[Omari]

Drizzlecloud
Thunderclan
She/her

Well, not having a chance to see Willow’s Rise yet wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. It meant–perhaps–nobody close to her apprentice had passed away and been buried there yet. Drizzlecloud was the same, but she was still aware of the location of Willow’s Rise, of course. Sometimes she liked to pass through, pay her respects there. Most times, whenever she sent patrols to this area, she liked to remind the patrol to mind where they stepped–take a moment to remember those who weren’t walking among them anymore.

“I’d love to hear what Coldamber taught you.” Drizzlecloud murmured with a smile–oh, and she had learned a few things on her own, as well! “I’ve learned a few things on my own time, too. Lavender, stinging nettle, yarrow… Just to name a few. There’s a couple more that I could tell you about, though, if you’re interested.” She was certain that her apprentice would be more than eager, though. Ever hungry for knowledge, she was–it was nice to have an apprentice who was so eager and dedicated.

Ah, deathberries. She hadn’t really handled them, if she were honest. Perhaps she had some urges to go out and find some, keep them tucked away in the medicine den just in case they ever needed an easy way to remove someone–but she never followed through and went searching for them. Having those berries in their storage would be like an open call for disaster. “Goodness, I haven’t handled very many cases concerning deathberries. I’m not sure how long it would take for them to kill, suppose it would depend on the dosage, although I know that one berry alone is enough to kill… Coldamber tells me that it’s quick and painless. Like falling asleep. However, if you’re ever looking to get deathberries–any poisons that have been eaten, really–out of the system, stinging nettle seeds can be used to induce vomiting, if they are chewed.” Truly, that was all she knew. Tampering with deathberries sounded disastrous, no matter how many times she felt tempted to seek them out. So, for now, she knew very little about handling them.

“Well, before we get to Willow’s Rise, let’s talk about a few of the things that Coldamber taught me–technique wise. Some of them are a bit, uh, not so pretty to imagine, but after what we’ve seen I think you’re mature enough now to be aware of them.” Drizzlecloud let out a sigh, mulling over the techniques that she had been taught, deciding to speak about the less frightening and/or gross ones first.

 

“First, broken legs and tails. This one is probably the easiest for me to explain. You’ll want a sturdy stick, and if it’s too long, you can just break it and try your best to get it shortened down to a better length. Two sticks, preferably on each side–but I’ve used only one stick before. You want to align the stick with the break, so that when you wrap the limb with cobwebs, the stick will keep the limb straight. This will help the bone heal correctly.” Pausing for a moment, she recalled what Coldamber had added onto this teaching. “Coldamber says to use some moss to sort of cushion the broken limb if it’s for a more delicate area–such as the tail. Broken bones require a lot of rest, but to reduce the possibility of stiff joints, after about a week they should slowly return to being more active. Slowly. Nothing too strenuous for a moon.”

Next, hm.. What should she speak of next? She and Springpaw had seen many grievous wounds, so perhaps she could talk about some of the more gruesome topics now. “We’ve dealt with a lot of flesh wounds–a lot. Coldamber told me about layering in the case of excess bleeding that just doesn’t seem to stop. We’ve already come to that conclusion, of course. We can’t rely on that alone–pressure on the wound. Another thing you’ve learned on your own time as a healer. However, she did tell me a useful little trick–when taking off cobweb wraps, it is helpful to apply water to the cobwebs in order to dampen it. This makes it easier to carefully peel off the wrap, and it reduces the risk of tearing off any scabs with it, as that would pull you all the way back to step one in the healing process.”

 

After she had been given those tips, Coldamber had proceeded to tell her a few… Ah, not so lovely things that she unfortunately had to imagine. Disembowelment and sliced throats. “In the event of especially deep wounds, she suggests using egg sacs or tree sap to hold the skin together before it is wrapped.” That was the easy part to explain, the next… Oh, she had dreaded the day that she would actually have to explain these things out loud, or worse, see for herself. Thankfully she hadn’t ran into these two following examples quite yet. “For example, when someone’s neck is… Ah, for lack of a more gentle term, sliced open. Our first task is to find out if they can still breathe, or, if their windpipe has been damaged.” Ouch. Prickly subject, considering who she was telling these things to. “She says the method isn’t foolproof. She did it very few times. Either way, it’s better than nothing at all. She suggests using the sap–or the egg sac–to make sure that the skin is held together before it is wrapped up. In these cases, our patients should keep away from any strenuous activities for half a moon. Actually, they should reduce movement almost entirely. They also should steer clear of getting wet. Oh, the wound should also be checked regularly to make sure that the skin is still being kept together. There might come the time where you would have to re-apply some sap over top of the previous layers.” There was a pause in her explanations, similar to how Coldamber had hesitated when teaching her these very same things, as well. With a sharp inhale, she looked down to their paws–their similar, white paws as the duo trekked through the territory. “In the case of disembowelment, the same precautions would be taken. She suggests… Ah, carefully putting their organs back in their body and hopefully being able to close them back up with sap. She says that… If organs are not damaged, there is a chance that they could survive, but if their organs had been damaged… The chances are not as high. At that point, it’s up to us to decide whether we want to try to treat them back to health or give them mercy.” Deathberries, of course. Drizzlecloud fell silent for a few moments as she led the way to where their fallen clanmates lay. With a deep inhale, her green eyes slowly drew themselves to look at Springpaw. “I just pray we never find ourselves in such a situation.”

