Graystripe is proud of their bumper catch they managed to hunt together. Cloudpaw especially is proving to be a great hunter, almost as good as Sandstorm. Swiftpaw still did good too. Longtail has obviously been mentoring him greatly. But uneasiness returns as he remembers he has to take Cloudpaw out training. With how successful his hunting has been, along with Swiftpaw, battle training would be best.

Padding over to Longtail, he meows, "Do you think our apprentices would like to train together in battle training?" What he was really asking for was for Longtail to come with him so if he makes any novice mistakes as a mentor, Longtail can guide him.

"I suppose not." Longtail meows in response, flicking his tail. "But we should let them eat first. They did work hard."

"I agree."

Graystripe picks a mouse and heads over to a patch of grass to eat. Sandstorm joins him, a mouse in her jaws as well. They eat in relative silence. Though once they are finished they begin to share tongues with one another. Pain stabs his heart as he remembers the many meals he shared with Fireheart. Which will never happen again.

Afterwards, he finds Longtail, readily waiting for him with Swiftpaw and Cloudpaw. They head to the training hollow. The scents of the forest once again ease his mind and lets him forget about his worries for a little bit.

They arrive at the training hollow. The ground is soft and spongy. Perfect for battle training. Taking the lead, he mews, "Alright. Cloudpaw I want you to demonstrate what Fireheart has taught you so far with sparring against Swiftpaw."

Watching the spar, he notices Swiftpaw have more of an advantage in fighting. His moves are smooth and well thought out, whereas Cloudpaw's fighting moves have barely any strategies put into them. It's just swiping his paws and hoping for the best. Tilting his head, he wonders if Fireheart focused on hunting more, whereas Longtail focused on battle skills more.

The spar ends in Swiftpaw's favor, as Swiftpaw stands overtop the white cat, his paws firmly planted on Cloudpaw's chest.

"I think I know what we need to work on." Graystripe murmurs. He then adds, whispering, "Longtail you trained Swiftpaw greatly."

"Thank you."

He then beckons Cloudpaw with his tail and they go to the other side of the Training Hollow.

"So what are we focusing on?" Cloudpaw asks, eager to learn.

"Tactics. Your moves were very stilted and didn't have lots of variety. It was mostly paw swiping while Swiftpaw was strategic and used the moves Longtail taught him."

"Oh," Cloudpaw mews in disappointment. His ears down and wearing a frown.

"Don't worry. Plenty of apprentices have started out with the bare bones of battle skills. It's how you learn and how you build up to the harder moves."

"Okay," Cloudpaw seems a little more enthusiastic to learn after his statement.

Graystripe then flicks his tail and walks to the other side of the clearing. He crouches down low. "We'll discuss tactics later for how to deal with an enemy cat. For now pretend I am a Shadowclan warrior raiding the nursery."

He sees Cloudpaw get into the same crouch as him. But his eyes give away where he is going to attack. When Cloudpaw leaps, he swiftly moves out of the way expecting it. While Cloudpaw is confused he launches himself onto the apprentice and tackles him to the ground.

Letting go he meows, "Again."

But each time he can anticipate where Cloudpaw is going to strike and dodge the attack easily. Once he pins down Cloudpaw for the thirteenth time, he mews, "Lets talk strategy."

He lifts his paws off of Cloudpaw's chest and sits down, tail covering his paws. Cloudpaw pants, out of breath from their spars. The white apprentice then sits down as well after he's caught his breath.

"You know the moves, the problem is that I can anticipate where you are going to strike and use that to my advantage to win."

Cloudpaw tilts his head in confusion, "And how was I doing that?"

"Your eyes. An opponent can read your eyes and gather information on where you plan to strike and when. There's also body language. You often tensed up when you were about to leap telling me when you were battle ready. You also tensed up when you were about to lift your paw for a swipe. Those are all things that can clue an opponent on how you are going to strike."

"Then how do I stop those cues from happening?"

"Strategy. And practice. One way to stop your eyes from showing where you want to strike is keeping them firmly planted on your enemy. Another is to just wing it without using any strategy and using moves in the moment rather than in analyzing the best move to defeat your opponent with. And in battles with how fast paced they are, this is often what most warriors use. As while you are analyzing your opponent for that split second your opponent can use that time to attack you unawares.

"Is that why Brackenfur got his warrior name during one of Shadowclan's attacks?" Cloudpaw asks, causing Graystripe's fur to prick with unease. "Because you taught him so well?"

Guilt and unease pricks his fur, but he mews, "Yeah. That's right." He feels guilty lying to Fireheart's kin. But the clan probably didn't notice him being absent from training. His matehood with Silverstream caught them all off guard until it was publicly announced by Tigerclaw after her death.

Grief swamps his heart again, but he shakes his fur to get rid of the feeling. Training Cloudpaw is priority.

"Wow! I can't wait. Maybe I'll earn my warrior name in battle!"

"Bluestar and the mentors ultimately decide when an apprentice is ready to become a warrior. And in the case of Brackenfur, with his excellent fighting skills he was ready to become one after that battle. Like me and Fireheart as well."

"You also got your warrior names after a battle?"

"Yes. It was when Frostfur's kits were taken by a Shadowclan warrior. We had to go right into the heart of Shadowclan territory and into their camp to retrieve them back. Yellowfang, a group of exiled Shadowclan elders, and Whitestrom who was leading a patrol helped us get the kits back."

Cloudpaw's blue eyes widened in awe. Graystripe purrs, looking back at the day with fondness as he looks at the trees. He then looks at Cloudpaw, and reminds himself that he should be training his apprentice.

"Alright, enough reminiscing. I want you to show me what you've learned. And after a few bouts we can go back to camp okay?"

Cloudpaw nods and immediately gets into a crouch. They spar a couple of times and he already noticed an improvement in Cloudpaw's movements. He still hasn't beaten him, but at least now their bouts last longer. He can barely tell where Cloudpaw will strike. His usage of the moves he knows is also pretty good. But not enough.

Flicking his tail, he mews, "Good progress."

Cloudpaw lightens up at the praise. "Really?"

"Yes I could hardly tell when you would strike. Tomorrow after some hunting I'll teach you some battle moves which will make your spars more interesting."

Cloudpaw walks with a little skip in his step. Clearly excited. But Graystripe can't help but wonder if this is how Fireheart would have taught him. He did enjoy being a mentor to Cloudpaw. It felt nice, but… He failed Brackenfur and he's scared he'll fail Cloudpaw as well. It was Fireheart who trained Brackenfur, not him.

Looking up at the sky, he prays to Fireheart and his ancestors to help him be the best mentor he can be to Cloudpaw.