Youth [closed]

Smallbean sat in his little corner of the camp, a content smile on his face as he watched his clanmates hurry by, carrying out duties and running off to talk to kin. He had already gone out earlier that morning, so he figured that he could use a break- not to mention that he was still waiting on his wounds to fully heal.

The sound of playing kits caught his attention. He looked over to see them outside the nursery, but one kit began to stray closer to him than the others. "Oh, hello there." He called out, watching the kit with curious eyes. He wasn't familiar with the kits that were currently in the nursery. He felt bad about not even knowing their names. He hadn't yet taken the time to get to know the cats who were born while he was away. Perhaps this would be the first step. "What's your name? I'm Smallbean."

Whisperkit looked over when someone called out to them. Their head tilted curiously as they looked at the small warrior. For a brief moment, Whisperkit mistook them for an apprentice due to their size but then remembered how they had seen Smallbean with warriors before. They were glad that they remembered.

"Whisperkit," they replied as they made their way over to the warrior and sat before him. "Nice to meet you, Smallbean. I hope you're having a nice day." Their ears twitched as they watched Smallbean with distant eyes. Their wondered why Smallbean wasn't out doing patrols like the other warriors. "What are you up to today?"

Smallbean was almost shocked at the kit's politeness. Last he remembered, kits didn't give a rats tail about manners. It was a pleasant surprise. "Nice to meet you, Whisperkit." He smiled warmly at them. This was going much better than he expected. "Oh, I'm just taking a rest right now, I might go out again later, though." He paused and looked over Whisperkit. It still surprises him, how little the size difference is between himself and kits. "You're getting big, aren't you? It won't be long 'till you're bigger than me." He chuckled. "How long d'you think it'll be until you're apprenticed? " The thought took him back to his own apprentice ceremony.

"Less than a moon, I think," Whisperkit meowed with a small nod. Despite their thin body, their large ears often gave them the illusion of extra bulk. But they were indeed nearing their sixth moon, so it likely wouldn't be long now.

Apprenticeship...It felt so close, and yet so distant. Whisperkit couldn't quite imagine going out and hunting for food alongside other apprentices and warriors. They didn't even know what cat could potentially be their mentor. Despite having met at least a few of the warriors, Whisperkit was still left without any ideas who they would prefer to teach how to be a warrior.

"Are you mentoring anyone?" Whisperkit asked. The question popped out of their mouth before they even though about it.

"Ah, so not long at all." He nodded. "I'm... actually not mentoring any apprentices right now." It surprised him, now that he thought about it, considering the amount of apprentices in the clan. He cast a small smirk to Whisperkit. Maybe he'd end up mentoring them.

"So.. are you excited? Nervous? Indifferent?" He asked, leaving almost no time before he started talking again. "Believe it or not, I didn't want to show up to my own apprentice ceremony." A fond smile found it's way onto his maw as he recalled wanting to be by his mother's side. "I was quite nervous... about almost everything. I still get nervous often, but I think I'm getting better? My mentor helped me a lot, though." He liked to show that he wasn't always brave all the time like how the average warrior would be seen by a kit. Every cat has their vulnerabilities, after all.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll turn out to be an excellent warrior, Whisperkit. Every warrior in this camp started out as a kit just like you, even Goldenstar, and no kit is fit to carry out warrior duties. It really shows how much you grow before you're a warrior. You'll get there, just as your denmates will." He hoped his pep talk would encourage the Whisperkit a little bit. He himself had the same thoughts that they're having before. Smallbean wanted to say to Whisperkit the words he needed to hear when he was their age.

"And even if you're not meant to be a warrior, there are other ways to help the clan. Think about medicine cats. What would we do without them?" He couldn't help but cast an almost longing gaze to the medicine den. "D'you know that I was a medicine cat before? It's tough work, but they're just as important as the warriors."

Smallbean let out a long sigh. Having to tell the story over and over again was honestly a bit exhausting. Whisperkit didn't know that, though. They hasn't even met before now. He supposed he owed it to them. "Well.. a while ago, back when I was the medicine cat here, I was captured by twolegs and kept in one of their dens." He paused, his gaze flickering over to Whisperkit. "I finally escaped the den a few moons ago, and ever since I've been back I've just been a normal warrior." It reminded him of how grateful he was to be back. All those moons trapped inside the den had made him so homesick.

"Being a medicine cat is a big responsibility though. It made me feel good about helping the clan, but it was really stressful." He nervously chuckled. "I'm sure that Windclan could use a pair of extra paws in the medicine den every now and then, though."