Goldenshine's POV

"Briarpaw, from this day forward you will be known as Briarlight. StarClan honors you for your perseverance and spirit." Firestar's meow echoed throughout the camp.

"Bumblestripe! Blossomfall! Briarlight!" the Clan yowled in triumph for the three newly-made warriors.

I turned my head to look over at Briarlight, whose head was held high as Firestar licked her shoulder. I couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for her, as she would never be able to truly become a warrior.

Soon after the storm that had caused the tree to fall on Briarlight and Longtail, Briarlight woke up in the medicine den to realize that she couldn't move her back legs. It had now been confirmed that she was permanently paralyzed in her back legs. I admired how well she had handled all of it.

With Swiftkit behind me, I walked up to the three littermates and congratulated them, while Swiftkit gave them a curt nod. I looked back to him and smiled, glad that he cared to acknowledge the three warriors. But immediately, he started trudging back towards the nursery.

I was starting to worry about him. He had been nothing but exhausted lately. Everywhere he went with his tail to the ground, and he snapped at me almost every time I said anything as simple as "how are you?" to him. He had become even more irritable if that was even possible. I was with him all of the time, and hadn't noticed anything that would make him act this way, which I suppose made me worry even more.

I shook my head slowly as I started to follow him to the nursery. Just as Swiftkit was about to crawl into the nursery, he passed Molekit, Snowkit, and Cherrykit playing mossball. Cherrykit let out a loud gasp. Swiftkit paused.

"Swiftkit, what happened to you?" Cherrykit exclaimed.

I paused as soon as Cherrykit spoke, my heart seemingly skipping a few beats. "What?" I ran up closer to Swiftkit to try to get a glimpse of what Cherrykit was referring to, but Swiftkit immediately jumped away from me. "What do you mean? It's nothing!"

Cherrykit's eyes were so wide, I almost thought that they were going to pop out of her head. She ran over to Swiftkit, whose fur was starting to bristle. "You have a huge gash in your flank! Are you hurt?" Cherrykit asked frantically, running her small tail along Swiftkit's flank.

As panicked as I was, I tried to suppress a small smile. It was clear that Cherrykit was truly concerned for her friend.

She's so patient with him, even when he's so irritable like this, I thought.

Swiftkit let out a small hiss and pulled away from the ginger she-kit. "Like I said, it's nothing! Get away from me!" He growled.

Great StarClan!

My mouth dropped instantly after Swiftkit's harsh words. I was about to scold him until I saw Cherrykit, her eyes filled with hurt. Without another word, she backed away and then turned to walk towards Molekit, her brother. Molekit wrapped his tail around his sister and looked at Swiftkit with narrowed eyes.

"Ignore him, Cherrykit," mewed Molekit, "He's just a mean furball."

I didn't know whether Swiftkit heard the comment or not, for he had already disappeared into the nursery. Although Cherrykit was hurt, she was staring at where he had disappeared.

I shook my head quickly and then followed Swiftkit into the nursery. He was limping towards our nest with his tail dragging the ground.

I narrowed my eyes at Swiftkit and sat down in front of the entrance of the nursery. "Pardon me if I interrupt the rough day you're having, or should I say days, but I must ask - what is going on with you?"

Before Swiftkit got the chance to answer, I actually got a good glimpse of his small flank. I couldn't believe what I was looking at. Like Cherrykit had said, there was a huge gash along his flank. It was deep, and it did not look like it was going to recover instantly.

And from what little I have learned from the medicine den, I thought, it looks like it is on its way to infection!

"Swiftkit! What in the name of StarClan?" I exclaimed. He rolled his eyes as I quickly picked him up and stormed out of the nursery. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the three other kits from the nursery watching. Molekit was still close to Cherrykit, but Snowkit was off to the side, eyes wide.

I burst into the medicine den, setting down Swiftkit, almost seemingly dropping him because of how rushed I felt. I looked back up to find Jayfeather sorting through his herbs, as usual, but he looked incredibly deep in thought.

But clearly, now, that wouldn't matter to me!

"Jayfeather!" I yowled. "Swiftkit is hurt!"

"Oh, foxfung," Swiftkit said, clearly annoyed as he slowly shook his head.

But I ignored him. "He has a huge gash on his flank! It looks infected! Please help!"

Jayfeather let out a snort as he finally seemed to be turning his attention to me. "Alright, alright, Goldenshine, keep your fur on!" He began. "I'm sure it's no big deal."

I rolled my eyes. She-cats, let alone mothers, may be dramatic, but he better take me seriously! I thought anxiously.

I pushed Swiftkit towards Jayfeather so that he could see to the wound. Jayfeather ran his paw along Swiftkit's flank. His eyes narrowed.

Jayfeather then bent his head down to sniff Swiftkit's flank, and after a few heartbeats, he froze.

My tail was swishing back and forth anxiously. "What? What is it?"

Swiftkit rolled his eyes again. "Goldenshine, I'm telling you, it's nothing!"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Jayfeather finally meowed, his eyes still narrowed.

Swiftkit shot an angry glance at Jayfeather. "Yeah, right!"

"Hey, I'm supposed to be the stubborn cat in this Clan, not you. I'm also the one here who knows what he's talking about, so I'd set your tail down in a nest!"

Swiftkit let out a long, annoyed sigh and lied down in the nearest nest.

Jayfeather immediately returned to his herbs, my gaze following him. "Well?" I asked. "How bad is it? What's wrong?"

