It didn't take long for Mothbrook and Juniperlight to come up with a plan: Forestpaw and Nightpaw and their mentors would meet up for training until sunhigh, and then they would part ways to hunt or practice battle movements.
Only a few days after she had been apprenticed, Mothbrook took her near the RiverClan border, and told Forestpaw that they were going to hunt.
"Before you can even begin to hunt, you need to know how to be able to stalk toward your prey very quietly," Mothbrook began, "It's called the hunter's crouch. Now, watch me."
Forestpaw's mentor bent her front and back legs and crouched low to the wet ground. Her belly fur grazed the soil, and her tail stuck straight out above the ground, so as not to disturb any underbrush in the way. Her eyes were fixed forward, staring ahead, and she breathed out through her mouth so her exhales weren't as loud.
After a few heartbeats, Mothbrook stood up and shook herself. "Your turn," she instructed, "Remember to keep your tail off the ground; I've seen many apprentices struggle with that." She flicked her ears, gesturing for her apprentice to try the hunters' crouch.
Forestpaw nodded and took a deep breath. She crouched low to the earth, checking that her tail was off the ground and she was low enough so she couldn't make a big shadow. Once she had settled into her crouch, she looked up at Mothbrook, who's eyes were gleaming with pride.
"Well done!" she exclaimed, "I'm very impressed how quick you learn."
Forestpaw's eyes widened. "I was just trying my best…" she whispered, her fur suddenly growing hot.
Mothbrook purred. "Your best is very imposing," she assured her, "I think you're ready to stalk some prey. We'll go over walking in that crouch, and we'll see if you can catch some real prey!"
Mothbrook drilled Forestpaw on her hunters' crouch longer than she expected, but eventually her mentor straightened up. "Angle your nose forward," she told Forestpaw, "What do you smell?"
Anxiety ripped up the young apprentice's spine, but she tried to ignore it as she did what she was told and angled her nose in front of her and inhaled. A strong scent of rotten mud wafted into her nose.
Forestpaw was about to murmur what she had scented, but she remembered the times when she had embarrassed herself in front of her Clan, and she closed her jaws, hoping Mothbrook would assume that she hadn't smelled anything.
But her mentor flicked her fluffy tail irritably. "Well?"
Forestpaw jumped. She tried to speak again, but it felt like she had a fur ball stuck in her throat. "There's something…that smells…like old mud?" she managed to choke out.
Mothbrook purred. "Yes, that's a frog. They live on lily pads in ponds or streams, and they jump very high; higher than a cat's height—but don't worry, they're harmless, and easy prey for a new apprentice," she added when Forestpaw's eyes filled with uneasiness, "I want to see you try to locate it and stalk it."
Forestpaw's tail twitched nervously. What if she couldn't catch it? What would Mothbrook do? She seemed so impressed how she could catch on to skills fast, what if Forestpaw messed it up and Mothbrook became disappointed in her?
Forestpaw shook her pelt and tasted the air. The murky smell seemed to be coming from her left, so she glanced at Mothbrook, who gave a nod, and she crouched, making sure her tail wasn't going to stir anything up, and then began to stalk forward. The smell became even stronger as she walked, and soon she spotted a small, green creature with big eyes. It lounged in the sun on the damp dirt near a small pond. Forestpaw held her breath and moved behind it. She was careful not to make a shadow above it and inched closer to it. Once she got close enough, she leapt through the air and landed on top of the frog, swiftly biting its neck to make the kill, just as Mothbrook had taught her.
Pride lanced through her. My first catch!
She bounded back over to her mentor and Mothbrook purred with satisfaction. "Very good, Forestpaw! Your technique was very beautiful," she added.
Forestpaw looked away, suddenly embarrassed. Truthfully, she hadn't really expected to kill the frog. She had conjured up a picture in her mind of her missing the frog entirely, making a fool of herself and losing her prey as it jumped into the pond. She silently thanked StarClan that that hadn't happened and sat down, with the frog still dangling from her mouth. It tasted better than it smelled, and she could tell that if she bit into the skin it would be slightly chewy.
