Brookstar leaped onto the HighStone elegantly. "Cats who are old enough to catch their own prey please gather under the HighStone for a clan meeting!" She surveyed her clan as they emerged out of their dens, got up from the fresh kill pile, stopped sharing tongues and sitting at the bottom of the HighStone. Behind her, a pretty brown tabby she-cat and a bengal she-cat stood behind her, curious. "We have two cats joining us today, and I have made a decision on who, besides Darkflame, will supervise the hunting training program. Fadingdust and Hawkflower will be joining us as warriors today. Do you two promise to protect and uphold the warrior code and your clan at the cost of your life?"
The two she-cats exchanged glances, then looked straight at Brookstar, their faces and voices resolute. "I do."
"Then you are now part of FalconClan. You can live and hunt with us and expect to be honored and treated well." Brookstar paused, then added, "Fadingdust, I know that you are talented with herbs. Sometimes, when both Pinepaw and Violetgaze are gone with other duties, I would like it if you would help the clan with healing. You would not be a medicine cat or even a medicine cat helper, just someone who would help in emergencies, and you would still be a warrior. If you need to think it over, I give you until moonhigh. Come to my den then." Brookstar then turned to the rest of the clan. "And the three other cats who will work with Darkflame are: Skyblaze, Hawkflower, and Moonblossom. You four may converse about this later, after the meeting, and tell me your plan at moonhigh." Brookstar finished and was about to dismiss her clan when a soft voice called out from the crowd.
"Brookstar, can I ask for something?" It was Brightlegs, calling from just outside the nursery with Blossomkit sitting beside her.
"Go ahead, Brightlegs," the leader meowed.
"Brookstar, I'd like to take a break from the nursery and do my warrior duties," the queen mewed.
Brookstar tried to hide her shock as she looked down at the fluffy white she-cat. "But you have kits to take care of, Brightlegs. You cannot let her fend for herself..."
She was cut off by the queen. "No, of course I do not mean to leave my kit like that! I was wondering if Silverwater could, until her kits are born! Then I could return to the nursery."
The leader bit back a "By then Blossomkit would be an apprentice", and dipped her head wearily. "Alright then, Brightlegs. As long as Silverwater is willing, I don't mind. But if she doesn't you'll have to stay in the nursery. Okay?"
Brightlegs dipped her head at her leader. "Yes, Brookstar."
Brookstar nodded, then turned to the rest of the clan. "Meeting dismissed!"
Hawkflower nods to her new leader and heads over to Darkflame, " So whats the plan?" She asks, her eyes gleaming with anticipation.
ReplyDelete"I was thinking about two training sessions a day, and the four of us can pair up for each training session. One sixth of the clan can join us each time, so that each cat would be able to train once every three days." Darkflame looked around at Hawkflower, Moonblossom, an Skyblaze. "What do you three think?"
ReplyDeleteHawkflower nods " Yes thats a good idea"
ReplyDeleteSkyblaze smiled. "That's fine with me."
ReplyDelete- Skyblaze -
"Great!" Darkflame mewed, flashing them a quick smile. "What does Moonblossom think?"
ReplyDeleteMoonblossom nodded. "Sure," she said. Inside, she was surprised she had gotten to be a teacher. She was experienced in all forms of hunting, including birds of prey. "Who will be a part of the first sixth?" Moonblossom asked. "I can train Leafpaw or Silverpaw, or both," she said. "Silverpaw is kind of adverse to this, because...he had a bad experience with a bird." She looked at Darkflame.
ReplyDeleteDarkflame nodded. "Then I think Moonblossom and I should have the first session, with Silentecho, Silverpaw, Streampaw, Leafpaw and their mentors. That way Silverpaw may be more comfortable, with Moonblossom and Streampaw. The second session of the day can be Flarestorm, Stormtalon, Goldenshine, and Frostpelt, with their apprentices if they have one, led by Hawkflower and Skyblaze." Darkflame opened his mouth to say more when Brookstar padded to them. "I see you four have been discussing this thoroughly. Have you come up with a plan yet?"
ReplyDeleteHawkflower nods to Darkflame and glanced at Brookstar and smiled.
