As Blossompaw stared around her, she realised she was in her nest, inside the medicine den. Rockpaw was still asleep, the blood on his wounds half dry. Crystalwing's tail was trailing out of the rock, where she slept and stored herbs. The panic in Blossompaw's stomach died down and she felt joy at the promise of learning more herbs.

When she poked her head out of the entrance, she saw the light of after-dawn through the gap in the rock wall. She turned back into the den and called, finding that she could talk again, "Crystalwing?"

The she-cat's tail disappeared and a moment later, Crystalwing climbed out of the rock, with a few shrivelled-up chamomile stems in her mouth. She mumbled around them, "Ah! You're awake. Come along then, get the herbs you need and wake that dormouse up."

Blossompaw squeezed into the rock and started bringing out mouthfuls of herbs - marigold leaves, cobwebs, rosemary, and even a stem of aloe vera. When she spotted a pile of it, she exclaimed quietly, "Wow! Where in StarClan did you find some aloe vera?"

From outside, Crystalwing chuckled, "Don't tell Owlstar, or Greyshard for the matter, but a few days ago, I sneaked into the Twoleg's garden and took a few different herbs. I knew aloe vera is extremely good, so when I saw it, I took as much of it as I could."

"That is smart, even in Leaf-Bare we'll have plenty of herbs!" Blossompaw mewed, shuffling out of the herb store, with the strong-smelling plants in her mouth.

She set them down next to Rockpaw and started nudging him awake. Crystalwing briefly went through the herbs to make sure she had the correct ones. She gave Blossompaw a wide smile and backed into her den. A second later, she reappeared with a spiny, star-shaped leaf. It looked like a cross between a bramble leaf and a maple leaf. She set it down in front of Blossompaw and mewed, "This is something called goldenseal, it also treats infection. It's quite a bit better than marigold, but I didn't want to tell you, because it's really rare."

Blossompaw sniffed the leaf and nodded, turning to wake Rockpaw up. He started murmuring and rolled over onto his back. As loud as she could, Blossompaw yowled in his ear, "Rockpaw, wake up!"

"Almighty StarClan! Blossompaw! Stop doing that!" He leaped up and winced as his wounds reopened and started bleeding.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Blossompaw started cleaning his wounds, licking away the blood and scraps of moss, until all he had, were red-tinged gashes half-covered by his thick fur.

He lay unmoving in his nest, breathing heavily as Blossompaw tended to his wounds. She sensed the thoughts and feelings rushing through his mind, like a Thunderpath, monsters roaring by on every side. When she finished cleaning his wounds, she started chewing up the marigold leaves, and applied the pulp to every wound she could reach. Afterwards, she put small amounts of cobwebs on every wound, to soak up the remaining blood. Crystalwing sat beside the rock and watched them closely. At one point, she laid down pawfull of catchweed burrs next to Blossompaw. She nodded her thanks and spread them over his wounds.

Soon after, Treepaw edged into the den, and Blossompaw noticed for the first time, the hubbub of the Clan. She must have been so concentrated, she hadn't heard the patrols going out, or the kits screeching with laughter at they played. Treepaw shuffled through the cover of leaves and asked, "Is there anything I can help with?"

Crystalwing answered, "Yes, please. Could you get us all some prey?"

Treepaw nodded, smiling. She bounded out of the den and returned a few moments later with a young hare clasped in her jaws.

Blossompaw paused from her work and gasped, "Where did you get that?"

Treepaw grinned around a mouthful of brown fur, "Wolflungs took me on an early hunting patrol. Near the camp entrance, we saw two young hares on a mountain ledge. When Wolflungs killed one of them, the other leaped down and started attacking us. Now, where can I put it - it's really heavy!"

Crystalwing took the hare from her and murmured, "Thank you, Treepaw."

The she-cat left the den, meowing a quick farewell. Crystalwing laid the hare next to Rockpaw and gestured for him to eat first. He took a few bites grudgingly, the look on his face clearly saying, 'stop treating me like a kit and let me out of this den!'.

While the two cats shared the hare, Blossompaw chewed the rosemary stem and the aloe vera together, tasting their succulent juices flowing onto her tongue. Blossompaw liked the taste of herbs, how each leaf had its own unique combination of sweet, bitter, sour, salty and bland. Other cats seemed to dislike herbs, but Blossompaw loved trying each herb they gathered. Sometimes Crystalwing teased her, that if, for some reason, she ever went blind, Blossompaw could tell each herb from only the smell and taste. Blossompaw had to agree that was probably true.

When the poultice was ready, she took a piece of fresh moss and spread it all over the little green ball. She dipped the moss briefly in the stream and started rubbing Rockpaw's pelt with it. His muscles tensed at the dampness of it, but relaxed as he felt the soothing sensation that the rosemary and aloe vera gave. After a a few minutes, she stopped and carried the shaggy moss-ball out of the den.

Blossompaw padded across the clearing and leaped over the stream near the middle. She made her way to the mouth of the dirtplace tunnel, only to be thrown back as a small bundle of blue fur crashed into her. She dropped the moss-ball squarely on Stonekit's fluffy head.

The young she-kit mewed happily, "Oops! Sorry, Blossompaw."

"It's OK. Where're you going?" Blossompaw asked.

"Treepaw said that she'll show us a hunter's crouch, so I had to hurry when I went to make dirt!" Stonekit mewed excitedly, pounding off to the nursery, where Treepaw and Stonekit's littermates were waiting.

Blossompaw followed the dirtplace tunnel outside. The dirtplace was a circular, enclosed clearing of brambles, large holly bushes and young hazel trees. She deposited the soaked moss-ball near the entrance and trotted back to her den.

