[Random Melody]

Originally Posted by Lonestar23

The feline avoided making eye contact with Snowstar, instead looking down at her paws or around at the herbs, most of which were neat and appeared not to need sorting. There were a few stray herbs that the medicine cat quickly placed, her eyes scanning over the many plants in their selected areas before she answered the leader. "I've been fine. I'm still alive - getting along day by day. I won't deny it's been hard, though. There's a lot to keep up with." She carefully sidestepped the emotional heartache confession, hoping that the Siamese wouldn't inquire further on that. She honestly wasn't quite sure how to talk to Snowstar. Was this a casual talk, a "checking in on you" talk, should she give Snowstar a checkup? Make sure that everything was working okay? Her eyes were already flitting over the leader... almost out of habit, she was checking her for any still open wounds. As far as she could tell, everything had scarred up nicely... and at the moment, Caliapaw couldn't scent any infection. Then again, she was distracted at the same time, her full focus not on checking on Snowstar. If she did find something wrong, she would certainly urge the she cat to rest and take care of herself, however. Her eyes returned to Snowstar and she gave a forced smile. At the moment, Caliapaw was forcing just about everything she did. It wasn't coming easily... if at all. "What about you? Are you taking some time to relax? Too much stress could lead to problems..." The medicine cat's voice trailed off, and she stopped like she wasn't sure of herself. Stress could lead to problems, but relaxing might not help cure that stress, it could make it worse - or had she gotten that right? Either way, she was pretty sure Snowstar needed to relax, or she would end up in the medicine cat's den with a headache or stomachache or something else. Stress could cause headaches and stomachaches, she was fairly sure.

"I'm sure." Snowstar nodded at Caliapaw's answer, understanding very well that the medicine cat didn't want to talk about any emotional stuff. That was fair - She'd open up in her own time. It wasn't good to keep things bottled up, though, so she did hope Caliapaw had someone to talk to, if not Snowstar herself. The Siamese noticed the young cat looking her over, as if checking for injuries, and a small smile tugged at her maw despite herself. Of course, she was fine - Scars from the gathering were healing up great. She wondered whether to tell Caliapaw she'd lost a life - Was that something the medicine cat needed to know? Maybe not right now, She decided. Caliapaw has other things to worry about. One less life isn't that important. She shook her head to clear her thoughts, just in time to hear Caliapaw's questioning. Her ice blue eyes flickered around the den before she looked at the medicine cat again, nodding slightly. "Ah, yes, I know." She sighed, tail tip twitching back and forth. "It's hard to find some time to relax lately, though. With WindClan.." She trailed off and shook her head before she could get too lost in thought again. This wasn't a time to talk about WindClan, this was time to just talk to Caliapaw. Get to know the medicine cat... Make sure she was coping well. "Well, anyway. I hope you're not stressing yourself out, either," She added, frowning at the young medicine cat in concern. "I know you've got a lot of responsibility on your paws now, but still, as you said, stress can lead to problems."