Paint with the colours of the wind [Closed]

Sparkwillow stood just outside of the camp entrance, the calico embracing the warmth of the morning sun that creeped over the horizon. The dawn patrol had already left, leaving her with a brief moment of utter peace away from the bustle of camp. She could hear the quack of ducks in the distance, and the chirp of little wrens that liked to live in little bushes that dotted themselves around the reed-filled territory. This moment was something she wouldn't trade for anything in the world.

There was no life for her beyond RiverClan. And she hoped to share these delights with her newly named apprentice, Cinderpaw. There was a whole territory to explore, but first, she planned on taking the she-cat to the Brokenpools. There was an oddness to her gait and legs that concerned the calico, as a mentor, she had to make sure that Cinderpaw was strong enough to train as an apprentice. If not, well, she hoped that it wouldn't come to that...

Cinderpaw shyly padded up to her mentor, her burst of excitement faded by now replaced by her normal shyness. It wasn`t that she was not excited but the idea of finally being an apprentice and exploring her clan territories and learning new things terrified her. But at least her new mentor, Sparkwillow right? will show her what to do.

She was also exhausted she was not used to getting up this early and after all the excitement she had over the ceremony took the toll on her. She needed time to recharge, but she had to face that she was not going to get that now that she was an apprentice.

Gulping she stuttered, "Wh-what ar-are we goin-g to do?"

Her ears swivelled to face Cinderpaw before Sparkwillow span around to look greet her apprentice. Though she had been enjoying the brief snatched moment of peace, an infection happiness filled her at the sight of the little apprentice. No matter what was wrong with her, Cinderpaw was her apprentice, and there was something really satisfying about that.

Standing tall, though that still meant she barely stood higher than her apprentice, Sparkwillow replied cheerily without noticing her apprentice's anxiety. She passed it off as simple first day nerves. "We'll be heading down to the Brokenpools, I need to test how well you can swim before I drag you off into the deep ends of the river. Just standard stuff, y'know."

It wasn't. Most apprentices had been already taken to the Brokenpools by their mothers in their youth, but Cinderpaw had unique circumstances with her parents running off. Though swimming was in their blood, there had been enough drownings that she wasn't willing to test if their ancestral instincts would kick in or not. Safety first. She wasn't having her first apprentice die due to her rushing her.

Hoping that she was going to be an alright apprentice, after all she is small, her legs are tinier then they should be. Which means she can't run as fast....jump as fast.... she hates her own body.

Shaking her head she stood up a little, she can't have those thoughts this is her first day as a apprentice! She should be excited!

Smiling a tad bit as her mentor stood up too and smiling more when she realized her mentor was barely her height. That made her more excited, if a small warrior like her mentor could even become a warrior then surely she can?

She listened intensely as her mentor spoke, then a rush of anxiety came rushing back at the idea of swimming. She has never tried it, what if something goes wrong? Would Starclan still accepted her if she was never learned to swim at all?

She has heard of 'Brokenpools' before by the other kits. Surely she will be fine if some kits can handle it? Gulping she figured she will find out the hard way. But at least she has her mentor with her, so in cause if anything goes wrong she will be there for  her.

Brushing past Cinderpaw in an encouraging manner, Sparkwillow led the little she-cat to through the twisty hidden paths that she'd learnt from her own mentor. To others, RiverClan territory was a mass of sand and reeds, chaotic with poor visibility that made it impossible to navigate. But having walked these lands since she was a kit, the calico knew where to step, where to avoid, where to jump. She followed her muscle memory, eyes spotting familiar features that hinted they were approaching. Another time in the future, she'd tell Cinderpaw to memorise everything, but for their first lesson, she stuck to the basics.

"And we're here. Smell anything?" She threw out the question, testing her apprentice's natural skills. Most kits knew how to identify the usual scents of prey they often ate.

Cinderpaw smiled lightly at her mentor as she brushed past her. Hopefully she would be fine if her mentor is there watching her, right?

