After a slightly embarrassing night spent trying to build her nest, Lavenderpaw topped it all of with a sleepless night. Excitement buzzed through the new apprentice, practically shooting through ever vein in her body and igniting the desire within her to be a great warrior for her clan. The lilac tabby tossed and turned in her nest, her paws twitching with the need to get up. To move. It was common knowledge that ShadowClan had just gone through some pretty big events, none of which Lavender was well versed in, nor was she very knowledgeable on the topics either. But with all of these happening, it helped to spark a desire within the new apprentice, then a kit, to learn all that she could to defend and protect her clan. Her loyalty ran deep, and ShadowClan was her home.
Before she could even see the beginnings of light shining into their muddy camp, Lavenderpaw jumped to her paws and tiptoed around the other sleeping bodies in the apprentice den. She would have hated to bother one of the older apprentices on her first full day and make an enemy for life. The she-cat pushed her way through the brambles and into the clearing, taking in her camp in front of her. It was calm, peaceful even. Some of her clanmates were sitting around or preparing for their day, but the hushed voices and murmuring of the marshlands was a nice change to the bustling life of the clan in full swing. Lilac settled herself down in front of the apprentice den, crouching and pulling her tail around her paws. She could feel the mud below her soaking in to her long belly fur and clumping up between her claws that she pulsed in and out of the mud. The peace continued as she waited for her mentor to begin her first day.
Rain was always the worst in ShadowClan. Even though it had been barely a mist of a drizzle last night, it still had the campsite wet and muddy, moreso than usual. When mud dried it felt more like clay, moist but overall not bad. This was disgusting. Ebonyfall had been perched on her usual rock, far away from the feeling of mud sinking between her toes, and had spent that morning contemplating exactly how she would handle her newest responsibility: an apprentice.
She would be an amazing mentor, of course, but an amazing mentor still needed an absolutely flawless curriculum to back them up. Considering how close they were getting to the snowy season, it would be a good idea to start with hunting, but equally so, Pitchstar's eagerness to go up to other clans' borders with his claws unsheathed had the sleek molly apprehensive of another battle. This was what had Ebonyfall so distracted that she spent double the usual amount of time grooming her tail than she normally would have, and considering how often she primped and preened and perfected her appearance, that was a long time spent licking her tail.
Upon spotting Lavenderpaw crawling out of the apprentice's den, Ebonyfall rose to her paws and stepped down from her rock (ew, mud) to approach with her head held high (and all the time thinking, ew, mud.)
"Good morning, Lavenderpaw." Manners first. Then criticism. "You slept late. Hurry up, training should have started an hour ago at the latest."
"Oh... Good morning Ebonyfall. I was just..." The younger feline was cut off by the blunt words tossed out by her mentor. What a way to start the day. What was once a peaceful morning turned stressful in the blink of an eye. The muscles in her legs tensed as she scrambled to her paws and began trotting out of the camp, trailing just behind her mentor. "S-sorry... I promise to be more on it next time!" The last thing she wanted to do was disappoint her mentor. She didn't want Ebonyfall thinking that Pitchstar had made a mistake giving Lavenderpaw to her as an apprentice.
"What are we going to do today Ebonyfall? " Lavenderpaw's voice remained light, her excitement clearly audible in her words. The scent of pine lingered strongly in the air and it only heightened the young apprentices senses as they began their day.
"We'll start at the Burnt Sycamore." Ebony was all too eager to leave their soaking camp and make her way to higher ground, where grass could hopefully help dry her paws. If anything good was to be taken from the previous night's drizzle, it meant that the ground that had scorched from the fire was given more moisture to allow for regrowth. ShadowClan territory was still very visibly scorched from the flames; entire groves of trees reduced to needle-less black sticks with rattling, dead branches. "If you show enough promise with your hunter's crouch, we may even get time for some real hunting."
On day one? Not likely. But it was a good idea to instill some hope into her apprentice, or at least, Ebonyfall thought so—after a long time of considering what approach she would take, both last night and this morning, she decided to teach Lavenderpaw in the way she herself wished someone had taught her. Through real, detailed instruction, instead of just her being left to her own devices and being told to 'figure it out'.
Lavenderpaw pricked her ears at the mention of the Burnt Sycamore. The she-cat had some knowledge about the fire that ripped through their, and ThunderClan's territory, but she had never thought about, or even dreamed of what the aftermath looked like, or how it devastated much of the growth on this side of the boarder. The young tabby padded along through the trees just a hair behind her mentor. Ebonyfall's black fur, though kind of blending in to the darkness that was the usual ShadowClan territory, was easier to keep track of due to the influx of light that poured in through the needleless, stick branches that were once glorious pine trees. Emotions tugged at the apprentice's heart as she watched the scenery that they passed. If only she could have seen what the territory looked like before the fire ripped through.
Though her excitement had definitely been contained and brought down to a manageable level, it began to bubble up again at the thought of learning how to hunt. Already? She became anxious again, her paws tingling at the thought of feeling her first piece of fresh-kill under her weight. The feeling of finally being able to provide for her clan. "Really?! Ebonyfall, you mean it?!" Lavenderpaw stopped dead in her tracks and dropped down to her belly. Everything, was wrong. Her hunters crouch looked something like if someone were to hack up a hairball. Her tail rested against the ground, legs pulled close to her body, and her back in just the slightest arch from front to back. Lavender looked up at her mentor for guidance, or words of wisdom. "Am I doing it Ebonyfall?" She mewed, eyes gleaming with excitement. Excitement to learn, and to grow, and hopefully make her mentor proud.
"Terribly." Her response was immediate and blunt—perhaps too blunt. It would take even the most untrained of warriors only seconds to point out every flaw in Lavenderpaw's stance, and Ebonyfall took no time in correcting it. "Keep your tail off the ground, and your belly, too. Your hind legs are far too close to your body, stretch yourself out more."
Although Lavenderpaw was clearly untrained up until this point, the light in her eyes didn't go unnoticed by Ebony. Excitement. At least that meant she wouldn't put up a fuss when Ebonyfall corrected her, and many corrections still did Ebonyfall have to make.
"You have to be able to move forward silently, and that won't happen with your fur dragging in the mud. Watch and learn." Ebonyfall dropped into her own hunter's crouch, tail lifted just above the ground so that even her long fur wouldn't brush against anything, ears lowered, stance perfectly balanced—looking at someone younger than yourself attempt the same thing, and watching them fail so miserably really reminded Ebonyfall of just how hard she had trained to reach such a level. "The better you get at moving in silence, the quicker you'll be able to do it. Try again."
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