[Mauve]

Originally Posted by Lonestar23

Caliapaw didn’t respond to Emberwing’s first statement, instead continuing to chew the herbs and keeping one eye on the other cat. She was a little bitter at the remark - how inexperienced did the warrior think she was? Did she think Wheatfur had taught Caliapaw nothing? That only frustrated the feline more, as she struggled to keep her emotions under control - the logic of the situation was that it was natural to be concerned about who was treating you, how inexperienced they were, and it was natural to be glad that they were more experienced than you thought. However, just the relief in Emberwing’s voice was enough to make the young feline angry. Furious, even. Her thoughts were jumbled - she couldn’t even remember if she had given her usual “this is going to sting” comment as she dripped the juices into the wound.

Once she’d used enough, she dropped the now-chewed leaves onto the ground of the medicine cat’s den and gave Emberwing an uncertain look. ”I haven’t been to any of the other Clans yet. Zerosight came in once, and taught me a couple of things. Wheatfur taught me everything else I need to know right now. If you don’t like it, that’s your problem, not mine.” Perhaps it was the second comment, suggesting that she should go to the other Clans, that pushed the she cat over the edge to make the last remark. She hadn’t needed to add it, and it had been a mistake - but one that she could no longer take back. Not that she was sorry about it at all, oh no. She acknowledged that it had been a mistake, but it was not a mistake that she was sorry for. It was just one of “those things.”

”Good question. Now let me ask you one - if Wheatfur had approached you, saying that he wanted you to be his apprentice, would you have said yes or no when you were my age?” Before the warrior could have had much time to answer, Caliapaw continued speaking. ”I considered it an honor. And I was able to appreciate the things medicine cats do. It’s not that I don’t want to train as a warrior, it’s that I want this more.” Maybe that was true in the beginning. But now? Now Caliapaw felt like she was sort of stuck with this. There was no one else ready to jump into the position - she would let everyone down, something bad would happen if she were to leave it.

That wasn’t even to mention that she was already pretty old to be going back to warrior training - it would just be too much to try and get back into it now. Giving the injury another look, Caliapaw grabbed a couple of cobwebs and placed them on the wound, her golden eyes narrowed as she did so. Her tail was twitching furiously, in an attempt to calm herself. Emberwing had rubbed her the wrong way, even with just a few innocent questions - whether she’d known it or not. Caliapaw was already having not the best day, and the more cats who came in injured, the more she seemed to be having trouble.

The ThunderClan warrior's eyes widened in surprise at Caliapaw's reaction, the fur on the back of her neck beginning to bristle in defense. She parted her jaws - the words not yet coming to her though - when she felt a sharp pain pierce through her side. "Ouch!" she yelped, pain flashing through the depths of her eyes as the juices from the herbs drained into her slow healing scratch. Normally, it wouldn't have even affected her, but with her already cautious mind and her shock at the young she-cats response, Emberwing was caught off guard with how this first meeting was going. It didn't do anything to solidify the fact that Caliapaw might know what she was doing, and just slightly her eyes narrowed, tail tip twitching in annoyance. It wasn't often that Emberwing got unnerved by her Clanmates - she cared for them too much - but something about Caliapaw struck her the wrong way.

"I never said I had a problem with it," she stated, a little edge to the polite tone she had to force out through her teeth. The pain from the sting was subsiding, but not the tiny thorns that seemed to have lodged themselves in her fur from the medicine cat's harsh words. Those stung almost as bad her side flank, though her scratch was now the last thing on her mind. "I just thought that since you're still young that you might want to consider learning as much as you can." Emberwing was well aware that Caliapaw had been training under Wheatfur for a few moons before his death, however that didn't register in her mind with how much could be passed down. She was still a 'paw, after all, and hadn't earned her full medicine cat name. Until then, it would bee seen by Emberwing as a downfall - not quite knowing as much as she should with the responsibility she now had in caring for the whole of ThunderClan.

At her second question, Emberwing truly didn't have a good answer. What if Wheatfur had come to her and asked her to be his apprentice? She was already half way through her warrior training when he had decided to take on Caliapaw; at that time, she would've said absolutely not. However, when she had just turned six moons? Sure, her loyalty was to her Clan, but above even that she valued StarClan, and having faith in her warrior ancestors. Being given a chance to become closer to them? It was hard to determine if she would've accepted or not. "Even if I had taken the life of a medicine cat, I would've made it a point to learn everything I could, as fast as I could. So that I could be the best, and serve ThunderClan in the way they needed," she mewed, giving a shrug of her shoulders and craning her neck to get a better look at the cobwebs she had plastered on her side. They seemed to stick well enough, and Emberwing let out a sigh; at least she was good at the most tedious medicinal tasks.

All she had wanted to do when coming in was to get fixed up and potentially have her doubts drowned by Caliapaw's actions. She felt foolish not having faith in her Clan's medicine cat - after all, StarClan had to have accepted her for her to be in this position, and her belief in them was strong. Why couldn't she show Caliapaw the same respect? Emberwing let out another soft sigh and shook her head ever so slightly, but made no attempt to take back anything she had said. She was valid in her feelings, and if Caliapaw didn't like it, then that was her problem.