Not even a few heartbeats of following Sparkwillow she was completely lost, everything looked the same to her. But her eyes marveled at the sights around her sometimes daydreaming so that she had to run to catch up with the older one. Their territory is so beautiful! When they had to jump over something she clearly showed how bad her back legs were at that. For the first time though, she hardly cared about her legs or her body she was so happy being outside. She was completely silent the whole time.

Her heart started beating fast at her mentor`s question, a test already? Sticking out her nose she smelled around them, "Uh...well water. And fish, maybe a vole?" She distantly smelled one but can`t tell how fresh it is.

She was impressed that Cinderpaw picked up that faint scent of vole, most apprentices struggled to tell the difference between that and a mouse. However, unsurprisingly, she missed the fainter scent of the frogs that liked to spawn here during Greenleaf. It was a hard one to get, RiverClan tended not to each the amphibians unless it was a particularly rough Newleaf or Greenleaf. Sparkwillow trilled affirmatively, in reassurance, before speaking. "Good job in scenting the vole. That smell you're getting isn't fish though, it's frog. The brokenpools don't have fish because it doesn't connect to the river. Frog love having their tadpoles in them though."

With a flick of a tail, she called for her apprentice to follow her to the edges of one of the deeper pools. "Now for the test, I want you to try swim to the other side and back. Don't worry yourself about drowning, I might be small but I'm a strong swimmer. You're perfectly safe with me."

The more she smelled the more she realized the fish smell was off. Shaking her head lightly at being told it was frog that makes since. Smiling again at her mentor at the praise. She has never been praised before like that.

Gazing around them again she didn't see the tail flick but she heard her mentor pad away, the small calico hurried after her. Then paused suddenly, already? But she doesn't know how to swim yet! What if she drowns? What a great apprentice she would be to Starclan, a Riverclan apprentice drowning on her first time out! Her fur fluffed up and her tail whipped around.

"Well, c'mon. In you go, I'll keep an eye out for you." She gave her apprentice a little nudge towards the pool of water.

Cinderpaw gulped, her heart beated faster as she was nudged into the water. Her heart was like a mini waterfall as she stepped into the water. It was bitter cold as she stepped farther in she stopped before it got too deep and she would need to swim. Looking back to her mentor with wide terrified eyes she waited for Sparkwillow to show her how to swim.

Sense that her apprentice wasn't just going to take the plunge, the warrior decided to show her how it's done. Sparkwillow leapt into the deep end, going under before coming out of the water with her ears hanging low from the water weight. She shook it off before she sluiced through the water with her strong paws, their slight webbing helping her cut through the surfaced and swim back over to her apprentice. "C'mon, Cinderpaw. Don't be afraid. It's not that deep, at the deepest, I can still stand on my hindlegs."

Her eyes widening in amazement as Sparkwillow swam around, it looked like she was running on the surface of the water. She will swim like that one day if she just trusts her mentor. Still looking nervous though she nodded, "Okay. Sparkwillow, I trust you." She took another step then another in the deep end. Because of her small legs she could barely keep her head above the water. Suddenly she lost her footing and her head plunged into the water, she tried to swim up just managing to before she ran out of air.

Sparkwillow restrained the urge to immediately dive after her apprentice, giving Cinderpaw the chance to right herself before taking drastic action. When her head popped up out of the water again, she swam over to grip the apprentice by the scruff. With her mouth full, she spoke, though quite muffled and quiet. "Try to move your legs like you're walking to keep yourself afloat."

Cinderpaw coughed as Sparkwillow pulled her up making sure she is righten. "T-thanks. O-ok-ay." She followed what her mentor said moving them like normal and found she was perfectly fine. Swimming all over the place with a big smile on her face she turned to Sparkwillow, "I'm doing it! Sparkwillow!"

Sparkwillow moved back to give her apprentice more room, purring encouragingly as Cinderpaw managed to keep afloat and move on her own. It was a warming sight, there was hope for the little apprentice yet. Though she still had no plans to letting Cinderpaw swim in rivers alone for a long while.

"Alright, now I'm going to make some little waves. I want you to still try to swim towards me through them." The warrior dipped her head under and pushed to create a little artificial current. She had to take little breaks to breathe, but kept up the onslaught of water.