Ask to Join Is That Normal? Are you sure? Are you really really REALLY sure-

Tigerrush had been in the process of organizing the herbs she had been drying and had needed to bring into the den as the winds had been very strong for several days now and the air very damp as everything was occasionally coated in fine drizzle. It would have set her back a little bit if what she had been trying to dry had gotten a fresh soaking or blown away and the days until leaf-bare were swiftly approaching.

It was with this said wind that a scent drifted through the entrance of her den and tickled the little brown tabby's nose. Lifting her head above the herbs, she snorted softly to rid her nostrils of scent of her stores before sniffing curiously to see who was lurking outside her den. After a couple moments, she recognized Sunstrike's scent and tilted her head curiously before calling out cheerfully.

"Come in, Sunstrike. What is it I can do for you?"

Ah. Mousedung. Sunstrike sighed and pushed her way into the den, reeling slightly at the smell before finding Tigerrush in the darkness. Both her and her brother were definitely Sunstrike's favourite cats in the clan - and she smoothed out her fur as she came closer, looking at the herbs that Tigerrush had been sorting.

"Ah, weather is bad for herb drying?" She wasn't really familiar with the duties required for Tigerrush's position, but the last time they had spoken in earnest, Sunstrike has watched her lay out the plants to be heated in the sun. Clearly there was something to it. Not that she would know.

"AH. Yes, -ailing me." A spike of anxiety hit her again as she remembered the reason she had come here in the first place. "Well - I - You see." Starclan dammit all. She took a moment to collect herself.

"I've been sort of all over the place this moon. Sore in places I shouldn't be, tired when I have slept normally. And I've been grooming and noticing strange... changes. But I'm honestly not sure if they are actual changes or if I've just been completely oblivious to my body before now." Sunstrike's ears flicked with irritation with herself. "I'm hoping - well. You tell me." She didn't want to get her hopes up. Or down? She couldn't seem to make up her mind whether this was a good thing or not.

She leaned over, before plopping on the ground somewhat dejectedly to let Tigerrush do an examination. Her pouting was... somewhat comical and she knew it.

Tigerrush waited for Sunstrike to enter her den and noted the other she-cat glancing at the drying herbs. To answer the warrior's question, she replied in agreement. "The heat is nice for it, but the wind and wetness in the air doesn't exactly help."

The way Sunstrike began stumbling over her words made Tigerrush focus her gaze on the warrior, her green eyes narrowing ever so slightly in concern. However, once Sunstrike began to talk, the medicine cat remained quiet and listened closely to try and puzzle out what was being said, as Sunstrike seemed to be both avoiding telling her something that was wrong while at the same time telling her things that were wrong.

Then the red and white she-cat just flopped down on the ground before her and Tigerrush had to stifle both the purr of amusement she felt and the tail twitch of annoyance that she wasn't getting the full story of what was going on with her patient. She hadn't been trained as a medicine cat for nothing, after all.

Start with the basics, she supposed, walking forward to start sniffing her way delicately from nose-to-tail tip. "What places are you sore in and what changes have you been noticing or think I should notice?" The little brown tabby asked, her voice curious and gentle. Her patient's scent didn't indicate infection of any kind from a wound she didn't notice.

"Did something happen to you that I should know about?" Green eyes were caring but concerned as Tigerrush began to gently nose her way down Sunstike's form, prodding each joint and muscle to check for heat to indicate an unseen injury or a flinch to indicate unspoken pain. "I can only help if I know the whole story and why you're concerned enough to come to me. So far, I'm finding nothing that should be physically wrong with you."

But she made a mental note that Sunstike had been tired despite getting enough sleep. Maybe Tigerrush could offer her some herbs to take to give a litte extra energy to help offset the tiredness. If that didn't help, maybe the red and white she-cat needed to be removed temporarily from warrior duties until she overcame whatever exhaustion she was suffering from.

Sunstrike tried not to look too sheepish. It wasn't really something to be embarrassed about. But how do you tell the person who is treating you 'Hey, your brother might be a father.' without her immediately breaking client confidentiality.

"I asked a tom in the clan to maybe sire kits?" She trailed off on the last part. It was probably loud enough to hear right? She really didn't want the rest of her family hearing about it until the last possible second. There was sure to be some overbearing advice from her aunt - probably not her mother. And her cousins- don't get her started. Hopefully Tigerrush would at least get the hint about why she was being so secretive.

