Picking up the pieces [Evening/Dusk Finished]

Eveningblaze closed his eye, breathing through his teeth. Be patient, Eveningblaze. Be patient. Slowly the tom rose to his paws, abandoning the mixture on the stone. He turned. Purposeful and steady. The scent of earth and leaves clung to his paws as he padded towards the brown tabby, hovering at the den's entrance. He stepped in front of the tom. Amber eye narrowed, claws unsheathed. A hint of a snarl playing at his lips. "I am your senior, and I am your medicine cat. I am one of the few cats here who actually knows how to run a clan, and I am the only cat here who knows how to heal and communicate with our ancestors. I have experienced injury similar to yours, and I know exactly what will happen if you keep your activities as they are. Would you like to know?" he questioned, stepping forward. He was large. Muscular. He towered over the younger tom, eye hard. He may have been small by Thornclan standards, but by the standards of any other clan- any other cat- he was a powerhouse. And he was not a cat to be trifled with.

"Infection will set in. Your head will begin to rot from the inside out. You won't be able to visit your kits at all come two moons time. Because by then, you'll be below the earth. You need to allow yourself time to heal. And if you don't let yourself, I'll make you." He growled. pushing the tom farther backwards. "My threats are anything but empty." It was clear in his eye- in his voice- that he cared. Even if he refused to show it. If this fool died, there would be no clan left. And even if what remained was a mess, Duskblaze was the best chance they had. The best chance Eveningblaze had. And the best chance that Jay had for survival. He was being a selfish, prideful fool. And Eveningblaze had dealt with more than enough of those in his lifetime.

He stared for a moment, driving the message home. And then, without waiting for an answer, Eveningblaze stalked past the tom and plopped back down in front of his stone. And then, he resumed his mixing. Duskblaze would be a fool if he left. But Eveningblaze would drag him back even if he was. "Each time you tear that wound on your face open, you make it worse. We have so few herbs as it is- do you want to take precious healing time and resources away from our sick clanmates? Now lay back down. It's time to reapply your poultice and cobwebs. Turtlefrost and Petal will be taking care of the kits, and Snowstorm can watch after your clan. Focus your energy on recovery."

"You've already shown that you're capable by taking the job in the first place." Eveningblaze snorted. It wasn't like anyone else in this group could do the job. Stagheart and Turtlefrost were too rash (as much as he loathed speaking negatively of his last remaining family, it was true). Owlfur and Tornpelt were too much pushover. The rest were either fools, too young, or didn't have the support that would be needed. And though he was all three rash, young, and a fool, Duskblaze was quite literally their only option. "Your position isn't in any danger. It's obvious that you're trying. Even those deaf kits could see that. All you're doing by trying to do your duties with your tongue hanging out of your face is making an over-eager fool of yourself." he chided, although his voice wasn't quite as harsh. Perhaps it was just the concentration of his mixing setting in.

"Good. Send a few of the apprentices out. I'll tell them what to get." hesitation. "One of the... not sick ones." he added, eyeing the other side of the den and flicking his tail. A great number of their apprentices were sick now. It slowed the camp's progress, but it wasn't their fault. Sighing heavily, Eveningblaze rose to his paws. Taking the stone in jaw (and wincing at the sound that it made gritting against his teeth, he moved towards Duskblaze. The tom's moss was a mess. They would have to get that changed soon. Apprentice work... Eveningblaze nearly sighed again, but instead he set the stone down beside the tom's head, taking a seat beside it. "Now hold still." he commanded, before taking two paws and very gently beginning to peel the wrappings off of the tom's jaw.

It wasn't a pretty sight. Red flesh, still raw. It was beginning to scar near his upper gums, but it was obvious that his cheek would never grow over. He would be left with a gaping hole for the rest of his life. That would pose a threat to his health. And what flesh wasn't scarring.. Was just being ripped open, over and over again. Eating. Attempting to talk. All of it made it worse. He pulled the tom's jaws apart slightly- oh so gently- with both his paws. His tongue was bitten- swollen near the half of his face that would be ruined. He needed to stop talking so much. Eveningblaze tsked, shaking his head. "You need to stop trying to talk so much. It's opening your wounds and keeping you from scarring over." he murmured, eye focused as he took some of the poltuce in one paw and slathered it over his cheek. He rubbed around the edges of the tom's mouth, sinking it into his gums and inside what remained of the lip.