Drizzlecloud’s fluffy tail ran across Springpaw’s back for a moment, a reassuring and gentle gesture. A silent apology, although she knew that it was a lesson that had to be shared eventually. Drizzlecloud preferred that she be the one to deliver such a lesson, so she supposed that now would be the best time to do it–perhaps she wouldn’t have the chance to do it if she didn’t do it now.

 

“Tough topic, I know. It feels wrong for me to say, alright, let’s move on, but there’s more to tell you. I would say that this topic is lighter, but I can’t truthfully say that it is.” With the topic of kitting came, well, joy of bringing new kittens into the world. But there also came the topics of manually removing kittens in the case of the queen dying, and stillborn babies. “Kitting. Ah, I don’t believe you’ve dealt with this before–to my knowledge, at least. Anyways, though. Usually, kittens are born without much difficulty. Not all queens require one of us to assist them during birth, after all. In most scenarios, best case scenarios, they will simply require our presence for the sake of moral support. For the most part, we will only be there to make sure that the kittens are delivered smoothly, that they are breathing, and to make sure that the queen can stay calm.” For a moment, Drizzlecloud felt the weight of their last topic lifting off of her shoulders. The weight would only return soon, though. She knew that, but she enjoyed the lighter topic of conversation for now. “The queen should go into labor on some moss, to make clean up easier. However, you’ll want to limit their movement, so once they’re on the moss, they should stay there until the kits are delivered. If possible, you should get someone else to prepare another moss bed for the family once the kits have been born, because we will want to discard the old moss nest and bury it–deep in the ground–so as to not attract any predators. Now, while the queen is actually giving birth, we want to keep them calm. I like to do breathing exercises with them, have them follow my breathing patterns–and offer them a nice, sturdy stick to bite down on in case they experience any pain. In cases of pain, we cannot give them any poppy seeds until after the kittens have been born. Giving the queen poppy seeds can put them, and their kits, at risk. As the kittens are born, you’ll notice that they sort of.. Come out in sacs. We want to break open these sacs with our teeth, or our claws, and at that point we want to make sure that their mouths are clear so that they can breathe. At this point, we want to clean them and make sure that they are dry–we will be keeping them warm, as they can’t really hold their own body heat. Preferably they will stay warm next to the queen, but if they’re moving too much, you can let another cat warm them. In the case of both options being out of the question, your best bet is to keep them warm with your tail until the rest of the kits are born.” Drizzlecloud exhaled, loud, and she couldn’t help but laugh. Oh, gosh, this was exhausting. This was probably the most that she has ever spoke in her entire life. She wasn’t much of a talker to begin with, though. “Okay, continuing. If the queen struggles with pushing, you can gently massage their sides to aid them. Once the kittens are born, you are essentially free to go unless there are any complications. Make sure that the kittens are suckling before you go, though.”

 

Alright, next section of kitting was the heavier stuff. The weight from before came back, pushing down on Drizzlecloud’s shoulders… But alas, we proceed. “This next bit is a bit heavy, so I apologize in advance. We’ll start with a more likely case, stillborn kits. Coldamber advises to let the queen know of their loss after all of the kittens have successfully been born. When this happens, we can ask the parent if they’d like to spend some time with their kit, and clean them off. If they wish to lay with their baby, then we will let them. We should only intervene if they have been spending a concerning amount of time with this kit–or if their other kits haven’t been getting the adequate amount of attention due to the loss. Then, we take the liberty of removing the… Removing the kit.” Another heavy topic–even if she hadn’t had kits of her own, she was still quite fond of the little ones, as many were. It was a difficult thing to think about. “Ah, perhaps the worst case scenario possible is when you begin to lose the queen. Coldamber suggests waiting a few moments to make sure that unnecessary lives are not lost, as the kittens will be okay to remain inside for a few minutes–but, once you are certain that there is no saving the queen’s life, you will have to manually remove the kits. Coldamber tells me that she never had to do it herself, but… It’s good to have a plan just in case. We would have to carefully cut open the queen’s tummy–near the pelvic area, and hopefully find the uterus where we will… Free them. Once the kittens are delivered, you clean them up as usual and make sure that they begin feeding. If there are no nursing queens around to take up that delivery, then, they can… They can feed from their parent, as milk that had already been produced by them would be accessible even with them.. Being gone.”

It was a deeply heavy topic, she knew this. Another gentle brush of her tail came along Springpaw’s back, offering her yet another gentle reassurance. Her head was beginning to hurt from all of the explaining she had to do just now. Even then, there was still the topic of ear pains–whether that be from bugs or infection. Ah, she needed a small break, though–and thankfully they had arrived at their destination.

“I’ll let you sit with that knowledge for a moment, I know it’s a lot.” She also needed a bit of a break to catch her breath… And Mari also needed a second to rest her brain. It was hurting a lot.

[ @eris this is getting so long and i started to get a headache lol, so in the next post drizzle will give some details on the location as well as ear infections/bugs in ears, and any herb knowledge, too. ]