☀️You are my sunshine ☀️ | open

She found herself gathering a lot these days, as if preparing for something. Cobwebs were particularly difficult, as one had to avoid the more venomous spiders, as well as tracking down the little things in the first place. It often brought Foxlily towards neutral territory, just to expand her chances of finding it. Today, with a paw wrapped in cobwebs, was no exception. The sound of screaming cats coupled with the scent of fox and blood, however, certainly was an exception! One that forced her paws into a run before she could even process what was happening, hardly helped once she heard the mewing of a newborn kit.

They skidded to a stop as cats came into view, with no sight of a fox but enough idea of what had happened. “Rat feathers,” Foxlily hissed under their breath. Injured cats, one unconscious, and a kitting queen? She’d give her left paw to have Vinedpapple’s help right now. There was no time to waste wishing, though. Hurriedly, they grabbed a thicker stick and dropped it off at the kitting queen’s mouth before they began to press cobwebs into the unconscious queen’s wounds. They beckoned the other SunClan cat with their tail.

“You - are you well enough to grab a few things for me? I hate to ask this of you, but I’ll either need you to fetch me an herb or apply pressure to this cat’s wounds,” she began, voice uncharacteristically firm as they went through the unconscious cat’s vitals. She seemed like she’d live, as far as Foxlily was concerned - but they still needed to stop the bleeding. They’d worry about the rest when she woke up. She cast her eyes towards the kitting queen. “You and your kits will be fine, bite the stick and take deep breaths, okay? You’ve already got one kit out, I’m afraid I’m going to just need you to ride out the contractions until I can be sure that this cat isn’t going to bleed out or get horrendously infected.”

There was an odd level of calm that catastrophe brought for Foxlily. High strung and anxious in every other moment of her life, but when a cat was injured and there were lives in her paws? Any shake or anxiety fled her voice, flooded out by calm and firm tones while the adrenaline rushed through her body. Panic was the last thing these cats needed right now.

Her ear twitched as the kitting queen spoke. “Hold on to that bigger stick, it'll help if only a little. I'm almost done binding the cobwebs, she'll be okay.” Well, she still needed that herb, but she was familiar with the area from her many web hunting excursions. It wouldn't be an issue of any sort right now. For now, she manipulated the spindly nature of cobwebs so that a portion of it wrapped around the unconscious queen - an outsider if she had to guess - and over the thicker portion that was meant to absorb the blood. Tight bound, it could give a portion of the pressure they needed should the other cat be too weak to supply an appropriate amount of pressure for long.

Now for the herbs she needed...

She dashed off, just as quickly as she had come, and grabbed as many as she could carry. Why wasn't this cat in her camp? What was she doing out here? It was too late to really worry about, though, so she could make no other choice but act quickly. First, the poultice - she took the marigold and quickly reduced it to poultice, unbinding the cobwebs just long enough to apply it where it was needed. That'd help both the pain and the bleeding. Catchweed burrs were gently placed, to help keep the poultice from injuring the cat once it was dried off, and then she rebound the cobwebs. Easy part over.

She trotted to the actively kitting queen. “Here, these are raspberry leaves. You're doing great so far, but these will ease some of the pain that kitting causes. More effective than the stick, for certain.” She laid down the raspberry leaves, and then examined the kit. It seemed healthy, and Foxlily was relieved - these seemed like less than ideal circumstances for kit birth. Nothing to do but keep an eye on these cats and the coming kits, and assess when the kitting was truly over.

Then maybe she'd nap the rest of the day.