Herbs and Moss (closed)

Thrushpaw laid in one of the soft, freshly made nests of moss laid out in the medicine cat's den. Her leg was wrapped with comfrey root and catchweed, yet the pain didn't disperse easily. Rimepaw sat next to her in his nest. The two, after the fox attack, had came quickly here and Swiftstream patched them up. Her leg was splayed out on the ground, and she dazed at the poultice lining her fur and skin. It burned a little bit upon application, but it made her feel a bit better. This brush with death made her quiet and contemplative, a stark opposite from her usual nature, but similar to how she'd been this morning. Her mother, Larktooth, had kept her a bit sheltered on the topic, and she found herself a bit lost. She was no non-believer but everything felt hazy, distant.

The small tunnel they were in, topped with gorse, made her feel safe. She felt like she was in a little hidey-hole, safe from foxes and the cold. She always felt comforted under the ground, comfortable and cozied up. The sky of stars and the grass under paw felt different to her, not quite as right. She sighed slowly, exhaling out her anxieties. If only it was that simple.

Rimepaw had just padded back into the medicine den, moving slowly and gingerly so as to not disturb the still decently fresh wounds on his shoulder. He'd brought each of them a rabbit, as Swiftstream and Softpaw were out gathering more herbs and unable to tend to them. He set one in front of Thrushpaw before settling back into his own nest, a sigh leaving his muzzle. "I hope this doesn't delay me becoming a warrior," he mewed dejectedly. "I'll never hear enough of it from my father," he mumbled, picking at the rabbit he'd been starving for a moment ago.

Thrushpaw, grateful for the rabbit, dug into it immediately. She was hungry and tired, and finished it as quickly as she received it. "Me too," she said quickly, mouth full of meat. "My parents, they've been pushing me recently like I told you this morning. Maybe they'll be proud of me for actually contributing- but no, because it was an 'unnecessary' battle, they'll say." She grumbled a bit as she swallowed her food. Her eyes prickled with angry tears but she closed her eyes hard. "Spinestalker seems too tough on you," she mentioned quietly, keeping her eyes focused on an assortment of herbs in front of her. She adjusted her leg with a small wince but tried to remain unreadable.

"'Unnecessary.' The fox attacked me." Rimepaw huffed and readjusted himself in his nest, finally taking a bite out of his rabbit so that he didn't have to respond right away. His mouth twisted into something between a grimace and a frown. "Maybe he is, but it's for my own good," he mumbled. "I've got to be the best warrior I can be, for the sake of the whole Clan." He repeated the words that had been fed to him time and time again, and it felt almost like acid on his tongue. He sighed, laying his head on his paws. "I believe that, I really do. I believe in the Clan, and I believe in doing my part, I just don't.. know if Spinestalker's methods are the best way about things," he meowed lowly. The tom had never really realized how much his father had really affected him; maybe his coldness wasn't that he was naturally derisive, but actually that he'd learned it from his father.