Flickerpaw's Training

”Oh, Hi.” Flickerpaw responded, trying her hardest to look like she had just woken up instead of having been awake for the past few hours. She never slept well when she was nervous. ”I would like that a lot. Are we going to take me to the fields?”

Maybe it wasn’t as inconspicuous as Flickerpaw would have liked, but she couldn’t help but ask— she heard that mentors usually start their new apprentices on small prey, like mice, and the thought of tumbling after rodents in the tall grass made her skin crawl. She would look too much like an amateur— sure, she’s never hunted before, but she was certain she had the know-how necessary to take down experienced prey.

Convincing Eaglefly to take her to the fields was easier than Flickerpaw had expected. She had honestly prepared for a hard no, her mentor insisting on starting off small, but yet Eaglefly seemed almost relieved that Flickerpaw was leading the training session. She knew he was a very new warrior and that she was his first apprentice, so naturally he must be nervous— Flickerpaw suddenly wondered if her expectations may be too high. 

The little molly followed Eaglefly’s monologue the best she could, mumbling and all. She honestly appreciated the in-depth explanation, even if it seemed kind of redundant (of course she knew what a rabbit smelled like). Flickerpaw had never hunted before or attempted anything of that sort, and while Brackenwing had sworn up and down that it was instinct Flickerpaw wasn’t so sure. If anything, she had an amazing ability to struggle with things her clanmates found easy. 

Sniffing out a rabbit seemed easy enough in theory, but Flickerpaw quickly came to the realization that she had never tracked prey before. Now that she had focused, the entire field stunk with thousands of scents, bombarding her nose all at once. She could smell rabbit— a lot of rabbit— but she couldn’t track any of their scents to a single point. On top of that, the smell of grass and wildflowers made it significantly harder for Flickerpaw to focus. 

As if StarClan heard her worries, the tall grass to Flickerpaw’s side began to shake with movement. A rabbit had just wandered out of its burrow, and while Flickerpaw couldn’t see it her nose could; Maybe Brackenwing was right then, about the instincts. The rabbit’s scent was closer than any other, and Flickerpaw could follow it back to a little spot a few foxlengths away from her right. 

”Okay. Now what?” Flickerpaw asked plainly, keeping her voice low.