The other side

[takes place just after this topic]

Shakily padding into camp, Smallbean split from Coyotegrin's side, sparing her a brief look over his shoulder before wobbling off to the medicine den. He'd only been in camp for a few moments and the noise was already making his headache worse. Half of him said to make a beeline to the medicine den, get rest and herbs as soon as you can. The other half, the sensible half, told him to take his time, rushing will only make it worse. Stars, he didn't want to make himself sick again.

So, he walked slowly, taking his time. Once he arrived, he poked his head into the den before fully walking in. "Hey... Batsong... Are you in here?" He called gently. Anything louder would have increased his pain. "D'you think you could give me a paw? I've a concussion." It took restraint to keep himself from walking to the plant stores and grabbing herbs himself. It wasn't his place, though. At least, not anymore.

Batsong was in the med den. Luckily Smallbean had caught her just before she was about to leave to go look for herbs. Any later and she would have left already.


She heard his voice even more quiet than usual and her ears flicked a bit nervous she could tell just by how quiet he sounded something wasnt right... she waited for him to continue... A concussion?? Uh oh!

She nodded silently and helped him to the back part of the den knowing that noise was very bothersome during these and that would hopefully give him the quietest spot for now.

She thought back to when Brackenwing had a concussion from the hail storm that happened at that one gathering.

Limited light, lots of rest, no warrior duties, try to keep it quiet for. These ideas ran through her head as she helped support Small and guide him to a comfy nest in the back of the med den that hopefully would help with the rest, low light and quiet parts.

She oh so carefully examined where the hawks talons had hurt and cut into him.

"ok, imma get some goldenrod to prevent any infection she explained in a whisper barely hearable, she was quiet normally and this was even more quiet, she was trying to stay very conscious that noise bothered concussion patients alot as she had learned with Brackenwing.

She got the goldenrod and chewed it up and gently as she could applied it to the open wound. She had to make sure that no infection would start. The last thing Smallbean needed with his concusion was a wound getting all infected.

She also added a little bit of dock leaves to ease the pain of the wound. Once those were on she gently applied pressure and cobwebs to completely stop the small amount that was still bleeding and held it there until it had stopped.

Without any words she put down before him poppy seed so that it would ease his pain and it would also help ease his mind hopefully from the head hurting.

She stayed by his side monitoring how he progressed. It was nothing life threatening but she was not about to have the deputy be in any more pain than was necessary and she would do the best job she could to get him back to his paws soon..

"For now try and rest. No warrior duties and no deputy duties until I clear you she said in her hushed whisper. The last thing concussion patients needed was to get a second one soon after. As that could be much more severe and dangerous. He would have to keep off his paws for awhile until she was sure he was back to 100%

Smallbean smiled as Batsong led him to the back of the den, relief washing over him when he was finally able to get off his paws and lay down in a nest. It wasn't until now that he noticed how sore his muscles were, how weak his body was. The pounding in his skull became much more noticeable as the air around him grew more quiet. With every pang of pain he winced.

Nodding slowly as Batsong turned to the herb stores, the deputy let his eyes drift shut, relishing the lack of visual stimuli. He sat there for a few moments as he was, eyes closed and comfortably laying in the nest. When he opened his eyes again Batsong was applying poultices to his fur. The pain in his head was so great that he nearly forgot that he had actual physical wounds until Batsong began to dress them. "Oh- yeah." His eyes followed her paws as she worked with the herbs, slightly wincing as she applied pressure to them.

The moment poppy seeds were presented, Smallbean pressed them to his paw pad and licked them up, eager for the effects to set in. "I don't think you'll have to worry about that, I have no problem resting for a while." He said, shifting in his nest. Maybe it was just because of how tired he was now, though. "Thanks, Batsong." It was admittedly nice to be taken care of, even though it was necessary.

(hehe I love your topic title for this. IDK if it was coincidental or not but otherside is song by RHCP a band I really like)

Batsong was glad to see that he was resting some. She was a bit relived that he agreed not to push too hard and to fully let his body recover and not chance getting a reinjury. She was not exactly sure what she would have done if he had not agreed to this... as med cat could she order him to rest?? With warriors she knew she could but ... he was deputy... could she order him around like that if she needed to when his health was at play?? She wasn't sure but luckily as it was, he had agreed to let his body and head heal completely, no duties and no chance of getting banged up again until he was back to a full 100.

She sighed quietly and just let him rest but monitored his tempature and other vitals as well regularly.

Between checking on him, she worked to gather extra soft moss to add to his temporary med den nest. It made it softer and she hoped that the added insolation would also help to muffle any sound from outside as well with the kits playing their games and the general hustle and bustle of camp, she wanted to make it as easy for him as possible, that was her job and she hoped she was doing things right for him.

She brought him over some prey from the fresh pile and picked out his favorites (Batsong would know his favorites I feel like But speedy does not XD lols so whichever is his favorite food)

and some water that she carried over with a

(umm ... I remeber the books they had some way to carry fresh water to injured cats... idk what it was though... we are gonna go with big leaf and if you rememer let me know hehe)

big leaf.

