This Time That We Have [Closed]

She'd hardly held an apprentice name for a moon but if it were up to the warrior, he and Graypaw would have traipsed the forest at every opportunity. Wrenspring had his paws full with two apprentices of his own and surely Primroselight was taking good care of his daughter's training. However, these thoughts didn't sate his desire to show her the territory and indulge in some time together. This particular morning was rife with opportunities. Ravenpaw and Lichenpaw were busied with elder duties, and Primroselight he knew to be on the next patrol. While it meant disturbing the younger cat's well-earned rest, he knew few other opportunities like this would arise. They could go hunting, exploring, or even practice some battle movies... the possibilities were endless.

Wrenspring ducked into the apprentice's den, whiskers twitching as he remembered resting here moons ago. He remembered longing for a few more moments of sleep when being prodded awake by Amberwing or Flowerthorn. Gingerly, one forepaw shook Graypaw's side, "Get up, Graypaw, we finally have a chance to go out. Let's not waste daylight, my little bird." With that, the tom turned to wait for her by the entrance. Along the way he told another warrior of his intent to go out and train with Graypaw, just in case any cat wondered where their paws might had wandered off too. When the apprentice joined him. he offered her a warm smile and lead the way out into the territory. It didn't take long for his claws to itch for the bark of a tree. Easily, he hauled himself up the trunk of a tall birch tree and motioned for Graypaw to follow.

"So... what would you like to do first?" His eyes sparkled with anticipation at the thought of various things they could accomplish on the day, how far their paws would soar. It was up to Graypaw, wherever she desired, he vowed to take her.

Training with Primroselight had become something that the apprentice could look forward to. She enjoyed having the responsibility of being awake on time in order to sharpen up her skills. As she had expected, hunting was beginning to come a lot easier to her. She had more battle moves stored in her head that she'd be able to whip out the next time she came across a hungry predator or a hostile clan cat. Furthermore, she had learned about one of the most important factors of being a SkyClan cat: tree climbing. It had taken her a few tries, but now she knew how to pull herself up the branches and into the air with ease. The one thing that Graypaw hadn't had the opportunity to experience quite yet was a tour of the entire territory. She hadn't even been born yet when the infamous fire made an attack on SkyClan, but she knew that some parts of the territory were still suffering from it.

Today, Graypaw had no training session scheduled. She had planned to sleep in and let her dreams take her wherever they wanted to go. However, when she felt the soft force of a paw on her side, any trace of her dreams vanished as her eyes fluttered open. It took her a moment to realize who had woken her up. If it had been any other cat that wasn't Primroselight or Wrenspring, the she-cat would've been a bit puzzled, so seeing her father exit the den was enough to get her out of her nest. She padded along the den walls to prevent stepping on the tail of any snoozing apprentice before leaving the den. The sun's rays hit her gray pelt and caused it to appear the slightest bit silver as she stretched, chasing any fatigue out of her body. Ever since she had been given her apprentice name, Graypaw hadn't had that much personal time with her father. Her schedule was filled to the brim with apprentice duties, not that she minded that, but she was glad that she had free time now. She returned Wrenspring's warm smile with one of her own and followed the tom out of camp.

The she-cat hauled herself up the same birch tree that her father had climbed up and perched directly beside him. She relished the feeling of being above the ground. She took a moment to scan the horizon and silently count the trees that she could see in the distance.
"Everything..." She muttered, before slightly turning her head in Wrenspring's direction, "I wanna see everything. I haven't gotten the chance to see the territory as a whole, yet, including the borders. I bet it's really big."

"Bigger than you could even imagine!" Wrenspring piped up with a smile. The fact that their sliver of home was only a piece of the forest had never bothered him. Generally, this home of theirs supported their clan and that was what mattered. His gaze drifted out across the the horizon, looking at the ashen trunks. Bent tail flickered back and forth as he considered what to do. Obviously, they would work on traveling by the trees. Remembering his training with Ravenpaw, the warrior considered how closely he would follow his daughter. The tom had no doubt in the skills she inherited or the blood that pumped through her veins but it was better to be cautious than have to take her to Beechpaw's den later. Even if visiting the medicine cat sounded pleasant, he would prefer to go on better terms, and to not see his kit injured.

"Follow me." He darted forward, finding the edge of the branch and leaping to the next tree as soon as the wood began to bow under his weight. With each land of his paws, the tom paused to check back on Graypaw. Their endeavors lead them to the edge of the territory, passing where various patrols had traveled over the moons. At once point the pair even journeyed past where Wrenspring and Redfall had once fought. Struggling to keep his gaze away, the warrior pushed forward. Graypaw seemed like a level-headed cat, hopefully she would never find herself into a confrontation with a clanmate under such undesirable circumstances. He merely stifled a soft sigh and pressed on. It wasn't worth letting such things dampen his mood. This was a special moment, one of many. After sometime, he paused again.

"Shadowclan territory is just over that way. It's where I got my crooked tail, a monster crawled right over it. But it's also where I met Flintstar, Shadowclan's leader. He was friends with Basildrop, my mother. I suppose he's friends with us too then, in some sense. Not every cat from another clan is an enemy but they do have their own allegiances." Once again he was thinking about his training sessions with the other young apprentice. Ravenpaw possessed such eagerness in her paws. He forgot what the ambitions of apprentices were like sometimes; it had been moons since he had considered those ideals. Maybe if he could share these little moments with Graypaw, he could instill what little sense he held himself. Whiskers twitching, Wrenspring looked to his daughter and stifled a small laugh, "I swear I sound more like an elder by the day, talking about all the things past. Think my coat is turning even more gray?"