"Either way, around here?" She motioned to her lower legs/hips area. "I'm not sure - you know how it is with me. Always the hypochondriac." That was also a lie, she would usually rather die than go to the medicine cat den. She probably should have that time she got her leg caught in the tree... But that's too embarrassing.

Starclan, all of this was embarrassing.

Tigerrush's ears shifted to listen to Sunstrike as the warrior began to reply. Something about asking a tom something but then the other she-cat's voice trailed off and she couldn't keep her whiskers from twitching in mild annoyance. Then Sunstrike mentioned her hind end and the tabby medicine cat paused a moment to close her eyes and take a breath.

Sunstike wasn't the hypochondriac she was claiming to be and Tigerrush knew it so why was she acting like a kit visiting the medicine den for the very first time alone?

"I apologize but because you trailed off, I didn't catch what you had asked the tom." Shifting her weight so the twitch of her tail wouldn't be noticed, the medicine cat began to focus her attention more on the hips in question, now that she had a more generalized issue to examine as she waited for Sunstrike to repeat herself.

To be fair, Tigerrush was a medicine cat. She expected the warrior to have asked for a mock battle to practice her skills or even to go hunting and maybe tripping over something, but mating and relationships were not her real forte so it wasn't something that sprang to her mind. She was puzzling over the lack of injury and why Sunstrike would be feeling out of sorts but ran through what she might offer to help with said aches and sleepiness her patient was experiencing.

Sunstrike took a moment to look Tigerrush over, realizing that perhaps, she wasn't the most oblivious cat in the clan. Still... Well, there was probably a way to at least save her privacy (and Wrentalon's privacy, at least until she got a straight answer.)

"Listen." She reached to Tigerrush, at least trying to pull her closer so Maybe her family wouldn't hear her. "Listen - Kits. Tigerrush. Kits. I'm just trying to not alert the entire clan because - well. My family and their obsessions with bloodline and -" She hissed, not meanly - just trying to get across her point but honestly she was feeling less and less confident about this. God and she was talking to her kits? Potential kits - Aunt?!

If she could pinch the bridge of her nose she would. "I just don't know symptoms. I just - its. So much."

Tigerrush let out a soft sound of protest as Sunstrike attempted to pull her closer, trying not to flatten her ears, trying to maintain a neutral expression.

"You know you don't need to whisper to me to tell me anything, Sunstrike. What you tell me is confidential unless you wish to tell others yourself. The only time I would tell another cat would be if Moosestar or Kestrelswipe needed to be told."

It had taken a lot of coaxing but her patient finally started to open up so Tigerrush gave another inward sigh and listened. Kits? That was what this was all about?

"All this fuss to tell me you mated and want to know if you're having kits?" Tigerrush really wanted to roll her eyes, but she was able to resist the urge as she chirped cheerfully to the other she-cat. "Well, first off, how long ago was it that you mated? That will give me an idea on how far along you could be and that will give me a better idea on the physical changes I can look for."

She could sense Tigerrush's disappointment - or maybe she was just projecting. It's not like she would understand. No one was pressuring her to have kits. Quite the opposite actually."Well, yes but I don't want to tell anyone for a while yet. And-" She just cut herself off. She probably seemed paranoid. Or she was paranoid. Whichever it was didn't matter so long as Quailcall and Wildcry didn't catch wind.

"Roughly at the beginning of this moon?" She hadn't been keeping the date in her head. It was just the day that both her and Wrentalon happened to be free.

"Beginning of the moon." Tigerrush repeated softly, musing aloud. "It might be a little on the early side to detect a possible pregnancy, but I can see what I might be able to feel. If not, check back regularly. The further along a queen is, the easier it is to tell whether she is carrying or not."

Gently, the little brown tabby nudged Sunstrike to her paws, guiding her over to a nest of moss. Despite having tried to keep her emotions under control, whatever she had seemed to feel previously seemed to have left her at the talk of potential kits, but the professionalism was still present. "Here, stretch out in this mossy nest and roll so you're belly up. I'll see what I might be able to feel."

As she waited for the warrior she-cat to get comfortable, green eyes continued to observe her patient. "You said you have some aches and feeling less than rested at this time. I'll give you a small dose of both willow and coriander. The willow will hopefully help with your aches and the coriander should hopefully give you a little bit of an energy boost. You'll need to tell me if it helps, but since you might be carrying kits, we will want to try and keep the herbal usage to strictly as needed."

Sunstrike did as she was told, settling back into the moss. She wasn't familiar with those herbs, but Tigerrush was - among all else - a good medicine cat. She knew better than to push back about this of all things.

