“I shared a rabbit with Leafkit and Larkkit,” Honey kit told him.
“Did Twigkit eat any?” Alderpaw asked. What if she had the sam e belly ache and was afraid to bother any one?
“She had a vole.”
Jayfeather huffed. “Stop fretting about Twigkit and concentrate on the patient,” he snapped to Alderpaw. “Feel her belly. Is it swollen?”
Alderpaw touched his paw to the kit’s round flank, wondering if the tightness there was norm al.
“It feels a bit swollen?” he guessed hesitantly.
Jayfeather’s ears twitched irritably. “Yes. How should we treat her belly ache?”
Alderpaw’s thoughts froze. He felt Briarlight and Fernsong’s eyes on him. Honey kit blinked at him hopefully, pain flashing in her green eyes.
Jayfeather’s blind stare was burning into his pelt. “Well?”
Alderpaw wished again that Jayfeather were less cranky. I’d remember more if he didn’t make me so nervous. “Chervil,” he blurted.
“Good.” Jayfeather sounded satisfied. “Fetch som e.”
“Will it help?” Honey kit asked eagerly.
“Of course it will,” Jayfeather told her.
Alderpaw reached into the crack at the back of the den. It was well stocked. In the half-moon since he’d taken Twigkit to m eet her sister, he and Leafpool had gathered all the herbs they could find. Each m orning brought heavier dew and a colder chill in the air. It wouldn’t be long before the first frost would scorch the precious leaves they’d need through the long day s of leaf-bare.
His paw tips touched the soft leaves of the chervil bundle, and he hauled it out.
He began to untangle a few sprigs, his thoughts wandering to the m orning he’d gathered it. The orange sun had shim m ered above the horizon, its pale warmth hardly chasing the chill from his pelt. The forest had sm elled heady. The scent of wilting ferns and decay ing leaves had filled his nose.
“Hurry up!” Jayfeather’s tail flicked impatiently. “I don’t know what’s wrong with y ou. You’ve been distracted ever since Squirrelflight returned.”
Squirrelflight. Alderpaw looked up in surprise. He hadn’t realized his concerns about what his mother hadn’t found were so obvious.
“Alderpaw!” Jayfeather’s sharp mew j erked him back to the present. The medicine cat’s eats were pricked toward him. “What in StarClan are you doing?”
“I’m ripping up leaves for Honey kit.” Alderpaw stared at him, confused. “Chervil is for belly aches.”
“The roots, not the leaves.” Jayfeather snatched the bundle of chervil away and snapped off a root. He rolled it toward Honey kit. “Eat this.”
Honey kit looked at it nervously. “What does it taste like?”
“It doesn’t m atter what it tastes like,” Jayfeather snapped. “It will make your belly ache go away.”
Fur ruffled, Honey kit picked up the root between her teeth and began to chew. Alderpaw felt a wave of sy m pathy as she screwed up her face at the acrid tang. But she kept chewing, peeking at Jayfeather as though she was scared of what he might say if she stopped. At last she swallowed.
“Well done.” Alderpaw hurried to her side and ran his tail along her spine. “You’ll feel better in no tim e.”
Paw steps pattered outside, and the brambles swished. Twigkit burst through, a m ouse dangling from her jaws.
Jayfeather frowned as the kit hurried across the medicine den and dropped the m ouse beside
Briarlight’s nest. “I brought you prey.”
Briarlight purred. “Thank y ou. But you didn’t need to. You know I can get to the fresh-kill pile by m y self.”
“I know,” Twigkit squeaked happily. “But the hunting patrol just got back. It’s still warm.”
Fernsong sniffed. “That rem inds m e. Ivy pool is waiting for m e.” He blinked at Honey kit.
“Are you feeling better?”
Honey kit was washing her paws, licking them fiercely as though try ing to clean the taste of the chervil from her tongue. She paused and looked at Fernsong. Then she burped.
“Yes, I think so.”
Twigkit bounded toward her. “Larkkit and Leafkit are going to explore the ferns behind the fallen birch. They said you should hurry up.” She looked hopefully at Honey kit, who was three moons older and nearly twice as big as Twigkit. “Can I come too?”
“It’s not a gam e for kits. We’re going to practice hunting,” Honey kit told her. “Leafkit caught a frog there yesterday. If you come, y ou’ll frighten the prey away.”
“No I won’t!” Twigkit’s eyes rounded with indignation.
Alderpaw felt a surge of sy m pathy. “I’m sure she’ll be quiet, Honey kit.”
Jayfeather snorted. “Twigkit’s never quiet, and she’s always getting under som e cat’s paws.”
“That’s not true!” Twigkit glared at him. “I’m very helpful.”
As she defended herself, the brambles rustled at the den entrance. Ivy pool padded in. “Are y ou ready to hunt, Fernsong?”
Fernsong blinked at her, his eyes shining. “Yes,” he meowed happily.
“Great.” Jayfeather began to sweep the sprigs of chervil together with sharp j abs of his paws.
Alderpaw could see irritation rippling though his pelt. “Go hunting. And take these kits out of the den with y ou.”
“Twigkit is not coming with me!” Honey kit obj ected. “She’s too noisy. You always say that, Jayfeather.”
Twigkit’s pelt spiked with indignation, but the blind medicine cat sim ply looked away.
Briarlight heaved herself onto her front paws. “Come with m e, Twigkit,” she meowed. “We can take this m ouse outside and choose som e prey for y ou.”
Fernsong stood aside as Briarlight hauled herself out of her nest and began to drag her lim p hind legs toward the den entrance.
Alderpaw called after Twigkit as she followed. “Perhaps you can come back and help us later.”
“No!” Jayfeather glared at him, his blind blue gaze flashing. “We have work to do.”
Alderpaw flexed his claws, angry at the medicine cat, as Twigkit shot Jayfeather a resentful look and followed Briarlight from the den.
Ivy pool glanced sy m pathetically at Alderpaw. “Come on, Fernsong. The prey won’t catch itself, and I’ve prom ised Graystripe I’ll find him a shrew.”
Alderpaw hardly heard her. He was fum ing. As the two warriors left, he turned on the medicine cat, too furious to tiptoe around him this tim e. “You don’t have to be so mean to Twigkit,” he snapped. “Can’t you see that she doesn’t have any one to play with?”
Jayfeather froze, his eyes narrowing.
Alderpaw tensed as he saw Jayfeather’s ears flatten. He knew this look too well. But he didn’t care. He’d had to say som ething.
“Don’t tell m e how to behave!” Jayfeather hissed. “I already know my herbs. I can cure my Clanmates. You should spend less time worry ing about that kit and more time concentrating on your training.”
Frustration j abbed at Alderpaw’s belly. Why hadn’t he remembered the root was for belly aches, not the leaves? He whisked his tail crossly. He wouldn’t have forgotten if Jayfeather hadn’t been breathing on his tail like an angry fox. “I’ll try harder,” he growled through gritted teeth. “But I’m doing okay, aren’t I? No one else in the Clan doubts m e. They value m e. After all, it was me who received StarClan’s prophecy.”
“There’s more to being a medicine cat than passing on m essages from StarClan,” Jayfeather hissed. “StarClan won’t tell you how to heal a wound or cure a chest infection. You have to learn that y ourself. It takes hard work. And it’s the m ost im portant thing you can do for your Clan. It m ay help you save a life one day.”