The infirmary was quiet and dimly lit compared to the rest of the RavenClan camp. After all, the sick and injured cats needed a place to recuperate that wasn’t filled with bright candles, so bioluminescent mushrooms were the only lighting allowed. And, because it was darker, cats tended to speak softly or not at all. It was a reasonably efficient system.
Quietness suited Honey. She never liked to rough house or fight, and she was perfectly content just sitting in her nest and ignoring the outside world. That had been much easier since she had lost her leg.
It was nothing more than a training accident – a broken bone that had become infected – but it still caused Honey’s heart to quicken and her vision to blur whenever she saw Thorn, her former mentor. Honey could barely limp a few steps outside the infirmary before her mouth went dry and her paws began to shake, so Dandelion declared that Honey would become a medicine cat and not leave the infirmary until her training progressed. This, too, suited Honey.
What didn’t suit Honey, however, was the actual responsibility that came with becoming a medicine cat apprentice. Learning herbs and diseases and symptoms made her head spin. Willow was good at it, but Willow reveled in any opportunity to show off her intelligence. She was more than a little bit of a know-it-all.
Honey was carefully pretending to sleep as Ice lectured Willow on the proper preparation and storage of tinctures. Her nest was so comfortable and soft… she wanted to focus on not moving, but Ice was so loud that it was impossible to drown him out.
“It takes two moons to create a tincture, so you can’t mess up,” Ice pushed the glaas forward with his paw – the scraping sound of the ice-like twoleg item grinding against the stone floor was unpleasant, to say the least. “And we only can make as many tinctures as we have glaas, so don’t you dare break any. The albatross doesn’t bring them very often.”
“And we use vinegar for tinctures!” Willow jumped in excitedly. “We put a bunch of herbs in the glaas and then top it off with… raspberry vinegar! Once that happens…”
As Willow droned on, Honey internally recoiled at the thought of raspberry vinegar tincture. The bitter herbs would contrast too harshly with the rich, fruity flavor of the raspberry. No cat in their right mind could choke that monstrosity down. It would be much better to use a milder mango vinegar, or even just rice vinegar.
“If they won’t take it,” Ice’s voice was sharp as Honey tuned back in, “shove it down their throat if you have to, or put some berries in it to make it taste sweeter.”
Honey finally couldn’t take it anymore. She awkwardly stumbled to her paws, struggling not to fall over, before huffing at the two other cats. They looked surprised to see her awake.
“You can’t just add berries to a tincture and expect it to taste better!” Honey cried. “If it tastes awful, throwing anything you can get your paws on into it will just make things worse! You have to use a better base for the tincture, and if it’s too terrible to choke down, then you can just dilute it with water!”
“Wonderful idea!” Dandelion’s booming voice made Honey jump. The older medicine cat strode in, looking very amused. “Ice, you are the worst at making tinctures. Why did I even give you an apprentice? You’ll spoil her abilities.”
Ice scoffed, but even he wouldn’t ever speak against Dandelion.
Dandelion turned to Honey thoughtfully. “Now you’re thinking like a medicine cat. You said we have to use a better base, right? Which do you suggest?”
Honey felt her heart seize up, but she cleared her throat. For the sake of all that wasted vinegar… “You have to flavor match… some kinds of vinegar would make the herbs even worse, but some might make it taste better. You should ask Plum or Rabbit about it.”
Dandelion snorted. “Me? No, I’m not gonna do that. You’re gonna do it.”
Honey felt herself freeze up. “Me?”
“You.”
“Are they coming here?”
“Nope.”
“How will I talk to them?”
“You’ll walk to them.”
“Outside of the infirmary?”
“Yes.”
Honey glanced at the entrance to the infirmary and carefully toddled over. Moving without her leg wasn’t too difficult when she wasn’t running or climbing, but the fear… She hesitated at the thick curtain of moss and woven flowers, her tail lashing anxiously. I don’t… I can’t…
Just as Honey was turning to tell Dandelion she couldn’t move, the medicine cat said, “If you’re too scared, we can always let Ice prepare your food from now on.”
Instantly resolute, Honey took a deep breath, quelled her fears, and pushed through the curtains.