Quote:
Originally Posted by Thistledawn
Cherrypaw was late.
She'd been carrying a sparrow to the elder's den when not one, but two of the elders began telling her a story. Normally this would be fine, but Cherrypaw had heard this particular story dozens of times as a kit. Everytime the elders told this tale, the amount of cats that each elder had fought single-pawed grew by at least two. The apprentice doubted that any cat could take on an entire Clan of cats. Even as a kit she thought that was too far fetched. All the same, Cherrypaw couldn't get out of there. They wouldn't. Stop. Talking. They seemed to go on forever and ignored all of the apprentice's desperate pleas to escape. She felt like a fish out of water, flopping uncontrollably and unable to get back to safety. It had gotten to the point that she worried that Blazingcomet may have thought she'd gone missing and reported that to Grousestar and sent out a search patrol for her. It was her own fault, however. She should have guessed that the sparrow would trigger them. That stupid story always starts with a sparrow flying overhead. Stupid sparrow.
Oh, StarClan, save me!
Almost as if on cue, two more SkyClan apprentices entered the den with fresh bedding for the elders' nests. The white she-cat let out a sound that she'd never made before. Her heart lurched with relief, something she didn't even know was possible. Not daring to wait a moment more, Cherrypaw darted out of the den, through the group of cats in the clearing, and out of SkyClan's camp. She raced to the Training Plateau as fast as her little paws could carry her, tripping and cursing occasionally. She was panting and out of breath by the time she came face to face with her mentor.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," The apprentice repeated over and over again. She felt like she was going to hurl from how fast and hard she ran. "The elders-" Pant. "-and the sparrow-" Pant. "-and the story-" Pant. Cherrypaw didn't even bother to finish her sad excuse for a sentence. Instead, she dramatically fell to her side and continued to breath heavily. She looked up at Blazingcomet with bright blue eyes. Perhaps he'd go easy on her today. He'd seemed caught up in his own thoughts when she approached. Maybe he'd be too distracted to train hard. For good measure, she groaned, "I think I'm gonna die!" |
The orange tom cleared his throat to hide his amusement, but he was failing to do so - it was showing in the twitching of his whiskers, in the gleam of his eyes though he tried desperately to hide it, and in the repeated coughing that happened when he couldn't clear his throat fast enough. "It's fine. I know all about elders and their stories - that was nice of you to bring something to them." That was what Blazingcomet had gathered from her rushed and panted story, and his eyes continued to sparkle with amusement as he struggled to keep his voice calm, wishing to be professional in this moment. Except Blazingcomet had never been good at that kind of thing, which was proven once again when a laugh eventually did slip through. When Cherrypaw let out a last dramatic remark, he could hold in his mirth no longer, and began to shake with silent laughter, eventually stopping when he could.
"The next time you put on a performance like that, I'll make sure you get a good piece of prey. That deserved a reward," The tom laughed with his eyes glowing eagerly. Whether Cherrypaw knew it or not, she had just saved him from the misery of remembering his happiness with Drizzleshard, and his dangerous thoughts of going to see Petal the kittypet. Then again, Petal might join SkyClan - in which case he would no longer be a traitor, and going to see her wouldn't be risky. Besides, she came out here to see him - he wasn't forced to go anywhere near the twoleg homes. Thank goodness - Blazingcomet was a SkyClan born cat, and proud of it! "We'll start with some new sparring techniques today. I want you to focus on nothing but me. Block everyone else out, and try to block me." The match, albeit an unfair and unevenly matched one, should be fairly interesting. Blazingcomet was looking foward to seeing if Cherrypaw would move quickly enough to block him or if he would win.
His guess was the second - while the apprentice had the ability to be smart and move quickly and she could learn well, she was quite the dramatist - and, though he would never say it in front of her for fear of hurting her feelings, a princess. He didn't exactly mean that in a complimentary way, either. She was pretty and graceful like a princess, but she also had the aspect of not wishing to work as hard. Though she had come for training, and she did seem eager to learn. Whether she was late or not no longer mattered. It was whether she could take the moves she had already learned, or use some of her own if she could think that quickly, and block Blazingcomet from pinning her down. The orange tom turned and walked away until he was nearly two fox-lengths from where he had been standing a moment ago.
This should be enough to give Cherrypaw time to react, and he thought it was a fair length - after all, not every enemy was going to be as gracious in battle. "Are you ready?" He asked, another thing he thought was more then fair - enemies weren't going to cater to her. But for this first time, Blazingcomet figured there was no harm in giving Cherrypaw some slack. This was how she was going to learn. And they were a long ways from another battle... he hoped.