[Ziera]

// @Arie

Sparkpaw wore quite the smug expression when she [the apprentice] went to wake up Talonstone [her mentor]. It was usually always the other way around; for a while, Sparkpaw wondered if he slept at all, with the way he routinely dragged her out of the Apprentice’s den at sunrise but retired for his own sleep never. In any case. Talonstone was normally more prepared than she was and it was annoying. But not this time!

Sparkpaw was up and bouncing before dawn’s light filtered through the clearing by sheer chance on purpose, and she was definitely going to milk this. How would Talon like to be woken up early for training? Spark was about to find out. Her eyes twinkled with mischief as she thought of what she could say to tease a reaction out of his steel composure.

“Oh meeentorrrr,” Sparkpaw called sweetly when she reached the mouth of the warrior’s den, lips drawn back in a wide, foxlike smile. She knew which one his nest was. It didn’t take long for Spark to decide she should just—jump in and surprise him. Wouldn’t he be so happy, so proud she woke before the sun? The apprentice could play it off so nicely! All the while they would both know…she wasn’t so innocent after all.

Okay. One, two, three... NOW! Sparkpaw leapt inside without warning, angled toward the nest she knew belonged to her mentor. Ha, here it was, the awaited reaction! Her mouth was open, ready to shower him in witty jabs.

He— he… wasn’t there.

But it wasn’t empty.

She stopped at the rim of moss and feathers, completely and absolutely befuddled by the cat she did see in his nest. …It was Doetuft. Spark remembered hearing of her, though they never met. The scars gave her away. But—what was she doing here, in Talonstone’s nest? Did she stumble into the wrong one because she was blind or something? Sparkpaw’s eyes narrowed in thought. She… hmmm… that scent.

Pine, like Talonstone. Spark knew her mentor’s scent now, could distinguish its subtleties from others’. But it wasn’t just pine. This feline—apparently sleeping—smelled of something else, too. Something familiar. Unless…. Sparkpaw’s eyes went wide as pinecones. Oak. Oak and leaves. That—she--- WHAT?

Unable to restrain her gasp at the revelation, Spark further decided to ignore that there might be other cats in this den. “YOU! You’re the smell!!”