A New Not-Father (Closed)

The moors were wide and expansive. The grass waved to him like a two-leg might wave in greeting. The wind was slow and lazy today, bringing a slight crisp bite and the smell of the river drifting from RiverClan. It was sunset as Falconstone sat at the crest in the farthest corner of WindClan territory, away from it all. A few tail-lengths back, across the border, was his and Minkpaw's stones. He had started to collect more again, but most of his time was spent with Sandypaw. He couldn't collect stones with Sandypaw. It wasn't the same. His ears twitched as he sat there, listening. This corner of WindClan was infrequently visited by other cats other than himself and Sandypaw, making it a good place to hunt alone.

His nose twitched, scenting the moory smell of a rabbit. Silently like the trained warrior he was, he crouched, snaking across the crest in a zig-zag, slipping through the grass like wind. He couldn't see the rabbit, but he knew it was below the crest. Crouching, he prepared his long legs for a sprint. His father and grandfather were tall. He was just as tall but he was faster than both of them. Traveling across the land to find StarClan had made his legs stronger.

With another silent push, the chase was on. Sprinting across the poor at top speed, Falconstone gave chase. It was less about catching the prey than having a game. As they went up and down the crests, Falconstone noticed a cat in the distance; too far away to tell who but the hunting pair was heading right toward them. With a growl, he sped up, nearly tail-lengths behind the rabbit.

The open expanse that was the sky, still left Kestrelpaw feeling uneasy as if she was going to be attacked at any minute. She felt vulnerable, twitching at every breeze that rushing through her short pelt and flinching at the noise that the dried grass made as it brushed against her pelt. Even the earth felt wrong, hard and packed, not the always damp leaf litter that she'd grown up with. But the most unsettling thing was that everything was visible for metres in front of her. That meaning, prey could see her too.

Sitting by a stretch of earth where rabbit's made their burrows, Kestrelpaw was waiting for something to come out when she spotted the WindClan warrior, Falconstone in the distance. The she-cat got up from where she was poised, uncertain of whether to help him or not. He didn't look all the hurried, his long legs helping him keep pace with the rabbit. She was considering pretending that she didn't see him, until she realised a little too late that he was coming right for her. The tortoiseshell fluffed up in surprise when the rabbit leap over her small frame, dashing towards the burrow. Having never caught a rabbit, she didn't know what to do and tried to bat the prey like a mouse.

Unsurprisingly, it did barely anything except bat the rabbit slightly off course, giving Falconstone a few seconds more to hunt it down.

As he neared the warrior recognized the cat as Kestrelpaw. The rabbit leaped over her, heading toward a burrow. He growled slightly. Would the apprentice just stand there and let the rabbit go underground? Ever since the tunnel collapsed on he and Minkpaw, the warrior had been afraid of those tunnels. Those tunnels killed Minkpaw. Luckily though, the apprentice batted out and shifted the rabbit's course. Bursting to his full speed, Falconstone tackled the rabbit, rolling a few times from the momentem before dispatching it quickly and dropping it to the ground. He stood, panting slightly. After he regained his breath, he turned to the apprentice, his eyes weary.

"Do you not know how to catch a rabbit?" the tom asked flatly, the high from his run degrading to his normal emptyness. "Who is your mentor?" he sat down, his tall frame still looming over Kestrelpaw. With a quick lick the warrior smoothed down his wind-ruffled fur as he awaited the response.

She was already feeling embarrassed that her hunting techniques weren't working against the swift moor rabbits, but Falconstone's words were the straws that broke the camel's back. The she-cat fluffed up defensively, wordlessly mouthing in indignation before she finally managed to utter out. "Well excuse me for not being born a hare-eating giant." She snapped, looking up at the tom who easily towered over her lithe yet tiny frame. She looked comically small against him, yet she still managed to stand her ground.

"I bet you wouldn't know the first thing about hunting sparrows and finches in forests." Huffing, she turned away from him, as if refusing to engage but then she muttered quietly. "I don't have a mentor... I guess since I'm not officially a member of WindClan, I don't deserve one." It was unusual for her to be so uncertain, but considering one misstep, as far as she was concerned, could lead her to being kicked out of WindClan, she couldn't help act cautiously. Asking Ashstar for something as simple as a mentor felt like asking too much when the leader had given her shelter from ThunderClan.

Falconstone snorted. Of course he wouldn't know how to hunt sparrow's. He was a born and raised WindClan cat. To even consider why he couldn't hunt those was absurbed but... how could a WindClan apprentice hunt those? The warrior's orange eyes gleamed in amusement. The tiny furball was getting so worked up over a comment. It was cute.

Cocking his head, the warrior struggled to hear her murmur as she turned away. An apprentice without a mentor? How could Ashstar be so lax? A soft bristle raised the fur on his spine. If Sablestar had kept her promise, Kestrelstorm would never have let an apprentice go without a mentor. Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself and put on a pleasant smile. He stood, and quickly covered his prey before circling to the front of the apprentice. "Why do you not have a mentor?" he pressed, blocking the path of the apprentice by sitting once more. Would the apprentice try to run away? His whiskers twitched in amusement with the thought.