is worth two in the bush [C]

Rowansong

Egretpaw was not a terrible apprentice to have. As it turned out, training an apprentice was not half so difficult as Rowansong though it would be. It was just… training. Familiar, even though he was on the other side of it now. It still felt a bit clumsy, but it wasn’t exactly hard.

Being given Larkpaw on top of Egretpaw was a surprise, but Rowansong wasn’t going to protest. There were more kits than there were warriors; he’d figured some of the new apprentices would be sharing a mentor. Even he had shared a mentor once, yet he never thought he’d be the one training two apprentices. But it would be manageable– tiring, he guessed. Maybe he would find the trick to it faster, doing twice as much mentoring. If nothing else, it would keep him busy for a while.

There was more to how surprising the assignment he’d been, something unplaceable about Larkpaw’s… disposition. They were sure to get on fine though, even if that came eventually. Waving his tail as if to brush the doubts away, Rowansong ducked into the apprentice’s den. When he spotted the pair of dark-furred bodies, he picked his way over, careful to make sure it was Larkpaw he tapped on the shoulder. “Up and away, Larkpaw. Time for your training to begin.” With another wave of his tail, Rowansong turned to exit the day, pausing to wait halfway to the exit.

Larkpaw

Larkpaw was happy to be out of the nursery. The apprentice den was much bigger and did not have quite as many bodies packed in together. All of the bodies were bigger though, which he was not used to. He was happy to take his nest near Rookpaw. (Whose nest was also near Sunpaw, but Larkpaw did his best to not focus on that bit of information.) He slept peacefully beside his sibling through the night, until the morning when he was roused by Rowansong.

Ah, yes. Training.

Larkpaw’s eyes opened into narrow slits, annoyance radiating off of him enough to bristle his fur, but he tried his best to wipe that all away. He stood slowly and stretched out. Rookpaw was lucky, having a little while of break while his mentor was still trapepd in the nursery with her new kits. Rookpaw was not used to having to rise so early in the morning, and it sparked brief anger inside of him. He tried to push it away, of course. He had to be nice. He could surely manage to be kind to his mentor.

He left the apprentice den beside Rowansong without a word. He kept his chin raised as they walked together. He was never much of a morning person, and that showed in his bedraggled appearance and foul expression, but he held his tongue to keep from snapping at Rowansong as they ventured into the territory. He waited long enough until he was sure he would not growl out his words, and instead asked in a neutral tone, “What will our training be today?”

RiverClan • Apprentice • He/Him • 20 | 60 • #787878

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Rowansong

Larkpaw was silent when he left the apprentice’s den, and stayed that way even as the pair took their first steps into the territory. It was surprising, not to hear some sort of surprise or awe or excitement, but then… Rowansong didn’t expect that of his new apprentice. He looked over his shoulder several times, wondering if Larkpaw seemed any livelier. That ruffled scowl met him at each glance. The one time he didn’t pause to look back, Larkpaw found his voice.

Rowansong’s head angled this way and that. “Walking, I imagine,” he mewed after a few beats of consideration. The answer came coolly, but he couldn’t help but snicker only seconds after. “For today, it will be nice just to show you the territory. There is a lot of land for you to become familiar with, though it will be easy enough. You will learn faster with frequent patrols.” There was a joke waiting about sneaking out to learn for yourself, but Rowansong decided last second to keep that one to himself.

Tail flicking, Rowansong led them deeper into RiverClan lands. The territory was gold under the early dawn light, the etlands rolled out in front of them glittered with every drop of dew caught in the sun’s rays. Rowansong exhaled, soft with fondness, and padded along. “If spare time allows, we may practice rudimentary hunting today. Rodents have been rather lively, lately; I am certain you could manage one!”

Larkpaw

Rowansong’s somewhat sarcastic reply to Larkpaw’s question made his tail lash, but he did not react verbally. The serious answer followed, and Larkpaw tried to focus on that instead of the irritation at his earlier reply. Then he followed it up with—well, Larkpaw could not tell if that was sarcasm or not. Most things out of Rowansong’s mouth sounded sarcastic to Larkpaw’s twitchy ears.

“I am certain I can as well,” Larkpaw replied dryly. He looked around, watching how the light glittered off of their wet territory. His RiverClan genetics helped to keep him from slipping in shallow puddles, and he manuevered around them without needing to look too closely. “Will we not be hunting for fish? We are RiverClan cats, are we not?” Yes, he knew that they ate prey that lived on land as well, but fish was their best-known delicacy. It did not make sense to him why they should be hunting after mice and voles instead of fish.

