Chapter Text
Briarlight sprinted through the forest, feeling her lungs expand and contract with each breath, her muscles pumping powerfully, and her spine curving with each stride. The greenleaf sun dappled her fur from where it shone through the thick canopy above.
A couple of blackbirds let out loud alarm calls when she dashed past them pulling fat earthworms from the ground.
She increased her speed and leapt from the packed, sun-warmed earth, sailing over a fallen tree turned almost entirely green from moss growth.
She landed neatly and kept running, only slowing when she broke through the trees and was greeted by the sight of the vast lake, glittering in the light of sunhigh.
Briarlight slowed to a trot and sat down close enough to the water to almost feel it wet her paws.
She took a deep breath, tasting in the cool breeze blowing off the lake the scent of rich life and growing things, the warm, earthy scent of dirt, and the musky, damp smell of... moss?
Something sharp prodded her in the shoulder, and the beautiful landscape was brutally ripped away to be replaced by the dim lighting and damp atmosphere of the Medicine Den in the Thunderclan Camp.
Briarlight twisted around in her nest to see what had caused her the pain. Was there a thorn in her nest? A prickly stem, perhaps? But no. Of course not. Of course it had to be a cat's claw.
The claw of the one and only Jayfeather.
"Do you mind?" Briarlight asked in what she hoped was a sharp tone, but her voice was rough from sleep. she found herself wanting desperately to return to the dream where she had had the use of her hind legs.
"Do I mind what?" Jayfeather countered in a much better example of a 'sharp' tone. "Not waking you? because I do mind." His mottled light gray tail twitched irritably, and his sightless blue eyes narrowed.
Here we go, Briarlight thought, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.
"Not that I have to justify my reasoning to you, but I was hoping to go down to the abandoned twoleg nest and collect some of the catmint I've been growing so I can dry it before anyone comes down with greencough in leaf-fall. It'll be just about ready for harvesting now. But Millie won't let me leave the camp until I've helped you with your exercises, since she's no longer allowed to visit you before sunhigh."
That had been a rule put into place by Jayfeather and Leafpool after her mother's fussing had tipped them over the edge.
Briarlight never admitted it, but she was relieved to have the space. Or, she would be, if Jayfeather wasn't currently looming over her like he was her personal guardian.
Briarlight sighed, giving in with a reluctant nod.
Not that it was her choice in the end.
No, Briarlight had to do the exercises that would strengthen her lungs and the muscles that were wasting away in her hindquarters, or she wouldn't be strong enough to fight any illnesses that might sweep through the camp.
She forced herself to try to turn her day around. It was off to a rough start, yes, but there was no reason she couldn't work to make it better.
Meanwhile, Jayfeather was moving behind her to where her legs were splayed behind her, because she couldn't tuck them under her in sleep.
Briarlight decided to try her luck with an exercise request.
"Jayfeather..." She began uncertainly. He might not be the mood for this, she worried.
He grunted in acknowledgement as he began to lift each dark brown furred leg in a way that worked the muscles to his satisfaction.
"Once we finish all the leg lifts and other stuff, could we maybe do the tree hanging one?" Her voice pitched higher at the end, and her mind began to race, her thoughts spiraling towards regret.
Maybe she shouldn't have asked.
But on the other paw, it was her favorite of all of her exercises. If there was even the slightest chance Jayfeather would let her do it today, maybe it wasn't so bad she had asked.
But then again...
"I suppose so," He grumbled around his mouthful of her fur, surprising her. "But after we finish some of the other ones."
Briarlight wasn't looking at him, but she could swear to Starclan she heard a hint of... something in his muffled voice. Something besides his usual wry, bitter tone or grudging mew. It was almost slightly warm. Almost, but not quite.
"I'll have to see if I can get someone to lift you up to the branch. Maybe Thornclaw. I don't think he's on patrol this morning," Jayfeather muttered, still working the muscles in Briarlight's legs.
After a few more reps, he left her legs and stalked over to the herb stores, where he pawed around in the rock clefts for a few moments until he seemingly found what he was looking for and hooked a couple of leaves in his claws. He dropped them in front of her muzzle with startlingly accurate aim despite his blindness. Briarlight had yet to learn how he did it. Maybe she'd ask Lionblaze.
Jayfeather fixed his cloudy stare on her pointedly.
Muttering curses, Briarlight lapped up the bitter tasting herbs and suppressed a shudder. She hated them, and had no idea why she had to take them, as Jayfeather had never explained it to her.
Once she had finished, he began to help her through her next set of exercises.
Briarlight tried not to sigh in exasperation. She wanted to be out in the forest. She wanted to feel the sun on her pelt. She wanted to taste the fresh scent of growing things on the warm greenleaf breeze. More than that, she wanted to run.
She wanted to run so badly it hurt. But she couldn't. And she had long since accepted that, though deep in her bones, in her blood, in her breath and in her spirit, she wished it didn't have to be this way.
Ever since the tree had fallen into camp that fateful day and crushed the honeysuckle bush she and Longtail had been in, she'd tried to remain positive and lively. Focusing on the good things in her life, rather than the obvious bad.
But... sometimes she felt like she couldn't keep pretending she was fine. Like everything was fine. because it wasn't.