Aspenpaw's Assessment

Frostfall had offered to take on some training from busy mentors. They have had a shortage of warriors for apprentices, and it didn't really help that Reedfang was taken away from them. She could only pray he would return. The white tabby waited on Aspenpaw to join her.

Aspenpaw's short, grey fur shimmered in the sun as he padded over, the damp grass soft underfoot. Small deliveries of rain had littered the land, and dewdrops hung on nearly every green thing in the area. He made his way over, flicking his tail in greeting. Frostfall, his mentor's daughter, was planning on taking him to do training of some sort today. Perhaps his assessment.

"Greetings Aspenpaw. Today we are doing your assessment." She wasn't going to trick the apprentice, and say they were doing something else when in truth they were doing the assessment. "I want you to catch one fish for me, and then two ground prey. Got it?" She paused for a moment, "If you got it, then get going. Remember I will be watching you even though you might not see me."

He perked his ears and listened, nodding along. "Okay." He said in response, green eyes shifted towards the river's direction as he made his way through the land. Easy enough. As he approached the river, his paws felt limp. As he had noticed throughout his life, he worked terribly under pressure. Great timing. He growled at himself, and waited for a fish to pass by. His limp paws scoured the top of the water, sensing a visible shadow. He struck into the water, but missed the fish with his clumsy paws. Cursing at himself under his breath, he waited.

It took a matter of minutes to find another piece of prey. He felt nervous as Frostfall watched him from somewhere, and he struck his claws into the water, not expecting to catch the fish in the move. When he caught it, he frantically pulled it's floppy body up and onto the shore beside him, waiting for it to die. It did, and he took a deep breath. He set it carefully on the ground, awkward. "Um, I'll keep it... Here. I guess." He got up and went over to the land area of the territory, hoping to catch some ground prey. Keeping his body downwind, he stalked forward, looking for any senses of life. After minutes of waiting and watching, a shrew quickly scurried past. He pounced on the long nosed creature, piercing it's skin as it quickly went limp in his paws. He picked it up in his mouth and set it beside the fish. It seemed he forgot Frostfall was even there now.

Now, the last part. He went back to looking for ground prey. The time it spent looking could have been as long as it took to eat five fish. A long time, for him at least, being a slow eater and all. This time, his downwind position was doubtfully going to get him prey. It was slouched a bit, but a rare squirrel pranced right in front of him. It was dumb and oblivious, and quite fat. It wasn't prepared for such a predicament like this. The tom simply sliced the air, which eventually hit the squirrel hard on the face. The squirrel toppled as Aspenpaw bit into it's neck. He walked back to his small pile, carrying the messy kill. He dropped it beside the others and scented Frostfall. Quickly become nervous, he asked, "Was... That good? Did I do it right? Did I pass...?"

Frostfall soon appeared after the apprentice came back to the small pile he had made. He had messed up at first, and there were a few things he could have done better, but it was over all good so she had to give him that. "Yes you pass." Was all she gave. She figured she could account the mistakes for being nervous or under pressure from her watching. "Grab your stuff, and lets head back to camp."

He let out a sigh of relief and nodded. He grabbed his catches and followed her back to camp. Finally, I'll be a warrior.