looking for a little peace (c)

Dovepaw liked the evenings. When the camp began to cool off from the harsh heat of day, his long, soft fur no longer felt oppressive, but instead comfortable. A breeze brushing against his pelt, the sky turning a slightly dimmer blue, no more bright light in his eyes... it was more comfortable than the daytime. Each part of the day had pros and cons, but evening was his favorite. So it was that after a long day of training, the tom sat down by the fresh-kill pile for a moment of relaxation. Apprenticeship left him far busier than he had ever anticipated. He did like being busy--he liked doing things--but it made finding a minute or two to sit down and eat all the more relieving.

Carefully he pawed a fish out of the pile, selecting a large carp. He'd caught it for one of his siblings, but they'd all eaten already or had a dusk patrol to head out on or were going to bed early for dawn patrol... which left him alone. He had two sisters and three brothers. Loneliness was a strange feeling. It was a solemn kind of peace that was unfamiliar, leaving an almost sour taste in his mouth when he took his first bite of fish. He was so used to being around his siblings that not having one of them nearby was honestly kind of empty. What was he, if he wasn't their older brother? If he wasn't the one worrying about them and keeping them safe? What was he, when he was by himself? ...He wasn't sure how much he really wanted to know.

Dovepaw had almost decided to just eat his fish as quickly as possible and then go to bed early when his thought process was interrupted. A voice he only vaguely recognized, soft and straightforward, met his ears. He blinked and looked up. The voice came from a silver tabby apprentice, who was... offering to join him. After a moment of surprise, he gave a small smile. "Sure, I don't mind." They had never really spoken before, so she had probably only asked out of some combination of pity or sympathy. Either way, he wouldn't say no. "You're... Willowpaw, right? I think I've seen you around a couple of times. I'm Dovepaw. Chances are you've met at least one of my siblings before." Should he list the names of all his siblings? No--that would take too long. Second-guessing himself would just make the awkward pause in conversation longer. He took a bite of his fish then swallowed hastily. "Wait, did you want to share this fish? It's kinda big, so we could. But if you don't like carp then you can pick your own."

The few times that Dovepaw had seemed Willowpaw in passing, she had seemed almost intimidating. The leader's eldest daughter. Certainly she carried herself a lot like Perchstar, in a way that was nearly imposing, being both graceful and stoic. Yet now that they were talking, she seemed really... nice. As he took another bite of the carp that they were now sharing--his offer hadn't been rude, or at least hadn't been taken as such, for which he offered a hasty prayer of thanks to the stars--he listened to what she was saying. Despite the straightforwardness of her words, she really had a gift for conversation in a way that he didn't. Everything she said was so natural, as well as thoughtful. Yes, that was the right word for Willowpaw. Thoughtful.

"I think you're pretty good at conversation," he said. It was surprising that he had just been thinking about her prowess when she didn't seem to think it of herself. "I mean, you're talking to me, and we don't even know each other! So that's a win. I, uh, always feel awkward when talking to other cats, too... so I get it. We can both work on it, I guess." His long-furred tail swished behind him. "Yeah, Egretswoop's my mentor. I thought she was scary at first, but she's actually really cool. You're... Stormdance's apprentice? I think?" He smiled. "Stormdance was the mentor of my mentor's mentor. No--wait--lemme say that again. Egretswoop was mentored by Rowansong, she's told me a bit about him. And Rowansong was mentored by Stormdance, cause I remember hearing something about how he used to be a troublemaker. So our mentors are... related? Kind of?" Dovepaw shook his head, somewhat chagrined. He'd made a mess of his words again. "Unless I'm misremembering, and Stormdance isn't your mentor."

Their mentors were very closely connected, then. Actually--it seemed like most RiverClan cats were pretty well-connected. Dovepaw wondered idly if other Clans felt that close to each other. Either way, he nodded to Willowpaw's more concise explanation of the idea he'd been trying to format. "Yeah. We just... never ran into each other, I guess. But it's been nice so far. Um, thanks for coming to talk to me." One more bite of the fish was left. He took about half a mouthful of it, chewing slowly. "Well, you've been an apprentice a lot longer than me, so I bet you'll get your name first. Probably pretty soon if I had to guess. Mentoring someone... does that seem scary to you at all? Being in charge of someone's wellbeing like that." It probably should've seemed daunting to him. But after a lifetime of being the self-appointed protector of all four of his siblings, it felt like it would be a natural progression. "I feel like you'd do a pretty good job mentoring. I mean, you're good at explaining stuff. And that's half of what mentoring is, right?"