"Mosspaw, come on. We're going to do some battle training today," Fireheart called out to her apprentice, beckoning her over to the gorse tunnel.
The small gray and white molly nodded and bounded across the camp, shouting a quick farewell to her denmates over her shoulder. Once she had caught up, Fireheart turned and led the way out of the camp. She padded through the forest with Mosspaw at her side, taking time to enjoy the scents and sounds of the recently arrived newleaf season. Leaf-bare had been long and hard, but the Clan had made it through, and now the prey was finally starting to return to the forest.
"What are we learning today?" Mosspaw asked, practically bouncing up and down with excitement. "Can I try the duck and twist? Mistypaw said that Rosetail taught her how to do that move yesterday."
"Actually, I had a different move planned for our session today," Fireheart replied. "But if we have time towards the end, maybe we can squeeze in the duck and twist."
Mosspaw's eyes lit up. "Great!" she meowed happily.
When they arrived at the sandy hollow, Fireheart instructed her apprentice to stand a few tail-lengths in front of her. The young molly did so immediately, staring at her with wide eyes full of anticipation as she waited to find out what her mentor had planned for their battle session that day.
"Alright," she began once Mosspaw was ready. "First, I want to demonstrate the move for you. Attack me."
Mosspaw nodded and crouched down, narrowing her eyes at Fireheart. The flame-colored warrior mirrored her crouch, hissing. She reached out with her right forepaw, swiping at Mosspaw, who ducked out of the way. Yowling a challenge, Mosspaw launched herself at Fireheart, catching her by the shoulders and knocking her onto her back. Fireheart hit the ground with a thud with Mosspaw still clinging to her.
Here it comes, she thought to herself.
As soon as she hit the ground, Fireheart allowed herself to go limp under Mosspaw's grasp as though she had been defeated. Mosspaw gave a triumphant yowl but was cut off as Fireheart suddenly reared up and flung her over her shoulder. The gray and white molly let out a yelp of shock as she was thrown off, flying halfway across the hollow and finally landing with a thud. Dusting herself off, Fireheart walked over to her apprentice, who was getting up slowly with a dazed look in her eyes.
"Are you alright?" she asked gently, worried that she might have accidentally hurt Mosspaw.
To her relief, Mosspaw nodded and quickly shook herself off. "I'm fine," she reassured Fireheart. "What move was that?"
"That move was called playing dead. It's a trick you can use to catch your enemies off guard," Fireheart told her. "When you're in a tight spot in a battle, go limp and pretend that your enemy has beaten you. Once they think they've won, you're free to counterstrike while they're still unprepared."
"That's so cool!" Mosspaw exclaimed, staring at her in admiration. "I bet you could win a lot of battles with that move."
"Well, playing dead is a good way to get the upper hand, but you still need to master the other battle moves," Fireheart warned her apprentice. "You can't go into a fight knowing only one or two moves. If you do that, your enemies will have no problem beating you."
"Don't worry, I know," the gray and white apprentice meowed, nodding. "Can I try the move now?"
"Of course," Fireheart replied kindly. She took a few paces back and crouched down. "Ready...now!"
By the time they finished their training session, it was nearly sunset. Mosspaw walked beside Fireheart as they made their way back to the camp, considerably exhausted but still just as cheerful as ever. Fireheart chuckled silently to herself as she looked at the proud gleam in her apprentice's eyes. Even though she had been a warrior for several seasons now, seeing the younger cat's excitement over everything she learned never failed to remind the flame-colored molly of her own apprentice days. It was one of the reasons she enjoyed being a mentor so much.
When they arrived back at the camp, Fireheart was greeted by Stormpaw racing over to her. She let out a yowl of surprise as her daughter pounced on her, pinning her down in the middle of the clearing. Mosspaw laughed and joined in as well, sitting down on top of Fireheart so that she couldn't move.
"Got you!" Stormpaw meowed triumphantly.
"You can't take us!" Mosspaw added.
Bluefur walked over to them, a gleam of amusement in her blue gaze. "Seems like you've gotten yourself into a bit of a situation there, Fireheart."
"So it seems I have," Fireheart replied, shaking her head. She tried to push Stormpaw and Mosspaw off of her but was unsuccessful. "Alright you two, time to get off. I can't breathe with both of you sitting on top of me."
The two apprentices climbed off of her and she got to her paws, shaking herself off. Mosspaw walked over to her mother and gently bumped her head against Bluefur's shoulder, purring happily. Bluefur licked her forehead gently, draping her tail over Mosspaw's back.
