[Fawn]

LIONSTAR

leader of treeclan

Blinded by the light of a new sun

After three moons under Lionstar's tutelage, Firepaw's training was coming along in leaps and bounds. There were occasional setbacks—her energy tended to get the best of her sometimes, especially where stealth was involved, and her concentration during battle practice could use a bit of work—but they were working through them one at a time. Today's focus, however, would be on exploring the territory in a more engaging way than just a walk. Suspecting she'd find that a little too boring, especially given that she was an older apprentice, not that eager little kitten anymore. So he would treat her like she had matured, and use this opportunity to test Firepaw's knowledge, to see what she had retained over the pawful of moons they'd spent training together.

Scattered throughout the forest were five bird feathers. Sitting at the base of the great maple, Lionstar kept one of his oversized front paws on the small group of feathers he had trapped against the grass, his eyes glittering with anticipation for Firepaw's arrival. She had, like all apprentices, been given chores to complete, but he hadn't told her to help tidy up the nursery without giving her something positive to focus on; we're going to play a game, Firepaw. He'd told her before they'd parted ways. If you win, YOU get to decide what our next training session will be about. If Demon's attack on the Clan hadn't been so heinous and so recent, Lionstar would have rewarded her with a short trek into the mountains, letting her explore a little of uncharted wilderness.

"There you are," he mewed to the flame-pelted she-cat, standing and gesturing for her to come closer and see what he was holding.
"A grackle feather, a raven feather, a blue jay's feather, a finch feather, and a robin feather." Lionstar purred, pleased with his own idea. "I've hidden a matching one in each section of our territory. If you can find the matching feathers or ones just like it, then you win the game. If you manage to find two more feathers I don't have, then I might have an extra surprise in store for you."

He waited until she got her breath back before giving her the first hint.
"I think you'd have the best luck finding a finch feather in the meadow." Lionstar did not indicate which direction it was in; they had hunted there before. She would know the way. He had hid those feathers at dawn, checked them at sunhigh (they were still where he'd left them), and she now had until sundown to find them all.

If she could find his scent trails throughout the forest, then she might just find them all.

Lionstar's words were challenging, and full of energy. "You have until the sun sets. Ready?"

The finch feather had been hidden in the meadow under a clump of clover. The grackle feather he'd stuck in the hollow of a dead tree not far from here. The jay feather was pinned beneath a few wet pebbles alongside the bank of the sparkling brook. As a true test of her scentwork, he'd put the raven feather in the shallow marsh, and the robin feather in the hidden thicket. Eager to watch her get to work, Lionstar signaled for Firepaw to begin.

Take it to the world, gonna sing it like an anthem

560 words | tagged @jem | notes

background image | So Alive | table by phoenix

[Deleted]

Firepaw "everyone says she lives in a fantasy world" She'd never wanted to finish her chores so badly and it seemed that since she wanted time to go fast it would stubbornly slow down until it moved slower than the oldest mouse in the forest. A lot of frustrated sighs had puffed out from the flame coloured apprentice's mouth and she spent more time kneading the ground with anticipation than actually working. As she'd plodded over to the nursery earlier, Lionstar had called her back saying he had something exciting to tell her. 'we're going to play a game, Firepaw. If you win, YOU get to decide what our next training session will be about.' He'd then left, leaving her to ponder over the mysterious words for the rest of the morning. Now she was finally finished and she legged it out of camp as fast as a hare before anyone else could ask her to do anything. It hadn't taken her long to find Lionstar seated at the Great Maple and a friendly purr had rumbled from her throat in form of greeting at the sight of the large tom. He'd been training her now for three moons and she felt it was safe to say that they'd grown a close enough bond. He was a great mentor and she felt a fondness towards the respected tom. Excitement glittered in her emerald orbs as he greeted her before getting down to business. She listened on attentively, tail tip twitching eagerly as he explained what was to happen. She grinned, kneading at the ground impatiently as she got the general gist of what she had to do. Now this was something she was completely confident with, she was 100% going to succeed. She'd been sneaking out of camp to explore the territory since a tiny kit, this was her area of skill. She took a few moments to inspect the feathers before straightening and nodding determinedly to her mentor. "I got this Lionstar. I always told everyone my 'out of camp expeditions' would pay off some day!" She sniggered before turning away from the tom to take in her surroundings carefully. They were at the Great Maple so the meadow, the meadow had to be....she turned slowly in a wide circle before finally spotting the landmark she'd been searching for. It was a prickly holly bush she'd crashed into when being distracted stalking a leaf that time Lionstar had taken her hunting in the meadow. Purring proudly for remembering, she bounded off in the direction determinedly. It took a whole lot of crossing back and forth before she finally found herself standing in the long strands of grass, mouth open to taste the air for Lionstar's scent. She would've preferred to have found it quicker but there was a lot of ground to cover and so many prey scents to distract her but finally she caught the familiar scent of her mentor and bounded along the trail until finally she spotted the familiar pattern of a finch's feather sticking out from under a patch of clover and with a triumphant meow she bent down and scooped it up into her jaws. She frowned to herself, checking quickly on the sun's position in the sky. She'd need to speed things up to be successful. But what was she supposed to do now? Put the feather somewhere to collect later or show it to Lionstar now? Did he plan on giving her more hints for the others or was that it? She frowned as the feather tickled her nose. Maybe asking a few more questions before bounding off would've helped. TAG: Fawn , Notes ,Words

