An elder, yet a friend as well

Primrosepaw was beginning to become a little restless in Riverclan camp. She would never show it to anyone, but she felt as if she had been waiting for her warrior ceremony for moons and moons. Dawnhawk was already a warrior, and it was understandable that she would be a little behind - with the set-back of her blindness had meant more training was needed. But now... She felt ready to be a warrior, ready for a change of name, for a change of den. In the meantime, however, she needed to find something to do with her time.

Picking up the least Riverclan-y prey she could find on the fresh-kill pile, she padded over to one of the elders. She had already taken the time to workout vaguely where each den was, but her familiarity with the elders den was higher than most. One of the apprentices' duties was to ensure their elders were well fed, so she had frequented the den. "Hello Nighthawk!" she said happily as she recognised the she-cat's scent. Her voice muffled a little by the prey in her mouth, so she dropped it at her feet before continuing. "How are you?" she asked just as brightly. She had spent a long time with the elders earlier in her apprenticeship, when every time she opened her eyes she felt as if she were lost in a sea of black. The stories of her elders didn't require any sight to appreciate, and that was one of the reasons she loved them so much.

Nighthawk's body was tense- tenser than usual, even. The fire had conjured up different memories of being forced to leave Skyclan's territory, of being separated from her clanmates. She'd spent most of her nights sleepless in twolegplace, ears pinning back with every bark of dogs in the distance, dark paws restless in unfamiliar territory.

Riverclan's camp was little better. It reeked of, well, Riverclan. It was stuffy and overcrowded, filled with cats who were most definitely not her clanmates and who Nighthawk had very little desire to interact with. From what she'd seen of the Riverclan apprentices, they were more bratty than any of Skyclan's own, something which was an interesting, if unpleasant, feat. And it seemed as if Riverclan had an endless supply of apprentices, because the camp wasn't crowded enough. Clearly.

The dark tabby had opted to sit just outside the elder's den, finding it to be only slightly less cramped and uncomfortable. What she wouldn't give to be curled up in Skyclan's camp with Sprucesnow, with a familiar moss nest and the sound of wind through the trees instead of the uncomfortable reeds and sound of rushing water just outside the camp walls. Amber eyes watched over the camp, and so it was only natural that she spotted an apprentice- thankfully Skyclan- pick up a piece of prey and turn towards Nighthawk's direction.

"Hello, Primrosepaw." Nighthawk greeted the apprentice somewhat more warmly than she'd greet most. She did her duties with little complaint, and always seemed eager to hear stories. The cream-pointed molly was one of her calmer clanmates, but even she seemed restless today, much like everyone else.

"You seem about as restless as I am. What's bothering you?"

"Oh, I'm fine I guess." Primrosepaw said as she settled herself beside Nighthawk. But she soon corrected herself. Little white lies like pretending she was alright didn't work on the older she-cat, unlike with most her family. "Honestly, I just feel like I'm ready to be a warrior. It feels as if I've been an apprentice my whole life." Truthfully, she had been an apprentice more of her life than not, so her comment wasn't too over-exaggerated. 

"But don't be restless, Nighthawk - I'm sure we'll go home soon enough." If there was one thing the cream apprentice hated, it was conversations that focussed around her own issues. She would much prefer to try and improve the state of a wider issue, or help another cat through theirs. Her own problems and insecurities were a much less well-trodden path for her, and one that she would prefer to avoid. "How are you and Sprucesnow?" Even though she was trying to do it discretely, it was clear as day that she was trying to veer the conversation's focus away from herself.

"You'll get there. the past few moons have been... hectic." Hectic was one way of putting it, but it was true. Nighthawk saw little reason for the clan to hold off on warrior and apprentice ceremonies now that they were back in the forest.

A soft smile spread across her face at the mention of Sprucesnow. "We're... okay. Shaken, but... okay." She mewed.

"This isn't the first time we've been driven from our home by the elements, but our clan mostly managed to stay together this time." Last time, Nighthawk had been separated from nearly all of her friends with Tinystar's group that had wound up at highstones. As horrific as the fire was, she'd been able to stay by the sides of those she loved.

"If you have the time, I could tell you the story." She mewed. Telling a story wasn't something she minded, and the blind apprentice in front of her could benefit from the distraction, she suspected. The elder pulled the offered prey a bit closer, a glint of approval in her eyes that it wasn't fish. The Skyclanners had been leery of trying Riverclan's preferred prey, and seemed intent on sticking to their own food preferences, which didn't go unappreciated by the clan's elders.

Primrosepaw's ears pricked up at the mention of a story. She may've felt as if she were outgrowing the apprentices' den, but she would never grow out of her enjoyment of the elders' stories. "Yes please!" she said enthusiastically, and maybe a little more loudly than most would in such a communal area. She got a few looks from Riverclanners, but as far as she was concerned, a little embarrassment was worth it for a good story.

Her and her clan had undebatable been through a lot, so maybe learning of other hardships would help her see it better. Although, many other cats would probably say that she didn't need any help with her endless optimism, but that hopeful side of her still needed feeling by something.

"Of course I have the time for it," She had to stop herself from adding 'I've got nothing better to do as an apprentice' at the end. Nighthawk didn't need to be bothered by her discomfort at being stuck an apprentice.

