Small World [O]

A few days had passed since SkyClan's raid, but by the state of the Clan, it looked like they had just left moments ago. Plenty of warriors and apprentices were still in Smallbean's den, and those that weren't were clearly hurting. Cloverpaw wanted to try and help where she could, but she'd been given strict orders to rest.

She had managed to drag herself outside today, hoping sitting in the sun might help her feel better. She settled down not far from the medicine den, expression twisting with pain as she stretched her legs out in front of her. She couldn't see any cats she knew from here, but hopefully somebody she recognized would show up– or someone else would talk to her. Real socializing might be good for her, too.

Henkit lay on the sand, gazing up at the blue sky. She was bored. She wanted to practice fighting, she wanted to practice hunting, she wanted to boss somecat around. Father was busy. Tawnyflare was even busier, if that was conceivable- Henkit hadn’t seen her mother for sunrises. She yawned and rolled onto her stomach, drawing lines in the sand with her claws. There was Tawnyflare- and father- and Timberkit and Bearkit and Sootkit and Rabbitkit and all. She leaned back and gazed critically at her drawing. There was something missing… Aha. Tawnyflare’s fox. Henkit desperately wanted a fox pelt of her own, but she wasn’t sure how. Henkit’s head perked up and she glanced around. There, a white cat with a terrible stench. RiverClan, she supposed. The scent of fish lingered on their pelts even after days spent in WindClan’s camp. Henkit rose to her paws. Maybe this warrior could teach her about warrior… things.

“Ello, cat. Can you show me some warrior moves, pretty please? I already know this-” Henkit swatted the sand with her front paw. Sand flew up in her face, and she recoiled, coughing. “I’ll listen real well, promise!”

Cloverpaw had just decided WindClan was going to carry on around her, had just closed her eyes to get some rest when she heard the approach of tiny paws. Looking up, she watched as what looked to be one of the Clan's youngest trotted right over to her. She shifted herself, suddenly feeling very aware of the way her wounds looked.

The kit made a little display of swatting at the ground, and she giggled when she kicked sand up at herself. If nothing else, kits were a great way to lift her mood. "Sorry, but I'm not a warrior," Cloverpaw started slowly. She still felt a little twinge of guilt when she thought about it, but she knew she had chosen the right path. Tail waving slowly, she went on, [color=darkseagreen]"I used to be a warrior apprentice, but now I'm training to be a medicine cat." She said that with emphasis, trying to make it sound as interesting as possible. She knew not a lot of cats wanted to know much about herbs or medicine, but it was all pretty cool. "I could always teach you some of the herbs I know." She grinned, big and bright, hoping the kit would say yes– this was a good way to spend her time here and to keep herself from going mad in Smallbean's den.

Henkit blinked. Twice. Not a warrior. Well, how the StarClan did she get herself torn up like that, huh? Medicine cats weren’t supposed to fight, yadda yadda yadda… but this one did. Hmm. Interesting. Very interesting. A cat who could fight and heal… awesome. Henkit wanted to do that. Herbs? Great, not so awesome. “Well… I know about grass! That’s pretty much it, right?” Not that there was anything wrong with grass. But it was rather underwhelming to see Smallbean going out to find herbs all day and returning with… grass. Now, if there was some awesome herb that was sparkly and orange and made a cat super fast, Henkit would be sold. However, she doubted there was a herb that was sparkly and orange and made a cat super fast. But if there was one, she was going to find it. Maybe one of the herbs this cat knew about would be the orange sparkly one. Only one way to find out, huh?

Grass? Cloverpaw couldn't help but laugh at that, shaking her head slowly. She couldn't say she wouldn't have said the same thing when she was a kit, or even when she was training under Ivystar, but it still charmed her to hear someone else say it. With a happy sigh, she started, "No, not just grass. A lot of it does look that way though, huh?" What were some herbs she could tell this kit about that she might recognize? Hm... "I'm sure you know about cobwebs and poppyseeds, right? Those are pretty important, even for a future warrior. As a matter of fact," she spared a glance down at her legs. The deepest of her injuries were still sticky with poultices and cobwebs, and she lowered her head to point her nose at one of them. "See? There's lots of herbs there, they were just chewed up or crushed so Smallbean could actually use them. And of course, cobwebs holding them in place." Cloverpaw hummed, staring at her legs for a moment longer. She hadn't taken the time to really look at them, afraid of what she'd see if she did, and a wave of horror and anger rolled in her gut. So, this had really happened to her. The constant pain, her stay in WindClan... it wasn't some long, feverish dream. Shaking her head, she quickly looked back to the kit, hoping how nauseous she suddenly felt didn't show on her face.

"Uh– where– where was I? Herbs, right? Let's see... Well, it isn't all grass. There's some pretty ones, too, like... like marigold! That's this little golden flower, it grows plenty in RiverClan. And, uh, coltsfoot, that has yellow flowers too, uh.." She tipped her head, trailing off. "I guess I should ask your name, huh?"

Cobwebs? Poppy seeds? Henkit tilted her head to the side in confusion. How spiders could be good for any cat was beyond her. Aha, so they held the herbs in place. So theoretically anything else could work, if it would hold the herbs. Pretty herbs? Henkit snorted. Who did this cat think she was, a queen? Plants were either useful or awesome. Pretty didn’t come into it. “Henkit. You are?” This cat was a RiverClan cat. Maybe her name would be weird, like Fishbreath. Henkit withheld a laugh. Fishbreath was more accurate than weird. “What other things do herbs do?”