literature

Little Blessings

Deviation Actions

Published: Jul 18, 2013

272 Views

Literature Text

Shadesoul had run out of her first store of cobwebs, mint, and soft moss so her first task of the day was to carry what she had found back to the camp before she would choose her freshkill from the pile. Before the sun had truly risen, she had padded out of her den to start the tasks she had set for herself the previous evening. That had been some time ago and she was glad to be returning to camp. After she put away what she had collected, she shook herself and sat down to eat the freshkill that one of the apprentices had been so kind to bring her. After finishing her meal, Shadesoul began her morning ritual of cleaning herself. After all, who would want to come to a Medicine Cat who couldn't keep her own coat at least mostly clean? As she was working, Shadesoul kept an eye on the entrance to her den. She knew someone was thinking of visiting her, but she did not know who.

Thornblade trotted somewhat sluggishly across the Skyclan clearing, her back aching from carrying the extra weight of kits around. The gray and white she-cat hadn't visited the medicine cat since she had learned (or presumed) that she was pregnant, so she had thought that she should, just for a check-up. As the warrior reached the entrance, she sighed. Carrying kits brought a lot of strain on her. She couldn't hunt, fight, train, or do things that required energy. At least, not very well. "Hello? It's Thornblade." she called before walking inside, her legs aching as well before she sat down with a huff. "My back and legs hurt." the tabby added quite bluntly, feeling somewhat awkward as her sides were bulging outward slightly, causing her to feel heavy and fat.

Shadesoul looked up from her bath and smiled. Her odd sixth sense had been right again. Momentarily she thanked Starclan and Birdsong before getting to her feet and padding in Thornblade's direction. "Good morning Thornblade. Your back and legs are giving you pain?" Shadesoul was fairly certain that she knew the reason, as she had seen a few queens through the process of bareing and birthing their kits. Sometimes the news had to be offered tactfully, and she believed this was one of those occasions. The mottled grey-blue she-cat circled her visitor carefully, making certain that all the external signs were there. Her blue eyes were filled with concern and a bit of excitement there as well. The question was not asked with the intention of getting an answer, and so Shadesoul followed it with another question, "Have you been eating more than normal?" She had noticed the nasty looking scratch, but would save that question for later. There was a much more pressing topic at hand.

Thornblade looked down at her belly with a small frown. It was getting quite bigger, much to her dismay, and she knew very well that it wasn't from eating too much prey. "No. In fact, I've been eating less." the Skyclan warrior replied with a huff, adverting her eyes from the medicine cat. Shadesoul was surely going to get angry at her stupidity for eating less when she had kits to feed as well. But the gray and white tabby she-cat didn't want to eat, not if she couldn't repay the clan by hunting herself. Her growing belly and aching limbs were of no help though, slowing her down in the chase, making it practically impossible to hunt. She lost her breath easily and always found herself panting in the end. Not to mention that her wound Vistagaze gave her always seemed to open up again and start bleeding.

Shadesoul frowned. Thornblade should be eating more, and not less. She now had quite a few more mouths to feed. There wasn't anything shameful about bringing kits into the clan. She turned away from the other she-cat, and towards her herb stores. She knew she had some dock leaves in there somewhere, and went about looking for one to help with the nasty scratch on Thornblade's shoulder. "Thornblade, eating less than you need to is not going to help you, your kits, or the Clan. Starclan knows we would be glad to welcome kits into the world. Here, this will help your shoulder but it will sting. Please hold still." Shadesoul chewed part of the leaf, and let the resulting juice drip onto Thornblade's wound, inwardly wincing in sympathetic pain. She remembered it all too well from when she had earned her scars.

