[ti]Private[/ti]First Order Of Business

[GnawingOnIce]

Cedarleap hobbled along on her tiny legs, smiling a little bit. Recently, she had decided to take on a apprentice, and no one would be more fit for that than Elkpaw, in Cedar's opinion. They got along well and Cedar knew Elk was a fast learner and already knew a bit about herbs from when she was a kit and had visited Cedar multiple times. "Alright," She began, stopping a few tail-lengths from the thunder trails, "This is where the cure of redcough was found," The small she-cat gestured with her tail toward the trails, "Remember the name of it?" She asked, looking up at Elk. It wouldn't hurt to ask her questions, Cedar had decided. She needed to know what Elk knew and didn't know anyway.

[pebble]

While her siblings had headed out immediately with their mentors on a tour of the territory, Elkpaw had found herself with Cedar in the medicine cat den until her new mentor decided it was time to give her a little run down of the area. Elkpaw refused to stray too far from the worn trails in fear of getting lost, but was looking around with a look of awe on her diluted face.

Cedarleap's question jolted her back to reality and Elkpaw looked down at her mentor, staring blankly at her as she racked her memory. She pinned her ears and gave a nervous smile. "Uh... comfry?" She guessed randomly, knowing that comfry helped with coughs... She didn't know what redcough was. "Wait! No! Coltsfoot?" She guessed again. It was one of those two, but she had no clue. Curse being young!

[Heck I don't even know the answer]

[GnawingOnIce]

Cedarleap flicked one of her ears as Elkpaw guessed what it was. "Okay, first, never guess when I ask you a question. Think, not guess." She trotted over to the trails and quickly spotted one of the flowers. "It's called elfdock, and is found here, near the thunder trails." She nodded towards the plant with thin, yellow petals. "C'mere so you can get a good look at it and memorize it. It's important if we ever have a outbreak of redcough again." Hopefully that never happened again, though she was sure it would, they'd be prepared this time.

[pebble]

"Elkdock and redcough... elkdock and redcough." Elkpaw had a feeling she would only remember it because they shared the same prefix. She glanced wearily at the trials, having heard a great many things about it. "Oh! What is redcough?" Elkpaw asked, fur fluffing up in embarrassment. "Like... what does it do and how do we uh... diagfost... no... diagnock? Ah, whatever that word is." She made herself more clear in what she meant. She knew they recently had an outbreak of it.

[GnawingOnIce]

. Cedarleap inwardly sighed, "It's elfdock, Elkpaw, elf. Redcough is when a cat coughs up blood. We use the roots of it and give it to the sick cat to eat. It's best you give it to them as soon as possible, to stop them from having a seizure and possibly dying." She explained, thinking back to the outbreak of redcough when she so badly didn't want to. Cedar was inexperienced, but is thankful that she gained some experience from that event.

[pebble]

Elkpaw listened to her explain redcough, face twisted in confusion. "Uh... Cedarleap?" She asked, head tilted slightly like her siblings would do. "I could've sworn you said elf..." She wanted to be sure that her mentor was saying the right thing. She furrowed her 'brows' as she questioned Cedarleap, head tilting further.

[GnawingOnIce]

Cedarleap flicked one of her ears in annoyance, "What? I said elf! I swore I- actually nevermind, we should just keep going." She hopped away from the thunder trails and passed Elkpaw, assuming she'd follow. "Almost anywhere you can find any herb, mostly in the forest - try not to step over the borders while you're out." She explained, expecting Elkpaw to not ask anymore questions about elfdock. Later, when they got back to camp she'd accept more than a few questions. They didn't exactly have all day to explore Moth's territory.

[pebble]

Elkpaw flicked her ears as Cedarleap trotted past her, turning in a tight circle so she could follow the munchkin cat, keeping up with her easily. She looked around in awe, amazed at the massive territory as she listened to Cedar ramble about the where to find herbs and the border. She furrowed her 'brows.' "Aren't we allowed to step over the borders as medicine cats or is that only for missions?" Elkpaw questioned as she walked. She had to know everything!

[GnawingOnIce]

 "Yes, we can step over the borders, but it's preferred that you only do it for important things." Cedarleap mewed back to Elkpaw, glancing at her as she did so. "We don't want the Clans to start fighting just because one of us stepped over the border for unnecessary reasons." That'd be bad, she thought to herself. A medicine cat causing fights, who'd heard of such a thing?

[pebble]

"Oh. What would be considering important?" Elkpaw asked, now weary of the border they were passing awfully close to. A medicine cat starting fights. Sounds like something Elkpaw would do on accident. That was a plot for another day, though, Pebble thought. The dilute tortie flicked her tail as she trotted steadily behind Cedarleap, taking in all the scents.