Do I Have What It Takes ~Darkpaw's Training~

He hadn't realized his curly tail had straightened when he was explaining the incident to Darkpaw until it recurled upon hearing her agree to keep going. In any case, he continued to guide her forward, beckoning with his curled tail. “What sort of games did you prefer in the nursery, Darkpaw? Did you prefer play fighting, hunting moss, or some other type of game?” While Lionshine did want to get to know her, he also wanted to gauge what skills she most likely had already been building in play. As the training levee came into his vision, he felt comfortable to keep his eyes on Darkpaw. He'd walked this path so often he could do it in his sleep.

“Ah, I see,” he purred, mentally logging the information. He returned to looking in front of him as he realized they'd made it to the training levee. With a grand gesture of the area, he looked back to Darkpaw. “Are you excited to learn to fight properly, then? We'll likely do a lot of it here. I'll certainly be seeing if Mosstumble would be interested in joining us with Minnowpaw for some joint training.”

Lionshine nodded. “I feel that training with other apprentices is helpful, especially with battle training. There's a lot to be learned from how other cats approach things,” he purred, guiding her along the levee. “You see that stream we're heading towards? Once we cross it, we'll get to the patch of land that's across from the Gathering Place. I'll show you so you're more prepared for when you go to your first Gathering.”

Lionshine hummed in thought as she guided Darkpaw across the stream so they could get a better view of the Gathering Place. “Well... that'll be up to Pansystar. The leaders decide which warriors and apprentices go to Gatherings every full moon. After all, there need to be some warriors and apprentices at camp to keep guard.” Seeing it in the corner of his eye, Lionshine gestured to the large body of water that was south of the pair.

“You see that? That's the Great Lake, where the river leads. If we follow the edges of the Great Lake, we'll be get to the fishing rocks. It's a good place to hunt if you like fish.”

“Not particularly, but it takes a good deal of patience,” Lionshine answered as he reflected on his own experience with fishing. “As long as you're patient and don't go for too big a fish, it isn't much harder than hunting most other types of prey. Some cats like to lounge by the water and fish when it's hot out. It's not as popular in leaf-bare. Getting wet can be pretty dangerous when it's cold out.” As the terrain in front of them became rockier, Lionshine knew they were getting closer and closer to the fishing rocks.

His whiskers twitched as he thought about the next stop of their route. The newleaf camp was on the opposite end of the territory without many landmarks in between.

“Once we pass the fishing rocks we'll be heading north so you can see the newleaf camp. We'll have to move there pretty soon so that we can survive the flooding,” Lionshine explained. “There's not much between the newleaf camp and the fishing rocks, so I'll be pointing out the different scents of prey on the way there.”

Her second question was harder to answer. It was never easy to describe himself, and it'd already been years since he was an apprentice. He mulled over an answer for a moment. “I was a bit intense. I spent all my free time learning all that I could about the Clans, the Code, and StarClan. Other than that, I was training hard to hunt and fight for the Clan. I took Clan responsibility very seriously.” He shook his head, almost embarrassed to think back on his history. Embarrassing, and a little bit bittersweet, he usually tried not to reflect on those memories. “I was otherwise pretty quiet and reserved. I only had one friend, and she was even more intense about learning to be a warrior than I was.”

Gesturing vaguely beyond their territory as if to elaborate on her point, Lionshine continued. “I was born to a group of cats outside the Clans. I don't remember much about my time with the rogue group, but it wasn't pleasant - so I was overly invested in being an apprentice. My friend was similar, a former kittypet, and we were both adopted into the Clan as kits. Well, anyway, my point is as an apprentice I always felt like I had something to prove. I hope you won't feel that way.”