Winter Wonderland [open]

Swanpaw was amazed by the light dusting of snow and ice that greeted her at the broken pools, and tentatively reached a paw onto the water - surprised to find it was frozen solid. She swiftly retracted her paw, instead rolling in the white powder that she had gathered was called snow from listening to conversations between older cats. She would enjoy the peace while it lasted - surely a place as beautiful as this wouldn't stay empty much longer.

Sandpaw had been walking around, observing the tiny white flakes laying motionless on the ground. She had seen them before, when she had followed Yarrowkit, now Yarrowpaw, out of the camp. It had begun snowing and a warrior and an apprentice came to their rescue. As she walked around, eventually she found herself near the Broken Pools. She looked around and soon spotted one of the older apprentices, Swanpaw. The sand colored she-cat bounded over to the other apprentice. "Hi Swanpaw! May I stay here with you? I promise I won't be too loud." Sandpaw asked softly.

"Sure, Sandpaw," Swanpaw nodded. The typically moody apprentice was finally making an honest effort to befriend other cats, and this seemed like a good start. Still, there was a small part of her that wished her mother and her brothers were here to share her fascination with the snow and the solid water. She was getting better at ignoring that part. "You don't happen to know what this is, do you?" she asked, touching a paw to the solidified water once again. This time, though, she didn't draw back. Instead she put another paw onto it, and another, until she was standing completely on the water, looking suspiciously at her paws and expecting to fall in at any moment.

Sandpa's eyes widened. "D-Don't stand on that! It isn't safe!" the she-cat warned. "I believe it's called ice. It usually appears during leaf-bare. Some parts can break and you'll be in very cold water! You might get sick if you fall in." she explained.

At Sandpaw's answer, Swanpaw leapt off back into the snow. "Understood," she nodded, looking at the ice as though it had betrayed her. She laughed. "Thank you for the warning," she added.

Sandpaw let out an amused purr. Wanting to change the subject, "So, who's your mentor?" she asked while making herself comfortable.

Vixenpaw walked lightly and silently with paws speckled with snow into the broken pools, expecting to find peace and quiet. Instead, she came upon Sandpaw saying something to Swanpaw, who was seemingly standing on water.
Eyes wide, Vixenpaw edged closer and saw that Swanpaw was not standing on water, but on ice. "Um... Y-you probably shouldn't d-do that, Swanpaw... I me-mean, you're light, but you never know w-with ice..." she stammered, both too cold and too shy to form words properly. Then Swanpaw jumped off of the ice, and Vixenpaw prayed to StarClan that Swanpaw didn't hear her. She tiptoed closer to Sandpaw and Swanpaw and sat by, not wanting to intrude upon their conversation.

"Snailbelly. Though half the time I'm pretty sure he forgets he has an apprentice." It was true, and she didn't exactly mean it cruelly - though the way it had come out wasn't exactly the kindest way of phrasing it. "Who's yours?" As she answered and returned the question, she returned to rolling in the snow.

Sandpaw chuckled. "I have Batfang. He's pretty grumpy. Well at least when he trains me. I don't know how much more I could stand of him giving me the mean eye!" she exclaimed amused. "If Snailbelly doesn't really train you, do you do everything yourself?" she asked curiously.

"Hello, Vixenpaw," Swanpaw greeted the newcomer before turning her attention back to Sandpaw. "I guess so. Well, not at first. At first I just bothered him until he actually taught me the basics. But at this point trying to figure out where he's sleeping is more trouble than it's worth, so I guess you could say that?"

"Hey Vixenpaw! Come out! Come and join us!" she said with enthusiasm. Sandpaw let out an amuses purr. "Well that also means you'll be a great warrior! You've basically taught yourself! You can handle anything!" Sandpaw exclaimed. The she-cat mewed quieter, "When do you think you'll be able to become a warrior? You've been an apprentice for a while haven't you? Or is time going too fast for me?"

"Soon, I hope," Swanpaw purred. She did, in fact, find it unfortunate that she was still in the apprentice's den. She supposed that it was the price she paid for handling most of her training - her mentor couldn't accurately assess her skills. "I'm sure you'll both be great warriors as well. What about you? How long do you think it will be before your warrior ceremony?"

"Hmmm. Well I really don't know. I haven't thought of that for a while. Maybe Batfang may suprise me one day and just say that my warrior ceremony is soon? I highly doubt that but you never know. What if Snailbelly said that to you? He wouldn't be so bad then...." the she-cat responded thoughtfully. She turned to Vixenpaw. "Vixenpaw, who's your mentor?"

"My mentor's Jaystream. He's really nice, and he's taught me plenty of things! I do hope my ceremony comes soon though." she replied, recalling how terrible she was at swimming and fighting before Jaystream taught her.

Swanpaw nodded. "Hopefully we'll all be warriors soon." Honestly, now that she was talking to her denmates, she kind of regretted not trying to be friendly sooner. She had blamed it on her grief for so long, the loss of her mother and her siblings. But it really wasn't an excuse. Honestly, what kind of RiverClan cat's only friend was a WindClan apprentice? But she had a chance to change that now.