Icestar stared proudly into the crowd she'd gathered. It wasn't quite as many as she'd hoped, but it would do for now. It was a reasonable portion of ShadowClan. She allowed herself to feel that pride once more as cats bowed their head in greeting to her, just as in life. Oh, how she missed commanding her Clan. She wasn't sure whether to be surprised or not that Dawnstar was not here. Of course, with Dawnstar being leader now, she likely thought there wasn't any more for her to learn. She would be wrong.
Icestar's orange gaze met each and every one of the crowd's stares individually, thankful that most of them were silent. She didn't particularly like small talk. She glowered at Crowpaw and his blatantly obvious question.
"Yes, I am Icestar, Dawnstar's mother and mentor," she answered gruffly.
She was interested to see her adopted niece Duskpaw, without either of her siblings. Perhaps she judged the kid too soon; maybe she
did have the guts needed to be a warrior.
She gave a nod to Talonstone when he appeared. She had an ounce of favoritism towards that tom--she thought he'd make a loyal deputy to Dawnstar at one point, if her daughter would bother to listen to her.
She decided to ignore Foggybrook's outburst. Seems that young warrior hadn't changed a bit. It was now time to begin.
"I am going to start by putting you all in pairs," she bellowed into the snowy clearing.
"Talonstone [ @bmkmb ], you will be with me. You will help me demonstrate moves for the group.
Buzzardpaw [ @elysian ], you will be paired with Sparrowpaw [ @Goldensnail ].
Fadedpaw [ @Creeped Out ], you will be with Stempaw [ @Zesty Mango ].
Brackenpaw [ @Peril ], you will pair with Crowpaw [ @Dovey the Present ].
Windstrike [ @Pepperkins ], you will be with Ghosttail [ @MrChristmastheAJ ].
Foxpaw [ @Foxsnarl ], you will be with Peacepaw [ @Elementals ].
Adderfang [ @Rani ], you will be with Foggybrook [ @Elementals ]. I hope you can tolerate it.
Rumblepaw [ @Slushie ], you will be with Darkpaw [ @S t a r ].
And Duskpaw [ @Shimm ], I'm pairing you with Burningspark [ @Pluto ]." With everyone assigned, the former leader gave them all a chance to find their partners and for Talonstone to come up to her.
"Some of the moves I will be teaching you are ones you may have seen in life, and some will be entirely new to you. The moves are advanced, and I will not be holding back for any stragglers, so you'd better pay attention. Am I understood?"