A Fox-Bitten Fox

It was a honestly amazing at...How not awkward the return trip was. With the way the patrol had started, Foxfire was expecting his trip with Flowerthorn would be awkward and silted the entire time but it was almost like fighting for your life made it a little hard to remember how...Weird things had been between them. The two had made it back to camp without any further issue and now that their prey was added to the pile, Foxfire split off and headed toward the medicine cat's den, awkwardly limping on three legs as his back leg had a set of fairly deep bite marks in it from the unlucky encounter that the duo had. "Sagelight? Ho-Ow-Honeypaw?" he called as he nosed his way into the medicine cat den, hoping that both - or either, he wasn't going to be picky - was in and ready to patch him up. "I, ah, could use some - ow - help."

The scent of blood reached his nose before he even saw or heard Foxfire. As the scent grew stronger, movement in his den alerted Sagelight and he turned to see Foxfire limping in on three legs, his fourth one a bloody mess. He had been going over herbs with Honeypaw when the warrior came in and Sagelight immediately leapt to his paws to fetch cobwebs. "Stars, Foxfire, what happened?" he meowed, pausing for a moment in front of his herb store. Instead of doing everything himself, he now had an apprentice to teach. "Honeypaw, get me some goldenrod and poppy seeds please," the medicine cat instructed under his breath, turning back to his patient. He motioned for Foxfire to lie down in one of the available moss nests so he could get at the injured leg easier, then began gently pressing cobwebs to the wounds to slow the bleeding while Honeypaw fetched him the herbs he needed.

Foxfire smiled softly at the sight of Sagelight, relieved that both of the medicine cats were in as he limped his way over to one of the nests and collapsed into it. "I, uh, had a run in with my namesake," he explained as the medicine cat started to tend to him. He winced at the pressure as Sagelight pressed the cobwebs into the open wound, sucking in a deep breath as he tried to ignore the pain. "Flowerthorn and I found a fox while out hunting. Sh-She is fine - I was the only one that got hurt and we even managed to kill it!"

Honeypaw gulped nervously, the fur along her back standing a little on end. The scent of blood and the sight of one of her Clanmates injured and in pain were a little frightening, of course, but it wasn't nearly as terrifying as the thought of being tasked to bring Sagelight the flowers and seeds he needed to help soothe the warrior's wounds. She had tried to pay attention to her uncle's teachings, and she wanted to believe she had done a really good job -- she could even tell the difference between daisy and chamomile now -- but suddenly being thrust into a real situation such as this threatened to shut her down. What if she couldn't find the herbs in time? What if she could find them, but she ended up grabbing the wrong things, and Sagelight used them on Foxfire unknowingly and caused him even more pain, or a deeper infection, or even--

Shaking her head quickly, Honeypaw drew in a large, trembling breath through her nose and exhaled it through her mouth, repeating the process several more times until the rapid drumming of her heart slowed its tempo. No, everything would be alright. Sagelight wouldn't just blindly use any old herb she brought him. He'd make sure they were the correct ones first. If worse came to worst, Sagelight would go and fetch the herbs himself to help Foxfire. Everything would be alright. It had to be alright if she ever wanted to be a medicine cat.

"O-Okay," she mewed, trying to strengthen her voice to sound more confident and less, well, literally every other emotion she was feeling. She zoomed off to the back of the cave where the herbs were stocked between cracks and crevices in the walls, having been dried out in the sun so they wouldn't wilt. She shut her eyes tightly and struggled to concentrate. Goldenrod and poppy seeds. Those were the things Sagelight needed. Oh, but what did they look like again?

Goldenrod ... is a yellow flowering plant. It is ... soft, like her fur. The flowers aren't as big as dandelions. They are clumped together.

Opening her eyes, Honeypaw looked up at the crevice that held the clumps of tiny yellow flowers. Those are goldenrod! She gathered two of the collected stalks just in case one wasn't enough. Then, she approached a small rock that little red flower heads laying on top of it. It was easy remembering where to get the poppy seeds.

With both the goldenrod and the poppy head held delicately in her mouth, Honeypaw rushed back to Sagelight's side, placing the two collected herbs down at his paws. "S-Sorry for taking so long...." she apologized meekly.