After a rather unfortunate collapse on a hunting patrol, Icepelt was now merrily on his way to Feathercloud's medicine den. He was all nice and propped up against the apprentice Dapplepaw, whom he'd offered to help train in this time of strife. In fact, Icepelt seemed to have taken over half of the apprentices' training. With all the sickness and death going around ShadowClan's camp, he wanted them out of the camp as much as possible to lower the risk of disease. He'd been thinking about asking Specklestar to just take all the healthy cats and retreat from camp for a while, until the disease had worn away. To prevent it from spreading and killing even more. He'd been planning on broaching the subject to her upon his return from the hunting patrol.

Unfortunately, that hadn't happened, as he and Dapplepaw were now pushing their way into the medicine cat den.

Poor Feathercloud, bless her soul. Her den was packed with sick cats. The smell of sickness hung in the air. Coughing and wheezing came from all sides of the den. Cats were curled in nests that had been hurriedly prepared. None of them looked well. A stab of sadness shot through Icepelt. This was his Clan. It was a shame at what havoc one simple rat caught by a pair of kits could wreak on the Clan. The one remaining kit would feel this pain for the rest of her life, he thought in pity.

Feathercloud was having a hushed conversation with a warrior in one of the nests. Icepelt recognized Twistedclaw. It was a shame such a good warrior had fallen ill. It was also a shame to have to interrupt their conversation, but Dapplepaw didn't need to spend too much time around all these sick cats. Icepelt knew he, on the other paw, would fit in wonderfully. He'd had a cough and his eyes were watery, and Dapplepaw had commented on how warm he felt during their trip through the marsh. Not to mention the dizziness that had caused him to collapse to begin with.

"I know how busy you are, Feathercloud, but do you have room for one more?" the deputy asked apologetically, stifling a cough.

Icepelt shook his head, remaining adamant in his decision to not take Feathercloud's nest. She insisted that there was too much work to do to sleep, but the deputy personally thought that she needed sleep more than she would be needed around here anytime soon. Nothing would be changing in the medicine den, by the looks of its occupants. He was no medicinal expert, but if the medicine cat had already loaded them up on all the herbs she could give them to help ease their pain, there wasn't much else she could do. The odd survivor basically had to battle it out with themselves in the end, and hope they were strong enough to overcome the disease. Herbs could help that, yes, but right now, Icepelt was certain that Feathercloud would be more useful after she'd gotten some shut-eye.

When the medicine cat instructed Dapplepaw help him over to her nest, Icepelt refused. The tortoiseshell apprentice had nodded and begun trying to lead him in that direction, but Icepelt shook his head. "Feathercloud, I don't care how much you claim I need to lie down," he said. "You need to just as much as me." He could tell Dapplepaw was struggling to decide who to obey; normally, she would follow the deputy's orders, but the medicine cat took priority on medicinal cases such as this one. In the end, she ended up standing awkwardly, unsure what to do exactly.

"Besides, the more rested you are, the easier it will be to work around here. No offense, but I'm not sure I'd trust herbs a medicine cat gave me when she was half asleep," the deputy teased.