Summer Camp [c]

Woolywing accompanied Sandypaw to the river, a bright smile on his face and his tail high in the air. It seemed that time was passing him by faster than he could process it- Sandypaw, mere moons ago the tiny kit he'd rescued from that eagle, was now a medicine cat apprentice. He was delighted for her. The attack had left them both scarred, mentally and psysically, but Sandypaw especially must have been traumatised. He couldn't imagine she wanted to become a warrior after all that.

They soon arrived at the river, pristine and clear on this gorgeous day. He turned to his friend, though she was really more of a little sister to him than just a friend. "I do love a good swim. It's harder to catch fish now I can't tell how far away from me they are, but they are beautiful. And I can still catch them easy enough in the shallows!" To demonstrate, he waded into the river. The feeling of cool water lapping at his heels made him purr. He hadn't swam in so long, he missed this. Though he was going to show Sandypaw how he fished, the water was far too inviting not to dive in. He sank into the water, legs instinctively kicking to keep himself afloat. Then he dove underwater, taking in the view of the glimmering fish as they swam all around him. Stars, the river was beautiful. He rose to the surface again, a grin on his face, and swam back to the shore.

He shook out his pelt, spraying Sandypaw with the cool water with a laugh. "I was going to fish, but the water's just lovely. You picked a great day for swimming!" He didn't return to the river just yet, setting his sights on the fish by the shore. Concentrating, and hoping his eye wouldn't fail him, he snapped out a paw and grabbed at a minnow that swam by. He missed it by quite a margin, the fish barely bothering to evade his attempt. He cursed to himself, sighing. It wasn't too bad having a missing eye, most times he barely noticed it, but since his whiskers couldn't help him judge distance in the water fishing had become a bit of a hassle.

He tried again, aiming for a larger fish this time, and managed to hook his claws into the scales of a trout. "Yes!! I did it!" He exclaimed, grabbing the fish in his mouth and showing it off to Sandypaw. "Thee? I can shtill fith! You thould try ith!" He mumbled through a mouthful of fish.

Woolywing dropped the fish at his feet and chuckled good-naturedly. "No, I don't think there is. It'd have to grow my eye back, I don't think there's any herbs that strong!" He watched her dunk her head beneath the river's surface, looking at all the fish just like he had. Though she wasn't a warrior's apprentice, Woolywing was glad that Sandypaw still had an interest in things like swimming and fishing. He didn't want her to live her whole life in the medicine den.

He purred right back as Sandypaw approached him and brushed against his side. "Thank you! Though I'd bet Minksplash is better. That molly can swim!" In fact, he sometimes found himself a little jealous of her. He was what he liked to call a 'functional' swimmer; he could keep his head above water, but the intricacies of Minksplash's underwater maneuvers were lost on him. He set the thought aside, making a mental note to ask Minksplash to swim with him sometime.

"I think you'd be a natural! Being small is only an advantage, ypu cast a smaller shadow so you scare less fish! Come here, I'll show you!" He waded into ankle-deep water, yellow eye following the fish that darted by. He wanted to find something big enough for her to catch, but small enough that it wouldn't be too overwhelming. Hmm...

Aha! He pointed at a rat-sized silver fish. "Alright Sandy, you see that dace over there? What you wanna do is stand within paw's reach, nice and still, and then..." He unsheathed his claws and made a grabbing motion, careful not to let his shadow scare the prey away. He smiled encouragingly at his young friend, silently wishing her luck.