It was later that same day that Crescentpaw got asked to practice hunting with Cheetah. Lagoonstripe led them out of camp, and the two apprentices followed behind with their tails lifted obediently.

Crescentpaw was initially timid. She almost sighed aloud with relief when her acting mentor asked them to demonstrate a hunting crouch. Cheetah's was horrible and off-balance, with one of her paws reaching forward too far and wobbling.

"No, do like Crescentpaw is. Tuck your paw in with your claws unsheathed. Visualize and prepare the blow, but don't overthink it. Act like you're about to swipe at a butterfly."

Cheetah instinctively curled her paw into her chest for recoil, then stiffened and held herself there.

"Now flatten your spine and lift your tail. Bring your legs closer together. Lower. Yep, even lower than that though."

Crescentpaw held her crouch with a quivering tail-tip, relieved that the silver tabby was training Cheetah more than paying attention to her.

"Still that tail, Crescentpaw. Not a vibration of movement from it or it may cause a blade of grass to twitch. And you too, Cheetah. It's waving all over the place!" She scolded, but her tone was light as she sat and looked over them. Thin sedge fronds quivered in the breeze behind her. Knotty bare tree trunks towered above the cats, spacious with unfurling, far-reaching branches.

When Lagoonstripe was satisfied with the hunting crouches she moved on to pouncing with Cheetah. Crescentpaw was used as more of a demonstration, although she could feel Lagoonstripe's gaze flick over her back every now and then. She tried to move naturally, without making it obvious that she was avoiding drawing attention to her paws. It wasn't much longer that Lagoonstripe nodded at Cheetah's progress and moved onto the next.

They were guided to the shallowest riverbed, which branched off from the one that flowed out of the lake. Over here the river channel's shore turned from rocky pebbles to sandy grit, sticking to their paw-pads as they walked. All three cats sat down close together beneath the shade of a small elm tree, where the main throngs of fish preferred to hang out.

"This is a hot-spot in sunhigh Greenleaf. See that branch just underneath the surface? Fish gather in swarms under there. They feel safe underneath things, like it's one of their dens."

Crescentpaw felt a tingle of pride at how much her acting mentor was teaching. She's oversharing for Cheetah's sake. Already Cheetah has had a lot of tips that weren't actually necessary to grasp the training. In the tabby-and-white apprentices eyes, Lagoonstrip had always been stern and mature. She never acted out or showed an ounce of true repulsion. And yet now Crescentpaw was seeing an even wiser side of her.

"I think Cheetah would make a great warrior. Don't you, Lagoonstripe?" She asked the lithe she-cat, who paused in her instructions.

"Well, uh- not to be wry," she admitted with pricked ears. "But I have only known her for one day."

Cheetah laughed. "Two, if you count yesterday!"

"Oh, come on!" Crescentpaw leaned closer, her thick tail twisting into a curl and flipping around beside her. "You know she's at least great apprentice material."

Laggonstripe chuckled and flicked her own tail cheerily. "I can't argue with that! You listen well," Laggonstripe looked over at Cheetah while she gave the compliment.

The spotted she-cat nodded, her whole face lighting up as her eyes stretched wide and her mouth gaped with joy.

"Oh wow thank you!!! It's because I want to! I truly want to learn everything about this place it's so awesome! Just look at the sun glinting off the water. I've never seen anything like that," Cheetah mewed with awe. "So you can really teach me how to catch a fish? And become a whole warrior?"

"I can teach you the skills, yes. But first Crescentpaw will demonstrate. I want to see if any of her fishing skills need improvement."

Crescentpaw winced. The still water below reflected the dark green leafshade above their heads. Oh no.

No no no no no. This can't be happening already! Her heart pounded in her chest, blood roaring in her ears as she stood up and tried to hide it.

"Okay," she choked out. Then the apprentice hoped she hadn't sounded hesitant.

She moved over the smooth stretch of sand to the edge. The apprentice clenched her teeth, trying to prevent the nervous terror that was threatening to portray itself.

The two other cats made space for her. Crescentpaw leaned over the edge and waited. For the entiriy of the time her thoughts were racing. And yet all she could think of was to bite it with her teeth.

