You Taught Me the Courage of Stars Before You Left [VA]

[Neptune.]

word count: 2,555
page count: 7
POV Character: Scorchedhollow
secondary character: Larkpaw
Part: 1/2

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Synopsis: Scorchedhollow takes his new apprentice, Larkpaw, out for some training

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Early morning light streams through the branches of the sparse trees around RiverClan’s camp. Quiet voices of cats returning from the evening patrol and those waking up for the morning patrol seep into the apprentice den where Larkpaw sleeps soundly, tucked away in one of the back corners where she’s safe. Her dreams are not anything noteworthy - she won’t remember them when she wakes up, but, for now, she is happy and asleep.

Somewhere else in camp, a large, heavily scarred tom is waking up for the day, large mouth opening wide in a yawn. He takes a few moments to groom his long pelt, ginger and brown fur sticking up at odd angles from how he’s slept on it. At least his denmates weren’t complaining about his restless sleeping this morning, though, he was sure that they’d start up again if he didn’t begin his day now, so, decisively, the tom pushes his way out of the den.

Scorchedhollow didn’t really have any plans for the day - he didn’t think he was on any patrols, and, if he was, some responsible warrior like Gingerfrost, Rushwater or Falconfeather would likely let him know about it if Slatewhisker didn’t first. He supposed he could go out alone for the day, or maybe he could scrape together his own patrol - StarClan only knows that they always need more prey. He could make a day out of it! Speaking of prey… Scorchedhollow approaches the prey pile with slightly more pep in his step and noses through the assortment of meals. What he really wants right now is fish, but it seems the last few on the pile were taken already. That makes sense, he supposes, the fish do tend to go bad quicker than the others, especially in the middle of green-leaf. Luckily, though, it was now full swing leaf-fall, meaning the fish would last a little longer… Still, fish was a favorite around RiverClan, so it didn’t last very long.

Maybe he should organize a fishing patrol… Actually, now that he thought about it, there was something productive Scorchedhollow could do today, and it would also allow for him to get some fishing done - he could take his new apprentice out training! They hadn’t been out together yet, she’d only just received her name a sunrise ago, but Scorchedhollow would’ve bet anything she was eager to start on her training so, picking a couple mice out of the pile, he carried the spoils over to the apprentices den and placed them down outside before sticking his head in.

He had to blink for a few moments so his eyes could adjust to the dim light, but once he could see well enough, blue eyes cast around the sleeping figures for a body slightly smaller than the rest. Once he’d found her, nestled away in the back of the den, he couldn’t help but smile. Larkpaw was small, but he’d seen her playing as a kit, always by herself, and couldn’t help but think she’d make a fine warrior. Now, as she slept, the responsibility of being the one to train her weighed heavy on Scorchedhollow’s shoulders, but he’d done this many times before, at 57 moons he’d mentored his fair share of apprentices, this one would likely not pose any challenge too big. Her placement all the way at the back of the den however…. Yeah, Scorched couldn’t reach her there, he’d have to ask another apprentice to wake her up. Lucky for him, one was just stirring!

"Hey, uh," he struggles a moment to remember their name, "Finchpaw, right?" The apprentice blinks up at him bleary eyed, clearly still a little asleep, but he nods in answer. "Would you mind waking Larkpaw up for me? Just let her know I’m outside waiting." Finchpaw nods and says okay, so Scorchedhollow ducks back out of the den and picks up his two mice again, taking them a few paces away to a little rock where the apprentices tended to eat.

The warrior didn’t have to wait very long for the new apprentice to come bounding out of her den, eyes alight and gleaming with wonder and excitement. She didn’t waste a single moment on greetings, instead, the very first thing out of her mouth was a slew of excited questions. "Are you taking me out for training? Where are we going? What’re we gonna do? Oh, oh! Don’t tell me we’re going battle training!?" Her excitement was palpable, and she didn’t even glance at the mouse Scorched had pushed her direction when she came out.

"Woah, slow down there, little lady," Scorched laughs, "all in due time. Right now, though, we’re eating, we can talk about training after that." To demonstrate this point, Scorched bends down and takes a bite of his own mouse. When he looks back up, Larkpaw is gazing at him with a raised brow, looking a little unimpressed. "What is it?" He asks her - did he have something on his face?

