[vesta]

mallowpaw
[3/100]
purrks: primal instincts

mallowpaw still didn't know where they were going. but she was more than happy to follow along. she appreciated the opportunity to get out of camp, see the territory a little bit. she'd only been out one other time, so she occupied the quiet journey with the examination of her surroundings. the air smelled...not cleaner, but less dense than back in camp. she could still smell cats, but it was as if their scents had been spread out, and the space between the signatures was filled with exciting new aromas. of course, she was unable to decipher them yet, but she was content nonetheless. it didn't take much to make her happy, and everyone knew that.

they arrived at a pond, which was a good sign. mallowpaw loved the water. more than even most of her fellow riverclanners. she'd been told she was a natural at swimming. she didn't really know what that meant, but she sure liked paddling around and floating. maybe that's what they were doing here? wormbite began pairing them up. ooh, maybe a race? she flicked her ears in acknowledgement of her assignment, offering spiderpaw an easygoing smile.

oh. this was not a race. water combat, training, opponent. mallowpaw only understood about half of what wormbite was saying. she'd never had battle training before, but she supposed this was a rather integrative way to kick things off. she didn't want to hurt her fellow apprentice though. spiderpaw was older but mallowpaw was larger, and she had no clue how much training her partner had. huh, maybe mallowpaw should be more worried about herself. but she trusted her clanmates and felt confident all would be well.

"thanks, i'll take the water," she offered in response to spiderpaw. she approached the pond's edge, placing her forelegs in first. not too cold. she tread the rest of the way in slowly, not wanting to plunge down if the terrain suddenly dropped into deeper waters. chest-deep in the pond, she rotated to face spiderpaw. "good to go?" she asked amiably, tilting her head up at her temporary opponent. wormbite had told them to begin when ready, but it felt wrong to just attack without at least confirming.

[ @namen_roodles @wolfie ]