Mossy Moments

Mossbloom chirped to herself as she sorted through herbs, gathering the supplies that she would need for the next morning. She was going to be taking Daisybloom to the Moonstone to present her to their ancestors as a medicine cat apprentice, and the medicine cat was more than excited at the prospect. She had been managing the care for ThunderClan alone for so long, after all, the extra paws would be nice, along with having a companion through these chaotic days. A rustling came from the entrance to the den, among the ferns, and Mossbloom looked up at the sound, smiling at whoever was entering.

Frostkit limped to the medicine cat den, breathing slowly. “Um...Mossbloom? I got a huge splinter on my front right paw and it hurts a lot.” She whimpered. Frostkit has accidentally tripped on a branch and a piece of wood had lodged itself in her paw.

"Oh, you poor dear! Yes, let's get your settled." Mossbloom exclaimed as she rose to her paws and hurried to Frostkit's side, helping her into one of the clean nests along the edge of the wall. Placing her in the nest next to the one filled with daisy petals, Mossbloom made sure she was comfortable before turning towards her store of herbs, searching for what she would need. A marigold, paracress and oak leaf poultice to place once the splinter was remove and wrap with cobwebs, and then a single small poppy seed to help the kit sleep once she was taken care of. Just before turning around, Mossbloom snagged a raspberry leaf to add to her pile, perhaps with something to chew on the kit would be able to distract herself while she worked.

Turning back to her patient, Mossbloom hobbled over with the herbs dangling in her jaws and cobwebs wrapped around one of her front paws. Organizing the herbs in front of Frostkit, she nudged the raspberry leaf to in front of her. "Here, chew on this, it will help ease the pain while I take out the splinter. I'll have to pull it out with my teeth, so I'll need you to be really still while I get a hold of it, okay? After that, there will be a really sharp pain when I pull it out, but I'll start cleaning the wound to help ease that pain, and put on the marigold, paracress and oak leaf poultice. Once that's on, we'll wrap it all up with some cobwebs and then you can eat this poppy seed to help you sleep. Sound like a plan, Frostkit? You did a very good job making your way here." The medicine cat reassured the kit as she set the marigold, paracress and oak together for ease of access and then laid out the cobwebs carefully.

Frostkit nodded, taking the raspberry leaf between her jaws. “Ok, I’m ready.” Her voice trembled a bit, but she trusted Mossbloom. Frostkit laid down, stretching the paw with the splinter out. She squeezed her eyes shut and chewed at the leaf...

"Good job, that's perfect Frostkit." Carefully gripping the splinter in her teeth, she mumbled around it. "One... two.... three." Pulling sharply, she felt the splinter come free and immediately spat it out, setting to work licking the blood from the kit's paw with firm, gentle strokes of her tongue, occasionally spitting out the coppery mix. Once she was content that there was no bits of wood remaining in the kit's paw, she lapped up the herbs she had stacked together and chewed them quickly, smearing the poultice over the wound. The paracress would numb Frostkit's paw, the marigold would stop the bleeding, and the oak would prevent infection from setting in. Once the poultice was in place, she carefully wrapped the cobwebs around the kits paw and set the poppy seed in front of her. "I know that was a lot, but you did a fantastic job Frostkit. You can spit out that leaf now, and eat this. It will put you to sleep, and when you wake your paw should feel much better, okay?"

Frostkit yelped a bit, then bit down hard on the raspberry leaf. Gradually, the pain went away. She spat out the leaf, as Mossbloom had told her to and nodded. Frostkit swallowed the poppy seed, then slowly, her vision went black, and she fell asleep.

As the kit fell asleep, Mossbloom gently tucked her cobweb wrapped paw into the nest with her, settling her cozily before setting about cleaning up the herb remnants and making sure her stores were still tidy after her dash in. Once the raspberry leaf fragments had been buried outside, Mossbloom set back to her self-assigned task of getting together the herbs for the next morning. Would she have any more visitors?

Willowpaw walked into the medicine cat den. “Hi Mossbloom!” She greeted cheerfully. Her friend was tending to a pure white she-kit not unlike her. “Who’s that? She looks really similar to me...” Willowpaw saw the kit’s paw had cobwebs wrapped over it. “Oh...what happened to her? Poor kit...”

Looking over to the entrance to her den, Mossbloom raised her tail in greeting as she recognized Willowpaw standing there. "Hi there, Willowpaw! This is Frostkit, she got a nasty splinter in her paw and came to get it removed. I just finished treating her and gave her a poppy seed to help her get some rest, it was a pretty painful experience for one so young I'm sure. What bring you here today? Come for a visit or do you have elder duties?" Mossbloom wrinkled her nose at the thought of having to fetch the mouse bile from the far reaches of her herb stores.

“I’m just here to chat, I’ve done my duties already.” Willowpaw commented. “Ugh, mouse bile stinks.” As she looked at the poor tiny kitten, she thought about herself as a kit. Frostkit seemed like one who liked to get in trouble, whereas Willowpaw liked to stay put. “By the way, have you received any signs from StarClan?”

Mossbloom smiled at the apprentice, paws separating the herbs with ease as she looked at her. "I'm glad you stopped in! It's not often I get visitors, it's good to see you Willowpaw." Willowpaw's question surprised her, and she tilted her head slightly. "The only sign I've received recently has been those petals in that nest." She gestured with her tail to the nest piled high with petals. "I believe it was a sign for me to take an apprentice, Daisybloom. She has accepted, so we'll travel tomorrow to have her ceremony. Other than that.... Not really. StarClan has maintained a rather concerning silence through everything...." Her voice trailed off, colored with concern and worry and a tinge of hurt at StarClan's betrayal of herself and her fellow medicine cats. When she raised her eyes again though, she seemed back to normal. "How about you, how's your training going? Learning anything new?"

“Well...Dawngaze seems to think I would be better at hunting than fighting and she thinks that I was good at leaping.” Willowpaw commented. But what if I’m half SkyClan...with that leap, I can see how I would have SkyClan blood...I dont know anything about my parents She thought worriedly. Willowpaw forced a smile. “When you receive a sign from StarClan, please tell me. I...I’m worried about some cats.”

The look of worry on Willowpaw's face concerned Mossbloom, and she tilted her head slightly before moving over to sit next to the apprentice, placing her tail around her. "It's good to be skilled at something, I'm glad that you're finding something you enjoy. As far as leaping, you'll find that really useful once you learn the moves that ThunderClan warriors use in battle, you spring a little way up a tree and then jump down at your opponent. It's a thrilling move, and the ability to leap will help tremendously!" She purred lightly before adding on. "If it helps, the clan will likely hear about anything I do if, or when, it comes. I think everything will be okay, so long as we all stay together and support each other."

Talonkit entered the medicine cat den screaming dramatically. He had a small scratch on his paw when he wasn’t being careful with playing with sticks. “Help! Medicine cat! Help! I’m going to die!” He wailed. He knew he wasn’t, but he just wanted some attention. Talonkit flopped on his belly, sighing dramatically. “Oh! It hurts SO much!”

Willowpaw listened to the medicine cat, nodding slowly. “That move seems really cool!” Willowpaw said. “It seems helpful.” She smiled slightly as the medicine cat layed her tail on Willowpaw’s back. It was a slight comfort that every Clan mate had each other’s backs. Willowpaw was beginning to speak when suddenly, a brown tabby kit came barreling into the medicine cat den, yowling dramatically. She stifled a purr, knowing that she was like that just a few weeks ago. “Hi, little kit? What’s your name? Are you injured?” Willowpaw asked, as he collapsed with a mighty sigh.