The Fog Lifts [Open]

The first thing he noticed was the overwhelming scent of herbs that perfumed him, muddling his senses and giving him a brief distraction of the dull pain that throbbed where his muzzle was. He was still sleepy, unable to quite open his eyes as he tried to make sense of where he was. The haze of poppy seeds had him mentally dampened enough that he couldn't quite pay attention to details to put things together.

But then, slowly waking up, he went to open his jaws for a yawn, only for shooting pains to snap him out of it.

Frogpaw yelped only for more pain to shock him till he gagged, paws thrashing against the moss.

Only when he didn't move an inch, the pain faded back to a weak throb.

"C-Cloudstone? Fishstar? H-Hello? Swiftpaw?" He meowed, words slurred as he didn't move his jaw to speak.

Morningfog held a fish in her jaws, dropping it into the fresh-kill pile as she heard the yelp of pain. She looked towards the medicine cat den and sighed picking up the fish once more. Morninfog could at least bring the poor apprentice something, she hoped he could eat it. The she-cat wouldn't know, she hadn't seen him other than glimpses of his pelt. Her eyes softened as she trotted up to Frogpaw, a friendly look in her eyes as she dropped the fish at his paws. "You're looking better already, Frogpaw! Cloudstone knows what he's doing for sure..." she mewed, it wasn't really true to her knowledge but, it might bring comfort to the younger cat.

The medicine cat looked up from his herb-sorting - which was becoming a bit redundant anyway as he had so few - and waited for Frogpaw to settle down. "I'm right here. Just don't move around too much, you broke your jaw." Cloudstone rose to his paws and padded over, checking the bits of cobweb he'd placed over the apprentice's minor wounds. He sighed. "Since you're awake, how much do you remember of what happened? I need to know whether the impact caused other damage as well." The dark-furred cat turned his head to face Morningfog, nodding at her choice of prey. Fish was easiest to eat, given that it was not a tough meat and didn't require much chewing. Which was something he wouldn't allow the younger tom to do quite yet. 'I know I shouldn't do this so soon, but I might not get to know later if he does have an internal injury. Besides, his denmates will probably be here in a few heartbeats anyway."

Shellwater walked back into the medicine den. The scar on her muzzle had been paining her lately, and on a recent patrol she hadn't noticed a squirrel's scent till it was right in front of her face. She didn't know if it would ever change, but some pain relief would be nice- if the poor medicine cat had any to spare. "Cloudstone, do you have any more-?" The newly appointed warrior stopped when she saw Frogpaw. "You're finally awake," she purred. "Feeling better yet?" The calico she-cat nknew that the apprentice's injuries were likely very serious, but she hoped to make him feel better. She knew that was what her Clanmates' assurances had done for her.

Petalpaw padded into the medicine cat den only to be greeted with the yelp of her brother. The cream colored tabby gave a nod to Shellwater, another cat who'd been faced with the uncontrollable rage of WindClan and she was personally glad to see the warrior had been healing so quickly. Seeing her clan-mates in pain made the small she-cat want to yowl in sorrow, and sometimes, she couldn't bare seeing them injured. Clan life was definitely a harsh life and if you wern't ready, it'd bite you in the rump.

Sitting down beside Frogpaw, she gave him a lick on his side. "If there's anything I can do, anything at all, just ask," she meowed softly.

"Better? Wha-?" Frogpaw babbled confused at the warrior, he couldn't make sense of it still. Morningfog attempted to sound reassuring, but to him, he rang of pity and false-hope, like the sort of things that everyone had said to Shellwater when she'd been mauled by the WindClanners. They all meowed that she'd be fine, Cloudstone could fix her up but in the end, she had to live with the pain and the scars. Why was she speaking like that to him? He'd just bruised his jaw... He was going to be fine. Wasn't he?

When Cloudstone's voice cut through the medicine den, Frogpaw was relieved for that brief second, eager to hear his prognosis. But then he heard of what had happened to him. A broken jaw. It wasn't bruised but broken.

His stomach growled, eager for the fish placed in front of him but he couldn't bring himself to move. Even when Shellwater and Petalpaw spoke, he didn't hear them, only the words, Broken Jaw, ringing in his head over and over again. Now that he knew what was wrong, he could feel the changes in his muzzle. His jaw sat a little off-centre and he realised that he could literally feel the point where his jaw had snapped messily in half. Even with the cobwebs, he felt the subtle shift of two separate bones in his lower jaw. "Am I an elder now?" That was the only thing he could think to say. He was an apprentice after all, his goal was like every other apprentice, to be a warrior of RiverClan. He needed to know, was his future over now?

Cloudstone blinked when Shellwater came in, then Petalpaw. The den was starting to get a bit crowded. He reared his head back a bit out of discomfort and placed his paws closer together. He debated leaving them alone to chat, but Frogpaw's question raised some of his own. Would he become an elder? "As long as you work towards getting better, you can become a warrior." The tom shuffled around so that he was in his own nest. "However. If you think you can, you will. And if you think you can't, you won't. It's all about how bad you want to fight for what you want."