"That sounds... nice." She sighed and sat back in the moss, trying to relax. There wasn't much else to describe it as. Her duties were exhausting for the past moon and she really didn't want to get caught slacking by her family. Especially with Kestrel being deputy.

Well. She would probably want to wait to tell Tigerrush about her relation to any potential kits. But maybe... she would want to train one? The thought was somewhat comforting. It was a safer path for a kit to take. Maybe she would tell her. Later.

As Sunstrike settled back on the moss and rolled belly up, Tigerrush stepped forward to once more start gently prodding her patient with her nose, getting an overall feel for how the belly was feeling. There didn't appear to be any bloating that she could tell that and the fur long the warrior's underside was soft like most cat's belly fur was.

Shifting most of her weight onto her back legs, her tail gave a light thrash as she balanced herself so most of her weight rested on her haunches. With her forepaws, she began to gently palpate Sunstrike's belly, ears perked forward and her expression focused on her task. Occasionally, she would press a little harder in search of the feel for something and while she knew it wouldn't hurt, she knew that it might have been a tad uncomfortable. It was all a part of the exam unfortunately.

What probably seemed to take forever to Sunstrike, Tigerrush finished the probing and began now to part her fur and examine the appearance of the belly itself. That examination didn't take nearly as long and she eventually set her front paws back down on the ground and nodded at the other she-cat to sit up if she wanted.

"Well, depending on how you want to look at it, I could have good news for you or bad news." Tigerrush stated calmly, though her tone was still it's usual cheery tone that she spoke to her visitors with. "So tell me, were you hoping for kits or did you think you might have made a mistake by mating?"

She tried to be the perfect patient, but that did - by virtue of the name - require more patience than Sunstrike had. Before long nervous energy overtook her again and she had to stop herself from fidgeting as Tigerrush put pressure on organs she didn't even know she had!

"I think I'm a little flatter after that." It was half-complaint, half-joke but she gratefully took the chance to sit up.

"I do want kits! I." She looked over Tigerrush for a moment before continuing. "I want kits, because its one of the few things that only I can do. No one else can mother them, or have them or raise them exactly like me." It felt selfish to admit that. But she also wouldn't want any other cat's interference anyways. Besides their father's... and maybe their aunt's.

"It wasn't a mistake. The only thing that I am probably going to regret is having to tell my family." Her tail flicked, but for once without anxiety. More like, anticipation. "And, maybe now I have a new one."

Tigerrush once more wrapped her tail around her paws as her green eyes watched Sunstrike closely, pleased that the circumstances of her mating was what had been anticipated rather than something that just happened. It meant the upcoming litter would be looked forward to rather than dreaded.

"You do much more for the clan than provide kits, Sunstrike.. Despite what any other cat might say, each cat in the clan is important and each one does their own part." Her voice was soft yet sincere as she replied to the warrior's words. "But, from what I have been able to tell by my examination of you, congratulations! I would say you are probably expecting a litter. Again, it's a little on the early side, so if you want more solid confirmation, wait until the moon is half full and I can see about checking you again."

The assurance from Tigerrush made Sunstrike remember why she liked her. While she has a medicine cat - and it was in her best interest to make her patients feel better - Sometimes sincere reassurance was nice. But the news she gave afterwards was even better!

Sunstrike instinctively groomed where Tigerrush had flattened - as if to comfort whoever might have been squished. She was already debating who she would have to tell once she got full confirmation. Wrentalon was an obvious first and she might even share the prognosis today if she got the chance. He had been sent out for patrol and she was expected to go hunting herself today. That shouldn't be an issue with what Tigerrush said but she would be sure to stick to the interior of the territory and avoid risky maneuvers like squirrel chasing. Just in case.

Next moon she would have to make an official announcement to her family and clan. But Kestrelswipe probably deserved a more personal announcement before that. He was her favourite cousin, and keeping something like that from him - the cat who had to make the patrol schedule - wasn't fair. Maybe even Savagefox, who despite his reputation had been surprisingly careful around Coyotekit. Maybe. And Leopardrose... and Bravesong...

"Thank you, Tigerrush. You have taken a weight off my mind." She dipped her head gratefully. Carefully extracting herself from the moss (she didn't want to accidentally keep any on her pelt) she felt a lot lighter heading for the door. However she hesitated, before calling over her shoulder - somewhat cheekily. Maybe her fierce-blood was in there after all.

"I'll make sure Wrentalon is the first to know." She winked before disappearing out into the camp clearing - not giving a chance for a followup from the other shecat.