CotS #2: A Brighter Future (currently being rewritten)

Chapter Eleven

Raindrop was released after a week in the medicine den. She was quite free because she wasn't allowed to go on any patrols, so she spent most of her time talking to Blossompaw. Her apprentice was in extremely low spirits. They had inevitably fallen behind on training, though not really – in that week, Bunnypaw and Briarpaw had managed to start swimming and were still trying to fish to no avail. They were worlds behind Blossompaw even after one long week of Streamflow pushing them as hard as they could go. That cheered up Raindrop's apprentice significantly, that she was still better than her sisters, but she still really wanted to get back to learning. Her sisters' progress didn't affect her, and by Raindrop, they were behind.

"Another week," Teardrop repeated to the lively she-cat whenever she was down. "Just a week." Perhaps the medicine cat was trying to be sympathetic, but Teardrop's usual monotoned voice didn't really help Blossompaw's mood.

Miraculously, a week passed and they were ready to start training again. Raindrop briefly revised hunting, swimming and fishing with Blossompaw, and let her hunt all sorts of prey. Blossompaw was getting extremely good at it. Soon, Raindrop moved her on to fighting. Her eager apprentice was even more eager to begin battle training, and she practically bounced behind Raindrop all the way to the training hollow. Raindrop once again found herself grateful for such a lively apprentice.

Raindrop showed Blossompaw some basic moves, and her apprentice managed it admirably. But once they moved on to more difficult moves, Blossompaw had some difficulty. Raindrop wasn't exactly surprised – Blossompaw couldn't possibly be perfect at everything. However, her apprentice wasn't at all discouraged and continued working hard.

"When you're fighting two opponents at once, and two bigger opponents, it gets tricker," Raindrop told her apprentice. She had managed to coax Riverflame into joining Blossompaw's training session. He stood awkwardly at one side of the training hollow, not sure what to do. "Hey, goofball, we're supposed to attack her two-on-one," Raindrop meowed, rolling her eyes.

"A-are you sure? She's awfully small," Riverflame stammered, looking sheepishly at his paws.

Raindrop gave him a sidelong glance. "Yes, you goofball," she repeated, and Blossompaw giggled. She probably found their conversation funny.

Raindrop and Riverflame successfully defeated Blossompaw, but that was no achievement. After a few tries, Blossompaw was able to take down Raindrop but she wasn't ready for Riverflame when he counterattacked after being wounded, and vice versa with Raindrop. At the most, Raindrop's apprentice only ever took down one of them.

Still, Blossompaw had the fighting spirit and there was no way she was giving up after just a morning of training. They took a break for lunch, and then they went right back to battle training at Blossompaw's request.

After Blossompaw finally mastered the move, Raindrop set her to changing the elders' bedding. Blossompaw had been a true grouch about that, but Raindrop chided her, reminding her that her siblings were doing ticks. Wasn't changing moss better? Raindrop had to show Blossompaw how to do it, but in the end Blossompaw found getting moss a joy like the rest of WaveClan. At least she wasn't an oddity like Bunnypaw who hated swimming.

Raindrop fell into step with Riverflame as she left her apprentice in the moss cave. "How was that like, being a mentor for a while?" she questioned him, her eyes sparkling. She hoped he would participate in simple conversation. Some days, he simply ignored her, trying his best not to talk and be the mute cat he was with other people. Raindrop found that frustrating.

"It was awful," Riverflame muttered, looking away. "I only did it because it's you. Really, I... I have to stop doing it. I'm not supposed to talk to anybody, and I talked in front of Blossompaw. They're supposed to think me mute."