RiverClan • Apprentice • He/Him • 20 | 60 • #787878

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Rowansong

The enthusiasm he tried to stir The enthusiasm he tried to stir wasn’t denied entirely, but Larkpaw’s flat comment made Rowansong’s ears twitch again. The following question, too: another flick, another lapse of quiet. Rowansong watched his apprentice out of the corner of his eye. “We are RiverClan cats, such is true.” He responded slowly. Green eyes lifted, looking beyond the black-and-white tom to a farther point of their territory; to the distant river, running swiftly and churning with life. Rowansong’s steps slowed until he blinked and returned his attention to Larkpaw.

“Apologies, if the contrary is true to you, but I am none too thrilled by the idea of telling Perchstar and Poppyshine I have watched an apprentice- my apprentice -roll tail-over-ears into the river, and that he is now gone.” Rowansong’s voice was matter-of-fact, but not unkind. He watched Larkpaw for a bit longer before looking ahead again. “Not that the alternative is entirely sure to keep you intact, though the threats land hunting presents are, largely, combatable. I cannot tear the fur and flesh of the current as, say, a fox.” Rowansong’s tail swayed stiffly behind him. His steady pawsteps slowed again, but this time, he came to a full stop. Birdsong echoed in the distance; much nearer, honking geese disturbed the peace.  

Rowansong took in a deep breath and quietly soaked in the corner of their territory they’d come to, pocketed with shallow puddles and tall patches of rushes. It was still, and when the bird cries faded, he could hear the heartbeat of tiny, scurrying creatures if he strained his ears. Now that they did not need to walk side by side, Rowansong moved to face Larkpaw properly. “Rest assured, we will fish in due time. It is the dawn– quite literally, in fact! –of your apprenticeship. But, allow at least a few hours of sunlight and warming the muscles before you deign to strip me furless with stress.” His head angled to the side, and the somber look that had come suddenly to his expression faded back to an easy smile. “Besides, it is as valuable a skill as fishing. Say something has happened to the river– frozen, sick with twoleg filth, something of the sort –you would regret arguing this lesson then, no?”

Larkpaw

Larkpaw’s eyes narrowed and his ears lay flat. The very notion that he would fall into the river made him want to hiss at his mentor. He instead replied, “Though I may be a new apprentice, I am not a feeble clumsy kit that will fall into the river at the first sign of water. Perhaps other stupider cats had fallen in before me, but I am not going to take a tumble into the river simply by being near it.”

He huffed and his tail lashed. He sulked as they walked. The one thing he had looked forward to most was to learn to fish. It was what RiverClan cats like him were quite literally born for. Rowansong would rather risk his well-being to a fox than to let him exist near water? It was laughable. He truly had been given the worst mentor in the clan.

“It is not as if I never want to learn these other methods,,” he grumbles. He just wanted something exciting. He was stuck in that rotten nursery for several more moons than he should have, and now his first day finally outside of the stupid camp and it’s just walking.

Wonderful.

RiverClan • Apprentice • He/Him • 20 | 60 • #787878

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Rowansong

Despite his every attempt to be engaging, Larkpaw’s scowl persisted and even deepened. Rowansong’s eyes twitched to a brief glare, but he was quick to ease back into a nicer look— or quick to attempt, as his constant grin drew into a tight frown and his eyes narrowed properly with Larkpaw’s rebuff. The bitterness of killed excitement almost reached his ears, but he hadn’t moved past the snap over the river.

Rowansong looked down at his apprentice for a quiet moment. He paced closer and, slowly, raised a paw to cuff him over the ears. It was far from a damaging blow, just the sort of scolding bat a queen gives to her kits. “Do you not remember the two warriors fished from the river recently? The pair of seasoned warriors, who I am sure had spent more time in or around the river than you have been alive? Should we venture to recreate the memory for the rest of RiverClan?” Rowansong’s tail snapped once before he forced himself to just sigh and jerk his attention to the side.

What a terrible way to start a relationship with his apprentice. Had Stormdance been this annoyed with him when he’d still been young? Rowansong shook his head. Surely he hadn’t been so crass.

Hopefully.

Another sigh, and Rowansong turned back to Larkpaw after the few moments to gather himself. His first outing with Stormdance still echoed in the back of his mind. “It is not as if you will never learn to fish, or to swim.” He began again with was much patience as he could muster. Frustration still crept to the edges of his voice, but he remained measured. “But the river is dangerous. Cats with far more experience than you have lost their lives to its depths, and I do not wish the same for you. I do not wish to be the cause for a sibling’s loss.” It was a point of empathy, he hoped. “The river will go nowhere while you get used to navigating your territory. It will be long before we are spending days by the water, I assure you, but today will not be that day.”

