyone, and with leaner prey came weaker bodies. Tigerpaw, having the misfortune of being born during Leafbare, was weaker than Newleaf kits. He seemed fine for the longest time, though he was a slight bit quieter than others. But as the winds grew even colder and what little prey that had stretched thinner, the tabby tom found himself getting weaker by the day.

Then one day, he slipped and didn't get up.

"Tigerpaw, you goof. Be careful." Minnowslip teased, nudging her brother who, in her opinion, was over-dramatically laying on the floor. But when he didn't get up or respond to anything she did, she realised it was more serious than she'd thought. The backed away with her ears pinned flat and her tail fluffed up in alarm. "GOLDENEYE! CLOUDSTONE! SOMEONE! HELP!"

ooc;; tiger is gonna die, but not in this topic, this is to establish that rc lacks the herbs to heal and have tiger grow weaker and weaker

The call of her name had the golden she-cat's attention, bolting out of the medicine cats den to see Tigerpaw on the ground and Minnowslip looking rather panicked, she knew it couldn't be good. The young she-cats fur bristled as she stopped before the apprentice and sniffed at his pelt, the sickly stench that reached her nose driving panic into her heart. It was quick to affect the young tom, she could tell, which meant that she'd have to get him immediate treatment.

"Minnowslip, get him out of this weather and into my den." She snapped, padding speedily back into her den and ripping into the cold, hard ground and the back of the den, right next to where she kept her stored herbs. Her claws broke and tore as she did such, but if she could get a dip in the ground and packed it full of nest materials Tigerpaw may have a fighting chance. She didn't have time to make a good nest so she grasped her own and a spare nest and crammed it into the dip she made.

She needed more cats to help, any cat to scour Riverclan territory for the herbs she'd need, an escort for her... she'd need to get the medicine cat den reinforced with anything insulating that could be found, as well as the nest that Tigerpaw would need to rest on, that would need to get changed daily. Something fatty for the tom to eat, water that wasn't frigid. Goldeneye's head swam as she stared blankly at her near-empty herb storage. Starclan help them.

"O-okay!" As Goldeneye broke the sound barrier trying to scramble up a nest for the tom, Minnowslip gingerly carried her brother by the scruff, wincing every time as the scratching noise of rocks against his pelt. How did she not notice how ill he was? She'd been so stupidly preoccupied in her little world with concerns of a war looming that she'd ignored her brother who was right here.

The moment Goldeneye was finished, she hurled him thin frame onto the moss nest. He felt so cold against her nose, like freshkill left out on the pile for too long. "Is there anything I can do? Please, Goldeneye!"

"Yes, there is. Minnowslip, I need you to listen and trust me, okay? First, I need you to get Jaystream or a band of warriors to scour the territory for any herbs they can find. I can supply this 'herb-team' with what the herbs look like and get them sent off. When that is done, get a cat or two to get this den and Tigerpaws nest reinforced with warm things, like feathers and reed fluff. Once you do that, I'll tell you what we're going to do, and you might not like it." She meowed, turning to her dirt floor and sketching out catmint, lavender, tansy, and chickweed, any and all herbs that she knew of that could stall and hopefully stop the disease before it got worse.

"Make sure to limit any interaction with Tigerpaw after this, I can't risk the whole clan getting what he's got. Only one cat may enter at a time, making sure to wash whatever part of them that comes in contact with Tigerpaw or Tigerpaw himself in the stream." She ordered, stepping out of the medicine cats den to make sure Ivystar wasn't out of her den yet. If she did, she'd have to get her out of camp or tending to Tigerpaw.

"I'll get Jaystream then, after I wash myself in the stream. Got it. You're going to be fine, Tigerpaw. Goldeneye will get you in tiptop shape!" Minnowslip spoke half for herself and half for Tigerpaw, as she slipped out of the camp without brushing against anyone, like her namesake. Despite the below freezing temperature of the waters that was more slurry than liquid at the edges, she leapt in without hesitation. She let the cold penetrate her pelt before she came out looking like a damp mossball.

Trailing water in fat globs behind, she raced to where she last saw the deputy. "Jaystream, Tigerpaw is ill and Goldeneye said she needs you to look for herbs of some sort. You gotta go to her and don't touch Tigerpaw because he's ill and... and..."

She panted raggedly, struggling to catch her breath from both anxiety and the cold. "Just go to her! I need... I need to tell someone to get fluff. Otterleap!"

-

The senior warrior was curled up in a ball to keep out the cold as his nest was being stripped bare by the apprentices for cleaning. Napping on frozen soil was a subpar experience, but tired from a dawn patrol, he hardly cared about the heat he lost. He just wanted to shut his eyes, but then Minnowslip came running, frantic. "What's going on, Minnowslip? Why the rush?"

"Tigerpaw is ill and you need to get bedding now! Take someone with you, just get bedding and reed fluff and moss, just do it you old coot! My brother is dying!" She hissed at him before running off towards the Medicine Cat den.

He was astounded by her sudden viciousness, a little hurt too, but he excused it as her being worried for Tigerpaw, not hating him like the rest of the clan. Shaking the sleep out of his body, the thick furred tom went over to Finchstream and asked her to come with.

