locked away · calpurnia

"starclan, briarpaw, you lazy furball! wake up!"

kestrelpaw has had a late start to her day, and the fact that her mouse-brained little sister won't get out of her nest (even though she promised kestrelpaw they'd eat fresh-kill together) is only setting her further back. she wanted to make a good first impression for her mentor, and being late definitely wouldn't do the trick.

briarpaw twisted around in the confines of her nest, gazing accusingly up at her sister. "what?" she meows hostilely in turn, shoving her nose back into her bedding to fight off the damp morning air.

"it's the first day of training, c'mon," kestrelpaw defends poorly at the icy look she's being given from briarpaw's stone-cold eyes, sheepishly prodding her sister in the shoulder. her jaws part in an enormous yawn and the muscles in her back ripple underneath her fur as she forces herself awake.

"i'm coming, furball." kestrelpaw doesn't need any further affirmation; she bounds away happily, tearing her way out of the apprentice's den, narrowly dodging running full-force into another apprentice.

she races over to the fresh-kill pile with head and tail held high. sniffing all around the pile, she chooses a plump robin; at the same time, briarpaw stumbles up groggily, pulling a mouse from the top of the pile.

the two cats settle down at a corner of the camp, bathed in sunshine, and tuck into their meals with flicking tail-tips and ears. the robin has more feathers than kestrelpaw likes, but it's fresh-kill, and she's thankful to have it in excess.

"hey, isn't that your mentor?" briarpaw asks, and kestrelpaw looks up with a mouthful of robin. she swallows hastily, switching her gaze to where briarpaw has her nose angled; and sure enough, the massive grey tom is standing there, looking rather testy in the early morning.

"oh, no," kestrelpaw sighs, gulping down the rest of the robin, bones and all. "i'm gonna be fresh-kill when he's through with me!"

"you better hurry," briarpaw snickers. "he looks angry."

she stumbles to her feet and hastily makes her way over to wolfshadow, the tips of her ears twitching nervously. "hi, wolfshadow," the apprentice meows, blinking her mint eyes at him apologetically. as young as she was, she still didn't quite understand the notion of respect, and it would be quite obvious that she thought of wolfshadow as her equal. "have you been looking for me? i was sharing tongues with briarpaw."

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kestrelpaw wanted nothing more than to disappear into the ground she was standing on at wolfshadow’s hard gaze. it was a bitter disappointment that she’d been given to a mentor who didn’t even want an apprentice. however, she kept her head up high with her eyes trained confidently on his, pushing away how she felt internally for the moment. even if wolfshadow didn’t want to be a mentor, she was determined to do great by him, and to be the best apprentice he’d ever had. she squared her shoulders, trying to seem just a little taller (considering she was still so tiny), and inhaled deeply. it was likely that he could hate every second that they spent together, but kestrelpaw knew it was his duty as a warrior and a clan member to be a mentor.

“good.” surprisingly, the tom began to relax ever so slightly; she could still see the lash of his tail, but she took it as a promising sign. maybe he didn’t hate her as much as she’d originally thought. it was her fault that she was late to their first training session, after all – she’d just have to do that much better the next time to avoid getting on his bad side. "to get it out of the way, yes, i am strict.” the apprentice almost scoffed at his words, but quickly swallowed down the noise, blinking rapidly out of embarrassment. strict barely began to cover it, considering how upset he’d been that she’d been late. “however, it's because i want to make sure you don't get yourself killed."

her heart softened at that, a tiny smile playing on her maw. so the big tom wasn’t as hardened and tough as he made himself seem, then! joyously, she shuffled her speckled paws. she really did have a chance to impress him, if she tried hard enough! "if you don't think you can handle me training you, you can stay in camp and speak to falconstar. however, if you wish to learn to be a true warrior, you can follow me around the territory and i can show you various landmarks and where the borders are located." the words had barely come out of his mouth, giving kestrelpaw no time to process them, before he was turning and stalking out of the camp.

with her head set in determination, she went after him, her short legs working overtime as she tried to keep up. she was a little troubled by her mentor’s words – if she couldn’t handle his training? what did that mean? did he really think she was about to give up that easily? kestrelpaw may have been a lot of things, but she certainly wasn’t a quitter, and this only fueled the motivation she had burning to make him proud as his apprentice. first apprentices were always memorable, but she would be doubly so!

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