(Outdated) Warriors: Clouded Skies #1 - The First Storm

Chapter Four

"This is... coltsfoot?" Ravenpaw was frustrated that he was already on his third day of apprenticeship--counting the day Goldenpool kitted--and had been told the herbs constantly but continued to forget. Couldn't he do anything right?

"Marigold," Mossrain corrected. "Use your nose, Ravenpaw. Marigold's scent is strong and pretty bitter, while coltsfoot smells soft and a little sweet," he explained. "Can you remember what they do?" His head tilted, his hazel eyes glowing in the cave's darkness, which Ravenpaw was still trying to get used to.

"Marigold helps stop infections..." he meowed slowly, and Mossrain nodded encouragingly. "And coltsfoot helps... queens... get more milk?" He knew that he was wrong immediately, even though Mossrain didn't change his demeanor. 

"Coltsfoot helps with shortness of breath," he reminded his apprentice. "Its borage leaves that helps with milk, and it brings down fevers. But don't worry about being wrong, 'cause I once made a really big mistake! When I was a kit, I had a cough so I decided to get the herbs myself, since Goldenpool was busy. But instead of grabbing tansy--which you feed to cats in small doses to help a cough--I ate yarrow and gave poor Maskdapple quite a bit of fear when I started vomiting everywhere!" he let out a chuckle as he spoke of his mother.

Ravenpaw tried to join his mentor's amusement, but he didn't really have the energy. "I bet Goldenpool was mad," Ravenpaw mewed, wanting to keep the tom happy since he loved to continue talking so much and Ravenpaw didn't really mind listening.

"Oh, she was like a fox!" Mossrain let out a short yowl of amusement. "She was so mad about me mixing up the herbs, she started training me the next day! That's how I learned that yarrow is used for extracting poison from wounds or used to make a cat throw up if they ate something bad!" Mossrain gave a snort. "If only I knew that back then, I would've saved myself a lot of trouble!"

"But if you didn't, you would've had to wait for moons before starting to learn the herbs, right?" Ravenpaw mewed softly, and the tom's expression softened, showing slight surprise of the thought.

"I guess so, Ravenpaw, I guess so..." He shook his head and jumped to his paws, going over to where they stored the herbs and pulled out a bundle of big hairy leaves that had a calming, mellow scent. Borage leaves, maybe? "Can you take these to Goldenpool? You mix up the marigold reminded me she might need extra milk, so her having a few borage leaves would be good for her kits." The tom dropped the herbs in front of his apprentice.

"Of course!" Excitement sped Ravenpaw's heart. He took the herbs and hurried from the den, his yellow eyes shining with happiness. He had visited Goldenpool at least once a day to see her kits, and he always found himself looking at the little one he saved--Stormkit. Goldenpool named her that after she had said, 'you caused quite a little storm, didn't you?'

Ravenpaw's head cleared as the milky scent of the nursery surrounded him, and he padded to the back where Goldenpool lay, giving a mew of welcome. "Did Mossrain send borage leaves?" she questioned, her ears flicking. The apprentice nodded, dropping the leaves in front of her.

"He wanted to make sure you had enough milk," the black tom explained, then crouched down and looked at the kits. Their fur was dry and fluffy, and they crawled around feebly with their eyes still closed shut. Dustkit, the dusty brown tom, was attempting to climb up Goldenpool's flank, but failed and fell back onto his sister, Heatherkit, who mewled angrily and wiggled like a worm.

Ravenpaw turned his head to the part of the nest right under his muzzle, and he saw little Stormkit crawling her way towards him, her solid brown fur only disrupted by darker jagged stripes. She managed to get over the edge of the next, and the apprentice looked at Goldenpool, but she seemed curious about what her kit was doing and made no move to bring her back.