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Post by **Liz** on Jul 17, 2008 18:35:55 GMT -7
Something was not right.... Ah! There, we're out of chamomile!
Sunmist took note of everything and anything in the medicine cats den worth marking, making special extra note of anything amiss or low stock of certain herbs. Oh, I just wish I had an extra set of paws around here... She sighed. It was so lonely, being a medicine cat. No one to really talk to and relate to about stuff except for other medicine cats. But no one in the clan to talk to regularly, except for the medicine cat apprentice.
Where is that little dust devil anyways? She chuckled to herself. He was just so adorable.
Sunmist was brimming with pride, just brimming! Finally, an apprentice! She prayed to Starclan that she would be a wise, fair and just mentor, one that her apprentice could trust and go to.
Suddenly she was tugged back to her days with Galefce, her old mentor. She remembered the fear he instilled in her as she learned, insisting and demanding her best preformance daily. She chuckled slightly to herself. She would never be Galeface, But I can learn from him and his mentoring skills, even after he's gone, she thought.
Lost in her thoughts and stuck on auto cat, she continued taking stock, humming slightly to herself.
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Post by ~Creamy~ on Jul 20, 2008 19:32:44 GMT -7
A soft rustling announced Redpaw's return. His paws smelled faintly of mouse bile as he had been searching the elders' pelts for ticks. He would've been back sooner, but he got caught up in a story and by the time he realized that he would be late to return to the medicine den, he barely had time to run and rinse the bile off of his paws and run back to see if his mentor needed any help. Once he was fully in the medicine den, he dipped his head apologetically and then looked up, tilting his head slightly as he noticed that Sunmist was taking inventory of all the herbs. "Do we need to go collecting today?" he asked sounding almost hopeful.
Going to gather herbs was one of his favorite medicine cat activities. It gave him a chance to be out in the forest while learning about herbs from his mentor at the same time. He felt that he learned a little better while gathering herbs than just sorting them or looking at them back at camp.
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Post by **Liz** on Jul 20, 2008 20:07:17 GMT -7
Happy to be just puttering about the camp, Sunmist began taking one of each herb and packing it up in a large leaf, a way to remember what herbs she needed more of. It was kind of like a shopping list, she was usually easily distracted and forgot what to get-
She heard him before anything else, her eyes glittering with amusement as he dipped his head apologetically.
" Oh Redpaw, you know elders. Don't apologize. When I was an apprentice I loved listening to them and all their stories, although I think they like to embellish them quite a bit." She purred affectionatly, " As for herb gathering well, I do think that we need a lot of new herbs so yes, we are."
Her apprentice was so adorable.
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Post by ~Creamy~ on Jul 20, 2008 20:37:24 GMT -7
Redpaw's tail shot up and curled slightly and he managed to keep himself from jumping off the ground. He grinned and looked around. "What do we need? When are we going?" he said eagerly and then quickly sat down as if he remembered his place. "I mean uh...I can wait until your done," he meowed quietly, settling down behind and slightly to the left of Sunmist while watching what she was doing with interest.
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Post by **Liz** on Jul 20, 2008 21:00:18 GMT -7
" Well, Redpaw, I am almost done here." Sunmist marked the young toms eagerness with great pride as she sighed and stretched. " Oh dear, I'm so stiff." she yawned. It was a tedious task, but it had to be done. She saw how he had to try to contain his excitment, and purred warmly.
" Well, if you can put some chamomile, snakroot and thyme, just a bit mind you, in the pile on the leaf for me. I need to check up on a cat with a bellyache. Oh," She added. An opportunity for a pop quiz! " What is the cure for bellyache, anyways?"
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Post by ~Creamy~ on Jul 20, 2008 21:14:11 GMT -7
Redpaw froze, searching his mind for the answer. "Tansy? No...no," he meowed, shaking his head at the wrong answer. He was silent for another moment before hesitantly speaking up again. "Juniper berries?" He glanced up at Sunmist to check for her reaction and then another answer came to his mind. "Or...water mint?" he asked, sounding a little more confident this time.
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Post by **Liz** on Jul 20, 2008 21:42:56 GMT -7
Sunmist made a point of not reacting, although her mind was whirling. His first answer was wrong. She waited for him to correct himself, and he did. Very good, she thought. But he corrected himself again. To her relief, it too was right. She nodded.
" Juniper Berries and Watermint will both work well. Good job Redpaw. Now, look at the herbs that we need and think about where the best and quickest way to find the most amounts of them. Oh mouse dung, pass me some juniper berries please?"
Sunmist's tail was held high as she went into the den.
" Now Silvertongue, will you watch what you eat next time?" She said, feeding him some juniper berries, while scolding him.