Riverclan cats did use this method to grasp fish from the river, of course- but it was known as something that more advanced warriors did. She had only tried it herself a couple of times, and never succeeded.

The first two tries, Crescentpaw came up empty-jawed. Her fur was flushed hot with heat despite her face and neck being soaked. Self-conscious, she shook the water drops from her ears.

"Just catch it with your claws. Stop showing off."

Alarm bells rang in her head. She almost twisted around and told the truth, then stopped herself. I can't let them find out. At least not yet; for Tinypaw's sake. The young apprentice knew that her sister could not mentally handle being thrown out of the Clan.

She plunged her paws into the water as soon as she saw a shadow. Her toes extended in an attempt to grasp it but no claws came out; just as she'd expected.

Crescentpaw instead slipped her paw beneath the fish's slippery body and flicked upwards. In less than a second she had flung the fish out and into the air with an upside-down curled forepaw.

Even she herself was astounded. It hit her in the face on its way down and nearly slipped back into the water. The gritty earth along the streambed was wet and easy to dislodge, and sloped at the perfect angle for a fish to flop back in. But Lagoonstripe was watching closely and snatched it up.

"Well done. Just make sure you sink your claws in harder on the uptake if you don't want it to fling around like that." She pierced her claws into the fish's head. Its gills leaked a few lines of blood as it died.

"Cheetah, go ahead and get started on trying to do that. We'll stay out just a little longer and then head back to camp. We must make it back before sundown."

As the she-cat's kept hunting into the lengthening shadows they didn't ask for the reason why. They knew.

"I feel bad for the first time that you have to see a wolf," Crescentpaw mewed to her friend on the way back to camp. She had to say it around the small carp in her jaws. It won't be long now. Maybe even tonight. The apprentice gulped. They stepped around thornbushes and clumps of wateroak together. Dandelions poked up from the earth-brown soil, brushing their paws as they walked.

"It's alright. It's not like I didn't ask for it." Cheetah turned and looked at her friend with a contented expression. "Whatever they are- however savage they are, I think it's worth being here. It's worth all of this," she pricked her ears at the wilderness around them. The air smelled of cattails and forest prey. Hulking silvery willow trees spread far apart provided shade-pools for relief from the dazzling heat. The dark green grass beneath their paws was orange-tipped from the burning sun above. It was at its last stage of dipping behind the horizon before sunset.

"Well said. I'm glad you joined Riverclan," she admitted to her companion. Cheetah gave a wide smile and bumped into her shoulder with good sport. It almost knocked the fish out of her jaws.

"Me too! And I'm going to catch my first fish tomorrow, just wait! Did you see how close I came on that last one? I felt it touch my paw!" Cheetah ran out of breath halfway through talking, so the end of her sentence was a stream of airy stretched-out words.

Crescentpaw meowed agreement, nodding. "I saw it slip right underneath! Use more pressure when pushing your paw underwater next time, and you'll go deep enough to catch one!" She felt herself becoming drawn to the hunting culture of their clan. Crescentpaw genuinely loved all that Riverclan had to offer, and grew more adamantly entrenched in their discussion.

Cheetah was nodding, but she had already swept on. "Wait until you start learning to fish underwater!" Tall switchgrass muted the sound of their padding paws. Sparse foilage rustled softly around them in the light breeze. Crescentpaw adjusted the fish in her jaws, trying to talk faster around it. "That's when the real fun starts." She recalled diving underneath churning river waves with Aquasplash, her mentor. That's when they had swam out and hunted in the middle of the lake, ducking down beneath the surface and dropping to the river-floor below. In newleaf and greenleaf the fish teemed with life down there.

"Aquasplash taught you well," Lagoonstripe mewed. She was loping just behind them, clearly trying to act as a barrier between them and any pursuing predators.

"I know," Crescentpaw sighed and found it hard to meet her gaze. Her thoughts stayed stuck on Aquasplash the rest of the way home.

Although Cheetah isn't an apprentice yet, what would you choose for her Warrior name?
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