Palehound followed at Fawnpaw's flank, keeping her steps even but slow enough she didn't overtake the apprentice, pausing a few paces too late as she turned to acknowledge what she'd said, returning to her original speed when the other started back again, briefly glancing over her shoulder at Robinpaw, just to be sure they weren't leaving her behind and was relieved she was still in sight.
She'd hate to lose one of them on the patrol.
She blinked when Fawnpaw sped away, and tilted her head as she watched her go but still following behind, eyes darting back to the flowers when the spotted apprentice asked about them. She stopped a tail length away from the flower cluster, the smell already a tad overwhelming.
"They are..... Nice find."
She reached and plucked a few, not even half of the available blooms and set them to the ground, just so she could speak again, voice unusually soft.
""Be sure to leave at least a few, to give them a chance to make more."
She wasn't entirely sure what the reproductive cycle of plants was like, but Snakeheart had told her something similar the first time she'd been on an herb patrol with him. And it just always made sense to her.
With her flowers in maw, she turned to where she heard Robinpaw call for her and padded a few steps towards the golden cat, to meet her part of the way, familiar red flower in her grasp. She tilted her head to get a look at the center, looking for the tell tale darkened splotch, ears flicking when it was spotted.
..... rather than spitting the herbs back out, she risked mumbling past her mouthful.
"Yesh."
Oh, wow, that sounded horrible coming out if her mouth like that. Nope, nope. She didn't like it.
She set the bundle down because she
was not letting her voice sound like that.
"It is, was it the only one?"
One per patrol member might be a good ratio, three total. Maybe a fourth if a few looked low on seeds.
[+3 marigold]
@
starry @
marni