The Lion and The Mouse

Flashpaw was busy sorting out herbs. There was a lot going on lately, but that didn't mean that the mundane tasks could be swept to the side. In fact, it made them even more important. There would be kits born soon, and despite their alliances, the medicine cat apprentice wanted to be as ready as possible in case they needed to call on those alliances. The dilute torbie had her paws full, especially with Logleap not feeling his best.

Hearing some noise outside of the medicine clearing, Flashpaw poked her head out to see the large frame of her father making his way over. She purred, ready to greet him happily, when she realized he was limping a little.

"Lightningstar, are you alright?"

Having been hunting like he did every day, today was... different, to say the least. It'd never happened to him in all of his moons of being alive, but today, a thorn decided to find its way into his pawpad and great StarClan did it ever hurt. So, the large, fluffy tom had limped through the territory and now found himself at the medicine cat den where Flashpaw greeted him worryingly.

"It's just a thorn, it's nothing," the husky voiced tom mewed, though his argument wasn't very convincing as blood dripped onto the ground bellow. He hated admitting to weakness, even to his family, and especially from something as trivial as a thorn in his paw, but after trying earlier, he knew that this thorn wasn't something that he'd be able to get rid of himself, and seeking help was the only option. Luckily for him, Flashpaw was a kindhearted and gentle soul that wouldn't taunt him for arriving at her den for assistance. Well, or so he hoped.

A thorn in the paw pad wasn't the worst thing, but it could certainly cause problems if not addressed. Flashpaw was glad her father's pride hadn't interfered with him coming to her for help. She was confident she could help him easily at this point.

"It'll be nothing in just a moment, for sure," she purred, gesturing for him to follow her back into the medicine clearing. She grabbed some coltsfoot and goldenrod, setting them beside her for once she had extracted the offending thorn.

"Alright, let me see."

Letting out a sigh, Lightningstar made his way further into the den and sat down. Holding his paw up for Flashpaw to inspect, he was sure of her ability to remove it from his pad and just prayed she did it with some haste. "Tell me when," the large, fluffy leader mewed.

Flashpaw's whiskers twitched, amused by her father's attitude towards this whole situation. "On three. One...two..." She tugged the thorn out with surprising ease, "Three," she purred, spitting the offending thorn from between her teeth and batting it so it would be out of the way and not likely to get into any other paw pad. She chewed up the herbs, making a poultice that she put on the small hole where the thorn had entered, covering it with some cobweb to keep it in place. "Just in case, we don't want it to get infected."

Letting out a breath, Lightningstar listened as she counted down but should've known of such... trickery. Letting out a hiss as she pulled the thorn out earlier than her cadence, the large leader took a deep breath. Thank StarClan it was out, he knew he could trust in Flashpaw.

Watching as the she-cat applied some sort of herb concoction and then cobwebs, Lightningstar cleared his throat. "You'll make a fine medicine cat yet," the deep voiced leader mewed as stoically as ever.

Her eyes sparkled as she looked up at her father, meeting his gaze. His praise meant the world to her, as she knew it was not easily given. "Thank you. You know I'll give my all to ThunderClan. It won't always be as simple as a thorn."

"If it had been something more serious, I'm sure you could've handled it," Lightningstar mewed and he shook his foot back and forth in an effort to relieve the pain. Standing up, the large leader wasn't able to stand at full height in the den and made sure not to knock anything over or step on any piles of herbs. "Thank you," he mewed with a simple nod before exiting the den. Part of him wanted to stay longer, but he knew there were duties to perform around camp and needed to get back to them.