Quote:
Originally Posted by Charmer
The old tom didn't reply to the leader's complaint, merely shrugged as he made way for the brown tabby. Shinefang drank deeply from the stream, enjoying the coolness on his muzzle and in his throat. He would say this about leafbare, the chill had a way of making a cat feel alive. If a little sore, in his case. He followed the leader's gaze to the blue sky overhead, the tangled branches dancing slowly in the wind. "Yeah," he agreed quietly. As Shinefang gazed up, he thought about the trees around them. How there were older than any cat, older than his Father's father's father, and how they'd keep growing and living seasons and seasons after he was gone. "It's all so short..." he muttered to himself. Without turning from the treetops, the golden-furred tom said. "You know, I will say this about getting...older. When I was a kit, I couldn't wait to be an apprentice. When I was an apprentice, I had to hurry and be a warrior. It doesn't stop either. Kits and apprentices these days are no different. Warriors are no different. Windclan just had to rush into war. Shadowclan just had to rush to join them. That's the problem with being young. It's too fast and too short and everyone wants to rush to the next big thing as quick as possible. I don't feel that way anymore. And I've got to say, it's nice to just...be." He turned to the leader of Skyclan. In many ways, he was wise in spite of his age. But he was young still. He had many journeys to walk yet. The old tom smiled as he privately thought of how lucky he was to have helped kept his paws in place as he weathered a particularly difficult trail this last moon. "You've got a good head on your shoulders Grousestar. Remember to just be every now and again. Everything happens in due time."
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{Sorry about the lateness!!}
A comfortable silence seemed to fall between the two as the leader took the time to rest, looking upwards at the sky, focusing on his own breathing and getting it back to the pace it should be at. He could see small puffs of vapor escape his mouth with each exhale he released, each one audible but given a few minutes they would be like any normal breath. The silence was broken by Shinefang muttering something that Grousestar didn't quite hear; the brown tabby looked over curiously but didn't press for him to say it louder. Perhaps it wasn't meant for him, perhaps those words were only meant to stay to him and him only, a slip of the tongue. But then, the medicine cat decided to speak up, the leader listening quietly, curious as to the wisdom that the tom might give him.
And when he heard, truly heard, what he was saying, he found himself agreeing. Looking back at his own life, aside from the quiet grieving for his missing brother, he longed to grow up all of his life. He was excited to be an apprentice, then he was eager to be a warrior, then he was eager to put more moons under his belt, hoping to one day be a senior warrior. Of course his path changed slightly when he was named deputy, and shortly after that, leader. It was never something he quite expected, but he had been eager for that next step in his life. The next goal. And now, sitting here, over 40 moons under his belt, he realized how rushed his life really did feel. There were moments in time where he felt it slowed, and those were prominent memories in his mind, but every other part of his life was a blur. And the thought saddened him. There was so much more to life than just rushing for the next goal, the next milestone. You just had to slow down to see it. "Very well spoken Shinefang." He murmured quietly, his head turning slightly, to look at the mostly frozen stream.
"I think I am getting to that point in my life, where I want things to slow down. There's not much of a goal to reach for. No next ceremony to look forward to, aside perhaps, of becoming an elder and retiring but I don't want to rush towards that. I want to slow down."