Apprentice Training!

[CATxOFxICE]

Limestone waited at the entrance to camp. It was her first day mentoring Skypaw, and she had promised to show him the territory. She knew she was early, but she wanted to be here before her apprentice.

The large she-cat sighed. She knew Moonsong would be having trouble with teaching her apprentice, maybe Limestone could help her out a little, she knew Moonsong's sister Sundance would.

The sun-rise shown brightly overhead, the start of a clear and beautiful day. Gray fur washed, claws sharpened and up early Limestone knew today would be a good day for hunting and training. Her pale green eyes surveyed the area for her apprentice.

[Ravenstar]

Skypaw bounced happily from the apprentices' den and looked around. Last night had been great, he had gotten a good sleep and had dreamed about the warrior he would become. He couldn't wait to start training! He spotted his mentor bear the camp entrance and padded over, "We get to explore the territory today, right?" He looked up at her expectantly, his sapphire eyes shining.

He hoped they could meet a patrol from another Clan so he could see what the other Clan cats were like first hand. And he absolutely couldn't wait for his first gathering. That would be so much fun! he shifted from one paw to the other, anxious to get going.

[CATxOFxICE]

Her gray tail beckoned him to follow her. She padded out into the trees towards the SageClan border. The scent of SageClan cats made her whiskers twitch. They smelled of too much grass and rocks, how they could stand so little cover was a mystery to her. The she cat stopped before the border, and turned to face Skypaw.

"This is the SageClan border, you know how to put up a scent marker, so put one on that tree there and we'll keept going." Her head turned and her nose pointed to a cedar tree that marked the edge of JuniperClan's territory, afterwards everything went into open land. There were no cats at the border. Well, this part of it anyway.

[Ravenstar]

Skypaw followed behind Limestone eagerly, looking around at everything. He had never been very far out of camp; everything was so big! Their territory just seemed to go on forever.... Until they came to the border, whic Limestone informed him was with SageClan. He looked around rapidly, hoping there was a patrol from the other Clan somewhere, but there wasn't. Mouse-dung!

He went over and marked the border as Limestone said then padded back over to her, "Do you think we'll see any SageClan cats?" He kept glancing across the border hopefully, wrinkling his nose slightly at the scent that was blown to him on the breeze. SageClan.... He shuffled a little further into their territory though, uneasy with the openess to one side, "How do you think they catch any prey? There's no cover at all! Prey would see them coming from tree-lengths away!"

[CATxOFxICE]

"Well, I've seen some SageClan cats. They hunt birds, and the large birds go after them too. I don't think their territory is all land though, it just looks flat but there are really hills." Limestone padded on the border, making sure to stay in the trees. She glanced behind her from time-to-time until they reached the next border marker.

They didn't meet a patrol, but Limestone did spot a SageClan cat. It was the Clan's Medicine Cat, her silvery-blue fur was always recognizale even from a distance. And the wind blew into her, and she wrinkled her nose at the scent of sharp herbs.

After Blizzardpaw had gone crazy in her den, the she-cat had been needing to collect more poppy seeds. There were plenty of flowers, but she had to see which ones would dry the fastest. The she-cat scented the flowers, picking out the ones that seemed already close to their Greenleaf end. She wasn't paying attention to around her, and her thoughts wandered into the young apprentice who visited her from time to time Blizzardpaw....

[Ravenstar]

"Oh...," he was still looking over into the other Clan's territory as Limestone spoke of the territory containing hills. Still, he couldn't see how they caught any prey in such open grounds. Oh well, he wasn't a SageClan cat, so he didn't really have to worry about it. Then he spotted a cat in the distance and his tail raised anxiously. Maybe it was an enemy warrior and they'd have to chase him away... or her, he didn't really care.

"Hey, Limestone, who's that? Do SageClan cats always wander this close to the border alone?" His paws worked at the ground as he thought about how cool it would be to be able to tell the other apprentices that he fought an enemy cat and chased it out of their territory! They'd be so jealous, he as sure!

[CATxOFxICE]

Limestone purred. "Of course not. That's not a patrol, that's SageClan's medicine cat. I met her when she was an apprentice only moons ago." Still, she hadn't met the she-cat since, only heard that she was no longer an apprentice. Her gray fur was slightly buffeted by the wind.

"We'll meet a patrol some other time, now let's go. If you need to tell the difference between a Medicine Cat and warrior you can usually tell by the scent of herbs. She smells a little like our Medicine Cat." Limestone padded on past to the beginning of the VervainClan border.

[Ravenstar]

He was a little disappointed at this news, and stood staring at the other Clan cat for a moment before following after Limestone. He opened his mouth slightly to scent the breeze blowing toward him and thought he caught the faint scent of herbs like Limestone had mentioned, but wasn't sure.

He trotted a little to catch up since he had fallen a little behind, "So... where are going now?" He hoped it was somewhere that he might be able to see other Clan cats, he was just so anxious to see what the other Clans were like.... He couldn't wait for his first battle and he hoped he got some good scars from it, scars he could tell stories about when he was older and had his own apprentice.

[CATxOFxICE]

"This is the VervainClan border. I know they have a funny name, Skypaw - but they have a smell that's the most similar to ours. The only Clan we don't have borders with is HollyClan. You'll meet them at the Gathering." Limestone meowed.
She scented the air and picked up signs of prey. The she-cat flicked her tail at the apprentice and fell into a hunting crouch. She pounced and bit into the soft flesh of her prey.
Then Limestone turned to face Skypaw, the catch in her mouth. She dropped it at her paws and meowed, "This is a mouse - but you probably know that. I'll teach you the hunting crouch and then you can go on patrols with no problem."

[Ravenstar]

Skypaw turned to peer into VervainClan territory and could scent them faintly, since they were right on the border, otherwise the wind was blowing their scent away and not toward them. When Limestone mentioned HollyClan, he turned to look at her, disappointed that he'd have to wait until a gathering to meet the last of the three other Clans, but he mewed, "Okay...."

When Limestone turned and flicked her tail, Skypaw stayed quiet, but shifted from paw to paw anxiously. He didn't like staying in one place for very long, but knew that if he moved he might scare away Limestone's prey. Instead, he tried to copy Limestone when she fell into the hunter's crouch, standing up again and trying to fall into it as easily as she had. When she turned back to him he sat down quickly and licked a paw as she dropped the mouse at her paws. His eyes lit up at the thought of joining a hunting patrol, "When will I be able to go on my first hunting patrol?"

[CATxOFxICE]

"How about we take one at sun-high?" She meowed. "But we'll need to work on your hunters crouch. Now here are some basic rules; step lightly, stay down wind, and try not to brush against anything. A rabbit will smell you first, a rabbit will feel your pawsteps and a squirrel or bird will smell you."

The gray she-cat watched her apprentice, her lime green eyes fixed on his posture.