heal me, herb dudes [open]

Red's Wounds:

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After the battle with the calico loner, Redfall took one look at his bleeding shoulder and decided to go to the medicine den. He didn't like going, but he also didn't like that big clot of scarlet on his shoulder, or the bleeding scratches on his muzzle. The shoulder was worse, though - a huge chunk of his fur was torn out, although you could hardly tell, considering the red blood matched his usual fur color. He ducked through the den entrance, glancing around for Sagelight and Honeysong. "Uh, Sagelight? Honeysong? I could use a bit of your... herb expertise... right now." He stayed in the entrance, standing awkwardly, unsure where to go.

Honeysong began her break from sorting herbs a few minutes prior to Redfall’s arrival, munching away at a young sparrow, silently wishing to herself that it had been quail instead. Since she hadn’t been fully concentrated on working, the warrior’s appearance didn’t spook her nearly as bad as it would have. She looked up at the first cat she had taken to the Moonstone and gasped softly upon spotting his shoulder.

Abandoning the sparrow, the younger medicine cat approached Redfall with a look of heavy concern. ”Oh, goodness! Redfall, what happened? Here, lay down.” She gently ushered him further into the den, leading him to an unoccupied, freshly cleaned bed of moss for him to lie down on.

Redfall spotted Honeysong and relaxed slightly as she stood up, concern on her face. He padded over to the nest she gestured to and sank into it, with a grateful nod to her. "I had an encounter with a loner within our borders. I've had a few of those lately... maybe I'll talk to Spottedstar or Wolfcall about it..." He trailed off and looked back at Honeysong. "Yeah. Loner. But I'm fine." A wince contradicted his last words, and he scowled, despite himself. He shifted to his side in the nest so his bloody shoulder wouldn't drip on the den floor.

Honeysong listened as the warrior spoke, taking in every word despite her seemingly absent-minded nodding. All the while, she observed his wounds, checking to make sure it wasn’t too deep. It was more of a gash than a cut, but it wasn’t anything to be overly worried over. ”If the loners trespassing in our territory can do this much damage to a warrior, imagine what they could do to an inexperienced apprentice,” she finally meowed. ”Yes, you should definitely talk to them about it, or I can bring it up to them if you would much rather that. Stay here and try to get comfortable while I fetch you some herbs.”

Leaving Redfall to settle, Honeysong approaches the store of herbs in the back of the den. She was much more familiar with the medical herbs and their uses than she had been just starting out as Sagelight’s apprentice many moons ago. Therefore, it didn’t take her long to find all the herbs she needed: cobwebs to stop the bleeding; cob nuts and dock leaves for the scratches; goldenrod for the shoulder injury; oak leaves to prevent infection; catchweed pods to keep the poultice in place; and poppy seeds to ease the pain.

She wrapped all the herbs up in a large beech leaf and carried it back over to Redfall, then went immediately to work, chewing and combining the different leaves and gently applying them to his wounds after stopping the blood flow with the cobwebs. Once she secured the catchweed to his fur to keep the poultice from rubbing off his shoulder, she offered him her paw, which held two tiny poppy seeds. ”Eat these. They’ll ease the pain and help you sleep. I’ll check over your wounds again once you wake back up, and we’ll continue from there.”

Redfall winced as Honeysong spoke, thinking of the time a fox had ran into Swansong and him as an apprentice. Yes, apprentices would be rather helpless fighting against predators and loners alike. He nodded to the medicine cat. "I'll tell them later." He bit back a sigh as she told him to stay. Like I'm going anywhere else. As she came back, Redfall watched her work with a sort of awe, only understanding parts of it - well, only knowing cobwebs were used to stop the bleeding. The poultice on his shoulder felt sticky, and his claws itched to rip it off, but he restrained himself. He swiped the poppy seeds from her and studied them for a moment before licking them up. Hm. Not very bitter like the other herbs. I guess they're seeds, not plants, but still. He nodded to Honeysong in thanks, and settled down, easing the weight off of his shoulder. Sleep came quickly.

Honeysong watched as Redfall slowly fell asleep, relieved that the seeds had done their job. She looked back over in the direction of the herb store. Everything was running low. Well, she supposed that made sense; she and Sagelight had been working diligently to make sure everyone recovered from the battle against the Righteous Few. She would have to ask a warrior to help her gather more. She wanted to ask Blossomstep, but she had just had her kits a few sunrises ago. She’d be in no state to help. She knew she’d have to ask someone else. Hopefully her shyness won’t get in the way of doing so.

She lowered her head to the warrior’s sleeping form and lapped once between his ears, giving a soft, soothing purr. Then she gulped uncomfortably. She didn’t really know why she just did that. She didn’t have a crush on the tom — no, she knew very well of the warrior code for medicine cats and had no plans of ever breaking it. Well ... she just knew what it was like feeling helpless at one point. She knew Redfall to be a pretty proud warrior, and something like this would have most definitely affected his self-esteem. She just wanted to let him know that, even after this, she still didn’t think any less of him. After all, he was her Clanmate. She cared just as much about him as she did any other cat.