Thornblade hissed as her scratch stung, closing one of her navy blue eyes shut tightly, her teeth bared. But as the herb juice sunk into her wound, the pain slowly dulled and the Skyclan warrior let her shoulders slump comfortably, although her neck fur was still ruffled. "I know, I know." the gray and white tabby she-cat replied shortly, feeling somewhat miffed at getting chewed out by the medicine cat, but she knew that Shadesoul knew best. "I'll eat more." she promised with a little nod, giving her stomach another glance, slightly annoyed at how it was getting rounder. However, a warm glow flickered in her chest as the she-cat imagined her tiny kits squirming around in her belly, warm and safe from the world. "Do you think you can tell me how many I'll have?" Thornblade asked, looking at the medicine cat with a twitch of her whiskers, her paws shaking somewhat nervously.

The blue-grey she-cat licked her teeth a get times, mostly to get the taste out of her mouth. Those leaves did not taste very good. She nodded at Thornblade's accent to her suggestion. Someone as devoted to her clan as the she-cat who was in her den never good advice well, and so Shadesoul was greatful that she had gotten verbal agreement, even if it was grumpily put. At Thornblade's next question, however, Shadesoul balked. she wasn't sure if the queen would be willing to let her try to figure out the answer. Even so, she reasoned, a few scratches would be nothing if she could answer the questions that the young soon to be mother chose to ask. "Well if you will allow me to touch your stomach, I can give you a good idea. Sometimes it's exact and sometimes it's not. Starclan knows I wish it was." Shadesoul streached, thinking. "If you would like I can speak to Cloverstar and inform her of your move from the Warriors den to the nursery. I understand how when things change, sometimes it is hard to adjust to. Motherhood is a great honor."

Thornblade just gapped silently at the medicine cat, her ears flat against her head. She'd have to move to the Nursery?! Of course, the Skyclan warrior had known that right from the start, but she had thoroughly refused to think about it. Now that the time had come for her to move, the gray and white tabby she-cat felt like throwing up. "O-Of course." was all she could muster, blinking a couple times to straighten out the buzzing in her head. The she-cat would have to make sacrifices for her kits. Shaking her head, Thornblade took a slow breath to calm herself down before remembering what Shadesoul had mentioned. "Oh right. You can touch my stomach." the she-cat replied with glance towards the side, finding the situation somewhat awkward. Yes, the medicine cat would have to feel around her belly to determine the number of kits inside, but that didn't mean it wouldn't make the gray and white tabby she-cat very uncomfortable, right?

As Shadesoul watched the other she-cats expression it was all she could do not to laugh at Thornblade's reaction to the realization she would have to leave the warriors den. The abject horror that seemed to paint her face was almost too much for Shadesoul. The blue-grey she-cat flicked her ears backward momentarily. "Think of it this way Thornblade, the clan that you serve with your teeth, claws, sinew, and muscle is now your protection while you bear it's future." Shadesoul moved closer to Thornblade with her permission. She could see the other she-cat thinking and chose not to interrupt her thoughts. First she gently prodded Thornblade's growing stomach. Her ears flicked backward in supprise. She checked again, prodding a bit more firmly to be sure. After confirming her suspicions she sat back and shook her head. "Thornblade, I am fairly certain you are going to have five kits." Shadesoul had nothing more to say, she was amazed. Usually there were at most three, at least in her limited expirience. She looked up at Thornblade with pride shining in her blue eyes. "You should be proud."

Thornblade was once again silent at the medicine cat's discovery. Five kits...five kits...five kits. Five kits are a lot of kits. The gray and white tabby looked down at her belly again. No wonder why it was getting so round. And she wasn't even pregnant for that long! "T-Thank you." she replied, still going over Shadesoul's last words in her mind. You should be proud. The Skyclan warrior was still surprised that she had managed to get pregnant, and now she was being told that she was pregnant withfive kits?! "They'll be a pawful." Thornblade added, not knowing whether to feel joy or dread at the thought of raising the five kits. Nonetheless, the she-cat let an airy laugh, her legs still shaking nervously. She was going to be a mother and it was her first time. Not to mention, she was young to be having her first litter. What if something wrong happened during birth?