"Shall we go back to camp?" Mothbrook asked, glancing at the sky. It was almost dark.
Forestpaw nodded, only getting to her paws once her mentor had started forward.
Once they had gotten back to camp, Forestpaw dropped her first catch into the fairly low fresh-kill pile and grabbed a small mouse from it.
She sat down with her meal and began to eat. Soon after, Nightpaw bounded into camp with Juniperlight following behind. He dropped his own catch into the fresh-kill pile and joined Forestpaw with a crow.
"How was it?" Nightpaw asked his sister, "I caught a mouse! Juniperlight taught me how to stalk prey, and then she finally let me catch something!" He glanced at the fresh-kill pile, locating his mouse that he had dropped into the pile.
"Cool!" Forestpaw mewed quietly, "I caught a frog—but when it was in my mouth, it had this weird chewy texture, and I'm not sure if I like it that much." She batted her mouse to hold it down as she bit into the underbelly.
"It's not for every cat," a voice replied. Forestpaw spun around, only to see it was their mother, Firebird, "How has your first few days of training been? I'm sorry I haven't been able to share tongues with you, I've just been so busy with patrols, now that Gorgestar has ordered more to mark the borders to remind ThunderClan of the boundaries."
By now, every cat in ShadowClan knew that ThunderClan cats had been crossing the established border consistently for almost a moon, and Gorgestar had meowed fiercely, "We will ignore them until they say something at the Gathering; only then will we utter a word about this. I want two extra patrols to go out each day and refresh the borders so ThunderClan knows we are not weak. Echowing, is that clear?"
The ShadowClan deputy had nodded, his ears twitching.
Now, with the Gathering only two moonhighs away, Forestpaw was worried that on her first Gathering, all of the Clan would erupt into chaos, taking sides and hurling themselves into battle, breaking the sacred truth Firebird had told them about in the nursery when they were kits.
"That's okay!" Nightpaw mewed, interrupting her thoughts, "We were busy with training, too! I don't think we would've been able to share tongues either. I don't know about Forestpaw, but most days after training I'm so tired my paws could drop off!"
Firebird purred. "Well, I'll leave you two to rest," she meowed. She quickly nuzzled her kits, then disappeared into the warriors den.
Nightpaw glanced up at the sky. The warm, orange light was slowly fading into a black sky. "I'm going to go to sleep so I can get good sleep before Juniperlight wakes me up. I'll see you tomorrow," Nightpaw flicked his tail in farewell and made his way into the apprentice den.
Forestpaw yawned. She might as well go to sleep earlier rather than later to get some extra sleep, like her brother had said. She gulped down the rest of her mouse and swiped her tongue around her muzzle, then followed her brother into the den.
"Kestrelpaw!"
Forestpaw blinked her eyes open and yawned. She felt bodies shift around her as Kestrelpaw ducked out of the apprentice den to go to his mentor, Creekwing. She sat up, stretching her front legs.
Padding out of the den, she caught a glimpse of Firebird's tail as she left the camp with the dawn patrol. Forestpaw wondered if Mothbrook had gone on that patrol.
No, you flea-brain, she has to train me!
She shook her pelt, flakes of moss flying off her pelt. It wouldn't be too much longer until her mentor emerged from the warriors den.
While Forestpaw waited, she began to groom herself, so her stuck up fur would be smooth for training.
By the time she finished, Juniperlight and Nightpaw had left camp to go battle training, as well as Toadpaw and Skyclaw. The sun was gradually beginning to rise, leaving patches of sunlight streaming into the camp.
"Good morning, Forestpaw," a voice behind the young apprentice greeted. She turned around to see it was Mothbrook, "Are you ready to go? I'll teach you some battle moves today."
Forestpaw's ears straightened. Finally, battle training! Now, if any Clan dared to attack, she wouldn't be totally useless. Excitedly, she nodded her head.
"But first, you will hunt. The fresh-kill pile is getting low, and the Clan needs to be fed," Mothbrook meowed, "Today I thought you could try to locate and catch prey alone, with no assistance, since you seem to be learning pretty fast."
