Chasing Cars {EgretxHoney}

[Rachel]

Egretheart sat on one of the large rocks that bordered the pool of water and shredded moss off the rock with her claws. She was waiting for her new apprentice, Honeypaw, to arrive so they could do some battle training. Maybe I should have met her at camp... she pondered. That was the usual routine with apprentices and mentors, but Egretheart was so busy nowadays she thought it might be more efficient to meet Honeypaw here. She had shown the she-cat the way when they first toured the territory, and they had been here since, so she was pretty her apprentice could find it again.

"Wouldn't that be my luck," she mumbled to herself, "She'll probably get lost and no one will ever let me live it down." With that in mind she pushed herself onto her paws, determined to go and find the young she-cat. If anything else, she could meet her half way.

The latest snow had started to melt, making the moss slippery and the ground muddy. Tiny crystals of snow still clung to some dead grass, but they glistened as they slowly melted. Egretheart was glad for the change, the slipperiness of the rocks would add a new element to their training. From what she knew of her apprentice, Honeypaw was a determined she-cat. She was more forward than Egretheart, and much less reserved than the deputy. Egretheart figured that she would have to keep the training fresh by throwing new loops in often.

[Dawn]

Honeypaw shook her fur free of the moss, leaves and snow that her sister Yewpaw had managed to gather together into a nice little trap along the path she had just travelled. She scowled, as she heard Yewpaw retreating towards the camp, her high pitched laughter piercing the quiet air. "Annoying fur ball."

[/color] She growled to herself, feeling the chill of the snow seeping through her fur.

She gave herself another shake, then hurried off in the direction her mentor, Egretheart had told her to meet her, at Moss Falls. She hoped Egretheart wouldn't be angry with her for being a bit late, Yewpaw's trickery and Patchpaw's desire to discuss seemingly every topic possible had slowed her down a bit. She loved her sisters more than anything in the world, but sometimes they could be a bit much to handle. What with Yewpaw constantly running off to have an adventure or set up her next trick, and Patchpaw seemingly unable to grasp the difference between reality and her own mental processes, Honeypaw felt like she had her paws full whenever she was with them.

She plodded along through BrookClan territory, her paws covering the distance between her and Moss Falls quickly. There were many areas of the territory, but Moss Falls was one of her favorite places in the territory to visit when she wanted a quiet place to think. One of the only places she was sure she could reach without too much difficulty.

Just as she was approaching the area where she would be able to see the falls, she caught sight of another moving figure. She squinted slightly, recognizing the figure as Egretheart. She felt her paws tingling slightly, worried that Egretheart had gotten tired of waiting and was going to tell her to just return to the camp. "Egretheart!"[/color] She called, leaping through the snow to reach her. "I'm really sorry I'm late! I got held up."[/color] She mewed, gazing up at her mentor though her yellow green eyes.
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[Rachel]

As Egretheart was reaching the edge of the mossy rocks, she saw a figure rushing through the brush ahead of her. Apparently her apprentice had been able to find the way after all.

Egretheart! I'm really sorry I'm late! I got held up.

Egretheart appraised Honeypaw with her green eyes, noticing a small bit of moss clinging to her fur. "You're barely late," she mewed, and then she nodded towards the bit of moss her apprentice had missed "Although did you have a slippery time on the moss? We'll have to work on that." Her words didn't contain any malice, just a note to herself on things the two of them would work on together.

She padded over back to the most heavily padded rocks. "Today the moss is rather slippery, so we are going to work on your battle skills and your balance. If you are sure footed on this ground, then hopefully you won't trip all over yourself in a real battle."

Egretheart walked onto the rocks, nodding for Honeypaw to follow. She remembered when she first trained here; she had fallen into the water and on her rump quite a few times. The moss training was tricky to start out with, but there was no doubt it was useful. The balance training would carry over into hunting, and it would help out when they started training for more complicated moves. She had no clue what PeakClan did to replace it

[Dawn]

"You're barely late, Although did you have a slippery time on the moss? We'll have to work on that."

Honeypaw looked down at the moss still clinging to her fur and flicked it off with her tail. "Oh, no, that was Yewpaw. She decided to set a trap for me that involved a lot of moss she collected this morning."

[/color] She explained, checking her fur for other pieces of moss she may have missed. She felt a bubbling feeling of embarrassment beginning to seep into her chest, but pushed it away. There would be time to worry about her embarrassment later.

"Today the moss is rather slippery, so we are going to work on your battle skills and your balance. If you are sure footed on this ground, then hopefully you won't trip all over yourself in a real battle."

Honeypaw followed Egretheart towards the heavily padded rocks, feeling the chill of the moss seeping into her paws. It didn't particularly bother her, but she felt a small thrill of apprehension at the thought of balancing on the more slick rocks. She had always found ways to avoid them whenever she visited Moss Falls, afraid she would loose her footing and fall in. "Do battles normally happen around Moss Falls or Silver Falls?"[/color] She asked, knowing those were the two slickest areas in the territory. She couldn't imagine PeakClan being stupid enough to try it, seeing as every PeakClan she had ever met seemed to be terrified of the water.

Honeypaw followed Egretheart further out onto the rocks, feeling the surfaces becoming increasingly more slick under paw. She padded out carefully, slowly, to be sure she didn't slip and hit her head on one of the rocks.
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[Rachel]

"Oh, no, that was Yewpaw. She decided to set a trap for me that involved a lot of moss she collected this morning."

Egretheart nodded her head. She had watched all the kits, eager to get another apprentice. She had even hinted at Nonamestar that she wanted one. During her observations she had noticed that Yewpaw was prone to playing tricks and being silly. Her suspicions of the she-cat being a handful seemed to be confirmed a little bit every day.

"Do battles normally happen around Moss Falls or Silver Falls?"

Honeypaw's question was a good one, "Not so much around Moss Falls. Silver Falls though, that is another story..." She shook her head, thinking back to many of the battles that have taken place there. "If you recall from border patrol, Silver Falls is our border with PeakClan. While the PeakClan cats don't really like to get their paws wet, they do have to cross there. Typically they try to get past the river before the battle starts, but we try to combat the problem with high amounts of patrols. We want to keep them on the slippery rocks while we have an advantage."

She turned to face Honeypaw, noting the nervous expression on her apprentice's face. "Don't worry, we'll do our best not to dump you in the water today. It is still rather cold, and I'd rather not have you stuck in the medicine cat den for the next couple of days." She smiled encouragingly before giving her instruction. "Now, I want you to act like you were leaping on an enemy warrior. You're going to land on the moss, and the goal of this is for you not to fall. Jump away from the water so you won't get wet if you fall."