Book Two, Chosen

Chapter Seventeen

Streampaw's POV. Told in the first person.

Today was so much fun! After Meadowheart showed me the territory, I got to make my nest, then she ran me quickly through herbs.

I learned that borage leaves increase milk in queens and bring down fever. I learned other very useful things such as the use of burdock root, catmint, and chervile.

I hope I remember all of that, it would be pretty embarrassing if I didn't.

I was now lying in my nest next to Meadowheart in the bramble cave. Meadowheart's snoring soon lulled me to sleep. I was awoken by a paw prodding my side. "Yes?" I murmured groggily.

"It's time to start your training."

I instantly hopped out of my nest and shook my pelt. "What are we doing first today?" I asked eagerly.

Meadowheart laughed. "We're going to be sorting through herbs and picking new ones."

I squeaked in excitement. "That sounds so fun!"

"You're a pretty eager apprentice," Meadowheart commented. "Training you will be fun."

I looked Meadowheart directly in the eyes and found happiness. I instantly felt happier. "Come on, I'll show you the herb store."

Meadowheart and I walked passed our dens and padded to a bramble covering that led to a dip in the ground. The entrance was covered in brambles, ivy draped down as well.

The herb scent grew extremely pungent now. I don't know if I'll ever get used to this!

Meadowheart started taking all the herbs from out of a very cold corner. Some were dried, and some were still usable. "Go over to each pile and take out all of the dried herbs, then place them into another pile."

I nodded. "Okay!" I started to search through the first pile. I recognized the scent from yesterday.

"Is this borage?" I asked Meadowheart. She looked shocked. "You remembered," Meadowheart commented. "Good."

I continued searching through the hairy leaves and I found a leaf with an odd-smelling patch on it.

"Uh, Meadowheart? This leaf doesn't smell good." I passed it to her with my paw.

"That's mold. It happens sometimes, don't worry, but now we have to throw the whole bundle out." Meadowheart explained.

"Oh, okay." I put the moldy leaf with the rest of the pile along with the borage.

I went to the next pile. "This is burdock root!" I exclaimed. "But it's all dried up. To the pile!" I put the burdock root into the pile and went to the next. This time it was an unknown herb, it had an odd smell.

"Those are dock leaves," explained Meadowheart. "Those leaves are chewed up and applied to wounds, it soothes them."

I nodded. "Cool." I looked through the pile of glossy leaves and found no bad ones. "Are we going through all of the herbs?" I asked, moving to the next pile.

"Yes, but I'm helping you and we're nearly done," Meadowheart responded.

I went to the following pile. This pile had stems of a plant with very bristly leaves. "That's horsetail. It is chewed and added to poultices to help an infected wound." Meadowheart described.

Meadowheart and I were almost done. I had two piles left and so did she. I moved to my next pile. This one had very small, forest-green leaves on a brown stem. Some of the stems were bad, so I quickly added them to the pile.

"That is thyme, you eat them to control anxiety and frayed nerves," Meadowheart signified as she finished her two piles.

I moved on. "This one smells very weird," I remarked, it smelled kind of gross.

"That's yarrow. You chew them and add them to a poultice to help with wounds. It is also used to expel poison, as if you swallow it, you will vomit." Meadowheart explained.

"That's quite a pile!" I exclaimed. Do we have to carry all of that out of camp?

"Yes. Now pick some up, we have to bury them so no cat accidentally steps in them." I picked up a bunch of plants and carried them with Meadowheart out of camp.

We put them down and Meadowheart started digging a hole. "Go fetch the other herbs."

"Yep!" I raced back into camp and back into the den. She sure drills me! I scooped up the rest of the herbs and ran back out.

I placed the herbs down next to Meadowheart. "There are still a few more," I stated.

Meadowheart nodded as she pushed all the dried herbs into the hole. I raced back into camp, this time passing Batstar. "Hard at work?" she questioned, laughing

"Yep!" I kept running on. I picked up the moldy leaf very carefully, some other scraps and I ran back to Meadowheart.

I put the final scraps into the hole and Meadowheart and I scraped dirt over it. "There, now, do you remember which herbs we need?" Meadowheart asked me.

"From my piles, we need borage, burdock root, and thyme," I told her.

"Wow, you have an excellent memory!" exclaimed Meadowheart.

"Thank you! I try hard." I licked my chest fur in embarrassment.

"From my piles, we need poppy seed, marigold, and lavender. Poppy seeds are eaten to soothe shock, it's also good to help cats sleep. Marigold leaves or petals are chewed into a pulp and applied to wounds to stop infection and lavender you eat it to help cure fevers." Meadowheart explained.

"Okay!" that's a lot of information to remember...all for my Clan though? We both headed out of the den and out of camp.

"Hey maybe we should collect that coltsfoot in case the apprentices run it over during training," I commented. I'd be surprised if they didn't already.

"That's a good idea. There are also some good herbs around there too."

We quickly ran to Big Rocks. To our luck, nobody was there. I ran under the rock to the yellow flowering plant.

"Pick it by its stem, like this." Meadowheart bit the stem and placed it down.

"Okay," I did exactly what Meadowheart told me and nipped the stalk off.

I did that for the rest of the plants and we went on. We collected all the herbs that we needed and we headed back to camp.