A Coyote In The Storm

It was almost dawn when Leafstorm started to make his way towards the apprentice den. He stuck his head in, waiting his for his eyes to adjust before calling to his apprentice. "Coyotepaw, training."

He shook himself and grabbed a vole from the fresh kill pile and padding towards the camp entrance. Although he acted confident, he had absolutely no idea what he was doing.

Coyotepaw wasn't sleeping, but he was as close to it as possible without the rest. A dissatisfied grumble broke from his throat as soon as Leafstorm was calling his name. Training on next to no sleep would be exciting. He'd willed himself to slip into the warm embrace of oblivion all night long. It had never come. The one moment his brain had finally given up and fallen into unconsciousness, all he had been able to hear was Wolffang's screams as Reno's claws cut into her pelt. The memory seemed like so long ago but for some reason it was one he could not bring himself to forget. In the city, the huge black rogue had tormented them for the majority of Coyotepaw's kithood. It would not be something easy to lose. After a moment of contemplating the pros and cons of leaving his new nest, the tabby hauled himself to his feet.

Living in the new den felt wrong. He had never even adjusted to living in the nursery. Yet, he had to simply deal with it. This was his life now. There were times that the young tom still wished he was huddled in the scraps of cloth that lined their stone den in the city. But if they would have stayed, Wolffang would have surely lost her life. At the thought of his mother, a frown overtook the apprentice's features. He missed her like nothing else. A dull ache settled in his chest, one that had become a constant since he had joined Thunderclan. Coyotepaw made sure to pull a neutral face as he greeted the warrior that was to be his mentor. He even managed a convincing bit of amusement. As he spoke, his tone was light and almost enthusiastic, "Let's get going. I'm ready for whatever you have for me today."

The tom tilted his head, offering his apprentice a grin at his enthusiastic tone. "Today..." Oh Starclan. What was he supposed to do? It was too early to start hunting, right? Should he tag along with a more experienced mentor and their apprentice?
"Today I'm going to be showing you the territory, alright?"

The large tabby tom nudged Coyotepaw and padded out of camp, turning his head to make sure his apprentice was following. First I'm going to take you to the Thunderpath." He mewed.

After walking for a while Leafstorm turned. "Sniff," He instructed. "And tell me what you smell."

There were lots of scents in the forest, but the Thunderpath was just ahead and Leafstorm was relatively sure that the apprentice could smell it. The warrior had to wrinkle his own nose as the acrid smell wafted towards him on the sticky, dense Greenleaf air.

Thunderpath? He cocked his head in confusion. There had been cats who mentioned the term before, but none had explained what it meant, nor had he seen it. As Leafstorm nudged him forwards, the young tom suddenly felt incredibly small next to the warrior. It was an uncomfortable feeling. He wasn't used to being around much more than his brother and the kits in the nursery. Instead of saying anything, the apprentice simply flicked an ear. As soon as Leafstorm trotted out of camp, Coyotepaw followed silently after. It had been a little while since he'd seen outside of the camp walls. The forest seemed to be regrowing himself. Once charred branches had begun to shake off the remnants of ash. Now, he was seeing the true glory of Thunderclan territory for the first time. And this was not even all of it. His eyes widened in awe. It felt like seeing the territory for the first time.

After a while a familiar scent pressed at his scent glands. Leafstorm's voice jolted him into attention. He'd been caught up so much in the sights that were all around to notice how far they had come. And now his mentor was asking about the smell. Instead of flinching as most new apprentices did, the tabby pulled a puzzled look. There was something about the acrid tang that made him feel comfortable. It did not seem wrong or out of place. His mind searched for the right word that was attached with it. After a bit, Coyotepaw found himself meowing, "It's a road!" Excitement and pride bubbled up in the words. This reminded him of his birthplace, his true home. Amber eyes looked up at Leafstorm for some validation.

Leafstorm tilted his head. "Road?" He mewed, bewildered. "I'm not sure what that means. D'you mean the Thunderpath?"
The tom shook himself. His apprentice didn't know much about the clans- 'road' was probably a made-up word he used. Yes, that was it.
Slightly unsettled, and still a bit confused, the tom tried to get Coyotepaw's training back on topic. He refused to mess this up.
Leafstorm cleared his throat.
"As I was saying, across the Thunderpath, or 'road', is the Shadowclan border- be careful when, or if, you ever have to cross the Thunderpath. Monsters can come running past and crush you."