Nighthawk allowed herself a small smile at Primrosepaw's enthusiasm, though she tried to ignore the Riverclanners that had glanced in their direction.

"One newleaf, many seasons ago, there was a flood like the forest had never seen before. All the clans were swept away from the forest, including ours. Tinystar was our leader at the time, and we and a few clanmates wound up at highstones, along with the Windclan leader Finchstar, Jaystar of Riverclan, and Pricklebush of Thunderclan and some of their clanmates. We'd been completely separated from the rest of the clans and over half of our own clanmates, so we had to work together. The leaders had to put aside their differences to keep us all safe. The leaders and medicine cat met with Starclan at the moonstone, and were told to go to a not-so-distant mountain and find another group of cats to seek safety with. Tinystar and Finchstar kept us at highstones, while the others went on ahead to find the strange Tribe cats in the mountains beyond highstones." The dark tabby took a bite of prey, debating how to continue with the story.

"While we stayed at highstones, a pack of dogs had somehow managed to pick up our trail, and they followed us. They attacked in the middle of the night, ruthless and cruel." Nighthawk paused for a moment, collecting her thoughts. She didn't enjoy talking about the dogs from that day. Still, she thanked Starclan that she had lived through it, lived to be reunited with the rest of her clanmates and Sprucesnow.

"We managed to chase the dogs off, and then made our way deeper into the mountains, as the others had before us. The Tribe of Endless Skies was an odd group of cats, rugged and with... different mannerisms than our clans. They were a hardy lot, used to the inhospitable mountains. In order for us to return home, we had to help them solve one of their biggest threats. Sharptooth, as it was known, was a huge beast of a cat, several times bigger than even Bloodstrike and Beechpaw, and far more ferocious than either of them." There was no reasoning with the Sharptooth, it had existed to feed off of the lesser creatures that inhabited its' mountains, and the thirst for blood it had was legendary. The elder paused once more in her storytelling to pick at the meal in front of her, watching Primrosepaw's reactions. She knew the tale would pique the interest of more than a few onlookers, and indeed, a few cats had paused in their goings-about the camp, ears pricked in Nighthawk's direction.

Primrosepaw listened closely and eagerly to Nighthawk's tale, trying to imagine being in that situation. Whilst their clan had been staying with Riverclan, she had managed to steer clear of the river, but the camp itself was still near the it. She knew it would be dangerous to fall in without any swimming skills - she didn't need to be able to see it to fear it. The sound alone had scared her, and she was perfectly happy to stay as far away from the river as possible. But it didn't mean she couldn't imagine being swept away in a mass flood.

"That must've been so scary!" the cream apprentice exclaimed. There was no doubt that she had heard the story at least once before, but her reaction each time was almost identical. "Dogs!" She said with perfect timing in the story, almost as if it were rehearsed. However, her words were definitely genuine: she knew what dogs could do to a cat. Primrosepaw may've been sweet, but she was far from naive. She had arguably gone through hardship, and some of her family still bared scars from fight a dog.

When the story reached the mountains, a different kind of interest sparked the apprentice. The prospect of meeting cats outside the clans. Even in Twolegplace, Primrosepaw hadn't run into any rouges, due to staying fairly close to her mother most of the time. At the Gathering, she had talked with Ravenmist and Wildflower, but that wasn't the same as meeting cats her own age, or cats that lived without the clans entirely. Part of her yearned to meet these unusual cats of the mountains, however far away they may live.

"You fixed the problem with Sharptooth then, right? And then was everything ok after that?" She wasn't sure if it was the end of the story, but was worried it might be. If Smokefeather saw any apprentice (especially her own) being idle around camp, they wouldn't be that way for much longer. She would find them something to do or somewhere to be, but for now Primrosepaw was happy just relaxing, her period of restlessness over.

"It was. The Sharptooth found us before we could finalize our plans, and we managed to lure it down the mountain where it fought with the dogs." A shiver ran down Nighthawk's spine at the memory.

"We returned home to a forest wiped clean by the flood, but we were able to reunite with the clanmates we had been separated from. Sprucesnow and Mintwhisker, our medicine cats at the time, had wound up with the other clans on a lake far to the south. Sprucesnow can explain what happened then better than I could." She'd nearly tackled her mate when she'd seen him alive again. Bedraggled, exhausted, shaken, but alive.

"Things were... actually peaceful for a time after everything happened. We all had to work together to stay safe." She mewed. Her story had come to an end. And Nighthawk suspected that there would be a mentor looking for there apprentice sooner rather than later. With a sigh, the elder turned back to her meal.

"Wow!" Primrosepaw exclaimed. Now that she felt as if she knew all there was to know about her clan's history, learnt second-hand from a cat who had been through a large part of it. She had enjoyed listening, and it had relaxed her a lot, along with making her feel like a little kit again. Sometimes what you wanted was the opposite of what you needed.

Then, she heard Smokefeather's call from the other side of camp. Her mother had returned to camp and spotted her apprentice not working, and so Primrosepaw rose from her comfortable spot by Nighthawk. After stretching out her stiff muscles, she turned to the elder. "Thank you for story, Nighthawk. It turned out to be exactly what I needed." With her farewell over, she whisked around and carefully padded away, feeling much more cheerful than she had a tale ago.