Licking Wounds [c, Leaf/Beech]

This was her first time in the medicine den. She could smell the herbs from a distance, wafting across camp. But Leafpaw never needed their help, and she was too proud to seek help for every little scrape she got into as a kit.

She hesitated even coming to the den. She knew that Beechface was Dawnhawk’s sister, the cat that had her seek out her help in the first place.

Leafpaw felt her wrists ache and her ribs groaning, a faint trace of metal clouding her normally sharp scent glands. Perhaps the warrior didn’t mean to leave damage, but what did that matter?

“Hey, Beechface?” Leafpaw let out a guttural cough. “I hate to bother you, but could you check me out? I... sparred with Dawnhawk with Flashpaw and Sparkpaw and he knocked me down pretty hard. I’m tasting some blood and that can’t be good.”

Beechface lifted her head at the sound of her name being called, eyes narrowing as a battered-looking apprentice made her way into the den. Leafpaw, she recognized the calico as one of Flowerthorn's daughters. Eyes narrowed as the apprentice spoke of sparring with Dawnhawk, and Beechface suppressed a quiet growl at that bit of information.

"Sit." Beechface told the apprentice gruffly. While the apprentice did what she was told (for Beechface would accept nothing less, and the she-cat looked like she needed to sit), Beechface stepped towards her, carefully assessing Leafpaw for injuries. Ribs maybe, judging from how the she-cat had moved as she entered the den. Hopefully just bruising rather than cracked or broken ribs.

"You would do well to stay away from Dawnhawk, and that goes for your siblings, too." She sighed, "What's hurting you most?" She asked, carefully lifting a paw to run along Leafpaw's flank to assess the damage. Piercing yellow-green eyes turned to Leafpaw's face as well, watching her movements closely. She was tasting blood, but if a broken rib had punctured a lung she'd be in far worse shape. Beechface was hoping that the more likely (and far less dangerous) cause was a bitten tongue or a tooth getting knocked out. The apprentice didn't seem concussed, which was a good thing.

Continuing to assess the apprentice, Beechface made a mental note of the herbs she'd need as her mind worked to figure out the exact extent of Leafpaw's injuries.

Leafpaw groaned when the she-cat dragged her paw up her rib cage. “He told us that if we beat him, he would have made the Asylum leave,” she choked out, trying to keep it a whisper as to not alert their occupiers. “I wanted to save SkyClan. But... he squashed me like a bug. Threw me down on the ground with his paws- I had pounced on him...”

She replayed the scuffle in her mind. Leafpaw frowned at the recollection.

“It was a mouse-brained thing to do. But my brother already jumped towards him. I couldn’t watch him beat up my brother—” Leafpaw coughed again, wincing at the pain in her rib cage.

“Why are brothers so stupid?”

Leafpaw looked at Beechface as she was scanning the apprentice. It felt odd to have another cat look at her so closely— it was unnerving for her.

“What do you think is going on?”

"He's full of foxdung... Sorry." Beechface grumbled as the she-cat groaned at her paw against her flank, both in apology and in answer to the statement. A growl tinged her words, though the medicine cat struggled to force down her own anger towards Dawnhawk. She needed to focus on the apprentice in front of her.

"If you find the answer, let me know. I don't understand them either." Beechface smirked. Their brothers were indeed stupid. Truly. Though she could certainly understand attacking Dawnhawk. He deserved it. Though the apprentices would stand little chance against a full warrior.

"Good news, nothing's broken or cracked. Your ribs are bruised though, they'll be sore for a while. You bit your tongue, though it should already have stopped bleeding. It'll be uncomfortable but it's not serious, at least." The medicine cat said, turning to her herb stores. Comfrey root and daisy would help the swelling and bruising. Beechface plucked the herbs from her store, chewing them and carefully mixing them into a poultice.

"This'll soothe the swelling and bruising. You are going to rest for the next few days though, aggravating your ribs won't do you any good, understand?" She asked, padding over to where Leafpaw sat. Beechface carefully spread the poultice across her ribcage, before retreating to get cobwebs and lay them over the poultice.

"No rubbing this off, either." Beechface added.

“What are those?” Leafpaw sniffed the poultice, unsure of it, but trusted Beechface. She seemed nice enough. Leafpaw sensed that perhaps the medicine cat also didn’t care for Dawnhawk either, and that made her feel better.

“A few days? Where would I stay? Here?”

She nodded at Beechface’s order. It was going to feel weird, she figured that much. Leafpaw was just thankful for some medical attention.

“Thank you for everything,” the she-cat mewed quietly. She gave a weak smile to Beechface, still wincing from the pain.

"Comfrey root and daisy." Beechface replied in answer to her question.

"You might as well, it'll be quieter, and you do need to rest. Your injuries aren't serious, and I intend for them to stay that way." She said, trying to gentle her voice somewhat. She'd be able to keep an eye on the apprentice, and she'd be away from Dawnhawk, at least for a little while.

The large tabby ducked her head at the thanks. Praise wasn't something she was used to.

"Go and rest." She said, indicating a nest with the flick of her tail.

“Thank you,” she meowed, slowly making her way to the nest.

Leafpaw felt uncomfortable with quiet. She was stir-crazy, needed to be doing something. She was still kicking herself for being out of commission for a few days.

“So, do you stay here the whole time?”

She tried to breathe in the herb smells, seeing if they would relax her.

Leafpaw looked to Beechface and meowed, “Is there anything I can do?” Her tail flicked back and forth. She was antsy, and already felt her paws drum under her.

This is going to be a long few days.

"Yeah... I miss the apprentice den, honestly. The quiet is... unsettling. I'm still not used to it despite being a medicine cat for moons now." Spottedstar had lost a life here. Mistrain and Murkpelt had died, trapped in the fire, in this den. The apprentice didn't need to know those things, though.

"I'd be out of the den more but... I can't stand the rogues. At least they don't come in here to bother me without good reason." Even if there was a pair of them sitting outside the entrance to the medicine den.

"I know, staying idle is boring but it's better than aggravating your ribs and making it worse." She sighed, "so... aside from today, how is your training going?" Hopefully conversation would be enough of a distraction for Leafpaw.

Leafpaw tried to relax herself, scrunching her face with each stabbing pain. Beechface was right, she had to focus on getting better.

“Honestly, there’s not been much going on yet. Sunflower is my mentor but I haven’t seen much of him. He’s a skittish guy, isn’t he? But this battle with Dawnhawk was my first real battle. I did my best, and that’s all I could do, but I still wish I could have made it longer than that. Maybe we would have won... He focused on me first.”

She leaned on her belly instead of her sides, hoping for some relief. “I’m sorry you have to deal with the rogues, though. It’s been crazy to see how many of them that there are.”

"Sunflower... You would do well to go to one of the other warriors, probably. Foxfire or Wrenspring. I know mom had him as a mentor and she said he could hardly spar with her without crying. Said he barely even taught her how to hunt and that she wound up training with Bloodstrike and others more often than not." Sunflower was, in simple terms, a coward. The entire clan knew it. How Sunflower managed to do anything at all to be chosen as some poor apprentice's mentor was beyond Beechface's comprehension.

"They outnumber us and we can't do a thing without being watched. I hate it." She muttered darkly, claws flexing and scraping against the ground in frustration.