Shadesoul laughed, "They will definately be a pawful. Especially since they are still growing. It is no wonder your back and legs hurt. Since this is your first litter you will be seeing quite a lot of me, but don't worry about that. I just want to be sure everything is going well." Shadesoul's face was lit by a smile, and even her eyes were shining. This was a very exciting thing and good news for the clan. Not only that but it more than explained the reason that the hard working Thornblade had become more sluggish and brought home less prey. "You may want to let the father know the news. You both should be proud. You are shaping the future of our clan." Shadesoul purred as she tried to encourage her clanmate. She had never had kits herself, and somewhere in the back of her thoughts was a bit of jealousy. But she didn't even acknowledge its existence. As she was doing so, a thought occurred to her. "Thornblade, you might consider visiting the elders den from time to time while your kits are growing. The elders seem to be running out of stories and I believe they would appreciate someone else telling them for a change. With all your adventures as a Warrior, I would guess you might just have a few you could pass on?"

"I guess so, maybe. Although, I'm not much of a story teller. Finwhisker is more of the storyteller than I am, I'm sure he could tell the elders much more interesting and fun stories than I could." Thornblade meowed thoughtfully, mentally putting a reminder in her head to ask the brown tom to visit the elders' den. The Skyclan warrior felt at ease talking about her mate, although she couldn't help but feel somewhat awkward as well. She didn't think that Shadesoul knew who was the father of the kits and the new former Riverclan cat was probably, and hopefully, the last on her list of possibilities. The gray and white tabby she-cat suddenly felt pride as she realized what the medicine cat said was true. Bearing kits was also a way to give back to her Clan! Sure, she couldn't hunt or fight while with the kits, but once her kits grew up, they'd be fine warriors, just the kind Skyclan needed! Then, once they were all grown up, she herself could go back to living the life of a warrior! "Well, now that you mention it, I guess having kits isn't too bad, huh?" Thornblade added with a small smile, flicking Shadesoul's shoulder with her tail in thanks.

Shadesoul purred and smiled. "No, having kits isn't bad at all. And having Finwhisker tell stories in the Elder's den is a good idea. I imagine he has different stories than we have heard, being originally from a different clan. I haven't had the opertunity to meet him yet, though he seems to fit in fairly well. I should talk to him and see if he would be interested in the idea." Shadesoul got to her feet effortlessly and padded back into her den slightly and began gathering some of the soft moss that she had set out for injured cats to make their nests in. "We should find you a place in the nursery. Why don't you go on ahead, and I'll bring you softer moss to make your nest more comfortable." She wasn't trying to get rid of Thornblade, though that might have been how she was coming across, but she wanted to share the good news with the rest of the clan, and she couldn't do that from her den. Thornblade always worked so hard for the clan, and her move to the nursery wouldn't go unnoticed.

Thornblade nodded, heaving herself to a standing position, a little hiss of annoyance at how the process seemed harder already. Carrying five kits was not the easiest thing in the world. With another huff, the gray and white tabby she-cat padded out of the medicine cat den, making her way across the clearing to the Nursery. As she stepped into the Nursery, her neck fur prickled slightly as a couple of cats behind her stared with confused eyes. The Skyclan warrior's ears flattened as she sat down, wishing that cats didn't take it too dramatically. They act as if I'm the first queen ever.Thornblade thought irritably, scanning the area in front of her. The Nursery was completely empty and looked somewhat spacey, much to her pleasure. More room for her kits to play. The she-cat sniffed the air. It smelled musky, but she shrugged, standing up again to walk to the far end of the den. It was the farthest place from the entrance and she liked it, liked the wall securely around her. Yes, this would be the place where she lived from now on.

Shadesoul finished gathering only the softest moss from her den and made her way across the camp to the nursery carrying it easily. She padded through the opening to the nursery easily, and smiled through the moss between her jaws. Wordlessly she started tucking some of the moss in the nest arround Thornblade, hoping it would make her feel more comfortable. She hoped that the other she-cat could see how this was a blessing from Starclan to Skyclan. After she finished tucking in all the moss she could, she left the rest in a fluffy pile within Thornblade's reach. "If there's nothing else I can do I will go now. Remember, my den is always open."