[sunpelt]

THE FIRST LESSON:

Sunpelt awoke to darkness. The sun wasn't up yet. I'll let Darkpaw sleep a little longer, while I see what is needed... The orange she-cat walked around the den, seeing what is needed. Chervil...Cobweb...Comfrey and dock...Honey...Lavender...and...Catnip? Sunpelt cocked her head to the side in confusion. Hadn't she just recently gathered catnip? Shaking the thought from her head, she went to wake Darkpaw.

"Darkpaw, time to arise! Another day and your first day of learning!" Sunpelts voice was near the breaking point, she was so ecstatic. "Are you ready to learn to be a medicine cat?" The she-cat gave Darkpaw a gentle touch with her nose, encouraging her to wake.

[caracalfang]

*Darkpaw had woken when she heard her mentor padding around the den. She was up, but she kept her eyes closed and just listen to the sounds of Sunpelt's paws on the den floor. Suddenly the peacefulness of it all was broken as an excited voice sounded right in her ear with a wake up call. One eye opened to calmly regaurd the medicine cat as Darkpaw wondered if she had woken anyone else in the clan with her outburst. At the touch of Sunpelt's nose, and with a deep sigh, the black apprentice rose from the comfort of her nest and stretched her limbs slowly before leaving the soft moss all together. She drew a paw over her ears, turned to look at her mentor, then calmly said, * I am ready to learn if you are ready to teach. *She added a smile so she would know that while she kept her enthusiasm in check, she was happy to start her apprenticeship as well.*

[sunpelt]

"Ok then, Darkpaw. Your first assignment is to go around the den and tell me what needs gathering. It is imperative that a medicine cat never runs low on herbs." Sunpelt walked around the den and waited for Darkpaw to follow. "After you do this, I will take you out into the woods and the flooded grasses to search for herbs and gather ones we need. You will learn the scent, the taste, and how each one looks." Walking toward Darkpaw, Sunpelt sat down and began licking her front paw. "As soon as you get this done, we shall leave."

[caracalfang]

*At first, Darkpaw was skeptical. How was an apprentice made yesterday to know which herbs were which? But, she trusted her mentor to know how it worked, even if she wasn't quite sure. She padded up to a nook in the cave wall and took a sniff. She saw that there weren't many leaves in the nook, whatever it was, and looked to her mentor.* Well, it seems to me, we need more of this... *The next few she approached were pretty full, but then she came across the cobweb supply. Ahh, that was one she knew for sure. And, it was low.* Cobwebs. We need more of these. *She moved on and saw that the next nook smelled really sweet. The leaf packet was sort of soggy, and she padded the leaf slightly and gave her paw a lick. Another one she had run across!* This is honey. Hmm...Judging by the soggy line, we could use a little more. *A few more nooks were full, and she knew one of them was poppy seeds, then another crevice had a herb that smelled absolutly wonderful to her.* Mmmm, this is catmint! I can tell with that scent. And we need more. *Next, she came across another two crevices. They were close together, and both were low. One had a purple flower, and the other was simply large leaves.* These two need to be harvested as well. I don't know them, though. *After looking and sniffing at a few more full ones, she came to a final crevice and saw that it too was low. She gave a sniff, and furrowed her brow as she realized she knew it, but she couldn't tell how. It was just one of those things that she somehow knew, and she was getting use to them.* This is comfrey, and it's low. This is also the last crevice.

[sunpelt]

"Good job, Darkpaw! The first one was chervil. It is sweet smelling and has large leaves and little white flowers. The next was cobweb, as you said. Honey was right too, as was catmint. The herb with purple flowers was lavender. The large leaves were dock. Comfrey was correct! Good job on identifying them! Ok, do you remember the scents and how they looked? That is another important part of being a medicine cat, remembering scents and looks of herbs." Sunpelt was surprised that Darkpaw knew so many herbs. She remembered that her first lesson had not gone this well. "First day as an apprentice and you're already showing promise!" Even though she was smart, there was something strange about Darkpaw. No new apprentice had ever known this much this early, at least not one Sunpelt knew of.

[caracalfang]

*Darkpaw gave a gentle nod.* Thank you. And, yes, I think I will be able to remember them. But just to be sure... *Darkpaw stepped back up to the crevices containing the low supplies and gave them another sniff, then looked at them for a bit, memorizing things that stood out about them to her. She padded back over to Sunpelt and looked at her calmly.* I am ready to go find them now.

[sunpelt]

Sunpelt nodded her head and began to walk out of the den. She stayed quiet, not wanting to wake any other cats. Once they were in the forest, Sunpelt walked over to a tree. "Ok, Darkpaw. We have come across some cobweb." Sunpelt looked up at the cobweb, looking to see if a spider was in it. None were visible. "I am going to show you how you collect it, then you will get the rest. All you do is stick your paw in it and move it in circles until you get all of it! Your turn!" Sunpelt was thoroughly enjoying teaching Darkpaw. She hoped Darkpaw was enjoying being her apprentice too.

