[Aqua]

Cinderstream

A sadness had swept over the camp like a wildfire. The death of their beloved leader Lionstar had come as quite the shock to many of Treeclan. Cinderstream among those select felines. While she might not have been close to their leader, she held a deep respect for the tom. He had led their clan for many, many a moon. In fact, his reign had lasted probably longer than herself, though she could not remember that far back in time. Well, she could not remember the clan happenings when she was younger. Now if someone asked of her adventures with Leopard....that would be different. The memories she made with the tom were so vivid in her head that she sometimes wondered if it was unhealthy. But there was no time to slump into a depression over the tom right now.

Standing over the old leader's body, Pumastar had put forth multiple apprentice ceremonies. One of which, the she-cat was explicitly involved in as she was dubbed a mentor. Shrikepaw, as he was now named, was placed into the young she-cat's paws. Puma expected her to train the young tom to be a great warrior in a few moons time. She found herself a little nervous, to be totally honest. While she got along great with cats of all ages, she questioned if she was truly capable of handling this training business with her mind in such a rut. She had such difficultly healing after Leopardheart up and left their clan behind for that she-cat. But perhaps Pumastar knew better than her. Maybe he thought the training would be a way to help her cope with her demons. She wasn't sure but she hoped Starclan give her the strength to help the apprentice and not be a failure to her clan. 


So she tried to switch her mindset back to the training at hand. While many mentors would take their apprentices out on the day of their ceremony, Cinderstream felt it very inappropriate in this time of mourning. She felt that waiting until after the burial of their former leader was the best course of action here. So the day of the ceremony she told Shrikepaw to get acquainted with the apprentice den and take some time to rest for the evening. The next day, she planned out a path to wander and show the tom the whole territory. She knew that in order for him to excel at the rest of his training and be able to take on patrols or hunts, he would need to know his way around. That and they didn't need him accidentally stirring up the other clans by crossing borders that he shouldn't. 

The next day, after the burial and initial mourning of Lionstar, Cinderstream arose early. She wanted to get a good start on their journey across the territory. The gray she-cat padded from the warrior's den towards the apprentice's, peering into the shadows of the den. "Shrikepaw, come along." She called inside, hoping not to stir any sleeping apprentices around him. She then turned and made her way to the entrance. Giving the guard a curt nod, she made her way out of the camp. She slowly turned down the path towards the Great Maple tree, turning to glance back towards camp before she disappeared from sight. Hopefully, her apprentice was awake and coming out behind her....

^{Made by Aqua || Tagged: Hellion || Words: #564}

[Hellion]

Shrikepaw of TreeClan

Like many of his clanmates, Shrikepaw mourned the loss of Lionstar with sorrowful yowls and words of gratitude to the leader that had guided them through so much. Shrikepaw's mother had insisted from an early age that her kits know the sacrifices and triumphs made by the golden tom-cat. Their family having a unique connection as Duskrose's own mother Lionsong had been a close friend and ally of Lionstar before her own passing.

The loss of Lionstar was his first. The reality that Lionstar would not be naming him an apprentice didn't quite settle until Pumastar called his name. His assignment to Cinderstream went over his head for a moment, but once it sunk in he managed to follow through with the more formal parts of the ceremony.

Grateful his mentor had the forethought not to ask him to start training right away, Shrikepaw occupied himself with prayer. As a devout believer in StarClan, he considered it a personal mission to pray for Lionstar's acceptance into the realm of StarClan. There was no doubt in Shrikepaw mind that Lionstar wouldn't be allowed in, prayer couldn't help.

He sat quietly, eyes closed and body ridged as he recited prayer after prayer taught to him by elders of the clan. The only cat able to shake him from his trance wash is his mother, who whispered for him to get some rest. Life waited for no one and a leader's death did not stop the sun from rising on the rest of the clan. Embracing his mother for a moment and asking quietly for her to help build his nest in the apprentice den, they set out.

He slept for the first time his entire life apart from him and did not rest well. He missed the sweet scents of the nursery, but as his mother had said. The sun still rose.

And with it Cinderstream's voice. Barely able to make it out, Shrikepaw took a few moments to awaken fully but once he did, he leaped out of the apprentice den to join her. He barely kept pace with his mentor as he left the camp, he panted to catch his breath in the early morning but managed to right himself once out of the camp.

"I'm sorry," He muttered his greeting, grateful to his height to be able to keep her stride once his muscles started to work and move more fluidly.

Shrikepaw 06 Moons

420 ~blaze it  Words

Aqua

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[Aqua]

Cinderstream

Cinderstream's ears perked as she spotted a cat poke their head out of the entrance of camp, the young tom scrambling to catch up to her along the path. It was obvious that Shrikepaw hadn't expected her just yet that morning, his whole demeanor giving away that he wasn't fully awake when she called on him. She smiles kindly at the tom and chuckles softly as he apologizes. "You are alright. I'm sure it wasn't easy adjusting to sleeping somewhere new. That and yesterday was...stressful on everyone. We lost such a great leader." She meowed with a somber sigh. "But right now, we need to focus on the training at hand. We cannot go on to make Lionstar proud by standing around sulking." She gives a slight nod of her head before continuing down the beaten path through the brush.

As they wander deeper into the wood, the path suddenly opens up into a large clearing. Sitting at the very center of this clearing is a large, maple tree, it's leaves a brilliant mix of reds and oranges. Cinderstream steps up to its massive roots before turning to glance at Shrikepaw. "This ancient tree is what we call the Great Maple. Many cats choose this tree as their first climbing lesson. It's massive roots and trunk have footholds to practice getting up there." She says running her tail tip along a spot clearly clawed at by many a cat over time. She had once found herself trying to scale the towering maple in her younger days. In the days that her and Leopard goofed off on the daily and chose to race each other up as high as they could go. She distinctly remembered slipping all the way to the bottom because she misplaced her footing, leaving a trail of claw marks as she tried catching herself. She laughed to herself, remembering Leopard beating her without a question that day. He didn't let her live that down for moons.

