Bring Honor To Us All [p]

[Beechroot]

(for Squirrelbite )

Beechroot sat at the exit to the camp. He stared blankly at the ground, thinking about what he would train his apprentice about for the morning. It was dawn just as he instructed and he really hoped Squirrelpaw would not fail his first test. 

He was hoping they could put their differences aside and there would be no trouble with her training to become a warrior. Truthfully, he wanted every cat in the clan to become a well-rounded warrior. Beechroot hoped one day Squirrelpaw would understand and learn some genuine morals. 

The golden warrior was patient. He would wait for her for many hours if she was late.  

[Squirrelbite]

Squirrelpaw was hoping to become a warrior as quickly as possible, and therefore, she would take her training very seriously, even if she didn't agree with Beechroot's views. She needed to practice her skills in patience and deceit, anyways, and this would be a good opportunity for her to do so.

Having just eaten a small mouse, the lithe she-cat briskly made her way over towards her mentor, greeting him with a nod. The sun was still rising on the horizon- Squirrelpaw had shown up on time.

"Hello, Beechroot." The Abyssinian she-cat mewed. "What are we doing today?" 

[Beechroot]

Beechroot nodded in return. "Congratulations. Most cats your age don't like waking up so early." He was impressed that she actually listened to him. He did not believe she had a paw-full of discipline though. He rose from his sitting position and pushed through the camp's barrier.

"Today, I'm taking you to the Sky Tree." He did not reveal what they were doing at the Sky Tree. At first, the warrior was walking at a normal pace, then he broke out into a sprint. Let's see if she'll keep up.

[Squirrelbite]

"Cool." Squirrelpaw had climbed trees on the edge of camp, but they weren't all that high, and she was looking forward to doing some real climbing one day.

She was taken by surprise when her mentor began to run, and immediately bolted after him. Squirrelpaw was built like a FireClan cat- skinny, with long, muscular legs built for running- but she was still just an apprentice, and Squirrelpaw didn't know TreeClan territory too well, meaning she had to watch where she was putting her paws while trying to follow Beechroot as well.

Squirrelpaw managed to stumble after him at an okay-rate, constantly stubbing her paws, and almost losing her balance several times.

[Beechroot]

Beechroot came to a sudden stop in a clearing. He took a moment to bask in the greatness of the Sky Tree. The tom looked up and couldn't even see the top. The warrior calmly padded over to the roots of the great tree and sat once more.

"Now, I'm sure you thought we would be practicing climbing trees." Beechroot's ear flicked and he gave his paw a lick. "We will be, but I have something else planned first." He straightened his body out. "I will teach you the warrior code." The golden tabby narrowed his eyes. "I heard you at the gathering. I'm not going to tell you that you are wrong. It is not my place to discredit your opinions. It's good that you have them. It will make you a strong warrior. I'm properly teaching you the code so that you can back your opinions, not just have empty excuses like being pure-blooded."

He looked straight into her eyes. "Do you understand?

[Squirrelbite]

Squirrelpaw listened silently, and blinked in surprise as she heard what Beechroot had planned for her. She understand why he was giving her this talk; if Squirrelpaw had power, she would want to make sure that her cats grew up with beliefs that aligned with her own. It was a shame that they wouldn't be doing anything fun, though, and Squirrelkit was sure that most other apprentices didn't start out their first day like this.

"I'm sorry you think that I'm so unruly that I need a whole day spent learning the rules." Squirrelpaw mewed, thinking back to the meeting and remembering what she had said. "I do my best to listen to what every cat has to say, and understand where they're coming from."

A bit of annoyance crept onto her face. "But.. Did you hear what Fallenpaw was saying? Of course I had to speak up! She was saying how being a rogue is great, and all that mouse-dung.. She has no idea of the harshness of a rogue's life, and she had no right to speak the way she did."

Squirrelpaw let out a sigh, sitting down with her tail curled over her paws. "...Sorry if that came across as rude. I'm ready to listen."

[Beechroot]

Yes, this was what Beechroot wanted. He wanted to see her true personality. Her true feelings. He understood why she was upset. The warrior remembered his first day of training and all he wanted to do was start hunting and battle training. Well, until he knew the consequences of it.

Beechroot smiled gently. "I don't think you're unruly. You've proven nothing to me yet. I'm teaching you the code because I want you to believe in balance and peace before I teach you how to bite open another cat's neck." He nodded in agreement about Fallenpaw.

"Fallenpaw too has crossed the line. It's hard to express yourself when you're so passionate about something. You both will learn where the line of rationality is." He paused, thinking of what to say before he said it. "I'm glad you think of empathy. It is a good quality that I'm glad you've picked up on." He only dipped his head in understanding when she apologized.

"I just want you to know as your mentor, you can always come to me if you need someone to talk to." Now, he was going to begin on his lesson of the code. Beechroot leaned forward and sniffed closed to her face. "I've noticed you ate something this morning. Do you know what's wrong with that?"