Setting it gently next to him. She exhaled softly and rested her nose momentarily to his shoulder. Everything about her was so gently, caring and soft. She was shy for sure but when her clanmates were hurt she really did as best she could to help them and look after them and it showed well.

"Is there anything else I can get for you?" she whispered

[i've actually never heard the song before, I listened to it just now and it seemed pretty rad ! Also iirc water was transported through moss in the books, but a large leaf seems just as plausible so why not]


Smallbean's eyes began to grow heavy, but managed to keep them open while Batsong maneuvered around him, checking on his wounds then circling back around to the herbs before leaving the den. His eyes stayed on the spot where he'd last seen her tail tip before it disappeared, not focused on anything in particular, not even internally questioning why she left the den, or where she was going. Still, his eyes were threatening to close. Even if he'd wanted to sleep, the throbbing pain in his head wouldn't allow it. If he had any luck at all the poppy seeds would kick in soon.

Batsong walked away and retuned several times, between each time poking back to make sure Smallbean was okay. Each time he offered her a small smile. When she returned the final two times, she carried a rabbit, and following the rabbit, a large cupped leaf filled with water. Smallbean hadn't even realized how parched he was. Immediately he stuck his muzzle into the leaf, neatly lapping up water despite his thirst. Eyes flickering upwards, he interrupted drinking for a moment to give her a nod of gratitude. Batsong brought him comfort. She reminded him of Spotlake, in a way. He recalled the days he'd spent with her in the nursery, even after he'd already become an apprentice. Such a long time ago.

After he'd quenched his thirst he moved to the rabbit she brought, tearing off a portion of it and sitting it aside. " Why don't you have some, Batsong. I'm not going to eat the whole thing." He gestured to the portion of rabbit, even pushing it in her direction. "Besides, you've taken good care of me, you deserve some."

Batsong watched him get some food and water satisfied. With plenty of rest as well, he would be alright. She had to make sure that he was. She had to protect her fellow clanmate and high rank of the clan. He needed to recover and in time she was sure that he would.

She was lost in her own thoughts for a bit zoning out a tad and staring into nothingness for now.

She blinked hearing him and looked over, what was this? He wanted her to eat as well? She had to admit, she was pretty hungry and hadn't eaten in awhile "alright, thanks" she agreed with a little quiet purr. She munched on hers sitting next to him.

While they were eating, she figured she may as well ask him some advise that she was thinking about. Not that he had to answer immeditly, after all he needed his rest soon but he had been in a situation similar to her of warrior turned med cat and he knew med cat things, she often looked up to him as her informal mentor when she was learning all the herbs and med cat things.

"Smallbean? do you ever wonder why starclan speaks to us in riddles? If they know something of danger or feel the need to speak with us about something... why dont they just... she looked over to him with a sigh and small shrug

"why dont they just say it directly? she asked quietly.

Not that he would know but maybe he would know for certain either but it had been bothering her and she wanted to ask someone who had also been med cat. After all, she was supposed to be the clans connection to starclan but at times, she felt like Starclan was utmost difficult to understand and if they could see into the future why didnt they bother to ever give more detail or not speak in such cryptic ways. It bothered her as to why they must keep things so secret.

Silence befell the pair, only being broken by the occasional sound of chewing as they munched on the rabbit. That was until Batsong broke up, shattering the silence. Smallbean raised his ears to acknowledge her question, looking down at his paws to consider it. It was difficult to think about his specific experience, as the concussion brought a sort of brain fog with it, but he knew that he'd gone though struggles with interpreting Starclan's messages in the past. A part of him was thankful that he didn't have to anymore, and probably never would.

"Maybe..." He began, pausing to chew the rabbit. "Maybe they don't want us to depend on them too much... If they told us everything, we wouldn't have to do anything ourselves." Although Smallbean himself was terrified of Starclan- terrified of what they had the power to do- he appreciated the fact that they even thought to hint things to them in the first place. The riddles they speak sometimes hold important truths, truths that have avoided big troubles in the past.

Letting his eyelids lower, he bit another chunk of meat off of the rabbit.

Batsong listened to Smallbean's explanation. It did offer her some relief for what she felt. She always had a good relation with starclan it just sometimes felt like they were not the most forthcoming at times, his answer made sense and she was glad that she had him as someone who had been medicine cat as well as warrior.

It was helpful that he had this similar experience to herself. She was very happy that she got to serve with him in a leadership position of windclan.

They had fought side by side against the invasion of the forgotten order and while she herself was losing in that fight, it was thanks to Smallbean and the other senior experienced warriors that had turned the tide of that battle.

When she had first become medicine cat: it had been so overwealming. Having no formal mentor she had to learn alot on the go, but Smallbean had helped her out alot and was her informal med cat mentor.

Getting to take care of someone that she had so long looked up to was really special for her as a med cat.

She flicked her tail a little back and forth

"Thanks smallbean she said with a yawn. The meal had left her very full and satisfied and now she felt like a nice post meal nap as she stretched a little and sunk lower into her comfy nest.

It looked like he felt the same way with his eyes shutting more and more. "Night Smallbean. wake me if you need anything