Broken Code

Chapter 5

A few heartbeats later, Ashpaw came padding back over. "Hey Rainpaw, could you fix this scratch on my eye?" The blood had dried but it still needed patching up.

"Oh sure." She smiled, happy to put her new skills to the test. "What happened anyway? Tree branch?"

Ashpaw shook his white head. "No the falcon scratched me with its claws."

Rainpaw went back behind a rock and grabbed a small pile of gold flowers. She carried them in her jaws back to Ashpaw. "Technically falcons don't have claws. They're called talons."

Ashpaw rolled his cerulean eyes that matched his sister's quite perfectly. "Oh Starclan Rainpaw it's just a story."

She shrugged. "I'm just being technical." She began to chew up the yellow petals of the flowers.

"Anyway, what is that?" Ashpaw gently poked his paw at one of the flowers on the ground.

"Marigold. It stops infection." She spat out the petals and scooped them up with her paw. "Now lay down and sit still."

Ashpaw did as he was instructed as Rainpaw gently covered his scratch in marigold poultice. "Feel better?" She smiled softly before dipping her paws in a puddle to wash them off.

"Not yet but I'm sure it will help me feel better later!" Ashpaw purred. "Hey where's Flowerwhisker?"

"Out in the forest collecting catmint. She wanted me to stay here in case anyone needed anything." Rainpaw flung the water off of her paw and it splashed onto her brother. She twitched her whiskers in amusment as she padded back into the medicine den with him.

"Wait so you fixed me all by yourself?! You knew which herbs to use and everything?" Ashpaw's eyes widened.

Rainpaw giggled softly. "Yes Ashpaw. Obviously Flowerwhisker isn't in here."

Ashpaw shuffled his paws. "I thought she was hiding or something."

Rainpaw rolled her eyes. "You're such a mousebrain."

The white tom sighed and wrapped his grey tail around his paws. "Whatever."

Rainpaw padded deeper into the medicine den and grabbed a small pile of yet another yellow plant. She brought it back out to Ashpaw and gave him a very small piece of it. "Here. Eat this." She put the rest away.

"What is it?" The white tom tilted his head and sniffed it. "It smells good."

"It's tansy. Helps fight infection. But you can't eat too much of it so only eat that bit." She warned.

Ashpaw looked at it and picked it up with his jaws and began to eat the leaf. "Ick!"

"What?"

"It's all.. leafy..."

"Well obviously. It's a leaf."

"I don't like the texture."

"Well too bad just eat it." She rolled her eyes at her brother's annoyance.

"I am!"

Rainpaw giggled softly and laid down beside her brother just as Flowerwhisker came padding into the medicine den with a jawful of catmint. The golden medicine cat put the leaves down in a neat pile. "Well what do we have here?" She purred.

Rainpaw opened her jaws to speak before her brother cut her off. "I got scratched by a falcon that I caught and Rainpaw put uh... Rainpaw what did you do exactly?" He looked at her.

"I made a small marigold poultice and put it on his scratch and gave him a small leaf of tansy." She looked at the ground.

Flowerwhisker's eyes widened. "Wow Rainpaw that was really great! You remembered all that stuff? That's impressive!"