Into the Fire {OtterxFrost}

[Rachel]

Otterpaw hadn't been able to sleep at all. The day before she had moved out of the nursery, and into the apprentice den and she could hardly believe it. She was too excited to sleep! She had thought of all sorts of things she could ask Frostheart today, and she couldn't wait to begin.

She nudged her brother, "Wake up sleepy head," but Bisonpaw just mewed and rolled back over. "Well fine you big galump, you can just oversleep then!" She bounded out of the apprentice den and was pleasantly surprised to feel sunlight seep into her brown fur. The days had been so gloomy lately, and snow had been falling lightly for the past few days. Hopefully, this sun would melt it. Certainly it was an omen for her first good day.

Her belly rumbling drew her from her thoughts and so she trotted towards the fresh kill pile, only halting after recalling at the last minute that she should allow the elders and queens to eat first. The pile was tiny anyways, she wouldn't worry about taking any of it at the moment.

Instead, she scanned the camp for Frostheart, hoping to see her mentor already out and about, however the scarred warrior was nowhere in sight. "Come on, Otterpaw," she mewed, steadying herself, "No need to be impatient. Frostheart will be here when she gets here." With that thought she sat facing the warriors den, eyes staring intently as she willed her mentor to appear.

[kin]

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[/style]Frostheart jerked awake, sides heaving and eyes wild. She snarled, ears flattened against her head. Behind her, a warrior mumbled sleepily and kicked her back. Growling irritably, the scarred she-cat rose from her nest and shook her head. Memories and scraps of her dream swirled together behind her eyes, painting the world red. Shoulders rolling, Frostheart rose to her paws and prowled out of the warriors' den.

She eyed the fresh-kill pile for a moment as her stomach growled, but cut her eyes away as soon as she saw how small it was. While the warrior code did not forbid her from eating in the morning before the queens, kits, and elders did, Frostheart's own sense of morals, and on some days a form of self-flagellation, forbid her taking anything until the day was done and most others had eaten. It had started from a weak will to continue and mutated through a form of punishment, and then simply became a part of her.

The she-cat scanned the camp, looking for her apprentice. Though wary of being given charge of another young life, Frostheart trusted Lynxstar's judgement. She couldn't help but make comparisons between the apprentice she failed to protect and the one she was now charged with protecting and teaching. Smaller, younger, more naive. And she would have to be the one to strip her of naivete, the one to push her to become larger and stronger, to make her the warrior she could grow to be.

Spotting the young she-cat, Frostheart padded up to Otterpaw. The younger cat had been sitting, watching for her arrival. Almost painfully eager. "Otterpaw. Glad to see you're up so early."

[Rachel]

After what seemed like ages Frostheart surfaced from the warriors den. Otterpaw did her best to fasten herself to the ground and wait for her mentor to reach her, she didn't want to be seen as pushy. She was pleased to see that Frostheart didn't go for the freshkill pile either, her earlier decision to refrain herself had been a good one.

"Otterpaw. Glad to see you're up so early"

"Yes ma'am!" she mewed happily, "Didn't want to run late on a day like today!" Her brown tail lashed with excitement, and her eyes eagerly searched for a bit of enthusiasm in her mentor. She didn't find any, Frostheart just seemed so stoic.

"Sooo, what are we doing today?" she asked, trying to calm her enthusiasm down. If Frostheart was going to be calm and collected, she would do her best to mimic her. She bit back tons of questions and suggestions. She desperately wanted to do battle training, or maybe hunting would be awesome! If they did border patrol, maybe they would run into an enemy patrol and she'd get her first battle! Her eyes lit up with excitement as she silently thought of the possibilities. This was just going to be so much fun! She couldn't imagine why Bisonpaw was still sleeping, he obviously had no sense of adventure. He was going to be missing out.