Larkpaw

Larkpaw flinched when Rowansong suddenly knocked against the back of his head, and he hunched low to the ground. The blow didn’t hit even a little bit, but it jolted a sudden shock through him and he trembled as Rowansong spoke so high-and-mighty above him. Who cares about two warriors who were stupid enough to fall into the river and die? He wasn’t them. He didn’t act like every venture to Fourtrees was going to result in half the forest being taken because it happened before. Sometimes bad things happen. Larkpaw is not stupid. He is not careless. He can swim.

What mentor would smack his apprentice when he dared to ask about one of the most important aspects of their patrols in this clan?

Larkpaw trembled and his claws tore into the soft dirt beneath his paws as he dug into it. He finally turned his head to look up at Rowansong with one glaring eye. “You know nothing of me, and nothing of teaching if that is how you deign to treat your apprentice on his first day out, you louse!”

His body suddenly bolted and he took off into the territory as fast as his legs could carry him; which was surprisingly fast for how spindly he seemed to look. He gritted his teeth tightly as he blindly sprinted into the territory he was not yet familiar with. Stupid Rowansong. What did he know? He didn’t know anything! He was young too and spoke like he knew everything in the world. Everyone spoke like that around him.

Do you ever look at your own behavior? If you act poorly to other cats, they will act poorly back at you.

Stupid Willowpaw. And stupid Sunpaw. And stupid Rowansong. And stupid Perchstar! He wasn’t doing anything wrong and yet they always acted like he was! Let Rowansong try and tell his leader that he lost an apprentice on his first outing. See how that treats him!

RiverClan • Apprentice • He/Him • 20 | 60 • #787878

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Rowansong

Larkpaw shook before him, low to the ground and refusing to look up. Rowansong frowned and pushed out another sigh, biting down his upset to ready himself for… he wasn’t sure yet. Saying something nicer, at least. Saying what exactly, he wasn’t sure. Faint regret made his whiskers twitch. “Larkpaw–”

He’d hardly opened his mouth before Larkpaw turned a hateful look on him that quieted him immediately. If the sharp glare hadn’t, the snap that followed would’ve. Rowansong’s ears lowered, eyes narrowing again. You have not given me a chance to know you! Or teach you! He wanted to protest, but Larkpaw’s hissing ended with his body jerking away to send him bolting through the territory.

Rowansong blinked dumbly at the streak of black. “…Louse?” He echoed softly to no one. Larkpaw was already gone from sight, disappeared through rush and reed. Rowansong blinked again, then once more. “Has he just… run away?” He wasn’t sure if he should complain to Poppyshine first, for having assigned them in the first place, or to Stormdance, who had managed to turn him into someone reputable.

But he couldn’t complain to anyone if he returned to camp now, alone (as tempting as the quiet idea was). Larkpaw had, in fact, just run away.

Late realization hit him, sending a pulse of equal shock and frustration that made him race off as abruptly as his apprentice had. “Larkpaw!” Oh, maybe he should have just gone back to camp and waited for Larkpaw to return himself. It wasn’t like the apprentice would listen if— no, when he caught up anyway. Besides, being frightened into listening had worked well enough for him. He hadn’t been planning on repeating that course from the mentor’s side, but it had worked.

The bitter idea was only to humor himself while he ran. Rowansong couldn’t just abandon an apprentice, especially not his own.

Curse his own nobility. He was going to rip every strand of his own fur out before Larkpaw would see warriorhood, if both of them made it that far.

It wasn’t hard to follow Larkpaw. He was fast, but it was only his first day in the territory, and the torn grass or shallow pawprints in the occasional patches of mud led the way well enough. Rowansong lengthened his stride and called again, “Larkpaw!” when he spotted him in the distance, still running. “Larkpaw, slow down! I am trying to keep you alive, and this is making that exceedingly difficult for both of us!” He deserved some sort of acknowledgment for not shouting that he was going to personally feed Larkpaw to a fish later. "And clearly I know nothing of teaching, as you are only my second apprentice– and I have gotten both within the moon! I cannot learn how to teach you if you are insistent on doing the work yourself, you louse!"

Larkpaw

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid!!

Larkpaw’s claws tore into the sandy dirt beneath his paws as he sprinted through the territory. He heard Rowansong yelling after him. Couldn’t he leave him alone? If he was so frustrated with Larkpaw’s behavior, then leave him alone! It was where Larkpaw was best anyway.

But, of course, Rowansong continued after him. He shouted curses and pleas and excuses and it made Larkpaw’s fur itch. He knew he could not continually outrun Rowansong, however. Rowansong was older and bigger, thus having longer legs and far better stamina. Larkpaw would run out of energy and then Rowansong would catch up and scold him and they would go back and the day would be ruined.

It always gets ruined.

