Howlingheart smiled at her; her eagerness was something that he'd always found particularly endearing about her. Even when they first met, and she was nothing more than a scrap of fur radiating heat and looking nearly to be at death's door, she had had that spark in her eyes. It was why he had taken such a strong liking to her, why he found himself nurturing her. She reminded him of his sister; everytime he saw her smile, he felt like Foxpaw was there again with him. Howlingheart would do anything he could for the young she-cat who stood across from him. They might not have been biological family, but blood kinship meant little to him, especially after nearly being slaughtered by a blood kin. Plus, there was a part of him that thought that his bond with his adoptive daughter was even more special than if they were actually father and daughter, explicitly because it wasn't blood that connected them. They chose to be in each others lives. It hadn't been chance the same way as it would have been otherwise.

Blinking the empty philosophizing about family and his attachment to Sunpaw away, the tom took a moment to first place his nose firmly on his forehead. "Congratulations, Sunpaw. I could not think of a more suited candidate to take on this role," he murmured, pride in his voice. He had been gone when she had been promoted, so this was his first chance to tell her that. "You've done well for yourself." He would be proud of you, he added in his head, his mind drifting slowly to Bermondsey. He had promised him that he would take care of her, to make sure she grew to whatever potential she had. Bermondsey would be happy with how things turned out, or at least, Howlingheart would have been if the roles were reversed.

He then pulled away slightly, tipping his head. "All in good time," he meowed with a nod. "Until you can, though, the garden keepers will be your best friends. They know all of the good places to find herbs." It was part of the reason that he'd been selected to help her. Being a garden keeper was not the same as being a medicine cat, clearly, but the role did come with a large amount of time dedicated to tending to the very plants that made up Sunpaw's stores. "Eventually, though, you'll be able to poke your head in here and by scent alone know what you need to gather."

The red tom then glanced into the stores. Before he had left SummerClan and gone into hiding, Vulturemalice had still been medicine cat. He still wasn't entirely sure what had happened. "I suppose where we start depends on what you already know. Are there herbs you've already got a working understanding of?" Rose had warned him that her training had been minimal, but just how minimal? Were they starting on a blank slate? His tail flicked as he awaited her response.

"You couldn't if you tried," he assured her with a nod. She could light this whole place on fire, and Howlingheart would have nodded along and hummed the "go little rockstar" tiktok audio, if he knew what a tiktok or a rockstar was. He then nodded along as she told him what she knew. His whiskers flicked in amusement at the mention of sunflower seeds. He could remember fondly the first time he and his sister had tried them, the breeze wafting over the Southern Ocean as they lazily spent one of their last afternoons together. The world was so perfect that day. "Did you like them?" he asked with a slight purr, his own reminiscence in his eyes.

He then let his gaze flick to the stores. "You're correct about juniper berries. As for sunflower seeds, I will be honest with you as much as I can. There are some plants I am not entirely sure what their use is, but we will find that out together, mm?" He had said the same thing to Rose when she asked him: there were things he would have to find out along the way.

He was about to open his mouth again, before he heard a terrible coughing come from the camp. By this point, most cats knew exactly who the sound was from; the young Coast Guard was not exactly... discrete about the fact he sounded like he was on his last legs about half of the time. His ears perked, before he looked at Sunpaw. "I'd love to talk theory, and we will as soon as we can, but I believe we might have our first patient?"

Fox's ears perked at the sound of his friend's voice, and the young tom's eyes immediately snapped to her. A sheepish smile crossed his lips; he didn't mean to be so loud that she came running to his rescue (although there was a part of him that felt a little warm and fuzzy that his best friend was so attentive). "Oh, this?" he meowed, turning his head slightly to let out a cough. "It's just another Saturday," he promised her, but his voice was a little more raspy than it normally was. The tom looked exhausted, which wasn't the best. He was supposed to start the transition into the Coast Guard soon, but Rosethorn had made it very clear that her son was not to join a guard patrol until he had a clean bill of health- whatever a clean bill of health looked like for the perpetually ill tom. So, he'd been stuck in camp, trying to avoid making Sunny take time out of her day to deal with the issue. Apparently, that hadn't worked very well.

Another rip of coughs exited his chest, this time large enough that he had to sit so that he wouldn't topple over. Each cough was weaker than the last, and by the end of it, the small thing had to let out a gasp. After, any inclination to lie to her was gone. "Actually, I feel like I was kicked in the gut by a mountain lion," he admitted, his voice breathy. "I've been trying to avoid bothering you about it all day, much to Ma's irritation."

-
Howlingheart followed Sunpaw, but made it clear that he was going to hold back until Sunpaw needed his help. He was genuinely curious how she'd handle her first patient, and the best way to see her in action was, well, letting her act.

"Yep!" he chirped, a little bit of pride in his voice. Foxfable still wasn't exactly used to his new name, but he carried it with him as a badge of honor. Despite every single cat who had assumed he wouldn't make it to warrior-hood, he did. "Thank you! It's been pretty fun, I'm not going to lie. The ocean is so big and hunting for treasure is, well, super exciting. You find such cool stuff!" The tom hadn't expected to be promoted, but he carried his promotion with the same pride that he carried his new name. "I actually have something for you later. I found it when I was out excavating, and it reminded me of you," he meowed with a slight bashfulness. When he had come across the carnelian, she was the first thing he thought of. "I'll bring it to you later today," he promised. He hadn't expected to see her so soon.

"While I'm adventuring, you're doing even cooler work here," he promised her, noticing the wistfulness in her expression. "Medicine cat apprentice is an even bigger accomplishment than silly old me," he meowed, offering his best friend a flick of his tail. He then turned to the side, offering another rickety cough into the air.

Foxfable glanced at Howlingheart, who nodded encouragingly when Sunpaw brought up the honey. "A little bit," he admitted, looking to the ground. "It's gotten worse the last few days, but you can't tell my mom that, okay?" he meowed, although his words were mostly targetted to Howlingheart. "I... don't think it's greencough, but it's certainly something."

-
The other tom nodded along as Foxfable spoke, before quickly moving to the medicine cat's den. When he re-emerged, he carried with him a bundle of two herbs, one soft pink flowers and the other a type of weed, bright-eye and lovage. He placed them in front of Sunpaw gently. "Have you seen either of these before?" he asked his adoptive daughter curiously, glancing at the herb.