Of her siblings, Balsam resembles their father the most, despite none of them sharing his blood. Her brown fur is broken up by bold dark-brown tabby stripes, while her chest, paws, and stomach are a brilliant white. Her longer fur is messy with its current kitten-fluff, but promises a thick sleek coat as she continues to age.

While she's currently small and awkward as she grows, big paws tease at a large adult size. While she may not grow as large as her father (no matter how badly she hopes), she will still strike an impressive appearance as an adult.

One of your earliest memories is being sick. It is shortly after you and your siblings have been brought to the barn and welcomed into the strange, new, wonderful family that is to be found there.

It's Summit, your father, who first notices your subtle sniffling and the wheeziness of your breathing, and he scoops you up and plops you into your nest with little hesitation. You don't quite remember a Before Summit, but that doesn't bother you at all. You love him and that's enough.

Until he places a mashed up mess of plants in front of your nose and instructs you to eat it. Maybe you love him a little less there.

You are young and stubborn and sick, so you refuse. His brow furrows just a bit (worry, you would recognize now), but he does not get harsh or mean.

Instead, he begins to explain what the concoction is. His rumbling voice is soothing, and you could have dozed off to it, had the pungent smell of his 'gift' not been filling your nose. As the properties and promised relief are explained, you inch forward and lap up the medicine.

"Yuck." You whisper, sore voice already feeling soothed by the honey that had been included.

"Yuck." He agrees solemnly.

Afterwards, you are able to sleep without the stuffiness of your nose or the uncomfortable weight in your chest, and when you wake in the morning feeling refreshed, your first mission is to find Summit.

He's not far. He's never too far.

You demand to learn more, the excitement of your desire making your still-healing lungs produce some coughs in between your words. He seems surprised by your rapid change in opinion, but you assure him multiple times that you want to know everything.

Plants had been so boring up until the last 12 hours, and now suddenly they speak of the promise of helping others with their secret powers. You are delighted by the possibility of keeping your family healthy. Flicker is always getting scrapes, after all, and Snowflake has been sick more times than you and Flicker put together. 

You want to be able to protect them, but also everyone else who you will care about.

Six moons, he tells you. When you are six moons old, and still interested, then he will teach you. It seems a silly rule, and the rest of your family doesn't quite seem sure why he's specifically picked that age, but you set your sights on the goal that feels just out of reach.

You still try to glean what you can in the meantime, following him around, watching his treatment of patients, and asking some of the millions of questions that seem to be filling your head. His six month rule seems a little pointless at times when he takes you along to see where certain herbs grow and explains various uses of the plants, though sometimes he chooses to shoo you away to play with your siblings or spend time with your aunt and uncle. 

There's a wide world beyond your barn, and while you happily gossip with your siblings about what the valley may hold, you are currently content with the smaller corner of the world you exist in. You just need to grow big enough to fill it.

Pre-Plotting: Balsam and her littermates are Summit's adopted kits.

Confined to the barn, Balsam is removed from the conflicts of the Clans. As she ages, she will continue to eagerly learn about healing from her father, with grand plans to grow super big and help others just like him. Wherever he goes, she will follow.

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