A Berry's training

[starry]

Berrypaw

Berrypaw padded into the clearing, over to Scorchstrike. She didn't really care about her twisted paw right now, she was able to walk on it. "Can we do some traning?" she asked.

// @ChillCat

[ChillCat]

Scorchstrike had been grooming herself but stopped at the arrival of her apprentice. "Yeah, sure-Wait a minute, what happened to your paw?" It was twisted. Could she train like that? Probably not, but Berrypaw's enthusiasm was infectious. Her determined apprentice wouldn't take no for an answer. But Scorchstrike wouldn't stop herself from worrying. @Stormpoppy

[starry]

Berrypaw

Berrypaw had forgotten about that. She needed to make up another excuse. "I... um... tripped." she replied, looking down at her paw. "But I'm able to do training! I can walk! Maybe you can just teach me the warrior code?" Berrypaw hastily added.

// @ChillCat

[ChillCat]

Twisting your paw like that was not caused by tripping. But at least she could put weight on it, so Scorchstrike wouldn't fuss. She was Berrypaw's teacher, not her mother. And her apprentice did need to learn and memorize the code anyway. Now was a good a time as any.
"Ok. The first rule is to defend your clan, even with your life. Your clan always, always comes first. Friendships with cats from other clans is fine, but keep it to gatherings. Scorchstrike didn't have many friends from other clans. Honestly, she didn't have many friends at all. But I won't mention how good I follow that part of the code. The only exception was her kit's father. He was a loner, but she disregarded that. He wasn't a part of her life anymore, just a fling.

"The second rule is similar to the first. Loyalty to your clan always comes first. Leaving to join another clan is frowned upon, and divided loyalties are dangerous. You may meet your friends from another clan in battle. Remember that." Scorchstrike stopped to allow Berrypaw to ask questions. @Stormpoppy

[starry]

Berrypaw

Berrypaw nodded, interested. "Ok. But wasn't there cats that formed more of a friendship with cats from other clans, taking it to more than just meeting at gatherings?" she asked curiously.

// @ChillCat

[ChillCat]

@Stormpoppy
Scorchstrike nodded. "Yes. I'm not saying you can only meet your friends at gatherings, I'm just saying you should be careful. There have always been cats who break the code, and there always will be. And the more minor laws get broken all the time. I'm sure you know a few cats who have wasted prey, and fighting at gatherings is banned, but that didn't stop us and Windclan." She herself had broken a few of the major laws, but Berrypaw didn't really need to know that.

[starry]

Berrypaw

Berrypaw nodded. "That makes sense." she replied. "What are the other rules of the warrior code?" She wanted to know everything about a warrior code, it seemed very important.

// @ChillCat

[ChillCat]

@Stormpoppy

"Um..." Scorchstrike remembered the third rule. "Borders have to be checked and marked frequently. If bordered aren't marked all the time, they get fuzzy and the scents grow stale. Then other clans can make excuses to move onto our territory. They'll say, 'But the scent was stale! How was I supposed to know?' And we don't want that.

The fourth code was easily one of the most broken, but also incredibly important. "The fourth rule is to never hunt on another clan's territory. They have their prey, we have ours. We all live on our respective land for a reason. We Shadowclanners don't swim, so we don't hunt Riverclan's fish. Thunderclan cats can't hunt in the marshes and pine trees, so they don't hunt our frogs and lizards. I only wish this rule was broken less often."

[starry]

Berrypaw

Berrypaw nodded. "Yes, that rule is broken often. But why? I mean, ShadowClan does keep their scent markerss fresh. Shouldn't the other clans, especially WindClan, scent that? I bet Dawnstar wouldn't be happy if a WindClan cat ended up in ShadowClan territory to do their hunting."

// @ChillCat