[Zero]

Originally Posted by mony

Leopardpaw laughed as Surgestorm seemed to grumble as he was told to clean. She then turned to Moonpaw and nuzzled her. "All right, Moon. Let's see if I learned all this right." she purred. "So, we have catmint, poppyseeds, aloe, comfrey, daisy leaves and dandelion leaves." she recounted the few herbs that she could, but the rest where just jumbled. She separated all that she could and then looked at the big pile. "Geez, I barely made a dent! How in StarClan's name did you get all of this in leaf-bare?" Leopardpaw asked, turning to the Medicine Cat. Her eyes beamed in interest as she awaited a response.

Originally Posted by Lilly

Moonpaw smiled as she watched her uncle sweep the den with rhythmic stroke of his fluffy tail, giggling a bit as the dust began to pile up in his fur. She felt a swell of pride in her chest as she puffed it out just a bit; that was her uncle, her blood, her kin. Her family's legacy would live on even after Surgestorm was gone because of the amazing skill he had of being a medicine cat. A cat who had started on the path to becoming a warrior, but had chosen to stay true to his promise of helping serve his Clan in a different way. She knew that her uncle was aware of how much she cared for him, but it was moments like these, where she was able to watch him work silently, that she felt honored to be related to him.

Snapping her attention back to the present, Moonpaw looked over at Leopardpaw, then down at the herbs that sat neatly at their feet. She listened carefully as the apprentice began to name off the ones that she had already separated, a smile growing on her face. "Yes!" she purred, looking at her friend with excitement dancing in her eyes. She would make a good apprentice, I'll bet she thought, deciding to keep the thought to herself for now. Noticing the big pile that Surgestorm had brought in not too long ago, and remembering that it had been a secret, Moonpaw too turned her curious blue gaze on her uncle, wondering if he was going to reveal where it was. Since she had gone out with him as a kit, and had spent countless hours at his side in the den throughout her kit years, she was intrigued to see where he had managed to find all these herbs with no trace of frost bite, especially the ones that were typically the first to go. Even though most of the snow was beginning to melt, there was still an icy chill in the air that would make plant life almost nonexistent.

Surgestorm ceased his sweeping motions, making a face at his dust covered tail. He took a moment to move to the corner of the den, sweeping the dust into a pile, and then working to get as much of it out of his tail as he could. It wasn't often that he cleaned, but the den was already a bit crisper looking without dust hanging around on the floor. He took a deep breath in and sneezed, waiting a moment for the dust to settle from the air.
Then, the tom went to the patients nest and tidied them up, taking the ruined moss and tossing it on a pile to take out later. As he did this, he quietly began to hum a tune that both apprentices would know well by now. His mother used to hum it to him as a kitten, and now he would hum it under his breath whenever he was doing any busy work in the den. Both Leopardpaw and Moonpaw would have heard it close to a hundred or more times by now, and it was always the same familiar tune. Occasionally, he'd put a twist on the song, but usually it was just plain and simple like now.
The medicine cat took a moment and listened as Leopardpaw listed the herbs, nodding his head when Moonpaw said that she was correct. However, he snapped to full attention at her question, just now remembering that he had a story to tell. "Oh yeah, that's right," The tom hurried back to their sides, a lopsided smile on his face. "You won't believe your ears, when I tell you, but you gotta be sure not to tell anyone where I found them. I could probably get in a lot of trouble." He tried his best to look serious, but it was hard to do when he could barely stand not to smile for more than a minute or two.