Fearing the Future- Open!

[Darkheart]

Large brown eyes stared into the distance. The little medicine cat's white fur stuck up like needles when a cold breeze ruffled the trees. It was coming. Waterlily could feel its frigid claws creeping up on the clan. It was hunting them; waiting to take them out. It was her one fear. The only thing that haunted her sleeping mind.
Or at least that was how she saw it.
And it was winter.
Waterlily had never faced winter alone. She always had her mentor to guide her. But no one was there to tell her how to defend her clan against the hunger... the illness... the cold. Not even her brother, Wolfsong, could save her from this horror.
Her eyes scanned her den for the seventh time, taking note of how much she had of what. She was caught by suprised this morning when white frost formed on the grass, making blinding sparkles when the sun hit the specks. The sun couldn't even save her. The warmth it provied was long gone now. Most of the herbs are either dead or on their death-bed.
Water blurred Waterlily's vision. "I will never make this!" She cried, smacking the floor with her paws so hard that her front leg gave that needle feeling.

[Diria]

Silverkit jumped at Waterlily's cry. She had been walking by the medicine cats den and heard it from inside. She walked in, not caring about how much trouble she might get in. As she entered, she noticed Waterlily. She stared at her for a moment, confused about Waterlily's cry. Silverkit slowly walked up to her, trying to be quiet. When she was fairly close to her, she sat down and once again started to stare. "Are you okay Waterlily?" she asked with a curious tone. She hoped that it was the right thing to do.

[◦ʜʇʎɯ]

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[atrb=background,http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii286/Shiny_Pikachu/New%20WV%20Tables/Stonefang2.png,true] Being an elder had it's perks. For one, you could lie about all day and no one could have a rant at you; you'd done your time and the clan was to look after you. Another perk was you didn't have to clean out your bed and you got the first pick of the prey - along with the precious queens, of course. The last perk was kits adored you (not that MistClan was sporting many kits at the moment), and they would listen. You could scare the dirt out of them if you tried hard enough. Stonefang's favourite story was about Demonstar and how he would rise from the grave and gobble up naughty kits, though it never did win him favours with the kits mothers'. Truth all be told, Stonefang was more bored than a hibernating squirrel right now. He really could do with getting up and having a wander around camp. It felt like he hadn't been up and about for days, so he figured he'd pop in and see how Waterlily was doing. This leafbare would be her first without him. With a loud yawn, the tom rose and padded towards the fresh kill pile, gobbling up a very scrawny mouse. He couldn't complain; he'd been a warrior in winter before and new how hard it was to get any good prey. The fattest creatures were birds but MistClan mainly hunted fish, which should stay nice and fat, if the river didn't freeze up. Stretching out his sore leg, he wandered slowly to his old den before he heard Waterlily shout. A kit scurried into the den, leaving Stonefang standing outside in the chill. "What is wrong with that lass..." he murmured to himself, padding to the den and pushing in, orange-brown eyes looking at the herbs. They were pitiful, at best. Dead or dying. The tom shook his head; Waterlily would have trouble this leafbare looking for herbs, and if his bones felt right, this leafbare wouldn't exactly be the best they would have had. Stonefang looked at the kit, and was about to scold her for bothering Waterlily when she asked what was wrong. Stonefang pushed into the den fully this time and sat down, as if it were still his own. "The herbs, kit," he brushed his tail along the kit's face and to the withered herbs. "They're suffering from the cold, and the wild stocks are running low." he mused, staring angrily at the herbs as if they had any input on the matter of dying and being of no use. "Waterlily, honestly, where is that apprentice of yours? I never thought you needed one; honestly lass, you're a fine young cat. You're probably going to outlive me, White-eyes and Puddlestar." Stonefang said with a hmph. "I took you on because I was getting old. You're not getting old, chuck." he purred lightly, and smiled. "Plus, I could do with a wee stretch. We could try and find some more herbs before they all die out for leafbare." for a moment, he looked at the kit. "And, err.... Silverkit, could help." For once he dearly hoped he'd got someone's name right.

[Diria]

Silverkit looked up at Stonefang. She had not noticed his arrival in the den, but he was talking about allowing Silverkit to help collect leaves. Would she finally get to leave the camp? Even if it was just to collect herbs, it was better than nothing. She had always wanted to see the rest of MistClans territory. Silverkit didn't want to wait until she was apprenticed, it was too far off in her opinion. She looked back at Waterlily. Maybe if they got more herbs she would be happy. "Really? Could I please help?" she said, tail twitching in excitment.

[Darkheart]

Waterlily was startled by the kit's voice cracking the silence around her. At first, she didn't know what to say. She wasn't one to show her feelings to others. Her brown eyes opened as she tired to find the words. Then, when her old mentor came in, she relaxed. Thank StarClan he knew what to tell the kit.
The young she-cat closed her eyes and let Stonefang's comforting word sink in. Then she looked at him with glassy eyes. Then, she looked at Silverkit. "I do need help." She admitted, her voice cracking at the word 'help.' She felt ashamed. She hated bothering other cats. They had their own problems to worry about. How could she drag them into hers? But she was also smart enough to know that if she didn't get help, she would be jeopardizing the cats in the future.
"I'm sorry, Stonefang. I wasn't prepared. I didn't realize how... how sensitive the herbs are to the cold." She looked down at her paws. Glancing at the small piles of herbs, she sighed. Silverkit probably thinks I'm going to kill the clan She thought.

[Diria]

Silverkits tail continued to twitch in excitment. She was even more excited than she was before. She was going to go outside the camp. Silverkit looked back to Waterlily. She still looked very worried. "Don't worry Waterlily," Silverkit said confidently. "I'm sure if we look really hard, we'll find some herbs."
Silverkit turned towards Stonefang. "Don't you think so to Stonefang? Do you think we could go soon?" She was too excited to worry about whether or not they would find anything. She only thought of two things. Going outside of the camp, and cheering Waterlily up.