"Would you like to give it a shot? Or would you like to move on? I'm easy going so I'd be fine with either. We have plenty of daylight to use still." Cinderstream meowed to the young tom, curious if he'd give it a go or not.

^{Made by Aqua || Tagged: Hellion || Words: #376}

[Hellion]

Shrikepaw of TreeClan

He agreed quietly as she correctly guessed that his first night sleeping somewhere new and the loss of Lionstar had affected him. Although a tiny part of him felt shame for letting it get to him, Shrikepaw wanted to be a realist. To recognize that things happened out of their control, and it was up to the living to keep moving forward, to push past what threatened to bring them down. He wanted to believe it was that determination that set them apart from just any ordinary band of cats because StarClan's grace gave them such drive. To know and trust in what went on beyond the realm of the living was StarClan's gift. What needed to be protected, what he was preparing to lay down his life to uphold. Lionstar would always be missed, but he was better off. He had made it to the promised land. A journey any true believer would want to make. Shrikepaw, no different.


Grateful that Cinderstream wanted to focus on training, Shrikepaw kept his mouth shut to avoid interrupting her and held his paws in stride with her, not wanting to fall too far behind. However, he did gasp softly the moment the woods cleared to show them the Great Maple. The massive tree put him in such a state of awe he almost forgot he was supposed to be listening to her. He barely caught the tail-end of her statement but could piece together what she was talking about.

This was the place cats learned to climb; as imposing as the tree was, Shrikepaw's heart picked up, and his claws itched. He could do it; he'd climb the tree and see as far beyond TreeClan as he ever thought possible. "I want to try," He answered, unable to hesitate any longer; he worked his way over the roots and toward the nearest set of footholds.

The task proved harder than he expected, and by the fourth upward step, his limbs were straining and threatening to give out. Was it indeed this difficult! Surely a kit could accomplish such a task, and with a heave to hoist himself hire, Shrikepaw lost his hindleg hold and slipped, digging his claws painfully into the bark. He couldn't hold back the yelp of discomfort and was forced to disembark, landing a bit hard on the ground, the vibration making his limbs hurt more.

"I didn't think it would be that hard," He spoke through gritted teeth, willing to pain to subside and his claws to stop stinging. "I think we should move on," He was defeated, that was clear in his soft-spoken words, but even knowing he had been bested by the Great Maple, Shrikepaw knew in his heart, with StarClan as his witness he'd conquer that great tree.

He is a bit of a zealot 

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Aqua

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[Aqua]

Cinderstream

Cinderstream smirked as the tom anxiously approached the tree, wanting to give it a go. He did everything correctly as he climbed up onto the massive roots, finding foot holds long worn into the trunk of the great tree. Yellow-green eyes watched curiously as he slowly inched his way up higher. He seemed to be doing a wonderful job up until his fourth or fifth move of his paws. She could see that he was struggling, his limbs seemingly shaking from the effort he was putting forth to get up more. That was when the tom suddenly lost his grip on one of the footholds, causing him to slide down the trunk with his claws dug into the rough bark. She overheard a pained cry as the tom slid, causing her to shoot towards the tree. "Don't let go! Try to ease down as much as you can!" She called to him as he made a sudden and rough landing. She quickly approached the tom, giving him a once over. "Are you alright? It's very difficult to figure out at first. I fell my first time trying to get up it as well." She said hoping to help his probably bruised confidence at that point.

"I think we should move on,"

The gray tabby stares at the apprentice for a moment before giving him a curt nod. With this she weaves around to another pathway into the woods, this path a little more narrow than the first. The she-cat makes her way deeper into the wood, wanting to test the tom's sense of smell now. The land soon changed into a more...squishy sort of ground. There were trees scattered about on the ground surrounding a small marshy area of the land, marking the border to one of their rival clans. The area itself held a lot of other foliage that normally made this area as green as can be. But the change of the seasons was taking the brilliant greens and turning them to brown from the cold.

Cinderstream found a spot alongside the murky water that the marsh held, turning her head to glance at her russet companion. "This is the Shallow Marsh and one of our borders." The she-cat asked as a breeze blew towards them, carrying the smell of pine and almost stagnant water. "What do you smell? Can you guess who lives on the land in that direction?"

^{Made by Aqua || Tagged: Hellion || Words: #402}

[Hellion]

Shrikepaw of GorgeClan

He tried, oh how he tried,

Cinderstream's call for him not to let go did register just a moment too late, but circumstance. The blood rushing in his ears had drowned out most sound.

He welcomed her fretting even if it damaged his confidence. He was foolish to think he could do it on his first try. Not even the greatest of the great warriors could. Or at least that was what he told himself to soothe the wound to his self-esteem further.

Grateful she didn't push the issue or encourage him to try again, he quickly found his paws trailing after her steps and kept close. The cold, squishy earth forced him to frown. It reminded him about the accident he had at the dirt place; it took almost a full moon before he felt comfortable cleaning his forepaws. His ears flicked as Cinderstream gave the name for the expanse of land they were looking at, and by the grace of the wind, the scent of their rival brushed across his nose. His whisker twitched before he uttered the Clan's name; "NightClan," He answered, taking in the scent again. "My mother says he lived in the darkest part of the marshes, makes sense they smell like gross mud," He further solidified his answer.

"Why do they hate us so much?" Shrikepaw asked, and as he waited for Cinderstream's reply, he fixed his gaze toward the marsh beyond their border.

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