Robinpaw was beginning to regret her promise to Leopardpaw.
It was actually remarkably difficult to stop from lashing out at him instinctively-- she had no idea why, it was just this feeling of being hunted or being attacked. She couldn't explain it-- especially since he'd been so nice to her as of late.
Well, mostly nice, anyway.
"Good morning, beautiful," he yawned, getting up and stretching. He froze when she fixed him with a glare, then hastily apologized. "Sorry, sorry. I meant Robinpaw."
Thrushnose stirred from her side of the den and got up. "What is it...?" Her eyes brightened when she met Robinpaw's, but narrowed in a scowl when she saw Leopardpaw. She wasn't quite as forgiving as her friend for his earlier behavior.
Robinpaw was starting to think that she had the right idea.
"Hey, you two. We're going to teach you fishing!" Foxtail's excited mew was quite unexpected-- she wasn't normally an early rise.
And fishing?
Leopardpaw's ears twitched in excitement. "Cool!"
Robinpaw couldn't help agreeing; she didn't know how to fish, either. There wasn't really much of a demand for it, but a leader would occasionally ask for one, and it was their job to catch one for them.
Thrushnose, however, didn't really share her excitement. "Can I come with?" She looked suspiciously at Leopardpaw, and it didn't take a genius to figure out the rest of her unspoken statement: I don't trust him alone with you.
The silver trainee brightened, feeling her fur heat up a bit. She cares about me!
Foxtail nodded. "Yes. Thank you, Thrushnose," she mewed fervently. "Sun and Moon help me watch over two young, inexperienced fishers."
Thrushnose's cold demeanor melted a bit. "No problem, Foxtail."
Leopardpaw leapt up, quivering with excitement. "So what are we waiting for, then?" Without waiting for an answer, he began running off towards the stream.
The three cats purred. "I remember when I had that energy," sighed Foxtail wistfully. She turned her head to Thrushnose, dipping it in amusement. "Now you get why I want Kestrelflight cleared?"
Thrushnose nodded. "Poor Foxtail. Two crazy trainees!" She bumped Robinpaw jokingly.
An annoyed shout came from up ahead. "Hey! Where are you? I'm already here!"
"Serves you right for running off before us!" called back Robinpaw.
Foxtail and Thrushnose exchanged glances. "Well, we probably should get moving."
Robinpaw nodded. She didn't need to be told twice-- she took off as fast as her legs could carry her.
"Wait! That's not what I meant--" called Foxtail.
Behind her, she could hear Thrushnose's amused purrs.
~----------------------------------------------~
"No, no, no Leopardpaw! Don't let your shadow fall on the water! Get on this side! I need to demonstrate!"
Leopardpaw was on the opposite side of the stream, a lazy purr in his voice. "But I want to be across from Robinpaw!"
"Do you think the fish care? No, they don't. Now get to the other side of the fox-dunged stream!" Thrushnose sounded on the edge of losing her patience completely and attacking Leopardpaw-- not something Robinpaw would've complained about.
Leopardpaw let out an exaggerated sigh. "Please?"
Thrushnose rolled her eyes and walked slightly upstream from Leopardpaw, ignoring him. She focused instead on the fish swimming towards her that she was using to demonstrate. She almost had it, but--
Splash!
Thrushnose hissed, her white fur dripping. "What was that for?!"
Leopardpaw flicked his tail. "Didn't you want me on this side of the stream?" His mew was dripping with fake innocence, his eyes growing more amused as Thrushnose began to bristle.
Thrushnose hissed again and muttered some things under her breath that Robinpaw was quite certain weren't compliments of any kind.
Foxtail padded out, astonished, looking from a sopping wet Thrushnose to a smirking, but equally wet, Leopardpaw. "Uh, what happened?"
Robinpaw opened her mouth to reply, but she was too slow. "While you went to the dirtplace, this foxdunged apprentice decided to jump across and be and irritating piece of--"
Foxtail coughed. "Got it." She turned to face the golden-furred trainee. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
Leopardpaw purred. "She did ask me to come over."
