First Flight [closed]

The late morning sky was heavy with a variety of different soft hues, a scheme of coloration that felt nearly alien after the steady presence of the Eclipse.

Shaking away the stubbornly lingering tendrils of exhaustion that had embedded their unseen fangs deep within Adderfeather's flesh, the young molly's quiet exhale hung heavily in the chilly air as a steaming cloud of smoke. It had taken her a bit of time to recover from the ordeal of the battle,with the majority of the trauma she had undergone going unseen by the careful eyes of Goldeneye and Fallowpaw. The sheer chaos and destruction of that night had brought forth a tidal wave of unpleasant memories, the freshly awoken trauma rendering her practically useless for the better part of a few sunrises. But the anxiety and unyielding sense of dismal bleakness had eventually cooled, bleeding away like fresh rainfall pooling upon starved earth, leaving her final able to function properly within the Clan again. Peering into the warm darkness exuded by the sheltered Apprentice's den, the one-eyed molly's voice was soft as she whispered out a summon.

"Blossompaw?"

Adderfeather felt a bit unsure of how to properly broach the subject of Blossompaw's training, especially after the dismal aftermath of the battle and the death of Firepaw, but it was never too late to try, right?

"You need to wake up, we have training to do today."

"Look Firepaw! I'm going to catch another one!" A cheerful voice rang out through the forest. A calico tom sat on the bank of a river as another dilute calico dived into the river's depths. The flashing of scales told her where the fish had swum to as she dived. As she reached it, the vibrant colours of the riverbed shifted violently. Her green eyes widened in shock as the colourful stones at the river bed turned into a bleeding red. The fish at her pawtips stilled, no longer swimming, but instead it floated down the current. As if struck by a blow that she hadn't yet delivered. She turned to watch as it floated away before she felt a squeeze at her chest. Her body urging her to rise and surface for air.

Eagerly, she swam upwards. Where once was bright blue sky was now dark and filled with the redness that had once soaked through the air. An eerie light in the distance the only illumination as she felt air at her pawtips, but as her head was about to reach the life-giving air, she felt the river current pull her sharply. Her pelt dragged down into the waters once more as she attempted to yowl for help, losing the last of the air she needed. Green eyes looking around in a panic, but her brother wasn't sitting at the bank. Her gaze found him laying half in the water, looking as he had when Dewshine had dragged him to camp. A pained yowl escaped her throat as darkness consumed her vision.

---

Blossompaw woke with a start. Her breaths heavy, lungs aching as though she had truly been underwater for too long. Distantly, she could hear the voice of a cat calling her attention. She peered through the darkness to meet the kind eyes of her mentor. Slowly, she climbed through the sleeping bodies of her clanmates, relief flooded down her spine at the sight of the colours in the sky behind her as she left the entrance with a slow stretch.
"Good morning Adderfeather!" Blossompaw greeted respectfully. Her green eyes stared at her mentor closely. The she-cat looked to be alright... she looked around the camp for anything amiss. The only thing that seemed to be missing was Firepaw... a small ache built in her chest, but she turned away from the thought desperately. Firepaw wouldn't have wanted her to dwell, he'd have wanted her to get stronger. And she would.

The sour stench of distress sharpened the chilly morning air. Ear twitching slightly as she heard Blossompaw's frantic awakening, Adderfeather shifted uneasily beneath her flesh as she retreated from the darkness. It was quite strange to understand a situation, yet have no idea what words laid upon her tongue. Restlessly fidgeting about as she watched the younger molly hurry forth from the den, she initially only blinked at the calico before offering a slight simper in response. "Morning, Blossompaw." Even as she brought forth a brief greeting of her own, it still felt odd. Odd to have an Apprentice, odd to have the weight of all the terrible events that had transpired hanging above them, just... odd. Perhaps it would be in her best interest to speak to Scorchclaw about how to properly handle training.

"I hope you're ready to do a bit of hunting this morning."

The softer less enthusiastic reaction made Blossompaw pause. Her head tilted as she padded up to the grey molly with a small flick of her tail. She said hunt... not fish, so perhaps it would be ground hunting? She hummed cheerfully at the thought. She hadn't had any practice at that yet. Even fishing was still a new concept to her, though she knew she'd be doing it a lot as leafbare approached.  
"Oh yes! What are we going to hunt today?" She mewed as she stepped closer. Her muzzle was only a tail-length away from her mentor's as she waited for the response. Unlike their first meeting though, she didn't headbutt her poor mentor. Merely looked at her inquisitively.