"How was training today?" the blue-furred warrior asked.
"Great!" Mosspaw told her mother excitedly. "Fireheart's so cool! She taught me how to play dead today."
"Very good," Bluefur purred.
Not to be outdone, Stormpaw piped up, "Dappletail taught me how to hunt squirrels today. I even managed to catch one too. It's over there in the fresh-kill pile."
"That's wonderful, sweetheart," Fireheart praised her daughter. Stormpaw purred, brushing her cheek against her flank.
"Tigerclaw says I'm going to be as brilliant a hunter as you are," the tortoiseshell apprentice told her. "Do you think he's right? Do you think I can be as good as you someday?"
Fireheart brushed her nose against Stormpaw's ear. "I'm sure you'll be even better than me someday."
"No way!" Stormpaw insisted, shaking her head fervently. "There's no way I'll ever be better than you. You're the best at everything. You and Tigerclaw."
"Well, thank you, Stormpaw," Fireheart chuckled.
"Come on, Stormpaw, let's go!" Mosspaw called, racing over to the apprentices' den. "I want to show Mistypaw and Stonepaw the new battle move Fireheart taught me today."
"Coming!" Stormpaw called back, taking off after her friend.
Fireheart watched her daughter go, then shook her head and turned to Bluefur again. "Well, now that they're busy, is there anything you needed?"
"Actually, yes. I want you to come on a border patrol with me," Bluefur requested. "The patrols have been reporting finding ShadowClan scent on our territory and I want to check it out."
"Sure, alright," Fireheart agreed with a nod. "Let's go, then."
She followed her friend out of the camp, nodding to Adderfang and Goldenflower as they passed by with their jaws full of prey. The two warriors gave her a muffled greeting in reply before pushing their way through the gorse tunnel. Fireheart felt encouraged by the sight of the fresh-kill in her Clanmates' jaws; it was a clear sign that the moons of hunger were coming to an end at last.
As Fireheart followed Bluefur through the forest, she suddenly realized that this was the first time they had patrolled together in at least a moon. The blue-gray warrior had been considerably busy with her deputy duties, especially after Sunstar fell ill and lost one of his lives to greencough. She didn't blame her friend, of course–after all, she was quite busy herself–but she had missed spending time together as friends.
"So..." Bluefur meowed slowly, dropping back slightly to walk beside Fireheart. "How's everything been going lately? It's been a while since I got a chance to talk to you."
Fireheart flicked her tail. "Fine, I suppose," she replied nonchalantly.
"It looks like you've been doing well with Mosspaw," her friend meowed warmly. "I'm glad Sunstar chose you to be her mentor."
"Yeah, thanks," Fireheart murmured. She paused for a moment, then asked, "So, how's being the deputy treating you?"
Bluefur twitched her ears. "It's not bad," she meowed, bounding over a fallen tree. "Definitely a lot of work, but it's an honor to serve my Clan."
Fireheart nodded in understanding. Privately, however, she couldn't help thinking that she didn't envy Bluefur's position at all. She knew that being named to the position of Clan deputy was a great honor, but she didn't think she would ever want that much responsibility for herself. It was enough work being responsible for her own duties, never mind keeping the rest of the Clan in line. Besides, she was too young and inexperienced to become the deputy anyway.
"You know, you would make a good deputy," Bluefur meowed as if she had read Fireheart's thoughts.
"Me?" Fireheart scoffed. "No way. I'm not the kind of cat you would want as a deputy; I don't like the idea of having so many responsibilities and I'm not the leadership type. I'm happier just being a regular warrior."
"You mean you've never wondered what it's like to be Clan leader or deputy?" Bluefur asked, looking at her quizzically.
"I mean, sure, I've wondered," she replied indifferently. "But I know it's not the right path for me. I like mentoring apprentices and I enjoy hunting and a good battle every once in a while, and that's all I need. Being deputy...and having so many cats rely on me to keep them organized...no, I couldn't do it. I'm better off following instead of leading."
Bluefur flicked her ears affectionately. "Well, you do a fine job as a regular warrior as well."
"I know," Fireheart meowed cheerfully.
"You are a bit strange, though," Bluefur added, almost as an afterthought.
"Hey!" she protested. "Don't call me strange!"
"And you're bossy too," the blue-furred queen meowed.
"What was that?!"
"Nothing, my dear Fireheart, nothing at all."