[fresh]

Originally Posted by Charmer

Vixenpaw was sprinting as fast as her legs could carry her, the wind in her fur as her muscles burned, pushing her faster and faster until the pines opened up around her and she suddenly found herself staring at the open moor. Everything around her seemed to go quiet. The birds had stopped singing, and the only things she could hear were her pulse in her ears, her panting breath, and the wind in the moor grass as it churned and muttered in the sparse light. Clouds had swept across the sky and everything looked dingy and grey as she sat in the very spot where moons ago, she’d stood with her father.

“Here you go, Vixenkit. Now just walk that way, as deep as you can,” he’d said

She’d quivered and looked back at him. “But daddy, I can’t see the sky. Everything smells funny here. I wanna go home. Can’t we just go home?” She’d asked.

“Not just yet, Kit. I need you to walk in there as deep as you can. It’ll make me happy. Don’t you want to make me happy?”

Vixenkit had been frozen in confusion and welling greed. Of course she wanted to make her father happy! Nothing she did seemed to do that. When she play fought with the other kits, he was never impressed. When she practiced pouncing and running, he didn’t talk about how fast she’d been like the other parents. He never seemed proud of her like other kits’ parents did. Would this finally do it? Would this finally make him proud?

“O-ok daddy,” she’d said.

Then with small, cautious pawsteps she started forward into the scary pine forest. When she’d gone as far as she dared, she turned back but a patrol had found her before she reached the border. They sent cats into Windclan territory to find out who was missing a kit. Apparently no one was.

Vixenpaw was so lost in her thoughts, she didn’t even hear her mentor.

With a grunt of effort, the she-cat heaved her apprentice back over the border,
panting. A chill crept over her back, and it wasn't just from the setting sun.
Someone was watching them. Featherfur, afraid someone had seen her apprentice cross the border to WindClan, nudged Vixenpaw towards the camp. "It's been a long day," she sighed. "Let's get you home." She wasn't even going to mention her apprentice's behavior. Not yet,
at least. For now, it was time that they rested.