Herbs And Stuff ((Closed for Wavedream))

Honeydrop was exhausted as ever. Since she'd given Littlebrook her kits, it had felt like her heart was torn out of her chest. Gingerkit, Firekit, and Sparkkit were the joy of her life. Her little kits, hers and Flamestrike's- but they weren't hers, really. They never would be. And that was what hurt the most. To keep from falling into a pit of self-pity and despair, the medicine cat sorted and collected and organized herbs. All through the day when she should have slept and well into the night. She took breaks only to relieve Thrushstripe's aching back with comfrey root, marigold and daisy leaf, and she took a leaf of parsley with every piece of fresh-kill she ate. Which wasn't much. If it wasn't for Roaringpaw, she may have stopped altogether and withered further away. But he didn't know that. And hopefully, the innocent apprentice never would. She had been putting more time into training him lately, trying to distract herself from the hollowness she felt inside. Today would be another regular training session. The ShadowClan medicine cat tried to hide her exhaustion as the tom came in for his daily training. "Good morning, Roaringpaw!" she meowed cheerfully, putting the same false brightness into her tone that she always did. Honeydrop felt the hollow cavern where her heart had been inside, resonating with emptiness. She ignored it. "Did you get that comfrey root I asked you for?"

Roaringpaw padded into the medicine cat den holding a tangy black root gently between his teeth. The little tom was happy at Honeydrop's cheerful greeting, his mind dismissing the falseness of the expression in favor of continuing on normally. He'd probably just make it worse by bringing it up. After all, Roaringpaw had learned plenty from the last gathering-there's no need to be more selfish and razz his mentor.

The apprentice set the fat root down next to his mentor, jaw aching from keeping it still in a wide position for so long. "I think so! It's a black root, right?"

Honeydrop nodded, taking the root with her jaws and setting it between the collections of horsetail and tansy. "You may want to remember how it looks- comfrey root is a very useful plant." The effort to be cheerful and keep her face upturned in a smile was exhausting, but she kept it up. It wouldn't be fair to make my apprentice suffer for my incompetence. The golden medicine cat looked at all here other neatly organized herb piles. There was nothing left to collect that they could possibly get today- it was time to test the tom. She turned to his, amber eyes blinking. "Roaringpaw, can you tell me some of what comfrey root does?" They had gone over its uses a week ago, and she wanted to see how much he remembered. He was getting much closer to full medicine cat age, anyways.

Roaringpaw's face scrunched up in concentration as he tried to remember comfrey's purpose. After many moons of training, the little tom had a plethora of herb names and uses stuffed into his head. Hopefully, he could remember what was what. "Comfrey soothes stiff joints. And..." He frowned, trying to remember what else the thick root could be used for.

Honeydrop smiled. She remembered when she had been an apprentice, training with the grumpy but kind old Dawnflower. Sadness tinged her heart as she remembered that the elder had passed on to StarClan. She's watching over me now. Dawnflower, is Puddlepaw with you? She shook her head imperceptibly as though cleaning water from her ears. Back to training. "It heals b-b-broken bones as w-well," she reminded him gently. "Also t-treats wrenched claws a-and s-s-soothes wounds. It has m-many uses, and it's i-important to remember them a-a-all. Don't w-worry, it just t-takes time." She had said the same to Puddlepaw, once. A tiny drop of sadness gleamed in her amber eyes again, but she blinked it away. The golden dappled she-cat brushed past the large black root to another herb pile, this one full of small yellow flowers. She touched it lightly with a slim paw, the one that wasn't twisted. "D-Do you know wh-what this is called, R-R-Roaringpaw? A-And do you r-remember its use?" Celandine. Come on, apprentice, we went over this last moon.

OOC: Also crap i forgot she has a speech impediment gg me ;;

Roaringpaw blinked at the unfamiliar small flower, chest dropping at the sight of a plant he didn't even recognize. He didn't even have a clue. Frustration welled in his heart, feeling disappointed in how helplessly blank his memory was faced with that herb. 'I should know more,' Roaringpaw thought with guilt, self-deprecating. The tom wanted to stall for time, find something that would magically be the answer, but not even the first letter of the flower's name came to mind. He didn't reply, completely stuck as time to figure it out slipped through his paws.

Honeydrop's heart dropped. We just went over this! She drew the flowers back with a golden dappled paw. "C-Celandine," she sighed, disappointed, trying her best not to snap. He should know this. "We j-just talked about it y-y-yesterday." Her tail flicked in annoyance behind her back. She grabbed a piece of honeycomb from a pile by the horsetail and blackberry leaves and pushed it towards him shortly. She had never been this absent minded as an apprentice. She'd never had the chance. "Y-You know what th-this is and what it d-d-does, right?" Might as well give him something easy, I guess. Though that last one should have been easy. Is something bothering him?