"One thing you can do to prove to them that you're not a total mouse-brain- besides staying in this den-" he added with a sharp look, "Is to do what you can from in here. Think about future apprentices and mentors. What of those deaf kits?" he suggested, now that he was on the subject. What of them? They couldn't remain kits forever. In Thornclan, injured and disabled kits were either moved to the elders den or sent to the medicine cat's. He had no clue what Duskblaze was planning on doing with Gullkit and Cherrykit, now that their mother was incapacitated. Neither of the two knew how to talk, and it was obvious that nobody was making an effort in teaching them anything save for their sister. At this point, all they were doing was eating their food and sleeping in their nests. Some decision had to be made.

"And you had ought to think of what to do with this 'Cedarclan'." Yes, that whole ordeal was a mess. One of their apprentices killing one of the other clan's. No idiot had even stopped to ask them what they were on their territory for. It was a well and true disaster. It was the intruder's faults, but Marshclan would no doubt be taking the blame. Something had to be done there as well.

An apprentice? Eveningblaze blinked. He hadn't trained an apprentice since... Since her. Sunpaw. The mother of his daughter- the keeper of his heart. His uplifting, and his downfall. And before that, Cherryleaf. So young, so bright- she had first taught him to live. Beautiful and wide eyed and oh she looked just like Cherrykit. The same name, even. He would never admit how it hurt to see a cat, so similar in both appearance and name, in his home. But the idea of having it in his den.... Sent a knot through his stomach. All training apprentices had lead to was pain. Suffering. Loss. They died, jut like everyone else. And when they reached Starclan, they turned their backs on him. What was the point of training a cat if it would all go to waste?

He... needed help. He would never admit it- not with claws pressed to his throat- but another set of paws would make things worlds easier. Especially now, of all times. More and more cats falling ill every day. Dangerous territories being explored, and cats coming back with a different array of wounds by the hour. Failed kittings, reckless warriors, and foolish apprentices drained his resources. Even near the beginning of the war, his herb stocks had never been so low. Eveningblaze was stretched thin, but he would be a dead cat before he admitted it. An apprentice, however... It would be something to think on. "I'm busy enough as it is without training another set of paws." he scoffed. His eye told a different story as he worked, cleaning and applying poultice to the wound. A story of a cat pushing to the point of breaking, yet still refusing help.

"Especially a cat who I would have to teach to talk." A hypocrite. That was what Eveningblaze was. His very last apprentice had been lacking a leg. He lacked half his face. This profession was no stranger to the wounded and the broken. He... needed help. "But I will... watch their progress." Eveningblaze finally sighed. His voice was resigned. "If one of them shows promise.... I will consider it." Effectively, Eveningblaze ended the conversation there. He would have no more talk of apprentices. Not now. Not while he had to think, and while his desired protege still lay in this very den, eyes glazed and lungs collapsing. Instead, he turned his attention back to the matter with Cedarclan. He listened, and then-

Eveningblaze snorted. "Old mice who should not be underestimated." he corrected. If the Blood Moon had been any indication, most of the cats in that forest were seasoned warriors. Cats who had been in the clan before the war. While most of Marshclan was lined with young cats, hotheaded and eager to prove themselves, but not ready for the consequences. Marshclan had strength, but if Starlingfur was to lead them as she'd spoken at the gathering, Cedarclan would have experience. "This is not something that should be gone into blindly. Who was on that patrol of theirs?" if the descriptions he'd heard were correct, then Eveningblaze's assumption would be right.

An excursion? A patrol in response. Eveningblaze snorted as he applied the paste. They should be lucky if they didn't receive the same treatment. If Eveningblaze knew anything about Duskclan and Dawnclan cats, it was that they were murderers who didn't like being treated as they treated others. And considering what portion of Dusk and Dawn had made up their new-found enemies... He doubted they would be getting a friendly greeting. "You truly think that you can walk all the way to Cedarclan? And that they'll accept you?" he could almost laugh. But he didn't, as he rose to his paws and began to make his way to the back of his den. Cobwebs... He needed cobwebs. And catchweed. When he found both- their stores were disappointing. Eveningblaze sighed. More things that they would need more of.