credit to nat of adoxography.

[Fawn]

LIONSTAR

leader of treeclan

Blinded by the light of a new sun

"I got this Lionstar. I always told everyone my 'out of camp expeditions' would pay off some day!"

Cheeky little furball. His whiskers twitched, and there was a sparkle of humor in his bright amber eyes as he watched Firepaw get to work. Placing a heavy branch on top of the five feathers so they wouldn't blow away, Lionstar padded after her, letting the apprentice get almost out of his line of sight as they both traipsed towards the meadow.

As he watched the she-cat crisscross through the wildflowers, he nodded in approval as she did not let herself get sidetracked by the prey-scents Firepaw was undoubtedly finding in her search for the finch feather. In truth, he would have not counted it against her if she'd stopped to catch a mouse while completing the scavenger hunt; instead, this showed that Firepaw was mindful of her time. Staying focused. Good work so far, keep it up Firepaw.

Lionstar listened to the birdsong all around him, his gaze narrowed against the sunlight as the flame-pelted she-cat soon found the clover patch he'd hidden the feather in. With triumph, she turned back with the feather in her mouth, and the golden tom stepped out of hiding to offer further instructions. "Good. I'll take that. If I were you, I'd head to the sparkling brook next." Owing to the prior danger there with the lynx, Lionstar had almost excluded that location from the feather-hiding. It was still a part of TreeClan's territory, however, and the attack on Littletimber had been moons ago; with a strong surge of protectiveness, Lionstar placed the finch feather with its matching pair before joining her on the way to the sparkling brook.

He kept himself hidden, but he stayed closer than he probably needed to, careful to scent the air for anything out of the ordinary apart from his stale scent-trail from earlier in the day. Remember what I told you. Use your nose, Firepaw. He had chosen to hide the bluejay feather under some wet pebbles on the bank of the brook, suspecting the hint of bright blue and white against the gray stone would help her. The tasks would get progressively harder, particularly when it was time to wander around the shallow marsh (she wouldn't be thanking him for that part), but Lionstar was confident she could handle it. There might be a bit of mud and bad language between now and the final feather, but Firepaw was nothing if not persistent. And besides, maybe her out-of-camp escapades had paid off?

Take it to the world, gonna sing it like an anthem

432 words | tagged @jem | notes -

background image | So Alive | table by phoenix

Notes: Feel free to have her find two feathers in each post! She can encounter some difficulty on the last one. Nobody likes wading around in the marsh!

[Deleted]

