Everything Moves [OPEN]

After such a long trip, it felt nice to be home. He returned with a new rare not quite easy to find in their territory and even if they weren't much, it would be enough for a time. The medicine cat had already informed his leader of his arrival a few nights ago and now that the herbs storage was fully sorted out, he could finally get a time to relax. The curly-furred tom looked outside at the camp, now covered in snow due to leaf-bare. A shiver ran through his spine as Oakleaf carefully laid down at the entrance of his den. The night sky was filled with stars thanks to the lack of clouds and the usual clan chattering was in the air, typical of a night full of work for the warriors and apprentices. Thanks to Starclan, there were no sick or injured cats these past days, allowing him to gather more herbs and cobwebs for emergencies that may occur. Right now, it seemed that the biggest threat he could face was the curious kits and apprentices that may come to bother him with silly questions or frog-brained commentaries about how "smelly" his den was.

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The moment of inner silence and peace was suddenly ended by the young apprentice's enthusiasm. The curly-furred tom looked at Sunpaw with bright, serious eyes, not really annoyed by his presence. He looked behind to check if Ebonypaw was around but it seemed his apprentice wasn't near to help with this. Finally, he let out an inaudible sigh and returned his gaze to Sunpaw. Even if apprentices visiting his den wasn't something new... it was actually unusual to see one who would be willing to come here on his own and not because their mentor told them to. To be honest, it was weird to see a young cat being so respectful towards his duty since... it didn't involve fighting or anything young ones would consider "cool".

"Well, you arrived a little too late for organizing herbs and I doubt you would have been really helpful on that. But, I assume there's something you can do for me." Oakleaf stood up from the nest and disappeared a few seconds into the depths of the medicine cat den. When the green-eyed feline was back, a sack of herbs was hanging from his mouth, a mix of willow leaves and tansy that he managed to found in his journey to the Moonstone. "This here has a special plant that will prevent greencough in our clanmate and heal some minor symptoms as well if they exist. Right now, with leaf-bare on our noses, it is better to prevent than to suffer. Grab this carefully and wait for me. I'll bring a second one in no time."

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The tom returned with a new sack of herbs and nodded shortly at the apprentice's question. "Fwist dhe eldwes and vhen the mursery." (first the elders and then the nursery) he mewed before leaving the den to meet the cold of the open camp. A new shiver travelled through his body but it was nothing he couldn't handle. Oakleaf was still young and strong to handle all this without requiring his apprentice to do the heavy work for him. Of course, the extra paws were always something to be grateful.

Through the snow and mud, the brown-furred cat traveled from his den to the one where the oldest of his clanmates lived. He just turned his face from time to time to check on Sunpaw and be sure that he was not going to get stuck on the nose or drop the herbs before time. However, just before arriving, his hind paw suddenly fell on a soft spot of snow that hid a hole of mud under the camp. The hole was a known place of the camp for the experienced medicine cat but he got distracted when looking at Sunpaw and now, he was stuck. "Foux dung!" He snarled, keeping a strong grip on the herbs. Oakleaf tried to pull out the trapped paw but it just sunk deeper. "Sunpaw! Lweave the hervs on the elder's dwen and help mew out!" (leave the herbs on the elder's den and help me out)

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The older yet not much larger tom tried to help the apprentice by pushing himself out too but the mix between mud and snow was keeping him stuck. He looked at the concerned apprentice, who was trying to apologize to him. Why was he doing that? Oakleaf wasn't disappointed with him. This was his own fault and it wasn't the end of the world. It was just... a little bump on the road. However, even if he found his preoccupation a little annoying, the tom found himself relating to that. Just like Sunpaw, he used to worry about the minimum struggles of the world. His size, his physical weakness, the inability of saving his family from sickness... Life had taught him it will punch you down over and over and there was no time to spend whining about it. All they could do was learn and move forward. The medicine cat then did something not usual of him: he smiled, sympathetically. "Hey, hey... dwon't say that. Twhis my mwistake. And youh knoww? Diggwing isn't a bawd idea."