He turned to his apprentice. "Now I'm going to take you to Snakerocks." He mewed, swiftly changing the subject and beginning to walk through the forest.
"Be very careful around Snakerocks." He warned. "There are plenty of adders hiding nearby and they can jump out at you. Don't ever try to fight an adder- they have a poisonous bite that can kill even the strongest cats."

"I guess so..." He mumbled when Leafstorm offered up the correction. Coyotepaw should have known that his answer would be wrong. The clans seemed to have far different terms than he was used to in the city. It was still strange having to throw away every ideal and concept he had learned growing up. Life in the city had certainly toughened him up enough to deal with clan life. In fact, so far, life in Thunderclan was much easier than the rough streets of twoleg filth and vicious rogues. The apprentice missed a bit of the explanation of this 'Thunderpath', but he nodded along anyways. The danger of roads was something he had grown up around constantly aware of. Despite never being allowed to really leave the nest, he had watched his mother live through some horrific things there.

Leafstorm quickly changed the subject as they moved onto a new part of the territory. It was all far bigger than he had expected. Coyotepaw had never seen more than sunningrocks and camp at this point. But there was a long more than just that. A lot of territory for one group to hold... his thoughts flashed back to the stories of bloody battles that stained the concrete back where he was born. Reno had come back torn to shreds on several occasions, although Coyotepaw had only ever personally seen a few. The late, black rogue was many things, most awful, but he had managed to hold their territory for quite a long time. His mentor spoke up once more too explain the latest plot of land. This pile of rocks was far less appealing than the ones he had rested on as a kit in Thunderclan. According to Leafstorm, dangerous adders controlled them. It was now his turn to look confused, "What's an adder?"

Leafstorm tilted his head. "Y'know... an adder? It's a snake. You know what snakes are, right?"
He teased, gently nudging Coyotepaw. 10/10 awkward teasing "Anyways, even if Snakerocks doesn't look that interesting, it can be very dangerous. It's best to steer clear of this place."
The tom stretched, flicking his tail. "C'mon." He mewed, turning and beginning to walk away yet again. "You've already seen Sunningrocks, so the last thing I'll show you is The Gorge."

"Oh, a snake." He mumbled, leaving off the statement that 'mother always told me they were like large worms with sharp teeth'. Snakes didn't hang around the city much. As a result, he had never actually seen one before. It made him a bit uncomfortable to be facing so many things he knew nothing about. Leafstorm must think I'm a complete mouse-brain... Coyotepaw thought bitterly. His thoughts were usually not the brightest, it had come from being holed up with Wolffang half of his existence and being constantly bullied by his otherwise absent father. Cats here were so cheery though, a direct contradiction to the life on city streets. Of course, they had their own issues here, but the dynamic was far different. He had to act like a much different cat than what he felt inside just to fit in here. It wasn't bad, but it felt...wrong.

"Have you ever swam before, Leafstorm?" The apprentice asked, longing for some casual conversation to ease the awkward tension of their first day together. It was obvious that the warrior wasn't used to training other cats. Coyotepaw felt bad for the older tom to have to be his mentor. Feeling the pressures of being a new mentor was bad enough, but also having the one apprentice who was clueless about most of forest life probably made it harder. Internally, he felt miserable about the whole idea of it. Externally, Coyotepaw strode along and took in the sights as if he weren't thinking about everything under the sun. His tail flicked slightly as they walked and he tried to put his thoughts towards seeing the gorge. Soon, he would be able to see Riverclan territory for the first time. He tried to be excited about the whole endeavor, but feel short. Hopefully, it would be as terrifyingly thrilling as other cats made it out to be.

OOC: Sorry it took forever for me to post, I was on a road trip...

IC:
Leafstorm nodded encouragingly. This was going to be harder than he thought, but all he had to do was get the tom to come out of his shell a little.
He stepped carefully over a fallen tree branch and once again led the way through the undergrowth. "Me, swimming?" He mewed, the smallest hint of a chuckle in his voice. He could only assume that his strange apprentice had been swimming at least once or twice, after all, this young tomcat hadn't had the usual clan upbringing and was full of surprises. Training was going to be difficult, true, but Leafstorm wasn't going to give up that easily.
"No, I've never gone swimming. I tried once but the water's too cold and besides, I don't like being wet." He shuddered, his fluffy coat sticking out. "I prefer hunting on dry land. Besides, It's usually Riverclanners that do the swimming. Their pelts dry so quickly- I've heard that it's all the fish and frogs they eat."
The warrior wrinkled his nose slightly. He still had no clue how Riverclan cats managed to stomach such strange food.