[Squirrelbite]

Squirrelpaw honestly couldn't care less if a cat was clan-born or not, but for her own sake, she was siding with Yellowburr. She also thought that Arrowstar and Crystalbird were poor leaders, and making TreeClan look like weak fools, tearing them apart from the inside. "I suppose that makes sense." The reddish-brown she-cat nodded. If it weren't for rules, then they would be no different from rogues, which is why the purists wanted to reform TreeClan.

Personally, Squirrelpaw did not have the compassion to listen to a cat like Fallenpaw. Most other cats, even if they were wrong, had something interesting to say that Squirrelpaw could use, but that apprentice had no such thing. 

"I guess.." Her whiskers twitched slightly, and her lip curled a little as she thought of how arrogant Fallenpaw had been. However, Beechroot didn't seem likely to accept hearing her say that she would never get along with cats like that one, eyes if it was the truth. "I'll try. Maybe it'll get easier when I'm more experienced." Squirrelpaw mewed with a passive shrug.

"Oh, right. Sorry." Squirrelpaw knew that all able-bodied cats were supposed to put the clan first, but eating when she was hungry had become a habit. "I'm supposed to hunt first, and then eat." 

Squirrelpaw unsheathed her long, slender claws, flexing them against the cool earth. "I can try to hunt, to make up for it."

[Beechroot]

Beechroot nodded. "The dawn patrol caught that mouse for the queens and the elders. They always eat first." He would admit to her that he was hungry too, but that would make him look stupid as a mentor. Beechroot wasn't quite ready to joke with her.

When he saw how eager she was, he purred. "Go ahead. I think we can both learn from how a cat naturally hunts prey without training." Beechroot lifted his head to scent the air. He smelled mice, but he wanted to see if Squirrelpaw could locate them.

[Squirrelbite]

Squirrelpaw nodded, her eyes narrowed. Leaf-bare was just starting to turn to new-leaf, and it was getting warmer, but prey was still running fairly low. She scented the air and quietly padded off, until it became clear that she was stalking a squirrel near the base of a nearby tree.

She dropped into a crouch, having picked that up from apprentices in camp, and slowly crept forward. Squirrelpaw made it about a fox-length away when her tail brushed against the undergrowth, and the rustling of leaves sent her prey shooting up the tree.

Attempting to follow it, Squirrelpaw hastily shot forward and scrabbled up a few branches, but she soon lost sight of the creature and gave in, leaping back onto the ground.

"..That was a mess, wasn't it?" She said with a huff.

[Beechroot]

Beechroot watched her from a distance. He did not want to disturb her process. She seemed to understand the concept, but could not execute the idea of hunting. He approached her when she was done. "Not a mess. It was a good start."

"Your stance was off and your tail was too low." He briefly brushed her with his tail. "But that's okay. It took me multiple tries before I mastered the concept." Beechroot paused, then blew air out of his nose. "To be honest, every warrior still practices hunting. To improve their skill. Including me."

[Squirrelbite]

Squirrelpaw frowned. She would never be taken seriously if she couldn't properly provide for her clan, she had to be perfect. Although Beechroot's words were encouraging, the reddish she-cat still felt extremely frustrated with herself. 

She looked up at the tree longingly, wishing she knew how to hunt in one. It was clear that the squirrel would not be returning, though, and she turned her gaze back to look at her mentor. "Can I try again?" Squirrelpaw asked impatiently. Even if she didn't catch anything, it would be better than having to learn th warrior code on her first day of training as an apprentice.

[Beechroot]

Beechroot watched her become frustrated. "Of course. I'll show you the stance." Beechroot dropped low and leveled his tail. The warrior made his body appear compact and he stalked forward, then leaped onto a leaf. "Got it?" He looked over his shoulder.

He had noticed she was looking at the trees. "Prey in the trees is for another day. We'll practice tree climbing soon, but you'll have to be an expert before you chase after anything up there." The warrior had heard nursery stories about apprentices falling out of trees during their training. He didn't want that.

[Squirrelbite]

Squirrelpaw watched her mentor intently, her gold eyes flicking over every inch, memorizing each detail so that she could replicate it impressively. 

She dropped into a crouch and slithered forward on careful paws before leaping, landing quietly on a leaf near the one that Beechroot had caught. "Like that?" Squirrelpaw mewed.

Nodding her head in understanding, Squirrelpaw wasn't too disappointed that she wouldn't be tree-hunting today. Like all things, it would come eventually.

[Beechroot]

Beechroot brightened when she succeeded. "Yes! Very good." He padded up to her and pointed to the Sky tree with his tail. "I would like to observe how you climb now." The warrior then made his way to the Sky Tree. He climbed to the lowest branch with ease, his claws leaving little marks in the bark. "I'm sure you've tried in the little trees around camp."

(sorry it's so lazy!)