Thank You

The light albino was walking across the clearing  with her heavy tail nearly dragging across the floor, a bunch of twigs  and branches in her snout which she was supposed to bring somewhere.  Supposed was a good word.

Noticing Sootpaw lying in her way she  first thought about simply making a very big detour around her friend.  She did not want to distract or disturb him.

But he wasn’t looking  very well… With a tilt of her head Palepaw placed down the wooden  sticks and trotted softly to the dark tom's side, crouching down beside  him and greeting him with a gentle nudge. ”Hey, everything alright?”

Being nudged out of his thoughts, he startles a bit but quickly relaxes when he recognizes the light fur of his friend. ”Oh! Hello Palepaw,” he met the molly’s concerned pale gaze. ”I’m… I was going to say okay but that’s not true… My mentor finally took me out for my first training session and I got scared.” The tom shifted uneasily. ”Sparkspirit was really nice about it but it was pretty embarrassing…”

What if Sparkspirit was embarrassed having a scaredy-cat like him for an apprentice? What if she doubted his potential to become a brave warrior? What if he couldn’t become a brave warrior? The dark tabby shook his head.

Palepaw |

Attentively listening to Sootpaw's tale, she felt  how much his experience resonated with hers. Despite being made an  apprentice shortly after the dog attack, it had taken her several days  to get out of camp and still then... she had had trouble relaxing.  Thankfully the territory had begun to distract her as much as to lessen  the fright the movements in the bushes gave her.

"I've experienced  the same", she started slowly, her pinkish gaze wandering to her folded  paws and lingering for a few seconds in contemplation before going back  to her dark counterpart. "My mentor had to delay my first tour of the  territory because... I was too scared to go outside. And even after I  did I'd just jump at every little noise and every little rustle. I felt  bad for not being a good apprentice." Things she wouldn't share with her  brother so as to not concern him, easily came over her lips when  talking to Sootpaw, something she was appreciative for, in a way, even  though it confused her.

"But Addertail, my mentor, said that we  all needed time to heal and that he was just happy that I was ready to  go out", the pale she-cat continued after a few seconds of silent  breathing, her light eyes locking with the others. "And... I suppose  that's what Sparkspirit wants for you the most, too. To heal and be okay  again."

He nodded thoughtfully as he listened to Palepaw  explain her own experience. He knew she was the right cat to confide in  but he hadn’t realized just how much she was struggling. Not that he  should be surprised, it wasn’t like he was the only cat who had been  chased out by the dogs and he certainly wasn’t the only one who lost  loved ones that day. He shifted a bit uneasily.

”That was nice of Addertail to wait until you were ready. Means you get to go at your own pace,” he mewed.

He  hummed as he thought to himself for a moment. ”Yeah… She has her own  funny way of showing it, but I think you’re right. She told me that if  the dogs came back while we were out there, she would chase them off  herself.” The tom chuckled softly remembering his mentor’s fierce  declaration.

”She’s a bit fast paced. She skipped taking me on a  tour and dived straight into teaching me how to fight. I don’t mind it  though, it’s a good distraction.”

The smokey tabby was finding it  easy to tell this fellow apprentice almost everything. Maybe it was  because he had no one to confide in after losing his parents. Maybe it  was because they were so close in age. Maybe it was because they were so  similar. Whatever the case, he was happy she was with him in that  moment.

Though Palepaw spoke fondly of her mentor in regard to  others, in contrast to how Sparkspirit was described she noticed even  more how unenthusiastic Addertail seemed at times. Should she be  grateful? Surely she'd not be able to handle an energetic personality as  Sparkspirit's and even if the sentiment was born out of apathy, being  given time to do her own steps was something precious.

The pale  she-cat gazed down on her paws for a few seconds before looking up again  with an nearly unnoticably twitch. "I suppose you've met the right  mentor then. I've yet to experience a single training lesson, though I'm  unsure wether its due to me or... something else. Would you mind  training together sometime?"

Her compatibility with her friend's  mentor was definitely questionable but her own would... probably be  there too if he wasn't too busy helping out somewhere. And with Sootpaw  close she'd have someone to feel comfortable around.

He was starting to take notice of all the pauses his  companion was taking. This must have been bothering her for a while. It  took his mentor a bit to start his training as well but he had never  really thought anything of it. Maybe he should have?

”It must have  to do with something else. Or… maybe he’s nervous too?” He pondered.  His ears perked up at the molly’s suggestion. ”I would love that! I can  ask Sparkspirit and then maybe she can ask Addertail for us.”

As  much as he admired his mentor’s energy and how outgoing she was, she  still made him nervous at times. Having a friend - especially one who  was more on the timid side like himself - join in on a training lesson  might make it a lot easier… Or he would end up embarrassing himself.

Nervous? She’d never expect Addertail to be nervous  or flustered. No, he was calmness in person whenever they spoke and  interacted. Not that that happened much in general. Every kind of  contact seemed to happen on her part with her mentor otherwise  distancing himself. As if-

Her thoughts came to an abrupt stop as  Sootpaw continued to talk, attentively pricking her ears. ”That'd be  nice”, a small, bashful smile appeared on her face, ”Thank you,  Sootpaw.”

She could really be happy to be able to count her dark  counterpart as a friend - he meant so much to her by now. It was weird  but she could relax near him, he was neither her mother nor her brother  who'd always worry about her in such an energetic manner and take each  of her words as if they weighed a hundred tons.

With a soft sigh of relief she laid her head on her paws, dozing in the warm afternoon sun.

[RP END]