Let your Garden Grow

Sagelight was busy, very busy. Many of the SkyClan cats had been burned in the fire, and he was already running low on his stock. Most of it burned up in the fire, and what he was able to salvage wouldn't hold the whole Clan with as many injuries as they had sustained. Restlessly, he paced back and forth in their makeshift camp, running through what potential herbs he could possibly find here. He desperately needed more comfrey root, as it helped with burn wounds. That would be his number one priority for today. And...The older tom looked around, spotting Beechpaw's form nearby. She needed to get on with her training, even though she hadn't been officially made his apprentice yet.

With a heavy sigh, he padded over to her and offered her a weary smile. "Beechpaw, I'm going to go on an herb hunt and I'd like you to come with me. It's time we get along with your training, I could use an extra pair of paws. And..." He paused, looking around again. The first cat he spotted happened to be Bloodstrike. "Bloodstrike, could you come with us as well? We'll need the protection, just to be safe. That is, if you're up for it? I don't want you to bother your injuries..."

Bloodstrike had practically been a stone since they escaped the fire and arrived at Twoleg place. He'd been bringing back fresh kill as he was supposed to do, going on patrols aroudn their new home and making sure every lone cat knew that his clan lived here now and to respect the boundaries. He had a few new scratchmarks on him here and there for the rogue cats that didn't appreciate him waving his authority around, but they weren't very deep or serious. He had given plenty of rogues a run for their money when they tried to face off with him. It made sense that Sagelight wanted Bloodstrike to come with him. At the request, his ear swiveled in Sagelight's direction and he nodded. He padded up to the Medicine Cat with absolutely no expression on his face whatsoever. Even his eyes looked glazed over, like he was somewhere else.

"My injuries will not slow me." He said imply and flatly. Then he went silent. He was ready when the other two were.

Beechpaw's head rested on her paws as she stared listlessly across Skyclan's makeshift camp. Her mind still reeled from everything that had happened in the last few days. She... really didn't want to think about the current situation. At all.

Hearing her name called, Beechpaw blinked up at the medicine cat warily, before getting to her paws. A... herb hunt...? Start her training...?

Oh, right. How could she have forgotten?

"Okay..." Beechpaw struggled to keep a scowl off her face, but was sure she hadn't quite managed it. She told herself that she was too tired to keep a friendly expression on her face, that it took effort she wasn't willing to expend at the moment, but she was fairly certain others knew better. Still, he'd asked her to consider things and... she had. She still didn't know where she stood on anything. Part of her still thought that Sagelight was senile, or that this was just a bad dream. But she'd gone to sleep and woken up multiple times since that meeting in the medicine cat's den. This was no dream.

And he'd asked her to held. Even she couldn't ignore that.

Sagelight had already turned away from her and was calling for Bloodstrike to accompany them. Her father looked dead on his paws, expression blank. Beechpaw couldn't tell if it was his injuries- and there were definitely more than there had been when they'd began the journey into twolegplace- or if it was sheer exhaustion or a combination of both.

"Dad...? Are you okay?" She asked hesitantly as she followed the two older cats. She wondered why Sagelight had asked him to come along, it looked like he needed the rest even more than Sagelight himself did. But then, she supposed, there wasn't a cat she knew of in Skyclan that was at their best right now. But it still bothered Beechpaw that Bloodstrike of all cats looked like a strong wind might blow him over. Shouldn't he have been left to rest?

Herb Hunt Rules:

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With Mistrain missing, as well as Foxfire, Murkpelt, and their own leader Spottedstar, grief weighed heavy on every cat in SkyClan. Sagelight noticed how empty Bloodstrike looked and gave him a sad, sympathetic smile. When Beechpaw approached, he gave them both a cursory look-over to make sure they were alright before he turned on his heel and led the way out of the makeshift "camp" they were residing in at the moment.