Thrushnose glared at him. "I did not ask you to spray me with water though, you insolent trainee!"
"But you--"
"Silence, the lot of you!" snapped Foxtail. "You," she pointed her tail at Leopardpaw, "will NOT talk back to your elders. And you," she gestured to Thrushnose, "need to calm down."
Thrushnose nodded reluctantly. "Right. Sorry, Foxtail."
Foxtail glared pointedly at Leopardpaw.
He flicked his tail. "I'm sorry too."
"Now, Thrushnose, show them how to catch a fish, and Leopardpaw, listen to her! You too, Robinpaw."
The three cats nodded, and Thrushnose walked over to the stream. She stood above the stream, taking care not to leave her shadow over the water. She studied the water determinedly, trying to catch sight of a fish.
Leopardpaw and Robinpaw were a little upstream from her, their shadows also carefully on the ground and not the stream.
Suddenly, Thrushnose's paw shot out and a fish was thrown out of the water and lay on the shore, flapping about before she killed it with a bite to the neck.
Foxtail nodded in approval. "Good, Thrushnose."
She dipped her head in acknowledgement of Foxtail's praise. "Your turn, guys," she swept her tail, gesturing to the stream and stepping back. Robinpaw stepped forward uncertainly, though Leopardpaw leapt to it.
What was it with him? Did he think this was some sort of a competition with Thrushnose? "Leopardpaw," she hissed. "Calm down! What is this with your competitiveness? What even is the competition?"
Leopardpaw rolled his eyes. "Whatever."
Robinpaw flicked her tail. Fine. She padded up to the river and bent over it.
She watched the water carefully, and her paw flashed out when a fish swam by lazily. It flew out of the water and landed with a splat on the stone on the edge of the river.
Robinpaw turned to kill the fish, but a jay jeered in the distance and her eyes left the fish for a moment. That moment of unattention was all it needed to wiggle back into the water.
Foxdung.
She glanced over to Leopardpaw's side; he didn't seem to be having much luck either. She returned her attention to the water, reaching out to catch another fish. This time, she didn't hesitate to bite down on its neck, and it lay limp on the stones.
Her next two tries weren't as lucky-- she'd missed both fish, and the sun was now reaching its highest point in the sky. We'll probably be getting back soon.
Foxtail seemed to be thinking the same that she was, splashing the water to get their attention. "Time to go back."
Robinpaw straightened gratefully, shaking the water off her paws and purring when it hit Thrushnose. The white-furred hunter swatted her with her tail playfully, and Robinpaw purred harder in reply. She picked up her fish and turned to Leopardpaw, who stared dejectedly at Thrushnose's three fish.
She rolled her eyes. "Cheer up. It was our first fish hunt."
Leopardpaw muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like "and now you'll never like me."
Robinpaw stared at him, confused. "How do you think this is a competition? I don't like one of you more than the other!"
Of course, if she was honest, she most definitely did like one of them better than the other, but that wasn't for Leopardpaw to know.
"So you don't like her like that?"
Robinpaw froze. "W-what?"
"You heard what I said."
Foxtail's voice suddenly rang out from ahead of them, saving Robinpaw from having to reply. "Come on! Why are you dawdling? Let's get back to camp and get some food. And for the sake of the Sun and Moon, Robinpaw," snapped Foxtail as they began to move, "pick up your trout."
The two trainees shared a quick glance before Robinpaw clamped the fish in her jaws and began walking back to camp, glad to have avoided Leopardpaw's question.
They sat down and began to eat. Robinpaw yawned loudly, but one glance in Foxtail's direction told her she wasn't going to be resting anytime soon.
"We're going to train after you're done eating. Robinpaw, you'll be demonstrating hunting techniques for Leopardpaw, okay?"
More time with Leopardpaw?
The Sun and Moon must really hate her.
I feel accomplished-- I'm going to keep writing at a super-speed today ^-^
Hope you enjoy this chapter! Special thanks to -joybell- for making the cover featured above and WaveNote for editing this chapter!
Let me know what you think in the comments!
~Ember
P.S.: Sorry everyone for the formatting errors! They should be fixed now.