-

"Back! What do you need of me, Goldeneye? I don't care what it is, just tell me." She looked determine to save him, eyes focused on his every breath, fearing it might be his last.

Goldeneye was rather impressed with how speedily Minnowslip was but pushed it to the back of her mind as she worked on getting Minnowslip dry before she herself got sick. "We need to go pay Skyclan a visit, and Ivystar can't know about it. Skyclan is our only option right now, they may be farther but I doubt Shadowclan will aide us, and Windclan..." Goldeneye's fur bristled and her stomach clenched at the thought, the wailing and rushing of the gorge beside her flooding her senses briefly before she shook herself out and back to the present. "I don't think they'd give us aide either, plus, something makes me think that Ivystar wouldn't like to owe them a debt. We have to leave immediately. Cloudstone should be here soon to watch him, especially since all the other cats will be coming in and out." Goldeneye sputtered, though she didn't dare leave until she could catch Jaystream up to date.

The deputy turned his head surprised when he saw Minnowslip approaching quickly. His eyes widened even more as she talked. Tigerpaw was sick... He watched at the she-cat a few seconds before reacting and nodding quickly, a worried expression on his face. "Thank you, Minnowslip. I'll go immediately and good luck!" The tom didn't lose any other second and he ran to the medicine cat den.

His eyes fixed on the weakened apprentice because he could focus on Goldeneye. walking to her bu being careful to not being too close to Tigerpaw, the deputy greeted her. "Goldeneye! I'm here! What do you need to save him?" He mewed before Minnowslip entered the den once again. When Jaystream heard Goldeneye's plan, he doubted for a second. Not telling Ivystar was... wrong. He felt like it was wrong. She was his leader and he was her deputy. She had to know about this! But the situation was desperate. Tigerpaw needed help now! Lowering his head a bit and curling his tail, the tom looked at the medicine cat, concerned. "You know that I'll go with you but... can we truly not tell Ivystar about this? She might be a proud cat... but from what I know of her... she's capable of putting that pride aside for the well-being of her clanmates."

From next to Jaystream, Minnowslip shivered as Goldeneye licked her clean. She thought about their options but still came to the same conclusion as the Medicine cat.

"We can tell her later, she's off on a patrol anyway. It'll take too long to find her and ask permission. C'mon Jaystream, you're the deputy. Give us permission and we'll run like the wind to SkyClan." Minnowslip looked desperately at her deputy, her eyes wide and pleading. Every second they wasted, it seemed that Tigerpaw was slipping away. His each breath sounded more laboured than the next, though she had no doubt he'd make it through with help, she didn't want to leave it to StarClan. They'd been exceptionally cruel to them in the past few moons, to leave it to them was certain death in her books.

"If you can't put aside the fact that we're going behind Ivystar's back then you can't come with us, I am not going to stand here and let you decide over morality, you're my best friend Jaystream and I mean you no ill-will. I need you to get a herb patrol together, I've sketched out the herbs I'll need in the dirt over there. If you manage to find some get Tigerpaw to eat them immediately, stall for time if you can. That might just be enough for me and Minnowslip to get to Skyclan and back." She snapped, bodily shoving past the deputy and Minnowslip.

"Come on. If you decide to come Jaystream, follow our path but this cannot wait, the longer we argue the less time Tigerpaw has. Minnowslip, we're leaving." She snapped, bolting out of the medicine cat den and kicking up snow as she launched herself out of Riverclan camp and started her journey to Skyclan.

The shaky tom bit his tongue, nervously. His eyes went from Minnowslip to Goldeneye, from Goldeneye to Tigerpaw. He saw the weakened tom barely holding to life. It was sure that if they didn't do something soon, he would die. Both she-cats made him see reality and how delicate was this situation. Ivystar wasn't here... but he was. And he had to make a decision for the best of his clan. "I... understand. Just go and return fast. I'll take care of the patrol for you, Goldeneye. Minnowslip... be careful and protect our medicine cat at all cost. I'll send you a few more warriors and, I have the time, I'll try to catch both of you." He mewed, although he wasn't sure if he would be that fast. The least he could do was gather the herbs.

No more words were needed. The tall tom approached Goldeneye's sketches and looked at them briefly before he turned his head toward the entrance, where he saw Minnowslip and Goldeneye disappearing. Oh, Starclan... please take care of her... He silently prayed, his ears flattened against his skull. Jaystream didn't want to let her go without him... but it was necessary. He had to put his clan before his personal desires. That was what a deputy should do.

Finchstream jolted awake at the feeling of a paw shaking her shoulder, and the petite she-cat opened her eyes to see Otterleap.  She heard cats yowling in the clearing, and for a moment was quite confused, but after a short explanation from the older tom her eyes rounded with sympathy.  "Tigerpaw's sick?  Oh no, that's terrible!"  Jumping to her paws, she gave her fluffy pelt a few licks before meowing; "Of course I'll help, let's go!"  Only recently had she been relased from the medicine cat's den, her fractured rib from the battle for the most part fully healed, and she was eager to get out of camp and taste the fresh air.