BlindPaw woke the next morning with a light dazzling into his eyes, although he was blind, he could still know the difference between light and dark! He almost slipped getting to his paws, the drops from the last rain coming from the thorns and splashing his nose.

He felt his nest with his tail, it looked like SkyKit was gone. Hare'sShadow's scent around his nest. He lifted his muzzle, sensing three other cats in the apprentice den with him, OddPaw, FurzePaw, and BouncePaw.

I wish I could sleep that peacefully...without the threat of my odd father hanging over me. His mind grumbled, the sparks of hurt still crept into his heart as he remembered, as if sharp as thorns, what GorseStar said about him.

He shook those dreaded thoughts off, barely even noticing his bristling pelt as he trotted out from the apprentices' den, his paws as careful as his thoughts as they stepped on ShadowClan campgrounds. His tail lashed back and forth as he followed the faint scent of prey from the prey pile.

The breeze whipped his fur, flowing into his nose with a breeze of scents. He stopped as he sensed the prey pile in front of him, the fresh blood filling his nose, and fuelling his hunger that he hadn't even noticed before. BlindPaw then bent down and sniffed the prey pile.

He smelt all the individual animals now, squirrel, frog, rabbit, and mouse, and BlindPaw flicked his tail, picking up the squirrel and carrying it to the familiar spot he always was when eating, the steps all familiar and at the same pace it always was. Like the same day over and over.

The breeze ruffled his fur, and he lifted his face to drink in more scents, then he leaned back down, The squirrel's fur brushed against his teeth as he bit into it, it was warm and freshly hunted, which made it taste better.

BlindPaw quickly finished the squirrel, surprised at himself for eating so fast. He then stretched out his mind, finally deciding for himself to be useful and not just another useless mouth to feed, a useless mouth that snoops in your mind.

He tried shaking out the jumbled thoughts away, as he caught on to a mood like SoftSong's, who was softly snoring in the warriors' den, just on the brink of waking up. His heartbeat was nice and slow, making it much more calming to listen to. It was great listening to a cat's heartbeats since he was always so overwhelmed, and it was especially good when cats were asleep, because then their heartbeats were slower, making it more calming.

And making me more of a creep. He thought with a slight snort, as he sniffed the air, drinking in all the scents to find the particular type, there were apprentices, kits, queens, MilkWeed...then the warriors, making BlindPaw cling on to the scent, and following the strongly scented trail to the warriors' den.

Or...what he assumed was the warriors' den, a faint image popped into his mind, imagining great draping vines over the gaping mouth of a large cave littered with moss beds and warriors all around. BlindPaw drowsily shook off the image in his mind, then he carefully placed his paws to avoid making sounds, until he heard soft snoring.

Now, his hearing was excellent, so he had an easy time finding SoftSong, and the closer he got, he could feel SoftSong more, his muscles rippling as his chest slowly rose and fell, his tail flicking every once in a while, his heartbeat gradually getting faster as he was slipping more into the waking world. BlindPaw tuned out all the other cats in the den (which were just a few, considering most of them were probably earlier wakers), and he crouched down in front of SoftSong, slowly blinking his neutral blind eyes at him.

He listened only to the sounds of SoftSound, before quickly shaking his head and flattening his ears, and for once, feeling his own mood. His mood felt annoyed at itself, no- himself? Whatever it was, it was annoyed. So BlindPaw took a deep breath and lifted a paw to prod at his mentor's shoulder.

His mentor shifted at the touch of his paw, letting out a grunt, before BlindPaw sensed his eyes fluttered open, and slowly but surely, bore into BlindPaw's. BlindPaw blinked as he slowly felt SoftSong's mood rushing in, he almost missed feeling his own mood, it felt so natural, and it felt nice...

BlindPaw tried focusing on SoftSong's heartbeat, tuning his mood in, and slowly checking it out in his mind. "What are you doing here?" SoftSong managed to say beyond his surprised mood, and BlindPaw suppressed a smile. "Waiting for you to start training me," he answered sleekly his voice coming off charming and calming, even he was surprised at himself.

He could feel SoftSong's mood shift quickly to excitement, but he bore it back down to a slight bit of joy. "I'm glad you asked! I've been waiting to train you."  he could sense SoftSong's smile, and it almost made BlindPaw want to hop and jump in joy. Is this what SkyKit is like? He thought with strange amusement, in his mood, making him even happier.

BlindPaw cleared his throat. "So, are we going?" he said skeptically, leaving the tom that he called his mentor feeling baffled before he felt quick nodding, and heard the crunching and lifting of paws. BlindPaw felt his own excitement rise again, feeling utterly happy, as he now got out of the crouch to sit on his paws.

He could feel SoftSong's heartbeat already going at a normal pace now, his muscles flexing as he moved to get up, BlindPaw could swear he knew what SoftSong was going to do or say now. BlindPaw let a small smile peek out from his lips, earning a surprised glance from SoftSong before he also felt SoftSong's mood shifting to more of a prideful approach.

"Let's go." he senses SoftSong flick his tail, and BlindPaw hurries after him, stretching his mind to cling onto SoftSong's, slowly approaching in on his movements, and where his sense of direction is headed to. BlindPaw tried repeating what SoftSong's muscle movements did with his own, and he did it successfully, which was quite easy, considering it was walking, all BlindPaw needed was SoftSong's sense of direction.

They passed through camp, SoftSong's mind a hum of different emotions, as he tuned into the one cat that gave him directions with his muscle work. Before BlindPaw knew it, he bumped into some fur, the first cat he had ever bumped into as an apprentice, he was shocked with himself to let this slide, but he felt the cats mood shift to anger and annoyance as he could feel her shoot he head to look at him.

He felt a she-cats glare, pasted to his eyes, and boring angrily into them, like if they'd melt on command if she kept staring. "Watch where your going, cloudy eye!" he heard her hiss, immediately recognizing the voice of FurzePaw, and the surprised and embarrassed mood of OddPaw as he stretched his mind once again.

Then he realized what she said, as she walked away, his fur bristled slightly. Cloudy eye? Is that what they think of me as? Cloudy eye? He thought, his breath almost slowed with his shallow breathing, but he took a deep breath, and hurried after where he could feel SoftSong's mood patiently waiting, his eyes burning into BlindPaw's fur, as he held his tail and ears low, dropping his head so it hung sadly.

SoftSong's emotions were hung with confusion, but slight understanding peeking in. "Dont let them tell you bad things to ruin your first day of training, lets go." SoftSong mewed softly, his breath brushing the tip of BlindPaw's ear as he felt the brush of fur beside him, and a tail curled on his back to lead them to their destination.

And BlindPaw felt comforted and safe, and he couldmt help but wonder...I wasnt able to sense body movements, or heartbeats like this before, am I getting...stronger?