"You’re weird," is all she says before tucking into her own mouse.





A while later, the two cats pad through the territory, heading to Cattail Pond. Larkpaw had been full of boundless energy on the way, chasing after the odd leaf and running at trees like she wanted to scale them (Scorchedhollow refrained from pointing out that tree climbing was more of a ThunderClan thing). It was nice to see how excited she was to be out and about, she’d probably been thinking of nothing else from the moment she could form conscious thoughts.

Scorchedhollow didn’t know much about this cat’s kithood, he figured that was something he’d learn later, Larkpaw already seemed reasonably bubbly and excitable, sort of like his last apprentice… he hoped she wouldn’t meet the same end, history does not always need to repeat itself.

"So, what’re we doing today?" Larkpaw asks, finally calmed down a little from her burst of excitable energy. "Only, you didn’t say yet so I’m wondering! Is it fighting? Bet I could fight you real good! You won’t even see me comin’ I’m so quick!" The apprentice rambles, and Scorchedhollow is having just a little trouble following her, but he chuckles mildly, getting a little excited himself now.

"No, not fighting," he meows, and, when Larkpaw’s face drops, he says, "we’re doing some fishing!" trying to make it sound as exciting as possible.

"Fishing..?" Larkpaw deadpans. "That’s your idea of an exciting first day of training? Fishing? Hate to break it to ya, gramps, but fishing isn’t the average apprentices’ idea of an exciting first day of training." There’s a note of teasing in her voice that Scorched managed to sniff out, and he grins down at the young molly.

"You’re gonna have to learn sooner or later," he points out, noting the way Larkpaw opens her mouth like she has more to say, but he cuts her off, "and we can do some swimming or explore the territory some more once we’ve caught enough." Still, she looks unimpressed, so Scorched aims to sweeten the deal a little further, "you can have first dibs of the prey pile when we get back."

"Deal." Larkpaw agrees with a grin, seemingly newly motivated by the offer of first pick. Satisfied now, Scorchedhollow continues leading the way to Cattail Pond, the site of today's lesson.

The good thing about Cattail Pond is that the water isn’t fast moving, there’s no strong currents to sweep inexperienced kits or apprentices away so it’s great for swimming practice. Unfortunately, the trade off for this is that the fish are a little harder to catch with how far away they can swim. But prey was still plentiful here, and that was the important thing.

Sun beating down, trying in vain to warm the cats despite leaf-fall’s claws gripping every corner of the forest, Scorchedhollow settles near the pond bank in an area that doesn’t slope gradually into the deeper water. The spot where he brings them is almost an abrupt drop down, but it’s a good place to fish since the shade here makes the fish think it’s safe.

"Alright," the torbie begins, keeping his voice low, "now, there’s a subtle trick to fishing, do you know what it is?" Larkpaw contemplates this question for a moment before shaking her head 'no'. Scorched smiles at this, glad to be able to pass on the knowledge the apprentice sitting next to him will get to pass on one day. "The trick is this…" he edges closer to the water, large body casting as small a shadow over the water as he could manage, "try not to cast your shadow over the water - it’ll scare the fish - and make sure not to strike the fish while they’re in the pond, but instead…. scoop em’!" When he said ‘scoop’, Scorchedhollow reached his paw into the water and scooped out a decent sized perch, flinging it ashore where he quickly killed it. "Just like that! Now, it's your turn."

Lark didn’t hesitate, sliding to the edge of the water and trying to imitate what her mentor had shown her. Her movements were a little clumsy, though. When she reached a paw in to scoop out a fish, she miscalculated the strength to launch it ashore and it ended up flopping back into the pond with a big splash that got both their coats a little wet. Larkpaw blinks at the spot where the fish vanished with a frown.

"That was pretty good," Scorched purrs encouragement, "try one more time, a little bit of a stronger scoop this time. And angle it towards us."

So she tries again.

This time, her form looks good, and Scorched is just about to compliment her when the fish, which had been successfully flung onto the shore beside the two, makes a last ditch effort to jump back into the water. Larkpaw tries to grab it, but she only manages to snag the end of its tail with a single claw before it splashes back into the pond.

