[iliri]

• Springpaw •
long-furred, oriental-shaped, gray-and-orange calico molly with blue eyes; torn right ear
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A perk of teaching in dreams? So that was how Coldamber was able to create little magical things that appear in dreams and make it seem as if they were almost real in reality? That… was a bit cool, in the young calico’s opinion. The fact that Coldamber could change and shift whatever she wanted in the dreamscape whenever she wanted if she just focused and thought about it hard enough was cool as it is. It was at least a little disappointing for Springpaw to hear that was only mainly possible for little things like flowers or other plants, but at least it was still cool to hear that her temporary teacher had the ability to do such a wonderful experience that Springpaw couldn’t do. The calico cocked her head to the side as shecontinued to silently listen to Coldamber, raising a brow. ”So you only do it best when you are in others' dreams? That’s… actually very cool, in my opinion! Can I see you do more of it? After the lesson, that is.” Springpaw quickly added in that last sentence so that there weren't any possible accidental mix-ups during the lesson, giving off a little bright smile up towards the star-furred molly that matched the bright starry atmosphere of the vast dreamscape around them.

Springpaw’s attention quickly spiked up as she began to listen to Coldamber giving off some tips and tricks about how to keep herbs from becoming too frigid and withering in the up-coming cold season. So, there were many ways to keep them from constantly freezing up, that was one, but what were those ways? Well, Springpaw’s question was quickly answered before she could ask it as the former medicine cat began to explain the methods of how to keep them from freezing up, gradually grabbing Springpaw’s increasingly growing attention towards the usage and care for herbal remedies. So, neatly tuck herbs into dens and keep them sheltered with some moss atop of them, but only during particularly cold, harsh conditions in the leaf-bare. Sounds simple to know! However, Springpaw was quick to mentally note in the little detail about for if the weather was quick to get bad enough, she’ll dig a small indent into the ground and cover any moss bundle of herbs with soil. This’ll be extremely valuable information for her to notify her mentor with so they could use it for leaf-bare, that was for sure. However, Coldamber’s next set of words was quick to drag on the calico’s impending curiosity, making her cock her head to the side.

”So… plants don’t die in the leaf-bare?” She questioned, eyebrow raising. “I thought they always did! Whenever the snow melted and grass showed, it always looked old, brown, and well… dead. How is it possible that herbs wouldn’t be the same like that? Do they just… grow differently?” Springpaw’s questions were indeed out of curiosity, and some confusion. She knew that the much, much older molly’s words were obvious enough to answer her questions, but Springpaw was still curious. How do plants still live throughout the cold weather even though the freezing snow was enough to kill them through the long days of leaf-bare? Was their roots really that strong against the cold soil when it formed? It didn’t really make much sense to the young nine moon old molly. Maybe Coldamber could explain it in more depth to her? Springpaw wasn’t exactly fully sure of the situation, but she sincerely hoped so. Those types of things were absolutely confusing to understand entirely.

Well, it would seem that those questions would have to be answered later, as Coldamber continued to explain what other important herbs that Springpaw will have to learn, making her oceanic hues glisten lightly with interest and curiosity. She heard a little bit about borage, but not much of the others. She’ll have to make sure to keep as much of a mental note as possible when Coldamber begins to explain the usages of all those herbs. They’ll be rather handy to explain to Drizzlecloud about their uses when the calico molly woke up from this expanding dream… or rather dreamscape. However, the apprentice couldn’t help but wonder how Drizzlecloud was going to think of the fact that she was picked other than her to be visited in a dream from a StarClan cat themselves. Would she be jealous? Springpaw surely hoped not, Drizzlecloud was seemingly far too kind-hearted to have such an impactful emotion hit her… the pastel calico thought that, at least. Her short thought on the matter was quickly dismantled when Coldamber mentioned something about… a ThunderClan kit teaching her about celandine? How?!

Questions were quick to begin to bubble in the calico’s throat, eagerness dragging onto her as she blinked a few times in surprise at her temporary mentor. Coldamber stayed in ThunderClan temporarily? Why? What did she do? Did she have to teach an apprentice there? Who was the leader at the time? Questions were practically about to roll off the molly’s tongue, the calico having to quite literally hold herself back from accidentally disturbing the two of them from the current lesson. Questions about Coldamber will be answered after most of the lesson was over—even if Springpaw desperately wanted to know more about the former medicine cat temporarily staying in her clan—so they needed to get right back on the current track at paw. Other than that, she slowly nodded her head to the molly’s statement, continuing to hold herself back from asking any questions about the time she stayed in her clan. Geez, there were many things that Springpaw wished to know about from simply speaking with Coldamber. Now, Springpaw was quick to begin to listen to the next herb that the molly was about to explain about.