ReplyDelete"Yep. It's pretty well organized." Skyblaze grinned. "How long did it take you to come up with all this?"
ReplyDelete- Skyblaze -
(are tou talking to darkflame?)
ReplyDeleteDarkflame shrugged modestly. "I started thinking about it when Brooketar told us to, I guess."
(yea...heh)
ReplyDeleteSkyblaze nodded. "Alright then."
- Skyblaze -
Darkflame flashed him a smile, then jerked his head towards the training hollow. "Then why don't you and Hawkflower make a training plan while Moonblossom and I take the first training session to the training hollow?"
ReplyDeleteHawkflower nods and turned to Skyblaze " What are we going to do?"
ReplyDelete"Let's see....we need to get the cats more accustomed to hunting larger birds....FalconClan has some pretty good climbers...." Skyblaze snapped himself out of thought. "What do you think?"
ReplyDelete- Skyblaze -
" Hem... We could start with having them stalk up to a tree then jump. And as we get father in the training the others will get farther up" She blinks " Or at least that's what we did where I come from"
ReplyDeleteMoonblossom nodded. "Leafpaw is great at leaping, running and climbing. The only thing is, she doesn't weigh very much, so she could easily bcome prey for the bird." Moonblossom looked over at Silverpaw. "For the lighter cats, they can work in teams, a pair to bring down the bird." She looked at Hawkflower and Skyblaze. "I like both your ideas. We should use them."
ReplyDelete~Moonblossom
Silverpaw didn't like the look that Moonblossom gave him. It made him scared. He remembered that bird, how it had nearly flown away with him to its nest and eaten him, had it not been for a young and very brave Moonblossom. Suddenly, his sister burst into camp. "Was Moonblossom looking for me?" Leafpaw said breathlessly. "Yes, she was. As a matter of fact, she just came back from the forest looking for you."
~Silverpaw
Skyblaze smiled. "Perfect. So everything seems like it's going the way it's planned."
ReplyDelete- Skyblaze -
Darkflame nodded. "And here's another idea- we can use smaller prey, like mice and such, as bait for the birds. I hear that's what they did in the tribes, from my mother. When she taught me to hunt birds of prey, we would catch a little mouse, then wait for an eagle or hawk to come by, then my mother would snag its talons and beak to keep it from hurting us and I'd cripple its wings before it could do anything. Then, either she or I would dispatch it with a swift bite or a slam on a rock. We need to remember, though, that these birds can see us a lot better than we can see them, so the key is, everyone- camouflage." Darkflame finished, looking around at his teammates.
ReplyDeleteSkyblaze's tail swished across the snowy white camp ground. "Camouflage...My pelt matches the snow, so I'll be fine."
ReplyDelete- Skyblaze -
Darkflame looked at his clan mate wryly. "Moonblossom and I don't," he snorted, gesturing to their dark pelts. "We'll have to stick close to the trees and dead undergrowth."
ReplyDelete" About me?" Hawkflower asked blinking a couple times, she looked at her brown pelt " What about the stones and mud. There are that stuff here right? We don't just fight and hunt in snow, do we?"
ReplyDelete( She doesn't know much about the surroundings, she is a new cat.)
Darkflame looked at Hawkflower. "Actually, we won't have much stones and mud visible right now because we are really only hunting these birds for leaf-fall. Our territory mainly consists of coniferous foliage and plants, boulders, caves, and stones. However, it snows very heavily and is very cold in leaf-fall... as you can see," he added, gesturing at the white snowflakes pelting down from the sky, lodging into their fur.
ReplyDeleteNods " Ok"
ReplyDeleteDarkflame looked at his teammates in training his clan. "Let me think... the third session can include:
ReplyDeleteMousepaw, Shadownight, Cherrypaw, Nightshadow, Briskpaw, Azurefern, Snowpaw, Longwhisker, and Poppyleaf. Skyblaze and I can lead that.
The fourth session could be the rest of the cats. Moonblossom and Hawkflower should lead that." He paused. "Then I think we can fit it all into four sessions, and the third day we can rest. What do you think?"