Clear as Black

Clearpaw, as always, was searching for an excuse to leave camp. He felt cooped up in camp no matter what, but recently, he had been leaving camp less and less as his mentor recovered from a head injury. Even though he had recovered, Clearpaw was getting the feeling that he didn't see Blacktwig as much as he used to... His mentor had always been one of the few cats who put up with Clearpaw's constant curiosity and inability to stay focused, and Clearpaw felt that he was an exceptionally good mentor, because he learned a lot from Blacktwig, despite that lack of focus. He wanted to get back into his training properly, and he wanted to know what he could do to help his mentor, as well, now that he had some pretty severe memory problems (to put it lightly).
So, he waited outside of the apprentice den, kneading the ground impatiently with his front paws, as he waited for the rest of the camp to wake up (he was always an early riser, waking up before most cats). When he saw Blacktwig emerging from the warriors' den, he immediately dashed over, eyes sparkling excitedly. "Blacktwig!" He exclaimed, "Hey, do you think we could go on a patrol today? Please?"

Blacktwig looked around. The senior warrior had a dream that he was having to put up with Specklepaw's churlish behaviour, when a mist engulfed him. He stopped in surprise when Clearpaw padded up to him. "Oh..." he said, memory foible, and trying to keep the request in his mind. "Yeah, um, sure." Blacktwig started forwards at a laggy pace, and for a moment, confidence lighted his eyes. At once it faded, and was replace by a confused look. "Oh, Clearpaw? Where are we going?" asked Blacktwig, halting. The leaves harboured skirling birds, and the motley tom flattened his ears. "How did I get here again? I... I forget." Blacktwig smiled sheepishly. He wasn't fully aware of his new condition.

Clearpaw purred happily, and started walking with his mentor out of camp. He padded a few steps forward after Blacktwig stopped, before he noticed Blacktwig was no longer by his side and stopped, as well. His paws itched to run ahead, impatience coursing through him, and yet, he wasn't annoyed or anything of the sort. He made a concentrated effort to push his impatience away. "We were going on a patrol." He explained easily; he suspected that he would have to take on some small degree of leadership, just to keep them on track. "Where do you want to go?" He asked, "I was thinking we could go to the SkyClan border, and maybe hunt a little on the way back, if that's okay."

"Sure..." said Blacktwig, mind in ataxia. He continued forwards, plaiting the blades of grass with his claws. "We're going to WindClan's border? If so, we're going the wrong way," he meowed, kvetching lowly, as his tail dragged across the sandy ground. He raised his muzzle. "Oh... no, you're leading me towards SkyClan's border. Sorry," he corrected with an apologetic tilt of his head. Then he whimpered. "Is there something wrong with me?" Blacktwig's orbs coruscated sadly, and he started to frown. "You know you can say there is... I keep forgetting things." The warrior's tail suspended in the air.

Clearpaw paused, looking over at Blacktwig--the truth was, Clearpaw didn't know what was going on with Blacktwig, only what he heard whispers of around camp. He was no medicine cat, he knew nothing about injuries and how they could effect a cat. For all he knew, whatever this was was temporary, but regardless, he hardly felt as though it would be kind to say something was 'wrong' with Blacktwig. So, he shook his head. "No, it's not your fault you're forgetting stuff." He said confidently, "You just need someone to keep you company and help you remember stuff. Don't worry." Clearpaw was usually bursting with questions and leaping erratically from topic to topic, but he knew that he would most likely confuse Blacktwig and make everything worse if he wasn't careful. "If you forget again, just let me know!" He mewed, continuing forward, "We're going to the SkyClan border." He made an effort to slow his steps a bit, walking beside his mentor rather than ahead of him this time. His enthusiasm wasn't dulled, but merely redirected from exploring and running to being helpful to Blacktwig.