by mystoxxiide » Wed Sep 28, 2022 11:51 pm
colony in sig <33
slight cw: light to medium description of animal in pain + abrasions?
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as an adolescent kitten, this absent storkat was bravely venturing in the woods when they pricked their paw pad with a thorn. as they yelped in pain, they tripped down a hill, not watching where they were going, and fell into an entire heap of thorns. the ruffled child dragged themselves out, sobbing, shaking and whimpering, and began to limp back the way home, cursing themselves for leaving without an adult. they hadn't walked far before they felt something hard underfoot - looking down, they saw a large book half-buried in the earth. sniffling, the kit brushed away dirt from the cover to read:
N TUR L R ME IES: A G DE TO T E T PIC L U E OF ERBS AN FLO A
the kitten couldn't discern the faded text very well, but upon opening the book with their good paw, they found diagrams of various plants, with drawn paws shown shredding them, smearing them, applying them, or lifting them to the mouth, and notes describing afflictions to treat with them. the storkie spotted a picture of a thorn embedded in a paw, followed by a diagram of a bundle of a thin-stalked plant being pressed to the wound.
looking up, the kit saw the very same plant sticking out between the roots of the tree a few feet in front of them. immediately, the kitten leapt into action, uprooting the plant, shredding it up and chewing it up into a tangy paste just as the book's diagrams instructed. it hurt to remove the thorns from their legs and paws, but they supposed it was better than leaving them in. to their surprise and delight, the very moment the poultice touched their stinging cuts, their pain seemed to mellow and lose its edge. the kit was amazed. sure, it was still painful, but their pain was much lessened by the use of the herb. the kit finished slicking down their cuts with the poultice before spending almost a full hour dragging the large book home to their worried colony who had been looking for them for several hours.
now an adult, this storkie utilises the use of herbs to treat injuries and infections in a time before healing magic was known of. with the book's contents memorised, they have passed it onto a younger apprentice eager to follow in their footsteps, guiding them through each and every running nose to broken bone. the discovery of the use of herbs was a gift that this cat could take back to their colony and use to assist their friends and family, perfecting their craft.
the only question that sometimes crosses their mind is, who left that book in that grove in the first place?
