My Big, Strong Warrior

The Herbs

a/n: i would just like to say sorry for lots of dialogue this chapter xD  

Hawkheart padded into the den with herbs fillings his jaws. He set them down next to the other piles and gestured to them. "Sort those. I have a lot more to collect and the sooner that's done, the sooner you can help me grab more." He growled grumpily, leaving to get more herbs. Barkface sighed and began sorting. 

"Uh, hello?" A voiced called from the entrance. 

"Come in." Barkface called, a bit grumpy, sorting the horsetail from the dock from whatever else was in this pile. Jake pushed his way in to the den and looked around, taking in all of the herbs in the many nooks and crannies. "Wow.. so many.." Jake marveled. 

"Yeah. They're a pain to sort but it's my job so gotta do it. Hawkheart actually just brought in a fresh batch of herbs so it's the perfect time to show you whats what." Barkface meowed happily.

Jake looked down at the pile of random leaves and flowers, very confused. "Uhh.. Alright." He giggled. 

"I know you're probably confused, but after a few herbs you'll understand a lot better. I'll start with... dock. Dock grows in bunches and kinda looks like dandelion leaves. They are used to put on scratches if you chew it to a pulp." Barkface explained, picking a few dock leaves out of the pile. "Smell them. A large part of herbs is their smells." Jake gave him a weird look but bent down and sniffed the leaves. Barkface lightly scratched his own leg just enough for it to bleed. "Now, since this wound is small, you only need the dock, no cobwebs. Chew a few of those leaves up then put it on my cut. It might taste a bit bad, but it's worth it in the end." Jake glanced up at Barkface then did as he was told. Carefully he chewed the dock into a pulp and pressed it onto the cut. 

"Am I doing it right..?" Jake asked, scared he was doing something horribly wrong. 

"Yeah! You've got it. Perfect." Barkface smiled. "Now I should finish sorting, but before we continue learning the herbs, we have a terrible case of fleas and ticks with the elders and it would be great if you would take some mouse bile down to the elders den and help remove some ticks? Pigeonpaw should be there right now, ask him for help. Do NOT eat mouse bile or you'll have that horrible taste in your mouth for days! To carry it to the elders den, put the bile in a big leaf and wrap up the leaf. Be sure to wash your paws off when you've finished, but Pigeonpaw can show you that. Now, let me grab you a leaf of bile." Barkface turned and started putting the leaf together. He carefully he picked up the leaf and brought it to Jake. Jake grabbed it in his jaws and turned to head to the elders den. He didn't exactly know where it was, but it shouldn't be hard to find, right? 

Jake wandered around, trying to find the elders den for a good while. Soon he noticed a place that is perfect for the elders. He padded over there and to his surprise, he was correct. Carefully Jake set the leaf down. "Uh, Barkface sent me to help out with the ticks?" Pigeonpaw looked up from what he was doing. 

"Great, I needed it. Flamepelt has a flea right between his shoulder blades. Could you attempt to get that one off?" Pigeonpaw asked kindly. 

"Yeah of course." Jake smiled. "Uh, I'm new around here so I don't exactly know how to use this 'mouse bile' and can I ask who Flamepelt is?" 

Pigeonpaw smiled and flicked his tail towards a dark ginger tom near the back of the den. "Over there. And all you gotta do is take a little bile on your paw and dab it on the tick. Grab it in your teeth and pull it off, but be careful, the elders are frail so you could hurt them." 

"We ain't as frail as you think we are." Flamepelt rasped. "Now come here and get this tick off my back, it's killing me." Jake grabbed his leaf again and padded to Flamepelt. Carefully he grabbed a little bile, dabbing it on the tick as instructed. He waited a moment then bent down and grabbed the tick in his teeth, pulling it. After a bit of tugging the tick pulled free from Flamepelt's pelt. 

"Thank you young'n, maybe I can finally get some sleep." Flamepelt laughed. "Pigeonpaw can get the one on my leg, you go bring that bile back to Barkface and wash your paws, no need for a kittypet to help out til he learns the Warrior Code." 

"How did you know I used to be a kittypet..?" Jake asked. 

"Well its quite obvious." Flamepelt muttered. "You hardly know how to use mouse bile, and your fur is very sleek and you're quite a plump cat, unlike us clan cats. Soon enough you'll fit in though, no worries. Now get along out of here." Jake smiled and grabbed his leaf, trotted back to the medicine cat den. "I was sent back early by Flamepelt." Jake explained. 

Barkface looked up from his herb sorting. "Oh, ok. Make sure to wash your paws in the stream. It's right outside camp to the right." Jake turned and left to go to the stream. As he went to leave, both patrols were returning. He noticed Doespring and Tallstar and flicked his tail as a hello. Doespring smiled and flicked her tail back. Tallstar on the other hand had to come dashing up to Jake and begin nuzzling him. 

"Woah calm down." Jake laughed. 

Tallstar began to feel warm. "Sorry.. I just missed you a lot. Where you headed?" 

"Just the stream, I have to wash mouse bile off my paws." 

"Yuck." Tallstar laughed. "Well have fun?" Jake giggled and padded off to go to stream 

a/n: woahhh two chapters in one night? : O i felt motivated to write a lot. if i have wifi babysitting tomorrow, i'll write more. enjoy and bai bai !!