Inside, she found Rockpaw fast asleep again, and Crystalwing sorting through a pile of herbs in front of the rock. She heard the calico mutter, "...low on juniper and borage... and there's barely any moss left as well..."

"Do you want me to go out and get some more?" Blossompaw asked in a whisper.

Crystalwing jumped, as if she didn't hear Blossompaw come in. the she-cat replied quietly, "Thanks for offering, but I think I'll go. Can you sort through the dry herbs, please? All this Greenleaf weather is no good for them."

Blossompaw nodded, smiling, and replaced Crystalwing at the foot of the rock. She waved her tail in farewell to Crystalwing, as the she-cat slipped out of the den. Blossompaw looked down to see a jumble of herbs, their state varying from slightly dry to completely withered. She started to lay them out, sorting through them until she had a neat pile of each herb. Then, she pulled each pile towards her, and threw the juiceless leaves aside. Wild Garlic. Broom. Poppy. Dock. Oak. Burnet. Tormentil. Lamb's Ear.

At one point, Rockpaw stirred and licked up a few mouthfuls of water from the stream. He nodded stiffly to Blossompaw and settled back into his nest, his legs moving awkwardly. After a few moments, he was asleep again, and Blossompaw continued working. Feverfew. Goldenrod. Sorrel. Horsetail.

A couple minutes later, Twilightear padded into the den with Littlepaw limping behind him, wincing with pain. Littlepaw glanced at Rockpaw's immobile body, sleeping in his nest, and scowled. Twilightear mewed, "Littlepaw here was chasing a rabbit when it ran under a bramble. He's got thorns everywhere. Can you help him, please?"

Blossompaw nodded and grabbed a mouthful of dock leaves and cobwebs. She sat next to Littlepaw and started sniffing his fur. He had a thorn under his eye, at the tip of his tail, a few on his back and legs, and even one stuck in his pad. She took that one out first, squeezing the pad either side, until it nearly popped out. Littlepaw cringed, but didn't move away, hissing when Blossompaw spread dock juices over it and covered it with cobwebs. She pulled out every thorn she could find, Littlepaw pointing to one that she missed, and layered each wound with a pulp of dock and a cobweb. Half-way through, Crystalwing returned with bundles of herbs in her mouth. She nodded at Blossompaw, pride shining in her blue eyes.

When she licked the last one clean, Blossompaw mewed, "Done. Oh, and, before you go to sleep, take off the cobwebs and give all of them a good lick, OK?"

Littlepaw nodded and mewed, "Thanks, Blossompaw."

Twilightear smiled at Crystalwing and guided Littlepaw out of the den. When they were gone, Crystalwing gave Blossompaw a few friendly licks and whispered, "Well done, Blossompaw."

"Thank you." Blossompaw murmured back and returned to the piles of herbs. She added, pointing her tail to the neater, more colourful piles, "And I finished sorting those, if you want to have a look through them."

Crystalwing dipped her head and put each pile of herbs back into the rock. They both finished at roughly the same time.

Blossompaw mewed, padding towards the entrance of the den, "I'll get us some fresh-kill. Is that alright?"

Her mentor replied, turning back from the rock, "Ooh. Yes, thank you. Can you bring us an eagle if there's one?"

Blossompaw nodded and trotted through the curtain of yew leaves. She reached the fresh-kill pile, just as she saw Stormkit again. "What're you up to now?"

The blue she-kit stopped next to the other hare, that Blossompaw assumed, Wolflungs caught earlier. She panted, "Silverwhisker said we can go listen to the elders' stories until dusk! She told me to get them a gift, so they'll be in a good mood."

Blossompaw smiled and mewed softly, "Then, you'd better get someone to help you carry that hare over to them."

"Can you, please? Stonekit, Pebblekit and Bramblekit and already inside the cave." Stormkit asked, blinking up at Blossompaw.

She sighed, giving into the kit's pleas, and 'helped' her carry the hare inside the Elders' cave. Stormkit's littermates were laying next to Halfheart, on the edge of her nest, the rest of the elders sitting around them. When Blossompaw laid the hare down in the middle of the cave, Redsplodge cried in delight, "Ah! Finally, some decent prey!"

Nighteye added, sniffing the limp hare, "Yes! Those apprentices keep on bringing us bones to eat."

Dapplewind and Fallenbranch nodded their thanks to Blossompaw, while Halfheart mewed, glancing at Blossompaw with a pointed look, "Thanks Stormkit. Now, that you're here, we can begin."

"What do you want the story to be-" Dapplewind was saying.

Blossompaw murmured goodbye and padded back to the fresh-kill pile. She picked up a dark brown eagle and dragged it over to the medicine den. Before she entered, she looked up to see the deepening red light of sunset snaking into the cave, throwing shadows onto the cat-filled ground.

Inside the medicine cat den, Rockpaw was awake, licking his fur where the poultice wasn't. Crystalwing was putting the remaining balls of moss she gathered into the corner. After they had all eaten their fill, Rockpaw curled up in his nest. Blossompaw checked him over briefly, sniffing his wounds for signs of infection or muscle strain. She murmured goodnight to him and Crystalwing, before settling into her scoop of moss.

She tossed and turned, until the golden light seeping through the yew branches turned into a dark red, then silver. Moonlight was filtering through the branches when she drifted off into blackness.

Almost immediately after she fell asleep, Blossompaw felt a muzzle nudging her gently and a soft voice whispering, "Wake up, Blossompaw. Wake up."

Word Count: 2038