Forestpaw nodded again.
Her mentor sighed. "Forestpaw, you'll have to speak at some point in your life," she told her.
Forestpaw looked away, her belly lurching. She knew her refusal to speak would cause a problem at some point, but she wasn't ready for it to start escalating now.
Mothbrook pressed herself against Forestpaw comfortingly. "I know it's hard, and I won't force you to speak. But I just want you to practice talking, to prepare yourself for when you're a warrior," she murmured into her apprentices' ear, "Now let's go."
After Forestpaw had caught a mouse, and, quite miraculously, a frog, they headed back to camp to eat. By then, the camp was alive with action, with Mossbranch, the only elder, sunning himself outside the elders' den, and apprentices bounding around, changing out the elders' bedding, and helping expand or patch up the apprentice den.
Too excited to wait around, Forestpaw dropped her prey into the pile and started to pick up a crow.
"Wait! Make sure Mossbranch has eaten before you start to eat," Mothbrook warned. Forestpaw grabbed the crow and raced over to where the elder sunned himself.
"I, well, I was—" Forestpaw stuttered over her words, suddenly remembering how scared she was to talk.
"Why did you disturb me?" Mossbranch complained, "I was perfectly fine sleeping on my own, until you stomped into camp and yowled out nonsense!"
"S-sorry…" Forestpaw whispered. She bowed her head.
"Well, spit it out, then! What do you want from me?" Mossbranch mewed crossly, sitting up and beginning to wash his face.
"I was just…" Forestpaw realized Mossbranch was glaring at her, and guessed she was being too quiet. She tried to speak a little louder, "I was just…I was just wondering if you wanted this prey that I…that I brought for you…"
"You're mouse-brained if you think I would say no," the stocky elder said, "Give it over, then!"
"Y-yes, Mossbranch," Forestpaw breathed, dropping the fairly sized crow in front of him. Once he began to eat, she bounded toward the fresh-kill pile. Since there were no more nursing or expecting queens, the only cat that she had to deliver food to was Mossbranch.
She picked out a mouse from the fresh-kill pile and sat down next to Mothbrook, who was almost finished with her meal.
As quickly as possible, Forestpaw gulped down her mouse, in hopes that Mothbrook would finish her morsel faster as well.
Once both of the cats had finished eating, Forestpaw jumped up as Mothbrook disappeared out of camp. She bounded toward her mentor, soon catching up.
"The first move I will teach is the belly rake," Mothbrook began once they had stopped in a clearing, "If you are tackled in battle, the most common thing to do is rake their belly, so the opposing cat will at least loosen their grip on you."
Forestpaw nodded. This was her first real battle move! Finally, she wouldn't be totally helpless in battle! She shuffled her paws, excited to try out the move.
"I will also teach you how to dodge a belly rake. Even if you have tackled a cat, they will probably try the belly rake on you first," Mothbrook meowed. She moved closer to her apprentice. "We'll try the belly rake first."
Before Forestpaw could nod again, Mothbrook was on top of her. She wanted to yowl in surprise, but she bit it back, instead just hissing.
"Now, Forestpaw, keep your claws sheathed and slash your paws along my exposed belly," Mothbrook mewed in her apprentice's ear.
Forestpaw tensed her back muscles and reached out with her paws to claw Mothbrook's belly. But her mentor immediately threw herself off of Forestpaw.
That's not fair! She knew I was going to rake her belly!
"Next time, don't tense your muscles, because that will give your opponent a clue of what you are going to do next. It's best to keep everything limp, and then lash out when they are least expecting it. The reason why I could jump off was because I could feel your haunches tensing underneath me," Mothbrook warned.
Forestpaw nodded, her paws tingling with excitement.
"Other than that, your execution of the move was perfect," the silver-ticked she-cat purred.
Forestpaw's eyes widened. "R-really?" she stammered as quietly as she could.
"Yes, really, mouse-brain," Mothbrook teased, "We'll practice the belly rake a few times, and then we'll go back to camp for the day, alright?"
Forestpaw flicked her ears in agreement.
She couldn't wait for battle training the next day!