Mousepaw's border patrol training

The rays of sun shone through the bracken leaves of the elder bracken bush, which shelter the Thunderclan warriors, shielding their muscular and often worn bodies, warming their fur to the slightest touch. It lay peaceful during the long cold nights of leaf-bare, as storms often rack the dens and trees, sheltering hiding or hibernating prey as the soft white fluff coats the leaf bared ground, turning the dirt cold and frozen, often immobile. Though not always is it peaceful as the territories are full of blood-shed and violent battles. In the camps the cats stir, ready to patrol and defend whenever to live, their life style often quoted as the 'survival of the fittest'. And within Thunderclan camp stirs a single warrior, much bulkier and larger than the rest, Her fur as long as the snow itself, as she rises she abandons the warm body beside her to travel in the biting cold, Jack Frost nipping at the she-cat's wet nose. The only noise that disturbs the cats dreamless sleep was the soft crunch of the fluffy snow under her rock-hard pads, a booming voice calling out-side of a green and white den, much smaller than the rest of them. "Mousepaw, we have training."

With eyes flashing open faster than she could even think, the young apprentice quickly shot out of her little bed of moss, but it might have been just a tad bit too quick. Stumbling over her own small feet, she was able to make it out of her new den in one piece, but she couldn't hide the embarrassment that flooded over her when she came face-to-face with her mentor. "Uh, good morning Specklefur," Mousepaw greeted a little nervously as she looked up at her mentor. Although she was definitely an apprentice, she couldn't have been any larger than an average-sized kit. She didn't really look like any size to be an apprentice...

"Yeah, whatever, today we are patrolling the borders... Be weary, some cats have new wounds and it drives them mad" She jokingly warned, though not wiping off her solemn, monotonous look as she looked down at the apprentice, which should still be in the nursery. Letting off a grunt as she turned around to tread against the snow, which Specklefur considered a 'mouse' trap, heh. "So, Mousepaw, we are going to go around all along the territory, do you have any objections?" She pondered, turning her head to look once more down at the apprentice.

As Mousepaw pushed her way through the thick snow just to try to keep up with Specklefur, she shook her head more for movement for warmth than for an answer to her mentor. "No. I think it's a great idea!" she replied as she tried to keep focused on making her way through the territory. Even though it was filled with trees, it still didn't keep the snow off of the ground... This was going to be more of a pain than Mousepaw originally thought. Not just because of natural obstacles, but because Specklefur seemed to be in a very strange mood. Whenever Mousepaw watched Spottedfeather and Splotchpaw, Spottedfeather seemed to be really nice and even excited. However, Specklefur seemed to be almost the opposite.

"Now Mousepaw, I want you to tread ahead of me at all times, show me how well you can smell, how well you can keep the pace in this snow, I will go my normal pace, and you do that, alright, if you go of course I will drag you back." She instructed strictly, her fluffy tail raised high in the air as she kept looking ahead once more as they exited the camp, not even stopping to eat. Raising her expectations high for this apprentice, the smaller, the harder she should work, it'd most defiantly benefit her in the future. "And after the border patrol you are going to get moss for the elders, I will show you how to do that, and you are on your own."

"Uh, okay." she responded a little reluctantly. She really hoped that Specklefur didn't expect her to know where the borders were. They were barely out of camp and already the small apprentice seemed to be lost. All of the trees looked the same, the ground looked the same with the snow... She even tried to smell like Specklefur said and all she could really seem to smell was the dense, wet trees around them. There wasn't much of a distinction from anything around here. So, instead of trying to pinpoint one location, she trudged ahead of her mentor just as told and tried her best to use her nose to point her in the right direction only to simply keep moving straight without a clue as to where it was taking her.

"To smell better, open your maw and smell while your nose is in the air, it is better that way" She instructed, slightly annoyed, she was not the kind of cat to teach, but it was good practice, she could become deputy after Spottedfeather, that didn't sound bad but, oh well it is most likely not going to happen. "Tell me, what can you smell?" She asked, easily stepping in and out of the white fluff.

Opening her mouth just slightly, she sniffed the air to try to smell anything but the soggy forest. It took her a few tries to finally catch something, but soon she smelled a very familiar scent. Well, a couple, actually. One of them was Specklefur. Another was... what exactly was that? She thought that the smell was familiar, but the more that she sniffed, the more that she couldn't recognize it. Were they close to the border? It might explain it, but at the same time, she couldn't really tell. There were so many new sights and smells that she couldn't really distinguish one from the other quite yet. "Well, I smell you, now. And I smell something else..." she muttered as she kept trying to discern it. "I... I don't know what it is."