Borage was a herb the Springpaw rarely knew much about, but at least Coldamber knew a good variety about the herb that she was willing to give as much information about it to the young medicine cat apprentice. Furrowing her brows, the young molly took note of the former medicine cat’s information about the herb itself. So the plant itself was mainly used for fevers and was much more suited for stomach-aches. That’ll be fairly easy to use in case a kit accidentally eats too much prey or if anyone in the clan ate anything that was spoiled. That’ll definitely help out with that. Alongside that, the fact that the herb was used for fevers was also very useful in case one of her clan-mates tended to get sick and were in a dire need for some sort of medication. That’ll be extremely helpful to keep a fever at bay until a well suitable remedy is currently at bay. She didn’t need to make it into a poultice, and only to be given to the patient so it could be eaten. Eesh. Hopefully she didn’t deal with anyone that was picky and would spit it out. That would make her job only harder to deal with.

Her eyes were quick to trail down towards her paws as small buds of borage flowers began to pop up out of the starry grass, almost quick to grab the nine moon old molly’s attention again. It was just only there for a brief moment, but it was also such a beautiful sight to her oceanic blue eyes that it simply wasn’t easy to take her eyes off of the blue and pink buds. Her ears were angled in Coldamber’s direction as the former medicine cat continued to speak, further indicating the properties of the herb and where it could be located at. Springpaw’s eyes finally pulled away from the small borage leaves so they could focus back up towards Coldamber so she could continue to listen to what she had to say. Well, at least the healing properties of both colors didn’t seem to differ much within the herb, that was a good sign. An even better one was that the herb was indeed still valuable to find even in the cold depths of leaf-bare! Even if it’ll be rather scarce and difficult to find, it’s still worth it to know that it’s still available in those types of weather conditions.

Moving onto the next herb, Springpaw had continued to listen carefully to what the molly had to say, occasionally twitching a whisker or so. Well, there weren’t many elders inside ThunderClan at the moment, but daisies will surely be a necessity in case there were any possible sprains and swollen joints. Neither of such things were rather common, but she’d like to have information at the ready in case there comes a time where she would have to use daisies on those specific occasions. However, it was deemed so that the young apprentice was going to have to find out herself in the flower themselves had a proper usage. The thought almost made her throat tighten in its grasp. She might have to try some trial and error in order for her to see how the flower worked… and she’ll mentally pray for herself in case it had some sort of negative reaction from her clan-mates. She’d definitely be in trouble. However, the apprentice was quick to glance towards the small daisies that rapidly replaced the borage that was once there. The flower looked rather easy to memorize, so it should be quite easy to find during the daytime. She’ll just show Drizzlecloud it once she wakes up from this dream, afterall.

The next herb along the list was celandine, that Springpaw was going to definitely have to remember that the specific herb was definitely aggressive and could possibly kill off any other herbs in a specific area along the territory. That was going to be a definite challenge to keep a keen eye out for in case she or Drizzlecloud went out to search for the herb, or in any case of a herb patrol, but she would have to be very careful with her wording whenever she told any cat about celandine. However, she did keep in mind about the usages of the aggressive herb, and made sure to mentally note to herself to try to collect some for in case anyone in the clan has some sort of issue regarding with their eyes. Both she and her mentor didn’t really know much about anything regarding the eyes, but with this? She could easily inform Drizzlecloud about this herb and tell her about its benefits if necessary. As Springpaw continued to listen, she felt more relieved at the mention of the herb still growing within the winter time, even if it’ll be scarce. At least the herbs that the molly had told her were relatively fine in the winter, and were still probable to find. That’s something that made Springpaw feel grateful about, at the very least.

Then, onto the next herb, Springpaw felt a little bit more relaxed at the mention that dandelions didn’t kill off other herbs like celandine did or have an impact on growing literally everywhere. It wasn’t that hard to remember what the small flower looked like, as Springpaw herself had seen the herb quite a few times during a short walk through the territory or before when she was just an warrior apprentice. She hasn’t known of the flower’s properties til now, and now she was definitely going to make sure to snatch more than one during a walk through the forest, and she’ll probably make sure to tell any cat that goes on another herb patrol to collect some as well. Just for merely wellness awareness, in case anyone got stung by any bees during a patrol or if they were caught in a swarm of bees. Or, in the case of a fire, the herb would be rather valuable to have as well. The last thought made the apprentice grimace slightly to herself, but she didn’t pay too much attention towards the thought for too long. It shouldn’t be much of an issue to collect the herb due to how much it grows throughout new-leaf and green-leaf.

“… Okay, I think I got all of that. It’s definitely going to be important for both me and Drizzlecloud to know all of this when I wake up. I can’t wait to tell her all that you taught me, Coldamber.” Springpaw admitted, smiling up at the molly as her eyes drifted shut in gratification. She was genuinely serious about the offer, and she was willing to know all that Coldamber knew so she could pass it onto her mentor. It was definitely helpful and she appreciated it.

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@Abyssopelagic [I deeply apologize for how long this took me to respond to! It took much longer than intended to respond to this thread and I apologize for that]