Whitestar guides her ahead, stopping for a moment before slipping
under some bushes that were thick with the scent of fruit.
(oH I FORGOT ABOUT THUNDERFLIGHT AND SNOWPAW)
Snowpaw stops when they made it to the river. she stares at her
reflection below beforesmiling and looking up at her mentor. "So is
there a specific way you pick the strawberries without hurting
them?" she asked, bounding over to a bush
Being wary of any stones, Wolfpaw followed carefully. Wolfpaw
twitched her nose at the thick scent of berries. "I don't think I
will be able to lose that bird..."
"Exactly. Not only will the red color help you track it by the
wings, but you'll be able to track it by scent. This is an
important test wolfpaw, and you'll make your clan proud if you
pass." He purrs, picking the fruit off the bushes, storing them
gently in his jaws before slipping back out. He heads back over to
ferntail and drops the berries at her paws.
Ferntail returned with the bird, whose usually brown wings now had
a large spot of cherry red on each. "Awright, sho I'll let the bird
go in jusht a moment. But firsht, shome tipsh!" She pinned the bird
on the ground with her paw, spitting out a feather. "The best
places to grab the bird are the back and the wings. If you cannot
grab both wings in one go, it may also be better to grab it by the
neck, as long as you're careful not to kill it. Control is very
important- one wrong move and you may end up doing something you'll
regret." She said with a nod. "Alright then, now that I'm done with
that, one your mark, set... Go!" She exclaimed, releasing the
finch, which immediately flew off into the trees. "While you're
going off and fetching the bird, I'll prepare some other animals
with the same test. Different methods work better for different
animals. Good luck!" She chirped, trotting over to Whitestar's
side.
She stared at the bush for a bit and flicked her ear. "You're
suppose to grab them by the stem."
ThunderFlight signaled Snowpaw over with a twitch of her tail.
"Here I'll show you," she responded turning her head so she could
grab the stem of the tender fruit.
Wolfpaw sleekly moved through the forest, gradually leaping up to
the same tree as the finch. Watching it intently, she waited until
the bird looked like it was going to fly away. She leapt up,
catching its wing in her mouth. She looked up, feeling the bird
flutter in her mouth, she secured her grip on it.
Whitestar watched wolfpaw and smiled. "I'll go catch a squirrel."
He said, bounding away to do so. After several minutes, he slipped
back into the clearing with a live squirrel twitching in his
jaws.
Snowpaw nodded and scuttled forwards, picking stems off the
branches with her tiny thorn-like teeth.
Just then, she caught the scent of an unfamiliar cat, who strangely
smelled like Switchfire. "Whats that Thunderflight?" she hissed.
Thunderflight moved next to Snowpaw, gathering a few berries and
placing them at her feet. She turned her head to listen to Snowpaw
and she frowned a bit. What is she talking about? She
questioned herself,
Thunderflight then tasted the air. At first she could only intake
the scent of the sweet fruit, but then she smelled the unfamiliar
scent and her fur bristled up.
She quickly placed one of her hind legs in front of Snowpaw so she
couldn't step in front of her. Thunderflight quickly turned and
looked at Snowpaw and quietly hissed, "Don't make a sound." She
whispered fixing her ears to hear any movement beyond the brush.
Marble, unaware that his former clanmate was around due to the
strong scent of strawberries, crashed through the bushes, a mouse
skittering away. He let out a soft hiss before spotting the others
and he yelps, immediately throwing himself on the ground in a
submissive position. "Thunderflight don't hurt me!" he yowls
nervously, obviously still terrified of being confronted by the
clan he managed to get lost from as a kit
Thunderflight hissed and bared her teeth preparing to attacking the
intruder, but she quickly stopped herself from doing so due to her
realizing who it was. Her ears perked up and she had an astonished
expression spread across her face. She padded closer towards Marble
to get a better look. Her paws right in front of him. She let out a
soft laugh before batting him playfully on the head. "Oh get up you
anxious furball. I'm not going to hurt you," she chuckled.
"I haven't seen you in moons! The last time we saw each other was
when we were in the nursey." She laughed circling around him to
look at him.
Marble stands up and purrs, curling around his friend happily.
"Switchfire told me you were doing well, and that was an
understatement. You look amazing!" he paused before looking
directly at her. "Did Switchfire tell you my name was Marble now? I
hope she told everyone I definitely wasnt Orangekit anymore!"
Thunderflight purred back, "Thank you, but you do look amazing
yourself," she mewed as her eyes scanned him from top to bottom.
She then immediately frowned. "No-uh she didn't actually at least
to me," she sighed a bit before smiling again.
"Oh right!" she laughed at her forgetfulness and turned her head
towards Snowpaw.
"This is my apprentice Snowpaw," she said inquiring for Snowpaw to
come over to meet her old friend.
"Nah, i look like a big softie compared to you." he laughs, and
gazes at Snowpaw. Snowpaw squeaks and stumbles forward, dipping her
head respectfully to the older cat. she nudges thunderflight.
"Wh-who is this?"
She laughed at his comment and then looks down to see Snowpaw
nudging her. Thunderflight crouched a bit to get to Snowpaw's size
and responded, "This one of my old friends his name was
Orangekit, but he's now Marble." She purred looking down at
Snowpaw.
Thunderflight stood back up and turned her gaze at Marble, "What
are you doing anyways?" she asked twitching her whiskers.
Marble purrs softly and waves a greeting with his tail.
Snowpaw looked up at the tom. "You were part of the clan?" she
squeaks.
Marble nods. "Of course I was but....nevermind" he pauses, turning
to Thunderflight. "Y'know I hang around in the territory, I dont
like to stray too far from my sister to be honest. I got a bit
hungry so I decided to hunt, but the mouse I was chasing got away
from me."
Thunderflight smiled as the two of them greeted eachother.
She then turned her attention to Marble and flicked her tail.
"Oh, that's reasonable!" She chuckled.
She paused for a moment to think,
"If you want we can hang out..? Maybe we could go back to the clan?
We have plenty of fresh-kill and I'm pretty sure everyone would
love to see you again. Snowpaw and I were just finishing up picking
berries." She asked a bit nervously.
Marble shuffles his paws. "I cant go back. I feel like such an
idiot and I can't face the clan directly again. I can't go back
there Thunderflight. I mean, how does a cat simply just get lost
literally two feet away from camp? I crawled under a bush, and I
lost my way right then! I know they probably wont mock me for it,
but the embarrassment still crushes me. I don't want to be known as
the kit who vanished."
Thunderflight looked extremely hurt when he said that. Show looked
down at her paws and muttered, "Oh, I see..." She then looked up
with a harsh expression on her face. "Well, Snowpaw and I should
probably get going." She turned her head to look at Snowpaw and she
cleared her throat, "It was nice to see you. May Starclan guide
your way." She dipped her in respect before tightly grabbing the
stem of the berries in her mouth and turning her head to look at
Marble.