Jayfeather was quickly grabbing the herbs he needed, glancing back at Swiftkit with every few heartbeats. "The gash on his flank is infected. He should be okay, but I'll need to tend to it immediately."

I let out an exasperated sigh, and then I realized something.

In all of my hysterics, I haven't even given any thought as to how Swiftkit was injured! Geez, what a great mother I am!

But I pushed away my own self deprecation to ask Swiftkit, "Swiftkit, how did this even happen?"

Swiftkit hesitated for a few heartbeats.

He then finally answered, "Well, I don't know! I may have cut it on a thorn again, or I could have been playing too roughly with the other kits."

I titled my head, not really buying it. "Cherrykit, Molekit and Snowkit looked just fine. Was it just you playing a little too roughly?"

Before I could press Swiftkit further, I noticed how intensely Jayfeather was looking at Swiftkit with his blind eyes as he tended to his wound.

Oh no, is something wrong? My heart starting beating twice as fast again.

"What? What's wrong? Is something wrong?" I asked Jayfeather, forgetting to give Swiftkit's lame excuse for his injury any thought.

Jayfeather's eyes seemed to blaze as he looked back at me. He seemed very frustrated that I had interrupted him, more frustrated than usual. "He will be fine!" He hissed. "Now, either give me a few seconds of silence, or leave me in peace."

I rolled my eyes and kept quiet, not taking his words to heart. He may be an irritable little mouse-brain, but he's amazing at what he does, I realized.

I watched in silence as Jayfeather applied marigold to Swiftkit's infection, still looking at him with the same intense gaze, but I knew better now than to ask him any more questions about it.

As Jayfeather did this, Swiftkit began to drift off into sleep. As his breathing slowed, indicating that he was, in fact, asleep, Jayfeather shook his head quickly, closing his blind eyes, and then looking back up at me.

"It's all finished," he told me. "He should make a full recovery."

I let out a loud sigh of relief and then walked over to sit down by Swiftkit. I looked down at him to see that he seemed to be in a deep sleep.

He sure needs it, I thought, he always looks as if he can't talk one more pawstep.

I looked up again to see that Jayfeather's gaze was burning into mine, his eyes narrowed once again.

"What?" I asked, suddenly feeling a little worried and defensive.

Jayfeather didn't completely answer my question. "Are you with Swiftkit at pretty much all times?" He asked, seemingly interrogational.

I narrowed my eyes back at him. "Yes..." I answered, wondering where he was going with this.

"How does he sleep?"

I was becoming more and more confused, but still answered, "Well...he wriggles a lot, I suppose, and during the day he acts like he hasn't gotten any sleep at all...but I've never been awake and caught him awake."

Jayfeather didn't respond, but just continued to stare, looking as if he was drowning in his own thoughts.

"What?" I asked again, becoming irritated. Why is he pressing me like this?

Again, not answering my question, Jayfeather just shakes his head quickly and walks back to his herbs, yet again. "How's Snowkit?" He asked, obviously trying to change the subject.

Honestly, I was relieved Jayfeather was changing the subject, I didn't want to give much thought as to why Jayfeather seemed suspicious of Swiftkit.

I answered him, "She is doing just fine! She seems to be fitting in with the other kits very well. Cherrykit and Molekit love her!"

They really did. Although Snowkit was extremely shy, she was lovely to get to know once she is comfortable with other cats. She was playful, kind, and all around fun to be with.

Just like Snowflight was... I realized to myself.

Although I had given Jayfeather lots of positive comments about Snowkit, he was silent. I didn't expect him to leap out of the den and reward Snowkit with some fresh-kill...

But some verbal reaction would be nice.

I broke the silence. "Have you heard from her and seen her in StarClan, or something?" I asked, eager to know. It would give me a nice sense of comfort to know that Snowflight really was watching over us like she said she would.

"No," Jayfeather said.

Trying to ignore how short Jayfeather was being, I joked, "Maybe it's because you pulled a thorn out of her paw and sent her away!"

More silence.

Just when I had began to think that Jayfeather didn't care to talk about Snowflight anymore, I heard him let out a shaky sigh. He had clearly been trying to suppress his emotions.

I walked up closer to him as he murmured, "I miss Snowflight."

I closed my eyes as they began to cloud with emotion. Without having to give it any thought, I agreed. "Me too, Jayfeather."

Jayfeather lowered his head and shook it slowly.

I hesitated and then asked, "Do you think that you'll ever be able to get past the fact that she is reincarnated in Snowkit?" I certainly knew that at times, I was still overcome with grief at the loss of my sister. Though she had been killed moons ago, the image of her frail dead body still haunted my thoughts every day. I still couldn't believe that after so long, that she was gone.

I knew that Jayfeather felt the same. Still unbelievably to me, he had fallen for his own apprentice, and had lost her so soon. It was strange seeing Jayfeather, such a prickly cat, act in this way.

As hard as losing Snowflight had been for me, knowing that she was inside of Snowkit almost gave me a comforting feeling, knowing that my sister was in there somewhere, still with me.

"One day I will," Jayfeather finally answered. "As much as I may love her, she is gone. If I spent all of my time thinking about her and the fact that she is in that kit, I wouldn't have any time to worry about everything else that's going on."

Hm... what else could he possibly have going on that isn't medicine cat duties? I wondered, but not overthinking it.

I turned my gaze back to my sleeping son, my eyes narrowing. "How do you think Swiftkit really got this wound?" I asked Jayfeather.

Before he could answer, I heard a loud yowl come from outside. Immediately I recognized my father's voice, "You little mouse-brain! What were you thinking?"