~I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For~

[Cloud of Diamonds]

"Mmm." Brightnose grunted in reply. "And though they may not seem it now, the names are very important. Do you know why? For even if you can recognize every herb by scent and use, and automatically know which one to use in every situation, you'll one day need to teach your own apprentice the names of them so they can use them and you can just call names of plants to them in an emergency. There are other reasons, of course, but that is one of the most important, so I'm glad you understand." She raised an eyebrow at his naming of plants.

"That is dock, yes." She smiled slightly. "But I'm afraid that is tansy, not feverfew. It's used to help cure coughs, and we have to be careful not to overdose on it. They do look a bit similar, though. However, feverfew is a bush with daisy-like flowers and tansy is a plant with round yellow flowers. You see?"

She paused a moment, then the tricolored she-cat spoke again.

"You know, Finchpaw, we'll need to collect a few more herbs after we sort these out. Perhaps I could teach you some more advanced hunting techniques as we go along. Of course, you can still have a combat lesson if you want, or we could do both. You need the practice anyway."

Why was she talking so much? It wasn't like her to be so chatty even if it was logical. Huh...well, he better be satisfied, that's all I can say, she thought.

[Whiskers]

Finchpaw shifted his weight from paw to paw as he endured a small lecture from Brightnose. He wanted to roll his eyes the second it started, as Brightnose was treating him like he was a child. Of course he knew why he needed to know the names! He wasn't an idiot. The names were extremely important, and Finchpaw was going to get memorizing them as soon as he could. In fact, he'd stay up tonight and try his best to get it done. And he'd study extra hard as well. He did not like failing and he wouldn't do it again.

Finchpaw let Brightnose lecture him though, and he did not make a complaint. He did not roll his eyes (despite that urge to), and he did not snort or smirk or groan. He kept still and attentive and he tried to look like he cared. Finchpaw actually sort of half-cared anyway, so it wasn't all that hard.

Feverfew, he spoke inwardly. You knew that. You know it all. That was really easy and you messed it up-- great job. Feverfew. Don't get it wrong next time. Feverfew.

"I...would really appreciate that, Brightnose," Finchpaw answered his mentor. His mind was only half on his answer, though, as it was currently obsessing over his failure and how he could fix it. Feverfew, Finchpaw. Remember that. "Hunting sounds...great... very challenging what with all this snow..."

Feverfew. Feverfew, not tansy. Feverfew.

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[Cloud of Diamonds]

"Good." The calico said simply. "Combat, then. If we are lucky the hollow will have some patch free of snow." She continued to sort through the herbs, absorbed in analysis. Why did such useful things as herbs grow, anyway? Was it the efforts of nature to help living beings? Or was it simply the way some plants were?

She mechanically put some goldenrod in the throw away pile and some borage leaves in the keep pile as she wondered.

"Oh, and that was borage that I put in the back of the den." She said, then yawned. "Used to help increase the milk supply of a nursing queen. The leaves are."

Why had nature made it so the plants could be so useful to cats? Did they work the same on other creatures as well? Unfortunately, it would be difficult to find out, - treating prey was out of the question, and treating a badger, fox, or dog would just be stupid. She could do it, though. She could find a way. No one could tell the FogClan medicine cat it was impossible. Not anymore. She felt a familiar smug glow of satisfaction.

[Whiskers]

Finchpaw thought, at first, he had heard his mentor wrong. Had she just...? She had. Brightnose had just confirmed they were going to do battle training, when Finchpaw had clearing said "hunting." Finchpaw stared at his mentor with quizzical eyes. She had either heard him completely wrong or she was purposefully and blatantly going the opposite direction, just because she could! Why? Finchpaw opened his muzzle to ask, but he paused, hesitated. A theory had sprung into his mind that very instant; Brightnose was purposefully going in the opposite direction as a convoluted way to punish him.

If that was true (and Finchpaw didn't put much weight into the theory), then Brightnose's way of thinking was too strange to work out. Finchpaw wouldn't have punished himself that way. He would have been stricter on himself.

There probably wasn't any real reason for Brightnose's strange combat training combat. It was more likely that she had misheard him, or just stopped listening to him altogether (since his opinion wasn't worth much when he couldn't even memorize a few stupid herbs--Feverfew. Cures coughs.). Finchpaw was, as his father would tell him, thinking too much. And he was being paranoid again. Finchpaw's ears twitched irritably. When would he ever stop being so paranoid, over the tiniest things?

"I don't think there will be a patch free of snow," Finchpaw said with a tiny yawn, as he stared at the herbs at his feet. They seriously all looked the same when you stared at them too long. "Hasn't been sunny in a while. Even if it was, Fogclan has so many trees, the sunlight couldn't fight its way through to melt the snow if it really wanted to. We'll have to wait until new-leaf, I suspect."

Finchpaw was starting to get jittery now, since he was sitting in the same spot for quite some time. He got up, stretched out his limbs, and then walked around the pile of herbs. Around and around he went, his eyes locked on the pile, as he tried to commit them to memory. Feverfew. And there-- that's anothe bit of borage, I'd know it anywhere now. And of course, those are poppy seeds. That's easy enough. I can do this. But as he paced and paced, his mind wandered and it became obvious that, while Finchpaw was putting more effort into his "studies," he was getting very bored, very fast.

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[Cloud of Diamonds]

The calico raised an eyebrow. He was right. However, she thought he was making a subtle complaint about the snow...or had it been the other way around? Had he been happy and showing it in an odd way? Well, might as well ask.

"True. But we'll deal. There's enough challenge doing that, too."