[caracalfang]

*Darkpaw followed her mentor out of camp with silent paws. It wasn't hard for her to do, she moved that way anyway. In fact, Cunningstrike and Littlepaw did it as well, so it must be inherited. As she was considering this, Sunpelt called her attention to the cobwebs. She watched carefully, then stepped forward to collect some on her own. She found herself taking to the rythem of it with ease, and soon turned to her mentor with a pawfull of them. Without hesitation, she pulled up her other paw and carefully peeled the cobwebs from her paw and gently laid them on a near-by clean leaf. She furrowed her brow as she gazed at herself and thought of what she had just done. She looked at Sunpelt and masked her confusion.* That was correct?

[sunpelt]

"That was absolutely correct. You're quite a natural, Darkpaw. Now, let's continue walking." So many scents hit Sunpelt at the same time. How she loved being in the woods! Ok... Let's see. I smell vole, mouse... rabbit... and... fresh kill? As the smell of fresh kill hit her, Sunpelt's mouth immediately began watering. It was her favorite. Squirrel! Focusing ahead of her, she spotted some dock. "Ok, Darkpaw. Identify this herb and I will help you harvest it, unless you want to give it a go yourself..."

[caracalfang]

*Darkpaw brought the cobwebs on a leaf with her, but set them down and padded forward to give the leaves a sniff. They were large, and she remembered their size from the nook in the den.* This is dock, right? The size gives it away. Let's see...Do you harvest it like this? *She had noticed the mark on the stem from where it had been cut back in the den, and now she stepped forward and bit through the stem in around the same place. She only took one in case she did it wrong, but after taking it she looked back to Sunpelt, questioning her menthod in her eyes.*

[sunpelt]

"Why, yes. That was wonderful. you have quite a gift. Ok, now. We will take this back to camp, before our load gets to heavy." Sunpelt said, biting through the stems of some more dock leaves. "When we return to the forest, we will harvest some honey and catnip!" Sunpelt gathered the dock and cobweb and set off back to the camp. Once she reached the medicine cat's den, she set the herbs on the floor and licked her shoulder. "Ok, you may not like the way I do this, but when I gather a few herbs, I always gather some herbs and come back to camp for a little bit. I do this so just in case a warrior gets hurt, I'll be here to tend to their wounds. After I make sure everyone is alright, I head back out. So we'll put these up, make sure everyone's alright, and head back out." Sunpelt twitched her tail and began putting the dock in the crevice where it stayed. She then walked to the entrance of the cave.

[caracalfang]

*Darkpaw followed Sunpelt back to the medicine cat den with her own load of dock. It made sense to take what they had back, after all they had gathered quite a bit. But she didn't see the point in looking around camp for any cat that wasn't feeling well. They would come to her would they not? But, Sunpelt was her mentor, so she didn't question her. It would take longer to gather the herbs, though, so ultimatly they would be out of camp more than in, wouldn't they? Still, she didn't question it, instead walking to the crevice that held the dock and depositing her load. The black apprentice walked over to Sunpelt and stood next to her.* Very well.

[sunpelt]

"Okay, since the Clan seems to be fine, after we put up the herbs, we will be on our way! We won't check on everyone every time we come back though. In fact, this may be the only time... But anywho! It's not even sunhigh yet so we've got a while to search... Next we'll be looking for lavender, catnip, and possibly chervil." After she spoke to Darkpaw, she got a rock out of her paw with her teeth and began to put the honey that Darkpaw had flawlessly gathered into its crevice, taking in the familiar sweet scent.

[caracalfang]

*Darkpaw took the cobwebs to their place and deposited them. She was beginning to question her mentor's sanity. First they were to roam camp, then they weren't. She was always bopping about in an overly happy mood and she really liked to talk. Like, alot. The black apprentice sighed and trotted back to the den entrance. She decided to chalk it up to nerves and give her mentor a few days. By then, either she would settle, or Darkpaw would get used to it. Her gold eyes shined with urging, wanting her mentor to hurry so they could get stocked up and move on to the next task.*

[sunpelt]

Sunpelt was practically twitching with the tingly feeling of excitement. She looked over at her apprentice and sensed a feeling of exasperation. "Er... Are you alright, Darkpaw?" Sunpelt inquired. Suddenly excitement changed to worry. Was she doing something wrong? What if Darkpaw didn't want to be her apprentice anymore? What if Darkpaw thought if she was crazy? Sunpelt's eyes lost their sparkle as she thought about this. "Well, you can answer me as we're on our way to the forest. Next on our list is lavender, catnip, and chervil." Her voice had lost the usual bubbliness, but was still somewhat excited as she began to exit the medicine cat's den. She had made it three steps, however, before a thought crossed her mind. Wait! What if I did a little of what she wanted! That would make things perfect! Immediately her mood picked up and she regained her light, happy step; orange pelt glowing like a dull fire in the morning sun.