[iliri]

Springpaw
long-furred, oriental-shaped, gray-and-orange calico molly with blue eyes; torn right ear || thunderclan medicine cat apprentice
purrks: herbal knowledge - tier 2 | the collector | mind reader | skip the steps[all perm. active; sts for battle training]

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It had been a while since she had been assigned to a patrol. As of late, she had been stranded inside of the medicine den working on trying to keep any precious herbs from withering away from the frigid air of the cold. She had been tempted to venture out into the territory to give her paws a chance to stretch instead of remaining compromised in the back of the den working on keeping herbs from becoming wilted from the cold. Cattail Pond wasn’t a place that Springpaw really wanted to go to, but it wasn’t like she had a real chance to explore the place. It had only been once that she was here, and that was during the ravenous battle to claim the area from RiverClan. Her tri-colored fur bristled against the bitter thought of the bloody war. She had witnessed far too much bloodshed during her time as a medicine cat apprentice, and now it was no different with the possible outlines of war coming over her shoulders like a looming pack of dogs. She had to try to get the memory behind her; now she had to focus on the patrol.

She didn’t know Skunkstrike particularly well, but she knew Lioncrest to a certain degree. The calico didn’t know what to think of the tom-cat, other than that he was her mother’s mate and her siblings' father. Did that make him her dad? The question pondered, and she felt her eyes laying among his golden coat for far too long to properly process the thought as her stomach uneasily churned out with uncertainty. There had been too many father figures in her life, two of them being gone and never seen again. Foxstep was the closest thing that she truly had as a dad, and yet, he wasn’t around anymore. Springpaw had no idea if he was dead or if he was living the luxurious life of a kitty-pet. It was confusing, and yet she felt her heart hurting from the more that she thought of the tom-cat. He was a dad to her, and he was gone. So was Rabbitchatter, but he wasn’t comparable to Foxstep. Foxstep was there for her; he was there for everything. Springpaw’s eyes fluttered for a moment to control the stinging tears that collected amongst the corners of her eyes, feeling herself shivering against a harsh blast of frigid air smacking her right in the face. It made her eyes sting, but it didn’t hurt as bad as it would if it were currently snowing at the moment.

Skunkstrike’s words broke through her messy train of thought, catching the young molly’s attention as the healer turned her head to focus on the other feline. She had managed to find a rather dull, small patch of flowers which could contain the flowers that Drizzlecloud had requested for. Even if it was a glimpse of hope for the warmer seasons to come by, the calico knew fully well that it wouldn’t be enough for the clan. There isn’t any way that they would be able to survive with just a pitiful amount of herbs. That is, if they are even able to find any in the rather small cluster of herbs. “Hmm… good find… let’s see… if we can… find both… borage and… lavender… over there… but… let’s also see… if we can… find some… marigold too… the herb storage… is going to… need it… in case… of any… circumstances… marigold… looks like… a sunny… golden plant… so keep… an eye… out for… it,” Springpaw explained, gesturing a paw towards the cluster of flowers as she casted a smile towards Skunkstripe. The fellow molly seemed nice, but would such things last? The last meeting proved that even behind such nice facial expressions, only a cat’s true intentions would show if they were pushed to their limits.

Without any form of hesitation, Springpaw began to trot her way over towards the cluster of wildflowers, carefully nosing her way through the weeds to pick out any sweet-smelling lavender or the familiar purple-blue color of borage. And, if she’s lucky, she could potentially find the familiar golden color of marigold if she searched hard enough through the pile of snow. Her numb nose detected a faint smell of sweetness within some of the herbs, making the calico happily pluck out the two blooms of lavender that she spotted with her good eye. The stem felt cold to her tongue as she gingerly shifted it around in her jaws, but she couldn’t help but recoil her tongue back against the cold feeling of the stem. She was used to how herbs tasted by now from how long she had been a medicine cat apprentice, but it still felt wrong to carry herbs when they felt colder than ice. Even with her small pile clasped in her jaws, she nudged through the pile of flowers to search for any borage or marigold, thankfully hitting her mark as she detected a small cluster of both of the herbs. Bingo! With a smile shown behind the lavender, she looked down and carefully plucked three of each herb, being sure to leave the rest there to properly grow once warm weather begins to show throughout the days. Hopefully newleaf will come soon.

[ +3 borage | +2 lavender | +3 marigold ]

@Tiabirb @Jayvines [ pretty sure after jay responds, we could go ahead and call this patrol finished! ]