Fledgling (Closed)

With each careful pawstep Orchidmask took across the floor of fallen leaves the young warrior's anxiety grew and grew, looking uncertainly at the backs of the two cats in front of her.  She had been convinced to take up Dawnfeather's offer of tree-climbing training, and Oliverain had decided to come along with them.  Two pairs of eyes on her as she attempted something she wasn't good at...it was the proud she-cat's worst nightmare.  She preferred training alone, but she knew that attempting climbing and tree jumping without a spotter was quite dangerous, and the only thing she dreaded more than embarrassment was injury.  So, with a deep breath, she had taken the risk.  Oh StarClan above, I hope I don't regret this...

The group reached a clearing with several tall trees, which seemed to be a good place to start.  Gazing upward, Orchidmask examined the branches and how they linked together with those from other trees, making a long chain of traversable trees.  She had climbed before plenty of times with her mentor Bearflower, but they hadn't gone beyond the basics.  If she wanted to prove herself as a good SkyClan warrior, learning these unique techniques would serve her well.  She hoped so at least...  "So, where should we start?"

They weren’t heading to the beginner’s glade, with the low, thick branches and deep drifts of leaves. No, Olive and Orchidmask didn’t want to climb- they wanted to tree-fly, and Dawnfeather would do her best to see if they could.

Of course, they thought they wanted to climb. They already knew how to hug the trunk and carefully find their way onto a limb. What they couldn’t do was outrun a squirrel through the trees, or catch a bird in midair and safely land on a branch. (Of course, Dawnfeather wasn’t about to tell Orchidmask about the time she got her head stuck in a tree hollow. That wouldn’t exactly breed confidence in her teacher, now would it? It was rather funny in retrospect, though.)

“Well, before we get into the trees, you’ve got to see that you can climb, just as well as Bloodstar or Ashaunt. This is tree-flying- eyes and paws faster than your conscious decisions. Half the time you don’t think about what you’re doing- reaction time is critical, and so is eyesight. That’s why it’s more of an inherited thing, you know?” She turned and scrutinized the two mollies, both a bit taller than she and much more muscular and broad-shouldered. “You have to be tall, which you’ve both got down wonderfully-“ an amused purr- “But you’re likely to be a bit heavy- I digress. Long tails, check! Now, answer me this- how good do you think your reaction time and eyesight are?”

These were key, important, vital parts of tree-flying. Smell and brute strength- not so much. Dawnfeather herself was built to tree-fly, and it showed in her quick, almost squirrel-like movements, her long tail, sharp, long claws, keen glance… she was made to climb, and in everything else she somewhat suffered… especially when it came to holes and tree roots. She’d tripped over several on the way here- hopefully Orchidmask wouldn’t think she was incompetent. (Well, when it came to the ground, perhaps she was.)

Waiting for their answers, she leapt into a nearby tree, claws solidly hooking into the bark. It wasn’t showing off (although it could easily be taken that way, with how high she’d managed to land)- she just was more comfortable in the trees, where the roots couldn’t ambush her.