Bored Echopaw

Echopaw padded up to the prey pile not even bothering to care to see what she was grabbing then walked off. Walking not far off of the pile she fell down to the ground dropping her prey before her and signed.

She wasn't even that hungry, she was just bored. Her mentor took her out earlier that day for a patrol but once they came back she itched to get out of camp again.

She thought about going to the elders den to maybe here their stories, but there was already kits in there bouncing around. That made her remember just a few moons ago when she was a kit, running around with her siblings. Then that made her think of Roaringkit and his destiny away from her. Then of Tawnypaw becoming an apprentice before her, that thought still made her boil.

So that thought was out. Thinking of asking her mentor if they can go out again but she found him nowhere to be found. Signing again she absentmindedly padded the frog back and forth. All she wanted was to run around without bumbing into any of her clanmates.

Forestkit craned her neck to look up at the apprentice, but stepped out of her way.
"Hi, I'm Forestkit!"

Roaringpaw padded out of the Medicine Cat Den, taking a break from memorizing herbs. His mind felt liquified from the heavy studying, making the apprentince just want to do something mindless and mentally easy for a while. Spotting his sister wandering aimlessly in the clearing, Roaringpaw decided to spend some time with her.

"Hey Echopaw!" He called out to his sister in a hello, his voice booming through the clearing. Then he saw a kit talking to her, whose small body had been blocked by Echopaw's in his sight. He heard her greeting and introduced himself. "Hi Forestkit! I'm Roaringpaw."

"Hello, Roaringpaw! I will be made an apprentice warrior soon! What's it like being a medicine cat apprentice?" Forestkit asks, tipping her head. As she waited for his response, she began licking mud from her fluffy pelt. "I wonder who'll be my mentor!"

"Hi, Forestkit! Roaringpaw!" Quickly getting to her paws, she was equally glad but unsure about her sibling now. Suddenly getting shy not sure what to say she meowed quietly, "That's... nice, Forestkit.."

"That's great, Forestkit!" Roaringpaw replied enthusiastically. He was glad that Forestkit could start training soon. The tom remembered how restless he was to leave the nursery and start contributing to the clan. "And honestly, being a medicine cat apprentice means a LOT of memorizing stuff, " Roaringpaw added, "My head started spinning so badly after spending so much time in the medicine cat den that I just had to get some fresh air."

Not noticing his sister's awkwardness yet, Roaringpaw turned to Echopaw. "How's your training going, Echopaw?"

"I imagine you would." She laughed shyly, which was a strange laugh for her. "I mean, how can you breath through all those scents!"

She stopped abruptly at the question, thinking, "Well its going okay I guess...my mentor is okay with me?" Even though she was done with the feeling of being stuck in this camp all the time, and her mentor not understanding.

Roaringpaw's face scrunched up into a contemplative look at Echopaw's awkward laugh and vague answer. His sister never acted like that towards him, but would when dealing with...actually, he couldn't remember if she ever was like this to anyone. Was something wrong? "What do you mean?" Roaringpaw cocked his head in innocent confusion.

Now she really didn`t know what to say. In a rush she blurted out, "Well I get bored here in camp just sitting around while all the warriors go on patrols and all of that the whole day. Its fun hanging out with clanmates and all but I want to be out there." She pointed with her tail to the entrance of the camp. "And my mentor does not understand that. And there is another thing but well..." She better shut it now, before she hurts Roaringpaws feelings. "I can`t speak of it."

Roaringpaw felt a flash of hurt at his sister's quick and strange response. "I can't speak of it," echoed in his brain, her hasty tone searing him painfully. Did she not trust him? Was he wrong about their bond after all this time? The tom felt his insecurity rear in his heart, looking at their sibling bond with the daunting question in mind. The medicine cat apprentice flipped through his fear-filled emotions, wondering if she didn't want to around anymore now that they were doing differnet things. Were they drifting apart? Fear struck his heart.

"Oh ok, cool, that's fine." The fake words came tumbling out of his mouth, nodding like everything was ok and he wasn't mentally freaking out. His brain slowly replayed his words and he realized he was being confusing. "Oh! Uh, not that your mentor's not taking you out of camp is, you know, cool, just, you know..." he struggled to find his something that wouldn't reveal his distress. "It's all good," he finished awkwardly with a fake, casual air. "You know, speaking of herbs, I think I gotta head back, Honeydrop's probably waiting for me." Roaringpaw craned his neck looking for his mentor instead of meeting Echopaw's eyes. "Yeah, I'll see you around!" He bolted to the medicine cat den, not listening to anything around him in the dread that consumed him.

Echopaw could see the fear flashing across Roaringpaw`s eyes. She tried to speak but nothing came out, just air, dreadful fearful air. Forcing herself to come up with something to say, anything to comfort her brother. But there was nothing... she couln`t think up anything, was she trying to comfort him or herself? Was he blaming himself? No, it wasn`t his fault, it was hers. Tears forming in her eyes as her brain tried to form words to express herself.

Her eyes bolted up to his as he spoke. She could totally tell he was lying, he was always a terrible liar. It broke her heart hearing his voice shattering like that. "No, Roaringpaw, you don`t understand... I.." Noticing he wasn`t looking at her at all, she tried forcing his eyes to meet her teary ones moving her body back and forth with his eyes. Then he bolted to the medicine den without a backwards glance.

Should she go after him? It seemed like the right thing to do. But what would she say to him? Nothing, nothing at all. Now feeling even more dreadful and sorrowful she padded to the apprentice den, slowly with her tail dragging through the dirt. Her eyes were full of tears, as soon as she drags herself to her nest she will cry herself to sleep.