Larkpaw spotted a bundle of reeds near one of the pools on the territory and he sprung at them, diving into them like they were a wall of safety. He crouched down and left his head half-buried in the muddy sand below. He knew this was foolish, kit-like behavior; hiding away and pouting. But he did not want to see Rowansong. He did not want to be scolded. He did not want to be hit. He did not want to be told he was stupid. He hated Rowansong. He got the worst mentor there could be, and now there was no hope he was ever going to be a warrior; he already knew it. He wished he was with Rookpaw.

RiverClan • Apprentice • He/Him • 20 | 60 • #787878

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Rowansong

He’d nearly lost sight of Larkpaw again when the apprentice suddenly threw himself into a swath of reeds, and a brief growl of annoyance and concern rose in Rowansong’s throat. He slowed to a jog as he approached the grasses Larkpaw had disappeared into, but any worries that he had used the cover to vanish completely from sight were assuaged by the patches of black fur visible between green and the slight rattling of the reeds. A heavy sigh left Rowansong and he slowed, padding hesitantly closer. He raised a paw, gingerly brushing the reeds aside while being careful not to nudge Larkpaw or to flatten his cover entirely.

There were several heartbeats of quiet where Rowansong could only stare down at his apprentice, furious and half-submerged in muck. He figured it would not make things any better if he were to continue shouting and swearing, though it took considerable effort (and the rise of a metallic taste in his mouth from biting down on his tongue) to keep from doing so. His voice was still sharp when he decided to speak again, but he concentrated on at least keeping his cadence even.

“Larkpaw, drowning yourself in mud will serve us no better than drowning yourself in the river.” He sighed again and continued, “Again, I emphasize: I do understand your impatience to learn- or to have freedom, wherever your motivation lay -and frustration at being denied such. But you are young, Larkpaw, and inexperienced. I am sure you are intelligent and capable, but you do not have to be stupid to lose your life. I am only trying to prevent that.” His words thickened again with anger and shallowly buried grief. Rowansong swallowed and closed his eyes, taking his next sentences one word at a time to measure his own tone. “The warriors I had made an example of were my siblings, if you were unaware— one, my littermate. Perhaps my behavior was untoward, but I do not take kindly to the implication, incidental or no, that their lives were lost to folly. Nor do I take kindly to your arrogance-” Aren’t we ironic? “especially regarding your own life, and what may put it at risk.”

Rowansong released the clump of reeds he’d pushed aside and took a few steps back, where he sat down and tucked his paws close. “My only duty as your mentor is not just to assure you have the skills necessary to proceed to warriorhood. I am responsible for making sure you live to warriorhood at all. My apologies, if base concern is so vexing for you, but I will not be moved.” Rowansong blinked at Larkpaw's turn back, and after a moment of quiet, green eyes softened. The paw that'd struck Larkpaw itched slightly now. Clearing his throat, "I cannot give you a chance if you will not give me one. I do wish to be a good mentor, but I am not the sole determiner for the course of our relationship, Larkpaw."

Larkpaw

Larkpaw tensed when the reeds were brushed aside, and Rowansong’s continued lecturing—no matter how patient and calm his tone—made Larkpaw curl in tighter on himself. He shut his eyes tightly and his ears flattened. He was tired of being lectured, and being looked down on. Can he really not even be excited to learn without getting in trouble? They were RiverClan cats; why should he avoid the river for a while? He was older than most apprentices, and he was good at what he did. Rowansong just refused to see that. He was probably just a big scaredy cat about the-

Rowansong’s next words made Larkpaw pause. His ears lowered even further and he studied a spot in the mud. Ah…his siblings. That made sense, then…Larkpaw still thought that he would be fine with the river, but if he had lost Rookpaw at the river…perhaps he also would not want to go near it.

He sat up while Rowansong finished off his little speech. He wiped off the mud that clung to the side of his face and kept his eyes fixed on the ground. It took a minute for his jaw to finally begin working again.

“I am sorry about your siblings,” he began. Perhaps he should say more, perhaps Rowansong wanted to hear him apologize for inadvertently insulting his siblings, but Larkpaw did not. He had not known, and insulting Rowansong’s family was not his intention, so he would not apologize for it. “I still believe I would be fine. I am older than most starting apprentices. I was stuck in that nursery for moons past when I was supposed to be here. I am no helpless kit.” He sucked in a sharp breath and exhaled slowly to force any irritation away from his tone. “But you are…my mentor…so what you say will go.” He finally looks at Rowansong, though only for a moment before he looks back down. “When will I be ready for the river, then?” He was so tired of being so far behind on his apprenticeship. He wanted to do all he could. There was water everywhere in RiverClan, so he thought that swimming would be the first thing to learn. He supposed he was…ugh…wrong. But then he would at least like to know what Rowansong’s actual plan for his apprenticeship is. Surely that was not too much to ask?

RiverClan • Apprentice • He/Him • 20 | 60 • #787878

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