Strictly Business (Orchid and Bear)

The afternoon sun blazed down on Orchidpaw's back as she sat just outside the camp entrance, sharpening her claws diligently on an already claw-scratched stone. Bearflower had said that they would be hunting by the creek since small animals would be drawn to the cool water at this time of day, which sounded reasonable to her. However, a mix of impatience and independence was making it hard for the young she-cat to wait, and even after her claws were sufficiently sharpened she continued moving, pacing back and forth and wandering around. She was excited to go hunting, and just to be out in the forest. It made her happy being surrounded by all the beautiful scenery, and it was this beauty that she found on the ground during her pacing. A perfect, pristine birch leaf, bright yellow like the sun. Tilting her head inquisitively, the colorpoint she-cat placed it on her paw, before sending it up into the air and watching it flutter calmly back to the ground. Smiling, she continued to do this several more times, even trying to catch it before it hit the ground. She wondered vaguely, was this considered playing? Kitlike? Ah, it didn't matter right now, no one was around anyway. Besides, she was bored, and what else was there to do? With a purr, she pounced on the leaf as it hit the ground, tail waving energetically.

Bearflower was beyond excited to have an apprentice. Training sessions would be a way for her to take her mind off of everything that had been fogging it up recently. This was the perfect opportunity for her to prove that she was a model Clanmate, the ideal SkyClanner. Right? After her "stunt", she had tightened up her behavior to the point that she was almost unrecognizable, but she-cat thought it was completely worth it.

She could already tell that she and Orchidpaw would get along just fine. This belief strengthened even more so when she ducked her head and padded out of the warriors' den only to catch her apprentice playing around with a yellow leaf. She hated it when apprentices acted like they were no longer allowed to have any sort of fun, so it was refreshing to see Orchidpaw staying loose.
"Hey! You ready?" Bearflower greeted her apprentice with a friendly flick of her ear, "If you think pouncing on a leaf is exciting, then you're gonna love learning how to hunt today."

The territory was beautiful and perfect for hunting, almost as if the weather knew that they would be training today. She let her apprentice know that it was alright to follow her by flicking her tail before leading the way out of camp.

Orchidpaw flinched at the sound of Bearflower's voice and quickly turned around to face her mentor, abandoning the now embarrassing leaf in the dust.  Oh, did she see me?  Yeah, she definitely did.  For a moment the she-cat's crystal-blue eyes burned with shame and panic but she quickly regained her cool and approached the brown tabby warrior, returning her friendly greeting with a quick nod.  "It wasn't that exciting, just something to pass the time."  Orchidpaw's face has returned to its usual neutrally serious expression, though right now it felt a bit forced.  The sights and scents of the forest were calling to her, and if she was a much different cat she would've been bouncing on her toes ready to dash off who knows where.  Instead, she gave her shoulder a quick lick before looking back at Bearflower; "I'm ready to go when you are."

Bearflower hid her amusement as Orchidpaw quickly scrambled to regain a mature appearance. Apprentices were so odd.
"Alrighty, come on." The she-cat flicked her tail to let the apprentice know it was fine to follow as she padded out of camp and into the open.

"You became an apprentice at a good time, y'know. Leaf-fall means that there's still a decent amount of prey running around the territory in the daytime. They like to hide during Leaf-bare, so it would've been a total pain to teach you how to hunt if they were all tucked away in their burrows and branches." Her tone was confident and light as she weaved through the trees and glanced up at the jagged branches that cut through the blue sky.

"Let's stop here." Bearflower decided once she was satisfied with how far they had walked.
She turned to face Orchidpaw with a happy grin on her maw.
"So, obviously, before you can hunt any prey, you need to know how to crouch. If you do it wrong then you'll just scare all the prey off and make a mess, so just try and copy what I'll do. We'll move on to climbing trees and catching birds in the branches later on."

The brown warrior proceeded to lower herself down into the crouch that she had known for moons and gave her apprentice a moment to study it.
"See? It's the easiest thing you'll ever learn. Just remember that nothing should be touching the ground but your paws."

Orchidpaw released a tightly-held breath as Bearflower beckoned her deeper into the forest, and as the two fell into a steady walking pace she felt the tension in her mind begin to fade.  Gazing around, the young colorpoint apprentice looked up at the tall tree branches dotted with green, brown, and orange, listened to the soft crunch of leaf litter under her wide paws, and breathed in the crisp air.  It's beautiful out here...I'm glad Mama found this place.  Smiling, she perked her ears at the sound of her mentor's voice, nodding agreement.  "Yes, I can smell a few scents already.  Mouse, I think, and squirrel."  She looked around, more critically this time to see if she could spot any creatures, but before they could Bearflower came to a halt and Orchidpaw stopped in front of her.  

Of course, learning how to crouch was the first step of hunting; the muscular she-cat nodded and began to drop down into position, however, the prey scents around them continued to tempt her.  Forcing herself to concentrate on the task at hand, Orchidpaw crouched down as low as she could go without her belly touching the earth, eyes focused forward and her fluffy tail lifted parallel to the ground.  "Like this?"  She felt confident she was doing this correctly, it just felt natural, innate knowledge that had been reawakened.  This is how cats should live, not scavenging for their lives in Twolegplace.  If only my siblings realized that, and how lucky we are to live like this...