Surely the entirety of the forest would be back to the way it was before the fire someday in the future. Graypaw could only dream of that day, though. It was time to embrace what she had right now. She took another second to look out at the treetops as a smile of content spread on her maw. It was difficult to not smile when looking at the stretch of land that was her home. How wonderful would it be to travel through this forest from above? Tree running was a common SkyClan skill that Graypaw wasn't a professional at yet, but she knew the basics. There was no way that she could leap from branch to branch as quickly as an experienced warrior could, but falling wasn't something that she intended to do either. Obediently, she took off after Wrenspring, making sure to stay as close behind him as she could. No fear went through her veins as she glanced down at the terrain racing below her. In fact, it was thrilling.

Graypaw paused when a faint yet foreign scent drifted into her nose. She would have to get used to the scents of the other Clans, or at least the ones that SkyClan bordered. It would be difficult to learn them at her first Gathering considering the fact that it would be a sloppy combination of five different scents combined. ShadowClan's scent definitely wasn't pleasant, but perhaps Graypaw was only opposed to it because it was unfamiliar to her. She silently looked up at her father as he spoke. The apprentice found it to be incredible that the tom had been through so much. While some cats, especially ones around her age, were itching to fight rival Clans, Graypaw was not. She would fight to the end if it was necessary, but she found it to be odd to constantly look for a battle or be hostile when there was no need for it. Thus, hearing about Flintstar interested her. She couldn't even begin to imagine how painful it would be to have a monster run over her tail. She couldn't help but wince upon hearing that story.

Her mood quickly shifted when she glanced back up at her father.
"I do see some silver fur on your muzzle, but maybe it's just sunlight." she stifled a laugh as she joked, "Don't worry, though. I'll visit you a lot in the elders' den."
She paused, looking back over at where ShadowClan's territory was located and taking a steady breath.
"I think it's amazing that you've experienced so much. I hope I get to do the same... except for the monster part, of course."

"Before you know it, I'll be looking like Tinylegs!" Wrenspring joked and his whiskers twitched before a soft frown turned down the corners of his maw. It had seemed like moons that the former leader had been cooped up in the elder's den, somehow avoiding the looming grip of Starclan. But their elderly clanmate had abandoned them and opted to stay in Riverclan. He'd not lingered too much on it, other than the acrid taste that wrinkled his nose at the fleeting thought. Stories of the little leader had carried on throughout the generations and he had never quite placed what emotions he felt towards his kin. Relation to Sunflower had doomed him in more ways than one. The crooked tail of his flickered back and forth before he turned back to Graypaw.

Whatever measures of sadness or disdain - he wasn't sure - had touched his maw, disappeared in an instant. It seemed that there was hope blossoming in this kit of his. Her presence simply brought him joy and some since of belonging. Graypaw didn't repair the many things that had happened in his past nor heal the scars that crossed his pelt in various places; yet the she-cat gave him peace and joy. Fatherhood had always seemed like some far away dream, one he seldom entertained. Younger cats, Smokefeather and Bloodstrike, had brought many kits into the world and helped to keep Skyclan growing. But to consider it himself had always seemed like a forest away, even when he had chatted with Smokefeather over it, or helped to raise Redfall's kits. Still, she bore his coat, and his blood.

Wrenspring drew close and wrapped his tail around her, drinking in their time together. Graypaw would be a warrior before he knew it and he hated to think of that. Regardless, even as her father, he wasn't in a place to deny her of the many experiences that the world had to offer. His tongue rasped across her cheek and he allowed his whiskers to twitch, "No cat wins a battle against a monster, not even your father. I just barely escaped with my life. But I have to keep my paws here for as long as possible so I can be here to help you experience it all, my kit." A grin flickered across his maw at the fact that he could call her his kit. What a nice feeling that was.

Graypaw had never had the chance to personally meet or get to know Tinylegs. All that she knew of the tom was that he had been a leader of SkyClan before going to reside in RiverClan. She had no idea why; no one had ever told her, but she figured that she would save that question for another day. There was so much about her Clan, her Clanmates, and her ancestors that were still unknown to her, and all Graypaw wanted was to know it all. Hearing about phenomenons like the Mist and the fire was both alarming and interesting to her. Disaster seemed to strike SkyClan or the forest as a whole at random times, and it began to make her wonder whether or not she would have to live through one herself. When she eventually found herself as an elder, cooped up in the corner of the elders den, would she have her own stories to tell? Graypaw didn't want a disaster to strike once again, especially not for the sole sake of being able to play the role of storyteller with the apprentices, but surely such tumultuous events helped to shape cats into better, stronger individuals.

Despite how quickly time was flying by, Graypaw still had a whole future full of unknown events ahead of her, and she was determined to shape it as well as she could. She felt a warm sense of comfort engulf her heart as her father wrapped his tail around her. She had nothing to worry about in that moment. Instead of constantly looking ahead to what tragedies the future could hold, perhaps she needed to focus on what gifts the present had for her right now. She was extremely grateful for everything that everyone that she had. Besides, when she grew older, wouldn't it be better to reminisce on the good moments instead of constantly think about the bad ones?

She smiled once again, closing her eyes as another breeze swept through the treetops.
"I'm glad. I wouldn't want anyone else but you to be here for me, father."