Eaglepaw's tour of the territory [CLOSED for Broken the Wolf (Enchanted, whatever)]

Sunpelt felt a tiny flash of impatience, but pushed it away. Surely it was a good sign that his apprentice was eager enough to learn! "Not yet. We'll do that another time. Now that you've set the marker, we can go to Snakerocks." Sunpelt padded on ahead, looking over his shoulder to make sure Eaglepaw was following.

Sunpelt let his stern side win over his patient side. "Or we can go back to camp, and you can start checking the elders for ticks!" he chided. "To become a warrior you have to learn to do more of the not-fun things and do the fun things after. If you don't complain for the rest of this tour, I'll teach you hunting later today. Battle training comes when you're ready, and it's obvious you're not yet. Come on." To lighten his sternness, he flicked his tail over Eaglepaw's ears.

Soon enough, they reached Snakerocks. "Taste the air. That tangy scent is snake. But don't go in one of those crevices, as you have no idea what's in there. It could be an ant or a poisonous snake for all we know. Another thing a warrior needs to know is to never run into a strange place or do something stupid if you haven't investigated yet." Sunpelt sniffed around the rocks, checking for trouble. When he was done, he asked, "How about you explore a bit? You're obviously restless. But don't go too far, not outside ten fox-lengths of this tree." He flicked his tail at a large oak tree. "Come back soon."

Sunpelt paid close attention to his apprentice. He didn't want Eaglepaw to get hurt. As he watched, he reflected on the apprentice's behavior. He was quiet and reserved. He followed directions well, and it was obvious he had the makings of a good warrior. But there was something about his that made Sunpelt feel as though he didn't like being an apprentice. Like when he had remained silent after his mentor had scolded him. Maybe it was just a matter of shyness, and Eaglepaw would get more relaxed around Sunpelt in time. Sunpelt sure hoped so.

Soon the sun was almost at its highest point, and he mewed, "Okay, Eaglepaw, we have to go. I'm going to show you the ShadowClan border next." He stood by the oak, waiting for his apprentice to reappear from the crevices.

Finally, Sunpelt couldn't stand the silence. He wanted to bond with his apprentice, not be all tense and jumpy with him. "Eaglepaw, why are you so quiet?" he asked, trying not to act awkward.

Sunpelt sighed to himself and carried on. Eaglepaw was obviously determined to be silent and ignore his mentor except for his orders, and he was happy to let him do so. "I'm sorry if I seem like I'm probing, Eaglepaw," he mewed. They were nearing the ShadowClan border. "So, Eaglepaw, this is ShadowClan scent. In my opinion, their smell is worse than SkyClan's and RiverClan's put together," he said, trying to lighten the atmosphere with a joke. A loud rumbling sound was coming torward them. "And beyond their scent markers is a Thunderpath!" Sunpelt shouted above the loud noise. When the monster had passed by and the rumbling faded into the distance, he said more quietly, "Monsters prowl along it with Twolegs in their bellies. How about you come and look?" He padded up to the verge of the Thunderpath and parted the tall grass so that Eaglepaw could see. The ground was starting to tremble again, and Sunpelt leaned back for his apprentice to see. "You can look, but don't go farther than this line of grass," he ordered.

"Now we go to the Great Sycamore. After that, we'll go check out the RiverClan border and we'll be done." Sunpelt led the way down the short slope that led up to the Thunderpath and padded over to the Great Sycamore. It was practically right next to Snakerocks, so they didn't have to go far. "This is the Great Sycamore. It has earned a popular use for apprentice climbing when they want to practice their skills of hunting birds and squirrels. But otherwise the Great Sycamore is not that interesting except that there are a lot of squirrels among the roots because of the large amount of nuts."