"It's a fool's venture. A multi-day journey when you're injured?" he scoffed, making his way back to the wounded tom. But it was... a leaderly thing to do. It reminded him of something that his father, Hailstar would have done. Eveningblaze retook his seat, and then stopped. What would he think of this? Eveningblaze felt something dark in his heart- something cold. Sharper than guilt, but not nearly as identifiable. He pushed it away quickly, eye hardening as quickly as it had softened. They were alive. His father- his clan- was not. They had to live for the cats who were here now, not mope about 'what they would have done'. Times were different. But... "But if you insist on going, then don't think that you'll be going without me." he meowed finally, parting the tom's fur and beginning to apply the cobwebs. They would need traveling herbs. Things to carry them in. Not to mention planning. And that was if those old mice even let them past their borders.

An old queen, a washed up leader, a lovestruck fool and a half-trained apprentice. Eveningblaze listened with a narrowed eye, draping the cobwebs carefully around trouble areas. The primary patching had to come first- and when Duskblaze had finished talking, he would wrap the entire muzzle. Not the most formidable patrol- but an experienced one. Eveningblaze knew these cats, save for the apprentice. And it was important to look at this invasion from every angle possible. "I see." It hadn't been a battle patrol. If they hadn't been expecting a fight, that much would have been obvious, even if it weren't for the cats they'd sent. "They could have been trying to make contact. Although it was foolish for them not to have waited for the gathering." he snorted. The full moon had come and gone, now. With Duskblaze too wounded to attend and warriors too busy with their duties, nobody had had the time. Starclan's wrath be damned, the lives of living cats were more important than mindless group chatter. Perhaps they had anticipated this? Either way, they should have waited at the border.

But this put a new spin on the situation. Oh, if they hadn't been aiming for combat already, they certainly would be now. "It would be best to bring a strong patrol, with you in your state. They'll no doubt be angry, and you must bear in mind that you still haven't gotten your nine lives." one orange eye narrowed. Seasons in this land, and a place to speak with their ancestors still remained unfound. If there was one at all. Their voices were so faint here. And even to Eveningblaze, they came less and less. With Leaf-Bare approaching it would be vital to have their leader in peak position, and wielding only a single life made him the equal of any warrior out there. It was a dangerous thought, and they had to be careful with their actions. More than careful, in fact. Duskblaze should bring the strongest warriors in the clan. He should bring-

Turtlefrost?

Eveningblaze looked at the leader like he'd grown a second head. He wanted to replace him on this venture. With Turtlefrost. Eveningblaze almost laughed. No- he couldn't even help it. The tom snorted, before realizing that his leader was serious. "My cousin wouldn't know blueberries from deathberries, and you want her to be the one making sure that your jaw doesn't fall off?" were he a more lighter-hearted cat, he would have laughed. Instead he just shook his head. "Turtlefrost is a loyal she-cat, and a talented fighter. But she's not-" he would have said 'the most delicate cat', but then again, neither was he. Honestly, he couldn't have been more surprised if Duskblaze had announced that he was going to join Cedarclan. Turtlefrost was a proud she-cat- one who would relish in the responsibility, even if she would no doubt complain about it the entire time. But she knew nothing of gathering herbs, and would be too bullheaded to ask for help if she forgot. Wait- did that sound familiar? No matter. "She's better at breaking things than fixing them." he finally snorted. "I could teach her the poultice, but why her and not somebody else, like Owlfur?"

Eveningblaze understood that he had duties here. And in truth, he would be loathe to leave his patients. Doing such would surely mean their deaths. But he also wouldn't want to send his leader off Dark Forest knows where with a broken face and an incompetent assistant. That would only make things worse. In truth, Eveningblaze would rather share his methods with a cat he knew. And Turtlefrost would just love an excuse to spend more time with him- but he was admittedly curious as to what would make Duskblaze suggest her in the first place. Other than the fact that she could also fight, if worse came to worse.