let yourself be swept away [closed; training]

Honeypaw

Honeypaw had not slept the greatest. Images from her adventures with Brackenpaw the night before still flashed in her mind, and she'd had a fitful, fleeting sleep once the pair had returned to camp. Honeypaw blinked sleep from her eyes as she was woken by her mentor, Mistflower, and followed her wearily out of the camp.

The whole world around her felt like a blur. Am I still dreaming? she idled. The forest looked much different during the daytime, less... imposing. The sun lit up the snow and turned the area into a brilliant and dazzling spectacle.

As she padded after Mistflower, she perked her ears and listened intently as the she-cat spoke.
"I would love a tour of our borders," Honeypaw responded politely, her tail raising in a mixture of anticipation and excitement. "I'm ready!" she mewed eagerly. I think, she added silently. Her growing anxiety felt like cold leafbare claws tightening their grip on her stomach. She swallowed them back and set her wide, blue eyes on the path ahead of them.

Honeypaw

Honeypaw trailed after and listened to her mentor, silently, attentively. She winced as she imagined the clashing bodies of cats, spilling blood and ripping fur. She nodded her agreement. I would like to avoid a confrontation too, she silently agreed.

The lake was beautiful, clear and pristine, a perfect reflection of the dawn sky above. The horizon and the lake seemed to blend together. The view took her breath away. "It's beautiful," she murmured. "It looks like it goes on forever. There's so much water!" She shivered as the breeze picked up, bringing the chilling lake air rustling through her fur. She was so used to the shelter of the trees that she felt exposed out on the shore with the wind in her fur, exposed to the sky.

Her attention snapped back to Mistflower as she asked her about her WindClan knowledge. She thought hard for a second, thinking back to what she had heard the warriors and the elders gossiping about throughout her kithood. Her tail twitched thoughtfully before she finally answered, "WindClan are known to be fast runners, so they chase rabbits on the open moor. But they also claim to be closest to StarClan, so they are arrogant." She looked at her mentor for approval. "Oh, and they also don't know how to mind their own business," she added, her huge blue eyes blinking innocently. "That's what I've heard."

Honeypaw

Honeypaw's whiskers twitched with amusement when her mentor reacted to her answer. It was easier to talk to this warrior than any of the others in the clan, and she was happy to have been paired together with her.

As they reached the lake and looked out across it, Honeypaw thought back to the stories she'd heard from the elders.
"Hmmm," she pondered, "The cold wind blows over the hearts of ShadowClan," she recalled. "They are sneaky and cunning cats. Oh, and they eat lizards." Her nose crinkled up at that, imagining the scaly texture across her tongue. "And RiverClan eat fish and can swim in the river, but that's all I know about them." Honeypaw quite liked this little trivia lesson about the other clans. It made her think about all the elders' tales and gossip around camp.

Honeypaw

Honeypaw's eyes glittered at the prospect of spending more time with Mistflower in the comfort of their own territory. "Yes, please!" she agreed, trying to imagine what fish, or even a river, looked like. All she had known her whole life was the lake and their little portion of the forest. "I want you to show me everything at the forest, Mistflower," she purred. This tour had shown her that the she-cat was to be trusted, and Honeypaw quite liked her. The tone of Mistflower's voice and the look in her eyes when she mentioned how she thought fish were pretty made Honeypaw feel that perhaps they had more in common than she ever thought could be possible.

Her mentor's question brought her back from her thoughts.
"Oh, no!" she blurted out, taking a step back. Clearly embarassed, she wiped one paw over her face. "I mean - I had a lot of fun exploring with you. Isn't there anything else we can do before we go back?" She lowered herself into her best crouch and tried stalking forward. "I told Harekit I would bring him back my first prey." She wiggled her hindquarters and pounced forward, landing square on a leaf. "Gotcha!" she yowled in mock-victory, rolling onto her side and scrabbling at it in the bracken.

She paused, realizing now how kit-like it was for her to be hunting... a leaf, especially after the owl she and Bracken had returned to camp with this morning. I'm being rabbit-brained! she fretted, and got to her paws, shaking out her long, fluffy golden coat and blinking away the dust with a sneeze.

"M-maybe we can hunt some real prey," she mewed, her pale blue eyes gazing hopefully up at her mentor.

Honeypaw

Honeypaw's mouth gaped as her mentor spoke of her sister.
"You have a sister, Mistflower?" she asked. "It is really kind of you to think about her while you're out on patrol." Honeypaw's heart swelled with affection and respect for her like-minded mentor. We both have siblings that are too sick to hunt, she realized.

She watched as Mistflower's attention locked onto distant prey. She lowered herself into a crouch in an attempt to blend in and try not to scare it off as she observed her mentor stalk forward and expertly end the bird's life. Her swift, sure-pawed movements made it look so easy!

I used to be terrified of hunting, she had said.
"Really?" Honeypaw asked with a tilt of her head. "Why so?" She stepped forward to curiously sniff the bird and visibly flinched away as the metallic scent of blood flooded her nostrils. It reminded her of the owl last night, of Brackenpaw's wounds, and something else, stirring a distant memory she couldn't quite put her paw on. Her stomach twisted. Not this again, she thought, stepping away with a paw over her snout and wrinkling her nose.

"I... umm, suppose I should give it a try," she mewed, shaking off the feeling and turning away from Mistflower. The she-cat had certainly seen her reaction already, unfortunately, but Honeypaw tried to play it off. Pretend that didn't happen, she willed herself. I must have had some bad freshkill. She put her nose to the air, opening her mouth to draw in the scents of the forest. Her senses honed in on some distant movement in the brush. Her attention snapped toward the swaying fern, from which underneath carried the scent of mouse to her jaws. Excitedly, Honeypaw scooted forward through the woods.

Just as she was about to pounce, the mouse darted... the wrong way. Movement of a much larger creature shook the bush in front of her and the tiny mouse skittered between her paws. Honeypaw gasped as a pair of eyes gleamed back at her. That's not prey.

Honeypaw attempted to catch the mouse, but rolled a 10, summoning a predator encounter!