"No!" Larkpaw growls into the water, frustrated. Scorchedhollow remembers that feeling well, hell, sometimes he still gets that way in fights or in hunts! Lark just needs to blow off a little steam, that’s all, he’s sure she’ll feel better soon, she probably won’t even remember this failure by tonight! "I had it!" She shouts.

"You did." Scorched agrees.

"I swear I did!! I would’ve gotten it, I would have!"

"Yes, you would have," he says evenly, and then, "it’s not your fault the fish jumped away." Because it isn’t, not really, she would have killed it if it hadn’t jumped away in the split second before she bit down. Sometimes you just have a bad day. "Do you want to try again?" He asks gently.

"No." Larkpaw pouts, pointedly looking away from the pond. "The fish hate me, I can’t catch any."

Scorchedhollow chuckles, a deep rumble right in his chest that’s full of warmth, "alright then," he says, "how about we look at some more of the territory… we can save the fishing for another day, ok?"

"Ok!" Immediately, little Lark brightens, once again bursting with excitement to go visit other places in the territory.

Scorchedhollow decides to steer clear of their borders with the other clans - his apprentice is a little too excitable and he doesn’t want her accidentally crossing any scent markers. Ruining current inter-clan politics is not something the large tom has on his agenda today, after all. They start with Sleepy Thicket, the burial ground being relatively close by. Scorched explains its use, how the clan buries their dead here and how the apprentice should treat the land with respect. Larkpaw seems to understand this well enough, but she asks if they’re allowed to hunt here too.

"Yes, you can hunt," Scorched explains, "the land prey like to hang out around here in the warmer months."

"But if it’s a burial ground doesn’t that mean it’s like… sacred or something?" The tortoiseshell asks, tilting her head sideways. "I sorta assumed hunting here would be forbidden so we don’t disturb the tranquility or whatever."

"Haha! No, no," he laughs at that, and from the corner of his eye he sees how his apprentice’s eyes widen at his reaction, shocked by it. "I like to think the dead who are buried here like it when we hunt on top of them, I guess I hope it makes them feel included again in a way. Besides, they wouldn’t want us to starve, would they? C’mon, let’s keep moving!"

"Oh… I guess that makes sense," Larkpaw agrees and trudges along behind her mentor.

Before returning to camp, Scorchedhollow brings Larkpaw to Haven Springs and Lionsbeach. Lark ended up liking the spring better than the beach, saying the water was too loud and the sand too slippery there. That was something Scorched decided they should agree to disagree on. Lionsbeach was one of his favorite parts of the territory, he found the sound of the waves and the sand underpaw oddly calming… sometimes he wanted to go to the beach on a warm day and nap the day away - but he couldn’t get out of his warrior duties that easily unfortunately.

By the time the two returned to camp, the sky was starting to darken. Lark carried the fish Scorched had caught when they first went out on her own insistence, and Scorched watched as she sprinted to the elder’s den to deposit it the moment they pushed their way into the clearing. She really was so full of energy, it kind of surprised Scorched. He didn’t think he’d been that excited when he was an apprentice, but he’d also gone through trials no cat should have to endure by the point he was first ready to start training. He’s not a very resilient cat, in fact, he crumbles and breaks easily. The tough exterior, the air he puts on of knowing what he’s doing and being unphased, that’s something he works hard to keep up. So, when he watches Larkpaw exit the elders den smiling, he feels a surge of protective affection for her, a desire to keep her safe and make sure she continues to have things to smile about.

It’s as he’s making this silent vow to himself that he notices her smile fade when she pads over to the fresh-kill pile, looking to get something to eat for herself. Brows furrowing, Scorchedhollow wonders what happened to make that happy apprentice suddenly look so beaten down.

He’s about to make his way over, to ask if she wanted to eat with him, when the apprentice who woke her up this morning, Finchpaw, goes rushing over to her instead. They exchange some words and Scorchedhollow can’t help but notice the uncomfortable way Larkpaw twitches an ear, as if she doesn’t want to be having a conversation with the brown tabby. But a moment later she laughs and smiles again and Scorched thinks he must be mistaken.

Shaking his head to rid himself of the thought, the large torbie decides to grab some fresh kill for himself as well. As he passes the two apprentices, Larkpaw smiles through the vole in her mouth and waves her tail in greeting and Scorched is convinced he must have been seeing things before…