The large tom searched desperately for something to keep the conversation going as the pair padded through the dense forest. "Tell me about Twolegplace. Have you ever climbed a tree?"

Coyotepaw managed a soft smile. His mentor's kind personality did help to put him at ease. Despite having such a young warrior training him, meaning they were not too far apart in age, the apprentice was beginning to be grateful for Blizzardstar's choice. At first, he hadn't been sure, but now he thanked her silently. He laughed at Leafstorm's description of Riverclan. It was something he had heard several times from other clanmates. Apparently, it was unnatural for cats to swim like fish. In the city, there hadn't been many opportunities to do so, he hadn't been sure. His amber eyes looked out over gorge. The rush of water was both thrilling and terrifying at the same time. He said nothing, but had taken a step back as if avoiding the crushing current. The apprentice found himself hoping that no cats would even end up in there.

He was snapped out of his trance as Leafstorm spoke once more. The city. Coyotepaw thought back to his first few moons. Everyday had been a fight for survival for his mother. She had managed to keep him well taken care of. However, the cold stone of the city against his paws and pelt was a feeling he would never forget. While it had felt strange padding through the grass and undergrowth of the forest at first, thinking back on his kithood, the life of stone now seemed wrong. Living on Sunningrocks for a bit had been a good transition. Coyotepaw tried to decide what to tell his mentor about the city. Most of the forest-born cats only knew of the 'twolegplace' nearby and that was their experience of the places the twolegs built. His ear flicked a little uncomfortably, yet he managed to think of something to share, "There weren't trees where I was born. It was all hard stone. The city wasn't quite... a twolegplace. The city is far bigger than anything you could imagine, much bigger than the forest. With twolegs, filth, and starving cats everywhere."

The fluffy tom grinned- now they were getting somewhere, and the young apprentice seemed to be opening up.
His ears swiveled as the distant roar of water got louder, reaching an almost deafening note. They were there.
He peered over the edge, his claws gripping the sides of the steep cliff. He saw some movement out of the corner of his eye and turned, ready to catch Coyotepaw if he fell. But no, he was just taking a few steps back.
Leafstorm took a few small steps away from the gorge. "You need to be very careful," He said quietly. "This is probably the most dangerous place in the forest. One misstep..."
A few pebbles broke loose of the cliff, bouncing down the side of the canyon and landing with a sickening splash as if to prove his point.

He turned back to his apprentice, his expression somber.
Immediately he sensed his apprentice's discomfort- perhaps it had been too soon to bring up the Twolegplace, or 'city', as he called it.
"Bigger than the forest?" He shuddered, taking a step closer to the young tom protectively. He had to admit, although he had doubts before something about Coyotepaw made Leafstorm want to protect him.
"I... I'm glad you're here now."

He turned, flicking his tail. "That's all I'm going to show you for today." He was pleased with how his first training session had gone. After all, it could've been much worse.

"I'm glad I'm here now too." He meowed with a nod. A slight smile edged up the side of his mouth. Although, the young cat couldn't keep away the thought that he wished Wolffang was here too. Even if the city was harsh, at the least they had been together. Except for the hints of beginning friendships, and his connections with a couple of the Thunderclan cats, Coyotepaw still felt very much alone. Leafstorm was certainly a promising mentor. Aside from Blizzardstar, he felt like he could learn to be comfortable around the young warrior. They would learn their respective roles together. When the tom spoke up, he simply nodded, and followed after. A well deserved rest sounded nice.

OOC: topic end?

OOC: Yeah~
IC:
Leafstorm lead the way back to camp, walking slightly ahead of Coyotepaw.
Although at first he had doubted his ability to train Coyotepaw, the young apprentice seemed open and almost comfortable with him.
It wasn't much, but it was a start. After all, his apprentice could've been much worse. Perhaps Blizzardstar chose right after all.

Leafstorm padded through the camp entrance. "That's all we'll do for now," He mewed, turning to look at Coyotepaw. "You should hang around- get to know some of the other apprentices. I'll take you out for hunting practice bright and early tomorrow."