Energy is a necessity- let's go! (private)

[Stormfrost]

Irispaw (I'm not requiring any word limit)

Stormfrost woke up just before dawn and headed over to the
fresh kill pile, sitting down with a mouse. The sun decided to
'wake up', rising over the horizon. Well, time to go get the
apprentice. He took a mouse to the apprentices den and
dropped it right before the den.

"Irispaw? Time to get up, let's get going."

[Irispaw]

Irispaw had had a restless night, partially due to excitement but always due to sleeping in an unfamiliar place. The apprentice's den was nothing like the cozy nursery and it made her feel almost homesick and lonely, but on the other paw this was she had been waiting moons for and it was more than worth it. Besides, she would surely get used to the new den eventually, even the drafts. 

The stocky black feline was already awake when her mentor called, and she was semi grateful for the excuse to get out of the cold den and warm up. The scent of mouse hit her nose before she had exited the den and her belly rumbled in anticipation. Irispaw emerged into the pale dawn light, momentarily surprised by the tom looming over her just outside the den. It was unsurprising that his next words were brisk, she knew from her older sister that mentors wasted little time that could be spent practicing and providing for the clan. 


Irispaw gobbled down the mouse quickly and stood attentively before Stormfrost, feeling warmth spreading to her body from the morsel she had eaten. It was nearly impossible to prevent her legs from quivering with excitement at the possibilities spread out before her. "I'm er ready, Stormfrost." 

[Stormfrost]

He didn't know what to expect from Irispaw but at least she
seemed a lot nicer than his other apprentice who coincidentally
was his great granddaughter. The little apprentice was a bit
irritating and a little ... furrocious. He thought the pun was
funny but of course he was a little dorky like that.

Stormfrost saw his apprentice leave the apprentices' den and
joined him outside. "Well let's get going then." He made
sure to try and seem friendly because he wasn't in the mood
to make an enemy nor be threatened by someone so small
again. The tom padded towards the entrance of the camp.

"We will be heading towards one of the borders we
share between another clan. Can you guess which
clan we are going to go see first?"

[Irispaw]

Irispaw followed him, trotting to keep up with the much larger cat. She clenched her jaw against the cramp that was developing in her stomach from eating so quickly and silently prayed she wouldn't have to make a trip to the medicine cat's den on her first day as an apprentice. 

She caught up with Stormfrost at the camp entrance and slouched while they were stopped to ease the cramp. Irispaw was distracted by his next words. In her excitement, she nearly forgot about the weight in her belly and only remembered after abruptly jumping and jolting herself. Still however, the pain seemed to lesson when her entire train of thought was on her first trip out of camp. 

Stormfrost's words were followed by a sentence, one she didn't have a very educated guess on. Irispaw knew little about anything outside of the places she explored around camp as a kitten, and never bothered to ask about other Clans. She had always thought the warriors in her own Clan were scary enough. "U-um, TreeClan?" She replied, making a guess. 

[Stormfrost]

(So sorry I haven't responded I was out of reach for the internet)

Stormfrost looked around and then down at his apprentice. "We
are actually going to head to IceClan's border first and then
work our way to TreeClan and then to RockClan." His mind
drifted for a moment and kept moving toward IceClan.

His fur was thick but he didn't enjoy splintering cold. Thankfully,
it wasn't too cold as per the moment. They had other things to
do than to be cold. He knew that he didn't want to catch a cold
or his apprentice to catch a cold herself.

"Well so once we get to the border we are going to mark
it and then talk about the clan a little bit as we start
heading toward the next clan."

[Irispaw]

(No worries!)

Irispaw nodded shyly, pushing away the embarrassment creeping into her cheeks as he didn't sound upset or disappointed at her incorrect answer. She had little time to dwell as he hurried off in the direction of IceClan so she had been told. She had to bound after Stormfrost and quickly tired, as her legs were short and stubby compared to his adult size. By the time the air started to grow chilly, she was completely out of breath.

Irispaw was glad he had paused for a second to speak to her, needing a break from all the trekking. In her focus on catching up to him she had hardly realized how far they had come and the prospect of seeing IceClan for the first time ever. Would they get to see an enemy warrior? Irispaw broke off from her thoughts, looking back at Stormfrost to nod curtly as to show she understood his instructions. 

[Stormfrost]

They arrived at the IceClan border and he looked down at his
apprentice. "So this is where we need to mark the border."
He gestured towards the markers along the border where it was
evident someone had marked it a little bit ago so they didn't need
to worry too much about it but it would be good for her to get
to mark at least one spot on the border herself.

He walked over to one of the markers and rubbed his flank against
it. "So there are a few ways. Spraying, rubbing your flank or
cheeks against the marker are always acceptable ways to
mark the border."

The old tom looked around and thought for a moment about different
questions he could ask. "Do you know the leader of IceClan?"