Why was she so nervous? Blossompaw looked behind her, but neither of her parents were nearby. Neither of them had minded her being assigned as Blossompaw's mentor. The young cat puzzled over this as they left the camp. Her gaze falling onto ground that was odd and hard instead of the soft mud that usually accompanied this part of the stream surrounding the camp's island.
"Why's the ground so hard?" She mewed at Adderfeather with curiousity as she pressed a pad to the frost, pulling it back sharply at the cold sting. "Brr. Why's it so cold?"

"Fishing," Adderfeather responded after a moment, starting slightly as Blossompaw continued to broach the subject of limited space between the pair, "We'd best start working on it now- before the cold freezes the river too much for us to continue effectively practicing." Tilting away was merely an instinctual habit now, one done out of the remaining dredges of self-consciousness that had been gifted to her alongside the traumatic loss of an eye. The worst of the darkness had passed, yet it still made her highly uncomfortable to be in such close proximity with cats other than Splashwillow or Scorchclaw. It was always difficult to quash such estranged emotions, and often quite taxing to effectively rid herself of such cumbersome trepidation. Giving herself a vigorous shake, the grey-furred molly peered over at Blossompaw at the odd inquiry.

"There's quite a bit of moisture in mud, so whenever it gets cold enough it usually freezes over. It's a bit early in the season for the ground to be freezing, but I think the odd happenings with the moon and sun threw off everything's natural schedule." Adderfeather mewed, carefully picking her way across the partially frozen earth as they began to steer towards the rumbling waters of the river.

Blossompaw looked thrilled at the idea of fishing. She had heard her parents both talking about their catches before, she'd even seen Flamewish and Flurryshine carrying big glittering ones onto the fresh-kill pile. Now she could finally learn the skill that made a true RiverClan cat. Their birthright. She smiled brightly at Adderfeather as she watched her mentor shake her pelt and explain the ground's coldness. She sniffed at the frost, it did smell a lot like water. Curious, she stepped onto a patch and licked it. The ice particles melted onto her tongue, the taste of dirt underneath made her flinch. That, had been a terrible idea.

With a little bounce, she leapt over some of the frost and ran to catch up to her mentor with a cheerful jubilation. What a difference the light of the sun made. She was thrilled with the new brightness of the landscape as she followed her mentor excitedly. At one point however, she bounded up next to Adderfeather, her gaze rested curiously on her mentor's face for a long moment.
"Is it difficult? For you to see?" She asked softly. Her enthusiasm banked as she looked at where her mentor's eye used to be. The thought of losing an eye seemed a terrible concept, she wasn't sure how a cat could cope with such a loss... yet she seemed to be doing alright.

"It was difficult at first," Adderfeather eventually responded after a heartbeat of careful consideration, a rapidly dissipating rivulet of steam tumbling forth from beyond her teeth, "But it's just like learning to swim, I suppose. It becomes so second nature that you almost forget there was ever a time where you went about your days without it." Venturing beyond the frozen expanse of marshland that the pair had been previously trekking upon, brittle stalks of partially frozen reeds instead began to eat up vast swathes of chilly earth. It was difficult to pacify the innate urge to feel quite dispirited when a cat gazed too closely at her greatly scarred features, but whenever the curious inquiries came from a cat who licked half-frozen mud it was easy to discern the lack of malice behind such stares. The chattering of the steaming brook, previously nothing more than a low hum upon the damp morning air, rose to a tremulous moan that hung heavily within the chilly tendrils of a light breeze. Brushing beyond a faint trail interwoven within the swaying tendrils of decaying reeds and foliage, Adderfeather's paws shifted across the smooth stones of the riverbank as she ventured free of the cool shade of the bustling foliage. Ruddy leaves and broken pieces of debris drifted by upon the rolling currents, brilliant flashes of early dawn colors occasionally bleeding across the surface of the river. "I don't suppose you fancy a swim, unless you're privy to the cold?"

Her head tilted at the answer, then shrugged as he curiousity was sated by Adderfeather's genuine answer. Instead she focused on the sound of the nearby river, the sounds of it trickling over the sides of the riverbank. She took a careful leap over a spot that looked particularly slippery, then weaved through the reeds rather than going around them. Her movements started a watervole that shrieked and scampered swiftly into the water. Startled, Blossompaw pulled back sharply, only to surge forward when she realised what had made the ghastly sound.

Her mentor's question was one she would have loved to simply answer. Unfortunately, she underestimated the speed of the vole as well as her leap. Forepaws scrabbling, she tried to throw her weight back to the shore, but her body drew short as she plunged into the cold river water. She surfaced quickly, righting herself and spitting out river water that had been allowed into her jaws when she failed to shriek before falling in. Shaking her head, she glowered at the tiny ripples the vole left behind.

"The cold doesn't bother me." She meowed after a moment as she swam to a shallow part and shook out most of her coat. It fluffed out afterwards, standing on end as droplets fell. "Not so fond of falling in though."