The ruddy-red she-cat waved her tail in the air as she followed her Clan on their trek. Her swollen stomach weighed her down and caused her pain in every step.

Footfalls crinkled the leaves. A lurch of pain stopped Foxtail in her tracks. But she couldn't stop. The Clan had to keep moving. 

She groaned. A kick in her stomach shot agony through her body. An apprentice padded up to her to help.

"Applepaw...thank you." She whispered weakly. The medicine cat apprentice nodded silently.

The order for their journey was Turtlestar, Ashenface, and Goldenpaw in front. Then the queens, elders, and kits. After them were the apprentices, helping them move along. Bringing up the rear were the warriors, fit and strong. 

Kits mewled and bawled of exhaustion. Foxtail could feel hers squirming in her stomach. 

And then the agony crippled her.

She fell to the ground, twisting. The kits were ready.

"Foxtail! Foxtail, are you alright?" Applepaw asked frantically.

"Kits...ready." She whispered. Applepaw jumped around. One of the queens, Dustfoot, called out to Turtlestar.

"Turtlestar! We need to stop, Foxtail's kitting!"

The tirade came to a halt as the leader darted through the mass of cats.

"Where is Soothstone?" He asked. Applepaw shook his head. "Well, go and find her!" he snapped. Applepaw nodded and darted through the crowd. 

Foxtail shook with pain. The greencough was already horrible, but now kitting?

Soothstone returned with Applepaw.

"Applepaw, I need raspberry leaves." The burly medicine cat instructed. The apprentice nodded and ran off.

Foxtail let out a piercing shriek. A gray tom pushed his way through the gathering apprentices.

"Wildheart! Get the apprentices to stay back." Soothstone instructed. He nodded.

"Sweetpaw, get your friends in one place." Wildheart instructed his apprentice. The white she-cat nodded and herded the apprentices back. She was the oldest of them and would most certainly receive her warrior name soon.

Soothstone fended off the cats surrounding the queen in distress. Applepaw returned with a few leaves in his mouth.

"Here, Foxtail. Swallow this." Soothstone told Foxtail. The queen nodded and choked down the leaves. 

Then started the kitting. Foxtail writhed through it all, but in the end, four kits curled on the leaves, two suckling from their weak mother.

Soothstone dug a hole for the dead kits. Foxtail curled the living ones closer to her, their blind, naked bodies trembling.

"Wildheart-are you there?" She whispered. The gray tom twined his tail with hers.

"Yes, I am. What shall we name them?" He asked.

"I think Toadkit and Lilykit." Foxtail said, pointing to the corresponding kit. "Toadkit looks like a little fat frog, and Lilykit...she's a blossom of hope."

Wildheart nodded. The kits mewled, tiny and quiet, all of a sudden. 

Without any herbs, the greencough in the Clan had gotten progressively worse and worse. It was leaf-fall, slowly approaching leaf-bare. They had been journeying for 46 moons already, and three elders and one warrior had passed away. The Clan had no time for grievances, however. 

Foxtail had had no herbs since they left camp other than the raspberry leaf. It had only been a matter of time, and the kitting...

The kits mewled and bawled and yowled for milk once they felt the life go out of their mother. Soothstone immediately plucked the kits from their mother. Applepaw and she carried them over to Runningblaze, who still was producing milk.

The cats held a silent moment for a minute, then carried on.