A moon had passed and Sorrelpaw was still in the medicine cat den with Longtail and Cinderpelt. She was beginning to get restless and stir crazy.
"When am I going to get to go outside?!" Sorrelpaw complained. Longtail heard her shuffling in her nest so he was sure she was trying to get up yet again, even after the countless times Cinderpelt had told her not to move about. Longtail was slowly starting to be able to piece together all that was happening around him by scent, sound, and sensing everything, putting together an image in his mind.
"I've told you a hundred times, Sorrelpaw. You are not ready to walk yet." Cinderpelt ordered. Longtail could tell she was exhausted.
"Cinderpelt, why don't you do take a walk? I can handle things here for a bit." he meowed, padding up to his mentor and placing his tail on her shoulder. He felt her sigh and stand.
"Thank you, Longtail. Just... keep an eye on her." she whispered.
"Is that supposed to be a joke?" he teased, waving his tail in front of his unseeing eyes. He heard Cinderpelt and Sorrelpaw both laugh.
"Sorry, I'll send one of the apprentices to get you both fresh kill." his mentor mewed and was gone. Longtail turned back to where he had been sorting herbs, pushing the dry and useless herbs to the side.
"So... what do all of those do?" he heard Sorrelpaw ask. Longtail twitched his ears.
I guess it wouldn't hurt to teach her a few things... just in case. He thought to himself. So he moved his work a little closer to the apprentice's nest and began showing her some herbs.
"This here is borage. We give it to queens after they've given birth so they will produce more milk. But it is also used to reduce fever. And these are juniper berries, they soothe bellyaches. And this is yarrow, we use it to make cats vomit if they have swallowed something poisonous."
"Yeah, I remember that... Cinderpelt used that on me when... Darkstripe fed me deathberries..." Longtail sensed a shiver pass through the young she-cat and he couldn't help but feel the same. Darkstripe had once been his friend, but had been exiled after doing that to Sorrelpaw after she had seen him speaking to some Shadow Clan warriors as a kit.
"Yes." he meowed, then showed her willow bark. "This is willow bark, which as you know eases pain."
"Yeah, you found it near the twolegplace the day I was hurt. It's where you met that she-cat." Sorrelpaw's bedding crunched as Longtail imagined her shifting to get a little more comfortable.
His mind slipped away to when he had met that loner. So much had changed in the moon since then. Firestar had agreed to take on Silver as a Thunder Clan cat, mentoring her himself. And from what Longtail heard, Silverpaw was a very intelligent, strong cat. Sorrelpaw's brothers, Sootpaw and Rainpaw had been made warriors, Sootfur and Rainwhisker. Longtail was very proud of his ex-apprentice and had only wished he'd been the one to tell Firestar he was ready. Ferncloud and Dustpelt's kits, Spiderkit and Shrewkit had been apprenticed, Spiderpaw to Mousefur, and Shrewpaw to Thornclaw. And Brightheart and Cloudtail's daughter Whitekit as well, became Whitepaw, mentored by Brackenfur.
"Do you think I'll ever become a warrior, Longtail?" Sorrelpaw's saddened mew broke him from his thoughts.
"Hm...? Oh... you must not ever lose hope, Sorrelpaw. When I lost my sight, I still found a place I was useful, same with Cinderpelt when she got hit by that monster."
"But... there's no room for me to become medicine cat apprentice because you're here. And I don't want to be medicine cat anyway." Sorrelpaw sighed. Longtail placed his tail on her side comfortingly.
"And you won't have to. I'll make sure to try my hardest to see you become a warrior like your brothers." Longtail knew not to promise her he could, but he knew he could promise he would try. Cinderpelt was teaching him well.
"Thank you, Longtail..."
"Hey guys! We brought you some prey." Spiderpaw, Whitepaw, and Silverpaw's scents washed over Longtail as he heard Silverpaw meow.
"Thank you very much." Longtail dipped his head as he sensed Whitepaw drop a mouse at his paws. Spiderpaw must have given prey to Sorrelpaw because Longtail heard a tail swishing near his face.
"Rainwhisker and Sootfur wanted me to tell you they said hello and hope you're doing better." Spiderpaw meowed.
"They would have come themselves, but they had to go on border patrol." Whitepaw added.
"Oh... thanks." Longtail could feel the disappointment wafting off of the older apprentice. He was sure she wished to be out with her brothers too.
"Anyways, we should get going, Mousefur and Brackenfur promised to teach us some fighting techniques." Spiderpaw mewed excitedly.
"See you later, Sorrelpaw!" Whitepaw called, and her and Spiderpaw's scents thinned. Silverpaw's though, did not. Longtail felt embarrassment coming from the she-cat.
"What is it, Silverpaw?" Longtail asked. "Aren't you going to train too?"
"Oh... well. Firestar found out I left camp without permission and he told me as a punishment I had to check the elders for ticks. He said you could give me some mouse bile...?" She mewed. Longtail nodded and turned to grab the foul smelling moss ball with a stick, making sure to not ask her any questions as to why she'd leave camp. Surely Firestar was teaching her the proper ways of the warrior code.
"You're lucky to be alive. You and Cinderpelt." Longtail heard Silverpaw mew to Sorrelpaw.
"What do you mean?" Sorrelpaw asked.
"Well... I lost my mother to a monster. She was struck and killed instantly. But you and Cinderpelt... you two are alive. You guys get second chances." Longtail could hear the numb sorrow in Silverpaw's voice. He remembered her saying that to him the day they met.
Sorrelpaw was silent, so Longtail handed Silverpaw the stick.
"Here you go. Use the stick to carry it. Don't swallow any and make sure to go wash your paws afterwards." he instructed.
"Alright, thanks Longtail." her meow was muffled, then she was gone. Longtail sat in silence for a second, then began to eat his mouse. He could tell Sorrelpaw was deep in thought.
"She's right you know. You're lucky." When Sorrelpaw didn't answer, he continued. "You'll be okay. No matter what happens, just keep telling yourself that. You're alive. You have a purpose."
And so do I...
