For Shadow in the Forest, owner of Owlfeather.
Owlfeather:
A Night Spent Training
The young warrior's claws glinted in the light of the pale silver moon, only half full this night, as she trudged through the pine forest to the burnt sections of home. It was a great many seasons ago when that section of forest burned down, long before her birth, long before even the birth of her leader, yet it provided some semblance of security to her, even if the trees were dead and the grasses had long since perished. Perhaps she merely appreciated the history of the burnt lands, where the founding leader first formed the clan, where her clan was weak and nomadic before finding a new home.
She stopped by one specific oak, a twisted mass of grey-black wood as if struck by lightning, with the branches all torn off, with the trunk all hollowed out. An owl hooted high above, beyond the forests and the heavens. She looked to the stars with eyes reminiscent of the sun. One bright glisten in the dark background caught her sight particularly.
She liked to imagine that bright star was her mentor smiling down on her, proud of her dedication to her clan, of her training.
A feather floated gently down, brushing softly across the top of her muzzle. Looking up at the oak, she could see the wide eyes of an owl staring down at her, big yellow things that seemed to stare straight through her soul.
He hooted once, then in a flurry of grey-brown feathers took flight, spinning in the dark sky until he was out of sight, deeper in the woods. She shivered as a cold wind buffeted her fur, a wind she imagined came from that very owl. She looked up at the tree, then using her claws pedicured for fighting, she climbed, that one feather which brushed her nose clenched tightly in her teeth.
Her feet met the center of the tree, only partially hollow, with room to train in the abandoned nest; it was an instinct for her to realize the owl would most likely not come back.
She took several deep breaths, clouds puffing out of her nostrils as warm air met cold. She threw her head back, releasing the feather while doing so. It started to spin about her, and with swift movements of her tail and unsheathed claws, she made sure that feather would not touch the tree nor ground. Made sure it wouldn't stay still.
That was what her mentor taught her. If she wanted to be a fighter feared throughout the clans, she had to be light.
She had to fly like an owl.
AN: Really short, but for some inexplicable reason, I like it. The first on my list of "Honorable Mentions", character submissions that didn't make it into "The Troublepaws". I hope to update every time I post a new chapter to the main story, but time isn't something I always have. Today, I got lucky. xP Hope you enjoyed!
- JR