Petalpaw timidly crouched in the shade, her dark gray body blending well with the surrounding darkness. Her amber eyes glanced around, Did she dare enter? she wondered and took one pawstep forward and then one back. She was back where she started once more.
Squirreltail rolled her bright eyes at her apprentice's timidness and leaped straight into the clearing her red tail held high and proud. "Come on, Petalpaw." She urged with a clever smile.
The apprentice's eyes widened and looked like full moons. She hesitated, but finally jumped into the clearing her head low, and her long tail trailing behind her.
The red she-cat butted her head against Petalpaw's shoulder, nearly toppling her over. "Come on then, show some confidence no ones here to hurt you."
The she-cat shifted her paws, and warily not wanting to offend her mentor slowly raised her head. She lifted her tail just enough so that it wasn't getting dragged but she couldn't muster anything else. She looked at Squirreltail as if to kill her now, and end this humiliation.
Squirreltail grinned from ear to ear, and her tail twitched as she held it high and proud. "Now that we've got some pride in you, lets do some training. Can you hunt?" She asked brightly, then waved a paw. "I'll teach you how real Moonclan warriors hunt. Come on you little mouse of a cat!"
She huffed a silent sigh and trudged after her mentor, as soon as Squirreltail neglected to look her entire posture collapsed into one of fear. Her gazed switched once and she lowly pawed at the grass. Suddenly, Squirreltail stopped making her apprentice nearly run into her. She whipped around before Petalpaw could regain her "confident" position.
The red she-cat made a tsking noise. "Shame on you, Petalpaw. I thought you would at least hold it for five minutes, but you only got around 30 heartbeats." Squirreltail shook her head, with her eyes closed and she looked awfully grave and somber. Then she bounced up, "Well, chop chop! Time is prey! Now give me a rabbit crouch!"
She looked up with an expression that said that she thought her mentor was completely insane. Her ears flicked, but she did what she was told. The small apprentice crouched low, and stood completely stock still with her tail straight out.
Squirreltail nodded thoughtfully, "Very good, very good indeed, my apprentice." she had comically lowered her voice to sound something like Redstar who was the new leader of the clan. "Now!" she said brightly, and her voice had returned to normal. "Go to that rock, over there and climb it."
Petalpaw tilted her head to the side. She knew for certain, her mentor was crazy. The apprentice trotted toward the rock and casually looked it over. It was quite steep and tall, with hard smooth stone that seemed impossible to climb. She glanced over at Squirreltail who gave an encouraging nod, and Petalpaw looked straight up the face of the rock and leaped at it. She clung to it but she slipped and slid down the face and landed on her tail.
Squirreltail was hiding a wild giggle and she forced a stern expression on her face. "Go on Petalpaw! Unless... you find me unreasonable..." she eyes her apprentice with great certainty.
Petalpaw grimaced darkly. She judged the rock once more, and then she found a paw hold. She secretly glanced at her mentor smugly, and she jumped at the rock. She clawed her way only a few mouselengths, but that was enough to get her hind paw into the hole. She gritted her teeth and looked up the rest of the stone, and she clambered up the rest of the way. When she could rest on the top, her claws ached but she couldn't help but be proud of herself and she rose her head and tail and stuck her tongue out at Squirreltail. "Ha!" she yowled, but cut herself off nervously and shrank back.
The queen's mouth was hanging open. She doubted that she could've climbed that rock. She had to admit that stone was formidable and sleek, but that one paw hold had made it much to easy. Squirreltail snapped her mouth shut, and bounded toward the rock. "Well, that very good Petalpaw!" she called to the gray cat. "Now go catch me a white rabbit!" Every Moonclan cat knew, killing a white rabbit was terrible bad luck and they were nearly as rare as a flying turtle.