The older medicine cat stared straight ahead, keeping his senses open for any signs of danger, but he called over his shoulder, "Bloodstrike, if you need to stop and take a break, let me know." Sagelight seemed occupied on other things as the small group of cats picked their way cautiously through the old Twolegplace, but he did look back at Beechpaw and motion for her to join him by his side. He spoke in hushed tones, always keeping a blurry eye and a foggy ear out for anything out of the ordinary. "Beechpaw, I know you haven't officially given me an answer about your, um, status, but...I need another set of paws to help, and you're the best candidate. So...I figured we should start working on things, even though you haven't received your medicine cat apprentice ceremony yet. Please keep your senses on alert, and stay close to me."

With that being said, the pointed tom picked up his pace a little bit, winding around in a haphazard path to scent out anything he could find that may be useful. Wandering into a patch of overgrown grass, he detected a familiar scent and came across a plant with broad leaves and little bell-shaped flowers. Sagelight held his breath and carefully, ever so carefully, pulled a few of the stems out of the ground to get at the roots, nearly weeping with joy when he confirmed what he had found. "Oh, thank StarClan..." he meowed, casting a gaze up towards the sky.

"Comfrey root...! This is exactly what I needed."

The member 'Aspen' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Effect Dice' : 6

Bloodstrike hardly reacted to things that he normally would have. A bird that zipped over his head flying fairly low didn't even so much as make him flinch. His attention turned to Beechpaw when she asked if he was alright. He put on a small smile and nodded once. His eyes were tired, but especially for his daughter he'd put on a brave face. He brought his head up a bit higher, now realizing that he didn't carry himself proud and tall like he typically did.

Sagelight, trying to be encouraging, told him to let him know if he needed a rest. Bloodstrike responded by taking in a deep breath and rebalancing his weight across his paws. It would not do to appear weak for any reason, even if it was completely understandable to be less than perfectly powerful.

"I will let you know, Sagelight." Bloodstrike lied. Unless the pain in his back became so much that he lost consciousness, neither cat would hear a peep of complaint out of him. He followed after Sagelight and put his nose to work.

He came across... something. It was a flower of some sort but something inside him told him he should let Sagelight know.

"Uh... what about this Sagelight?" he poked the flower with a toe.

The member 'Bloodstrike' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Effect Dice' : 3

Beechpaw could only give her father a disbelieving look at his nod. Sure he was okay, and she was a mouse. If Sagelight was going to drag him along though, she wasn't one to question his methods. At least not now.

Sagelight beckoned Beechpaw forward, and at his words the large apprentice twitched an ear. "I don't know... The more I think about it the less sure I am." She muttered wryly, "But I'll do what I can to help." What he said was true, the medicine cat looked tired, and with all of the injured cats and everything else, he really did need all the paws he could get helping.

She followed the old medicine cat, and warily turned her gaze in search of... plants? The soft flutter of bird wings had the she-cat's gaze lifting and her paws itching to race after it, but she wasn't here to hunt living creatures. With some effort, she managed to focus on the task at paw.

"Are these useful...?" Beeechpaw stared dubiously at the brightly-colored flower, the scent having drawn her to it. Whether or not it was useful she had absolutely no idea, and the apprentice sat in front of the flower to wait. Eyes narrowing slightly, she glanced over at her father, noting he had found something that looked a bit similar. Well, if it was useless, maybe it would make Sagelight reconsider this... excursion and just bring them both back to camp so the very-clearly-exhausted warrior could rest. Or maybe it would make Sagelight reconsider wanting her for an apprentice. If it was useful, it was... something? Useful would be good, but at this point Beechpaw knew about as much about herbs as she did about the kittypets that were said to live with twolegs. Not. Much.

Despite her own misgivings, she wanted the plants to at least be useful to the one who might know what he was doing with the plant in question. "I don't know what I'm doing." She muttered under her breath, definitely not meant for Sagelight to hear.

The member 'kjSage' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Effect Dice' : 3