Firepaw "everyone says she lives in a fantasy world" She purred as Lionstar emerged from his hiding spot not too far off. So he had been watching. It left her feeling even more exhilarated as well as slightly nervous but the newfound nerves simply energized her. She passed the feather over to the large tom quickly, listening intently as he hinted at where to go next. The Sparkling Brook! She'd been there with Birchpaw only recently! With a simple nod at her mentor she turned and dashed off in the direction, she knew she'd find the spot she'd been at not too long ago. Of course she was coming from a different direction now which slowed her a bit but after crossing back and forth only a couple of times she caught familiar scents and then familiar sights which helped lead her to her destination.  Finally she stood on the bank that she'd sat by with Birchpaw recently, she'd almost half expected to find him sitting here and she smiled to herself at the memory. However time was slipping away from her and she returned her focus to the task at paw, glancing briefly at the sky. Gosh did that sun move fast when you didn't want it to. She glanced about, sniffing around hopefully for her mentor's scent. There were just so many different scents and the simple nothingness of water confused her. She shook her head, getting flustered would just make it harder for her to pick out anything and she forced herself to calm down. Finally after a good deal of sniffing she found the unmistakable tang of her mentor's scent brushed off a tree beside the bank. She pounced over like she was hunting prey and proceeded to follow the trail, inhaling deeply as it brought her to the bank. Now what? She frowned, glancing around and hissing slightly as the water ran over her furry paws. The feeling of water and being wet was simply revolting! But then a flash of colour caught her attention and she spotted the feather by the bank nestled among the stones. With a proud mrrow she scooped it up. Quickly she exchanged it with Lionstar like before and left with her next clue. This time she had to return back to the forest. Now, the forest was huge so she'd be relying on scents. Great. She hated picking out scents. This time took her considerably longer since the heart of the forest had so many more scents but finally as she was just growing frustrated she caught a tang of the tom in the long blades of grass. She followed it desperately, nearly losing it once or twice but finally coming to a spot where it pooled about. The feather had to be near here. She turned in circles, eyes shifting over the never ending trunks surrounding her as she tried to spot it. She began nosing through bramble patches and checking behind trees when she finally found the tree where Lionstar's scent was strongest. She frowned at the large plant for a few moments before finally noticing a dark space within the trunk, a hollow! She stretched her paw in and finally felt the soft texture of the feather as she hooked it out. "Gotcha!" She exclaimed, grabbing it between her jaws tightly like she was afraid it would get away. She leaned back on her haunches and waited for Lionstar to emerge with a grin on her face. Sure she was getting tired but she would succeed! Fawn , 8/31

credit to nat of adoxography.

[Fawn]

LIONSTAR

leader of treeclan

Blinded by the light of a new sun

After the difficulty the grackle feather in the tree hollow had given her, Lionstar had half-expected the she-cat to get cranky or fatigued from so much intense concentration and searching. That her mood was still good and her eyes were still bright was a good sign. Lionstar purred, taking the grackle feather from her. "The next feather is hidden well." The robin feather was in the hidden thicket; it was a difficult location to do anything apart from battle train. If there was prey to be found, the bushes and slender trees were too close together for proper hunting. Out of sympathy for Firepaw, Lionstar hadn't placed the robin feather too far back in the thicket.

Just far enough that she would have to weave her way through the brambles just a bit to reach it. If this wasn't an 'up close and detailed' exploration of their territory, then Lionstar was a mouse's uncle. Without an encouraging smile, he stopped to sweep the fallen leaf and twig bits out of his apprentice's long fur, before nudging Firepaw onward. He couldn't lead her there. She had to find everything herself, or else the challenge wouldn't truly be won.

While Firepaw set off for the hidden thicket, Lionstar doubled back to place the feathers she'd already collected with their matching pairs. With a purr of satisfaction, Lionstar nodded down at the two finch feathers, two bluejay feathers, two grackle feathers. Only the robin's feather and the raven's feather were missing their partners; eager to follow Firepaw's progress, Lionstar hastened to the thicket, his long strides carrying him through the forest as quickly as he dared.

It wouldn't achieve anything if he frightened away all the prey; he'd caught whiffs here and there of his Clanmates hunting. Leader or not, they wouldn't thank him for disturbing their quarry. Gradually the terrain got denser, and it became a little more difficult to navigate, the broad-shouldered, strong-bodied tom forced to be more mindful of his steps and his speed as he moved. Brambles tugged at his pelt, and he let that announce his presence as he crouched near the entrance to the hidden thicket; he could see the fiery she-cat in the grassy heart of it, where many claws had dug up the tufts, the ground worn a bit after many moons of battle practice.

Lionstar tore his eyes away from her, checking the position of the sun. It wouldn't be long before the sun would start to set. He didn't call out; making her feel rushed wasn't good for anything. Once the sun went down, however, their scavenger hunt would have to end; they weren't NightClan cats. Hunting and searching around in the dark wasn't TreeClan's forte.

Take it to the world, gonna sing it like an anthem

458 words | tagged @jem | notes

background image | So Alive | table by phoenix