Welcome Back {For Beetlepaw}

Pepper licked the slowly healing wounds she had gotten. Bat brought her plenty of marigold back and she hadn't used much of it, trying to just stretch out the supply. She finished off a mouse that had survived frost and looked around. She had seen quite a few cats, every little moment was cherished to her, these were very rare. With a sigh, she combed through her herbs, sorting out any that had gotten blown around during the night. Glancing at the mound of parsley, she placed a small stone over it. Then, she began doing the same thing to most of the other small herbs.

Beetlepaw found himself up to sneaking out of camp as soon as he got the chance. He sprinted then with glee to have gotten away to the barn. His dark paws left a trail theought the snow, and the cold white powder then clung to his fluffy paws. When he was finally close to the barn, the apprentice slowed down, shaking of the snow before he took a step into the warmth, gazing around curously. "Pepper?" he asked.

Hearing her name being called, she turned to see who it was. Once she saw him, she quickly dragged herself to him with a smile. "Nice to see you again, Beetlepaw! How is WindClan holding out?" she asked. Leafbare was almost over, things would be easier then. Her fur was covered in poultices in multiple places from the scuffle but, it was healing nicely. Her ear was shredded.

Beetlepaw smiled as Pepper was up and greeted him, and he purred back. "WindClan has been going well. We have had no incidents, happily. Except for one... but..." he said, his mind trailing away to the unhappy death of Blazekit from the cold. The black tomcat let himself in and gladly settled down in the warm hay, it's rustic perfume being a drastic change from the usual icy air outside. He peeked around excitedly.

Her smile faltered slightly and she sat down with him. "Eh... Things happen, it hasn't been super smooth around here lately either." she flicked her tail towards the broad claw marks down her side. "It'll get better. What have you learned lately?"

Beetlepaw stared with wide eyes at the wounds on Pepper's side, until he remembered the impoliteness of staring and quickly snapped away. He came back to reality just to catch her question. "I learned that the dens need to be checked three times before you can say they have no cracks to let the cold in." he meowed, looking at his paws sadly. Poor Sandybreeze...

She tilted her head, wanting to know what he was thinking. The she-cat opened her mouth to say something before quickly closing it. 'I'd just make it worse.' Pepper looked around for a moment. "Try packing mud in the cracks whenever you see them." she decided to just give advice instead. The she-cat moved to get up, dragging herself to the herbs that lay on the wooden beam, wondering if he'd want another lesson. He was only learning from other apprentices. "Any sickness yet?"

"If by sickness you mean a frostbitten kit and Redpaw asking weird questions." he mumbled under his breath, put out by the memory of the dead kit. He shook his surly behavoiour off, not quite wanting Pepper to believe she was the reason he was angry. He couldn't have been happier to escape busy Clan life and talk to the wise she-cat. "I've come with some questions, too."