"You finished?"
"Yep!" GoldenPaw purred. "I'm ready to go!"
"Great. BlackPaw and WolfStep are coming with us."
"We are?" BlackPaw whined. "But, I wanted this tour to be just us!" She rounded on WolfStep. "This was supposed to be special!"
"And, it will be," LightningHeart soothed. "Things are always better when you're with friends."
"Oh-kay," BlackPaw huffed, although she smiled slightly.
"Alright! Come on, let's go!" GoldenPaw purred.
WolfStep and BlackPaw lead the way, GoldenPaw and LightningHeart close behind.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"So... do we get to claw intruders yet?" GoldenPaw asked as they ventured into the forest.
"No, not yet. Today, we're getting a sense of the territory and what's in it," WolfStep told her. "LightningHeart and I will teach you fighting moves soon enough."
"What do you, mean "we"? I thought each apprentice had her own mentor!" BlackPaw exclaimed.
"What you say is true, but WolfStep and I have agreed to do many joint sessions. You and your sister will see a lot of each other, and not so much of your brothers, when we train."
"Why?" GoldenPaw asked.
"It is good for you two," LightningHeart responded simply. "Okay, first lesson. Close your eyes. GoldenPaw, grasp my tailtip in your mouth. BlackPaw, do the same with WolfStep. We are going to guide you somewhere and you will use each sense individually to figure out a mental image of where we are."
GoldenPaw and BlackPaw nodded and gripped their mentors' tailtips. GoldenPaw trotted happily after LightningHeart. She had just begun to realized how lucky she and BlackPaw were. Their mentors were the Clan's most senior warrior and their deputy, for StarClan's sake! SnakePaw and TigerPaw had just gotten two ordinary warriors as mentors.
Suddenly, LightningHeart stopped.
"Okay. GoldenPaw; BlackPaw, take a deep breath. Scent well, and tell me what you detect."
"Us four," BlackPaw began nervously. WolfStep gave an encouraging purr when her brow furrowed in concentration. "Something musky. Warm and tasty. Something else... but it smells more like trees then earth. And, another musky scent that smells like... like a plant, I just can't remember the name."
"Mouse, squirrel, rabbit. Rabbit three days old, mouse about two nights and one day, squirrel just passed by. And, water, trees, grass, and rocks," GoldenPaw meowed confidently. "Can I open my eyes now?"
"No, not yet. What do you hear?" WolfStep meowed.
"Us, birdsong, water gurgling, a digging sound, a rustling sound, and... that's about it," BlackPaw mewed, angry that her sister had beaten her on their first task.
"Us, a robin singing, a thrush singing, the stream, a mole digging underground, leaves rustling, and one of those things ShadowStripe warned me about. Oh, right! A dog," GoldenPaw added, her ears pricked for other sounds.
"What about touch and taste?" LightningHeart pressed.
"I taste what I scent," BlackPaw mewed. GoldenPaw nodded.
YOU ARE READING
GoldenHeart
FantasyGoldenKit is one of four kits to her ShadowStripe and AdderHeart. At once carefree, like all kits, she plays and sleeps and complains. As she advances towards apprenticeship, GoldenKit begins to notice that the deputy, LightningHeart, is acting stra...
