Frostpaw Hunting

[Twilightstar]

Frostpaw padded through the undergrowth, large ears pricked. She was the oldest apprentice in AirClan, and was expecting to be made a warrior soon. So she was taking some time out of camp. She wanted to just clear her head for a bit. She was getting more and more excited and expectant as the days went by. Suddenly a scent hit her; Squirrel.

She dropped into the hunter's crouch, pulling herself forward carefully. She didn't want to scare her prey away before she could catch it. Pulling herself forward, following scent rather than sight, she finally spotted the small brown creature. Suddenly there was a loud alarm call above her, and the squirrel took off.

"Mousedung!" She snarled, sitting down on one of the roots of the Sky Oak. She quickly lost herself in her thoughts. She thought about something that had plagued her since the day she had became an apprentice: Who was her real mother? She had never met her real mother, only knew that she had abandoned her at birth. She had swore from the day she had found out that she would find her and leave her with a few scars to remember her daughter by.

[*~Quietstar~*]

Quietstar padded out from behind the Sky Oak and mewed,"Bad luck." and with that the petite dark brown tabby leader seated herself next to the apprentice. Her amber eyes glittered as she looked at her apprentice and sighed. It wouldn't be long before she would be making her a warrior, time sure had flown by way too fast.

"What are you thinking about Frostpaw?" she mewed curiously, from the look on the apprentice's face she was definitely thinking about something.

[Twilightstar]

"My mother." Frostpaw replied, staring at a patch of swaying grass. "I want to know who she is, and why she left me." This same thought had haunted her through dreams and waking moments, sun and rain, every moment she was thinking logical thought. It hurt, knowing she had a mother out there somewhere that didn't want her, had left her to die before her eyes were even open. Most kits knew the scent of their mother, but not Frostpaw. She couldn't remember anything except feeling a cold body next to her, and pawsteps hurrying away. She didn't know she had once had a brother, but he was stillborn.

[*~Quietstar~*]

Sighing Quietstar took a seat next to Frostpaw and mewed,"Maybe she didn't have a choice..Maybe she had to leave you." the Airclan leader's eyes were shimmering with tears at the thought of her own mother who had passed away last leaf-bare.

[Twilightstar]

"She left before I could even open my eyes!" Frostpaw's voice was nearly strangled by the tears welling up in her chest. "She just left me to die!" What kind of mother left her kit for dead in the forest? The only answer Frostpaw could find to that question was not a very good one. Or maybe her mom just didn't want kits, and had abandoned her for selfish reasons. All the senarios that played in her head were cruel. She couldn't imagine anything that would make a queen abandon a newborn kit.

[*~Quietstar~*]

Quietstar stood up and mewed, with no emotions in her voice,"Frostpaw, come here." she was still about a foxlength from the apprentice, and she wanted her right next to her. They obviously needed to have a talk, and the leader couldn't stand seeing the apprentice so torn up about this.

[Twilightstar]

Frostpaw padded over obediently, sitting down next to her leader and mentor. Quietstar looked serious. Maybe she shouldn't have snapped like that. She didn't mean to sound snipity, but she just wanted answers. If she had them she could get on with her life.

[*~Quietstar~*]

Sighing softly Quietstar wrapped her tail around Frostpaw and looked into the apprentice's eyes. She knew that she thought that she was in trouble, but she wasn't, although the thought of Frostpaw being in trouble did slightly ammuse the Airclan leader. She never really got mad at anyone, but she could be rather emotionless at times.

"If your eyes were closed how do you know what your mother had to go through to leave you Frostpaw?" the leader didn't wait for answers, but simply kept asking questions. "Did you ever think that maybe she passed away while you were a kit and no one told you about it? Did you ever think that she was forced to leave you?" With that she paused and waited to see what the she-cat would do.

[Twilightstar]

"I don't know," Frostpaw answered, ducking her head. "I can just feel it. She's still out there. As for what made her abandon me," she fixed her bright blue gaze on Quietstar. "What's extreem enough for a she-cat to abandon her kits? From what I've seen in the Clan, the bond between a mother and her kits is one of the strongest. I don't see what could have made her leave." That was the first question she wanted answered when she found her mother; Why? Why did she leave? Was it for a good cause, or a selfish reason?

[*~Quietstar~*]

"Now Frostpaw, I know your mother left you when you were still very young, but do you remember her scent at all?" mewed the Airclan leader curiously.

[Twilightstar]

Frostpaw blinked. "Just a little." Any cat knows the scent of their birth mother, no matter how shortly they had been together. The little of her mother's scent she did remember was strange, kind of a foresty smell mixed with the distinctive scent of loners, and a trace of Twoleg scent. For all she knew, that could have changed by now. Loners were always joining the Clans, so she wouldn't know.

[*~Quietstar~*]

"Do you think you remember it enough to recognize it at a gathering?" mewed Quietstar curiously.

[Twilightstar]

Frostpaw stared into space. "I don't even know if she joined a Clan," the apprentice mewed. "She smelled like a loner from what I remember." She wondered, if her mother did join a Clan, what Clan did she join?

[*~Quietstar~*]

"Most loners either join a clan or leave the forest forever." spoke Quietstar softly, to no cat in particular. She didn't know what to say to the apprentice to comfort her, she had no kits, and probably never would have any..No matter how much she longed to have kits of her own it just wasn't the time..And it probably would never be.

Shaking her head she mewed,"Frostpaw?" then looking up into the apprentice's eyes she added,"If you ever need someone to talk to I don't care when it is, you can come to me."

[Twilightstar]

Frostpaw looked back at her leader with bright blue eyes. "Thanks Quietstar," she meowed. "That means alot." Frostpaw had grown very close to her mentor, as most cats do. She would trust Quietstar with her life. She looked up to her almost like a mother, but she had made it a goal in life to find her birth mother, so she could stop wondering.

[*~Quietstar~*]

Quietstar nodded and waved her tail to silence the apprentice. "If there is anything I can do to help you find your mother I'll do it Frostpaw."

[Twilightstar]

Frostpaw fidgetted. "Well...I know this may sound pushy, but how much longer do you think untill I get my warrior name?" She was thinking that maybe, as a warrior, she'd be able to see more of the forest and maybe find her mother.

[*~Quietstar~*]

Quietstar's eyes glittered with ammusement. "It won't be long, as a matter of fact I was coming to find you to talk to you about that when I found you here.." She paused for a moment,"I would like to have one last training session, then tomorrow around sunhigh we could have the ceremony."

[Twilightstar]

Frostpaw's paws itched with excitement. "Okay!" She mewed brightly, forgetting all about her depression. She had a rather short attention span.

[*~Quietstar~*]

Quietstar purred, this would be the first apprenticeship that had really worked out for her, and she was thrilled to have such a great apprentice anyways. "When do you think you'll be ready for your last training session?" she mewed softly.