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Post by ~Creamy~ on Jul 20, 2008 22:09:36 GMT -7
Redpaw purred at the praise and nudged a couple of the berries over to her. He looked at the smaller piles of herbs and thought hard about where they could be found. He was sure he'd seen a patch of thyme somewhere near the camp, though just where he couldn't remember. It shouldn't be too hard to find though. He began trying to think of where he would be able to find the other herbs and zoned out as he did so. He lay with his paws tucked under his chest, a few piles of herbs in front of him and a distant look in his eyes. Where to find the herbs, where to find the herbs...
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Post by **Liz** on Jul 20, 2008 22:50:37 GMT -7
After having a quite heated conversation with her hot headed patient, she returned to fine a very spaced Redpaw.
Sunmist tilted her head to the side.
" Redpaw?" She asked. " Redpaw!" Sunmist flicked his ear with the tip of her tail to wake him up.
" Great Starclan, did your brain explode or something?" she liked to joke around. No one usually found it too funny.
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Post by ~Creamy~ on Jul 23, 2008 17:46:22 GMT -7
Redpaw's ear twitched slightly when Sunmist flicked his ear and it brought him out of his thinking. He stared at her blankly for a moment and smiled slightly when she asked the question. He shook his head and gave a soft laugh before responding. "No. I was just trying to think of where to find some of the herbs," he explained. "I think I saw a patch of something near camp, I don't remember what though," he trailed off trying to remember and then shrugged when he couldn't. "It smelled like one of these, though," he mewed, gesturing with his tail towards the smaller piles of herbs.
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Post by **Liz** on Jul 23, 2008 18:06:51 GMT -7
Sunmist sniffed the herbs.
" What....thyme?" She purred. " Thats a toughy in these areas. But, we'll find it. And by we, I mean you." If cat's could wink, she would have done so at this moment, but instead just flicke her ears." Well, lets go, before some other cat manages to hurt themselves." Their last patient had just left, and it was the perfect time to escape before anyone came back with more injuries. She just wanted to get out of there.
She stared at her apprentice. " We'll do some scenting tests too, while we're out, how about that?" She had been greatly delayed in his training, and felt horrible about it.
Redpaw was a great apprentice, she owed him more than that.
" Shall we?"
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Post by ~Creamy~ on Jul 23, 2008 18:14:48 GMT -7
With his tail curled excitedly, Redtail nodded and bounded ahead of Sunmist a few steps before halting and waiting. "Yeah, let's go!" he mewled in a delayed response and turned around, walking in a calmer, more dignified manor through camp and out through the entrance. Once out of camp, he sat down with his tail curled around his paws and gave his face a quick was while waiting.
He loved being a medicine cat and was pleased with himself every day for choosing that instead of warrior training. It seemed like a calmer lifestyle, which was what he wanted, and it was also a mental test for himself to try and remember all the different herbs and their uses.
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Post by **Liz** on Jul 23, 2008 18:31:01 GMT -7
The young apprentice was one of the biggest reasons Sunmist enjoyed her life as a medicine cat. He will be her apprentice for a long time, until she dies although he will get his warrior name before then, she'd make sure of that. When I die he will be a great medicine cat, she thought as she followed her apprentice out of the camp. She smiled, inwardly.
Sunmist dropped the pile of herbs before the young apprentice, pointing to some feverfew, chervil root, catnip and comfry, as well as thyme. " These are the herbs we need, " She explained, " Which one is closest?" Sunmist curled her tail around her large paws, After, maybe just before sunset, we'll practice hunting. If I can't take him, I might ask Ferny to. Her heart sank at the thought of not being able to take her own apprentice, but he needed the practice...
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Post by ~Creamy~ on Jul 23, 2008 18:49:37 GMT -7
Redpaw looked at the herbs and lifted his nose to scent the air. With slight ease, he ignored the prey scents and focused on the plants. Catnip was the most fragrant and easiest to smell, but it wasn't the closest. He concentrated a little harder and then pointed with his nose to a spot a few foxlengths away.
"That's comfry over there, isn't it?" he asked, glancing back to his mentor to see if he was right or not.
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Post by **Liz** on Jul 23, 2008 18:57:19 GMT -7
Sunmist had already scented the air, the breeze carrying scents of mice and soaked leaves on the riverbed, but she too smelled the comfry. He was a new apprentice...What a better time to learn, she thought.
"Are you sure, Redpaw? Would you bet your life on it?" She paused, then asked coolly. Galeface had done this to her once. It tests loyalty to the mentor, as well as thought and knowledge. If you do not know the right herbs, then you could accidentally kill a cat. This next statement was designed just to state that.
She asked, her gaze level, eyes questioning,
" Would you put my life on it?"
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