I'll teach you everything I know

Another apprentice? Why was Starclan doing this to her? Tinytip was barely recovering from the loss of her first apprentice and now Ivyfall and Fishstar gave her another one. She didn't understand why... she failed as a mentor. She shouldn't train another cat but there she was, looking for her new apprentice in the clearing.

When she glanced the brown pelt of the young tomcat. The little warrior approached him and greeted him with a quick and serious nod. "Morning, Rushpaw. Ready to go to your first lesson?" She asked hiding all the emotions that were locked inside her heart. She couldn't let him see how weak she was. After all, Tinypaw had to be his example as a warrior and the black and white she-cat wanted him to be stronger than her or Streampaw, so he could live longer than her.

Rushpaw woke up pretty easily, and he quickly got to his paws. He nodded at Tinytip's words, not really focusing on what she was asking. The young tom's mind was racing. My first training, he thought, it probably won't be too bad. He shot a glance at Tinytip, studying her for a second. Her expression was kind of stony. It made the tom feel a little uneasy.Or maybe it will he thought, resisting the urge to grimace, she looks like she means business.

"Okay then. Follow me. We're going to a safe spot in the Sunningrocks, close to the river. Today you'll learn swimming and some fighting techniques of our clan. In the next couple of days, we will go on a hunting patrol so you can learn how to hunt." She said turning her little body to the exit of the camp.

Followed by her apprentice, the warrior walked searching the scent where Riverclan and Thunderclan smell mixed. Her amber eyes glanced a not so deep part of the river with a poor current that would be perfect for a first training lesson. "What do you know about swimming, Rushpaw?
Did someone teach you that skill? I need to know what you already know." She smiled more kindly, aiming to not look so serious and distant. Even if she missed Streampaw with all her heart that didn't mean that she couldn't be a close mentor to Rushpaw like she was to Streampaw.

Rushpaw nodded at his mentor's plan, feeling somewhat impartial. Swimming and fighting, huh? he thought, I've always been a decent fighter. And swimming should be a breeze. I'm in RiverClan, for StarClan's sake. He quickly followed Tinytip as he left RiverClan camp for the first time. The RiverClan territory was promising and beautiful in its own way. Rushpaw took several seconds to take it all in, breathing in deeply, his eyes wide open.

The brown apprentice's ears pricked up as Tinytip asked him another question. He turned to her small frame, shaking his head. He knew nothing about swimming. How hard could it be, though? It's in my blood to swim. Right? The tom glanced at the cool water flowing just below him. His own reflection stared back at him.

OOC: Rush is laid back and reserved. He isn't very talkative at first glance

Tinytip notices that wasn't spekung at all during the time she spent with him. First she thought that he might be mute but that was unprovable and other cats would already told her if it was like that. Maybe he just didn't want to talk or he didn't like training.

Leaving her doubts behind, the she-cat looked at him kindly, smiling motherly. "Don't worry about a thing, Rushpaw. Not every cat had the luck of learning how to swim from her mothers and that's why I'm here. So why don't we start?" She said nudging the apprentice with her tail so he would follow her again to the shore. "Water can seem scary at first but if you learn well, you'all befriend the river and it will help you all the time. Now, first, is not be afraid." She stepped forward so her and fur was quickly submerging in the water. Her amber eyes glanced back at the tom, encouraging him to do the same as hers.

"Swimming is coordination between mind and body. You must control your fears and be focused on your breathing and movements. We can start in the less deep part of the river, so nothing bad happens." She meowed thinking in Streampaw. Cloudstone said that she didn't die drowned but by the bite of a river animal. However, she didn't teach her about those dangers and because of that her death was her fault. She would not do the same mistakes with Rushpaw or Asterpaw.

Rushpaw nodded, his mind starting to panic at the idea of the surely freezing water on his fur. Rushpaw had never been submerged in his life. The tom blinked his green eyes a couple times before walking into the stream. He shuddered, letting out a wince as his fur cooled instantly. Coordination between mind and body, he repeated in his head, Control your fears and be focused on your breathing and movements. The tom waded out farther, brushing up against Tinytip accidentally.

As the tom got used to the water, he found himself splashing around a little, making the water quake and ripple with his paws. He found himself entranced by the swirls created by his paws, and he found himself looking at his reflection. A long-haired maine coon stared back at him. Rushpaw was a bit taken back, as he always was at the sight of his reflection. He never looked like how he thought he did. The tom splashed again at the water, laughing at watching his reflection be marred by the ripples. "This isn't all that scary," he decided, turning back to Tinytip," What's next?"

Tinytip watched her apprentice, smiling a bit, motherly. It was funny and heart-warming seeing how Rushpaw, despite his fears, could enjoy swimmming, splashing in the water playfully. She remembered her first time swimming with Whitestream and how nervous she was about it. The warrior was happy to see that the tom could feel more relaxed than her.

The black and white warrior blinked surprised hearing the voice of Rushpaw for the first time. "Now, try to keep your four paws under the surphace so you don't splash the water. Making loud noises scares the prey, attracts predators and alert enemies. You will be more silent as you train the speed and quietness of your swimming." She purred, showing the apprentice how he should move. With long and strong moves of her legs, the warrior swam fast making no splash or noise rather than her own breathing, that it was almost noiseless.

Rushpaw tried to mimic Tinytip, but his movements felt slow and awkward, as if he was moving in mud. When he tried to go faster, he found his legs splashing and making too much noise. The coon tom frowned, and he took a deep breath, collecting his thoughts. Don't get frustrated, he told himself, it's your first time. Try again.

Rushpaw tried again, trying to take especially long strides to cover more distance. He found a strain in his legs as the movements took effort and strength to pull off. Tinytip may be small, he noted, but she moves with a lot of power. She makes it look so easy! He did it a little better, but he still wasn't very fast. And now he was beginning to get tired, as his breath quickened and his pants grew a little louder.

The small warrior approached her apprentice, looking at him calmly and with a smile. "Hey, don't force yourself more than your body can do. You're doing it great for the first time. Much better than me, that's for sure." She said, encouraging him to stop for a while. "We can practice again tomorrow, in our hunting patrol with my other apprentice. We're going to be hunting close to the river so you can improve a bit too." Then, Tinytip swam to the shore to rest as well. She took long and calm breaths to recover her energy as she waited for Rushpaw to come by her side.