Brightnose was becoming bored with the arrangements. The point was herbs, after all, and that was just a reward to come. He seemed more concerned about it than his training, she thought irritably. Well, Finchpaw's got plenty of work to do before we go out, lesson or no.

And by StarClan, he better do it well. He'd promised, after all. He didn't have to be enthusiastic, he just had to do it. How hard could it be, anyway? What other work besides collecting and cleaning did she ever have him do? It wasn't that hard. If he were ever going to be medicine cat, he better shape up.

[Whiskers]

"Well, I do like a challenge, Brightnose, and any practice is good practice," said Finchpaw in response with a tiny yawn. Then he set back to work, desperately trying to stay focused.

Finchpaw continued to sort herbs, the routine much too...repetitive for him. He wondered when Brightnose would release him from this torture-- or if she'd ever. Would she dangle the dream-- that is, to do battle training-- in front of his nose only to yank it away? She hardly seemed like that kind of cat. So Finchpaw kept sorting and kept hoping that Brightnose might interrupt him with a "Good work, pal, now let's leave this Starclan-forsaken den for some fresh air and fun."

Okay, she would never say that, under any circumstances. But the idea of those exact words passing through his mentor's lips made him chuckle aloud. Oh, he probably sounded crazy to the likes of Brightnose. But Finchpaw didn't care, he kept chuckling and kept imagining his mentor doing impossible things-- romping around like a kit, for instance. Batting away at a moss ball. Purring. Oh, Brightnose purring! It sent him into a fit of giggles.

...It was very possible the scent of the herbs was making Finchpaw a little crazy.

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[Cloud of Diamonds]

Brightnose had been quietly examining and deciding to keep some mallow when her apprentice started laughing. What in StarClan's name was wrong with him? Brightnose's eyebrows narrowed, and she looked at the ginger and white tom with something nearing concern.

"Finchpaw? Finchpaw? Are you still with us? Have you returned from laughter land and can you identify what herb you're holding in your paw before you drop it out of...giggles?"

The very word sounded strange on her tongue. Giggles...Brightnose despised mindless she-cats who giggled at the slightest thing. Sefri had always liked giggling; whether to annoy her sister or not, the calico never knew. But her apprentice was no idiotic she-cat...what would cause such an outbreak of mirth from him? She narrowed her hazel eyes, looking at him.

"Maybe we should exit the den before you start seeing things, too? Or you do you think you can regain a semblance of normality?"

She said it in an amused tone - well, amused for Brightnose - however, mostly she wanted it to send the message that she wasn't angry, but please would he get back to work? After all, they would only be in here a few more minutes and if he worked quickly, he would be outside faster.

[Whiskers]

Finchpaw managed to lower his head, as if her were ashamed, when his mentor chastised him for his uncharacteristic giggles. But he was still smiling at his own secret joke, a joke at Brightnose's expense. Hey, he needed some way to keep himself entertained in his dull life of his, right?

"Oh, don't worry about me, Brightnose," Finchpaw said, feeling a little cheeky again, though he managed to keep his attitude somewhat subdued. "I was just thinking back on a joke Firepaw told me the other day. Really, it was this hilarious one about hedgehogs, and they were making their way across a creek. Or was it across a thunderpath? Oh wait-- nevermind," Finchpaw smiled brightly, "Firepaw tells it better than me anyway. But yes, herbs. Herbs."

Finchpaw looked down at the herb by his foot. He sniffed it carefully, observed its shape, and then conjured its name out of his head. "Why that would be thyme," Finchpaw told her confidently. "And it looks like we've got quite a bit of it."

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[Cloud of Diamonds]

The calico nodded, pleased. "Thyme it is. Good job. Now..." She looked down. There was really only a few insignificant scraps, a few petals, and some dust left. She supposed it was time to go outside. "Well then, Finchpaw, it's time to go find a place to train." The medicine cat smiled slightly. Hopefully this would make him happy after their...somewhat harsh but necessary discussion.

Rising from her now somewhat stiff sitting position, Brightnose padded out of the bush that made up her den. Her brown and green eyes narrowed, adjusting to the change in light. Clouds patterned the sky, but not in abundance. Good. She wanted to be able to get in a fair amount of time practicing, since it had been a long time since Finchpaw had had any non-medicine related training.

Brightnose began to walk to the exit out of camp, trying to remember the route to the hollow...ah, now she had it. Past the clump of bushes, then turn at the big oak tree…that was right. They could also collect some moss along the way, as they were getting a little low and leaf-bare was just ending. She reached the gap in the brambles, then sat and waited for her apprentice, though she knew he’d not be long in coming.

[Whiskers]

Finchpaw couldn't help but glow when he realized that he got that herb right. The name had just appeared on his tongue without even thinking! That must be a sign that he wasn't hopeless and that, well, if this was to be his career for the rest of his life, at least he would be decent at it. All he needed to do was dedicate at least half of his day to the study of medicine and then hope that if anyone in his clan got critically injured, that he could keep his cool. Dovepaw had, but he had been out that day and had not been present when it was time for emergency care, so he had no experience with life-threatening situations.

Finchpaw would just have to cross that bridge when he came to it.

"Train? Really?! Okay!" Finchpaw said, a little too enthusiastically, his tail curling up and his ears perking. Realizing this, Finchpaw subdued his body language and expression, and quieted his voice. "I would like that very much, Brightnose."

Brightnose, however, was already out the den.

Finchpaw felt a smile grow on his face and he scampered out of a den like he was a free-spirited squirrel. He raced toward his mentor and stopped himself in front of her, dipping his head. "So where are we going?"

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