Thursday, November 27, 2008

Fox hole

Snowfang continued to train me for several quarter-moons. While I did progress some in battle training, I got really good in hunting. Just a quarter-moon after my apprenticeship, I caught a sparrow and a cardinal. I felt so proud when I put my small prey on top of the fresh kill pile. I saw Dawnpaw gaping at me in the apprentices den, and gloated in her amazement for a while

Today, we are going out on a hunting patrol, Dawnpaw and I. She's not looking forward to it much. But I am.

"Birchpaw! Dawnpaw!" Seedheart called. Dawnpaw scampered out of the apprentices' den, and jumped down from end of the branch that stretched out from under the entrance, with me on her heels. We followed the other warriors out of the camp.

After a while of crawling, jumping, and chasing, Dawnpaw meowed triumphantly, "Take that!", and soon came through the trees, dragging a small blackbird. She sat down and looked expectantly at the three warriors who we had gone with.

"Great job," Twotail congratulated her, in his short, shy way.

"You did great, Dawnpaw!" Ripplefur exclaimed, coming from the woods. "I was watching."

"Yeah, really, great Dawnpaw! But I'll get three tomorrow!" I said.

She mrrowed at me and pounced, swiping at my ear. I ducked and we tumbled around in the leaf-fall leaves. The other warriors sat and watched us for a little while, then we continued on with the hunt.

I was moving silently through the field of gold and fire colored leaves, a little later, near the end of our patrol, when I caught scent of a mouse. I had never hunted a mouse, I had only been trained so far to catch birds, TreeClan's main scorce of fresh kill. I tried to blend in to the background, and hid myself in the undergrowth, like they taught me to do with birds, circling the spot where the mouse was.

All at once, I darted toward where the prey was hiding. But the mouse was already on the run. How did it know I was coming? I started to chase after it, but the little thing was too small, to quick, and changed directions too often, that I lost it quickly. When I eventually stopped, I glanced around, trying to find out where I was. I had never been to this part of the forest before. There wasn't anything remarkable about it though. Except...

"Birchpaw!" Dawnpaw chimed with enthusiasm, "Did you catch it?!"

"No," I said absently, sniffing the air at the peculiar smell.

"What is it?" Seedheart asked, then stopped dead in her tracks. "Fox," She whispered to the others. They stopped all of a sudden, a few a foxlength ahead of her. They all sniffed the air, and eventually all spun their heads around to look in one direction intently. Birchpaw and Dawnpaw followed their gaze. About three foxlengths away, was a hole in the ground.

"We need to get out of here," Twotail said earnestly. The others mearly nodded. We all bolted out of the woods.

"That was a fox hole?" I asked, once we were in the Treeclan entrance.

"Yes," Twotail answered.

"We should have stayed! We could have given that fox something to remember us by!" Dawnpaw and I said at almost the same time. They shewed us off to see of we could help Smoakears with collecting herbs. Then we went to go spin a tale of a fight with a fox to the kits.

Leap far and fight hard,
Birchpaw

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

First day as an apprentice

Snowfang says I did really well on my first day of training! I got knocked down alot, but I think I'm getting to be better. Snowfang says that I stop too soon, when I think I win, and that I shouldn't let off my opponent before I'm sure the cat is beaten.

My fist hunting patrol went well also. Snowfang says I have real potential! I enjoy hunting, not so much training. Dawnpaw didn't have too much luck with hunting lessons. She must have tripped as many times as I have whiskers! I couldn't keep my laughter under control very well, and I have sand in my fur to show for it.

The warrior's den is cold. At least on the edge of the group of sleeping warriors. When we were in the apprentices den, we were in the middle, where it was warm, because we were the oldest. But at least I am near the hollowed out tree's entrance, where I can see the stars, and a few specs of dark water, where the lake shows through the leaves.

Leap far and fight hard,
Birchpaw

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Apprenticeship

I am taking a silent vigil, guarding the camp, with my sister, the newly named Dawnpaw. We are no longer kits! Which means my name is now Birchpaw, instead of Birchkit. And we get to sleep in the warriors den! Well, not tonight, because we are keeping the TreeClan camp safe.

Diamondstar gave us our names just last night. My mentor is Snowfang, who has short, white fur, and Dawnpaw's is Ripplefur, a gray tabby with wavy stripes. I don't know Snowfang very well yet, but I'm sure we will get along great! My sister knew her mentor before her apprenticeship though.

The sun is almost up and our silence can be broken soon.

Leap far and fight hard,
Birchpaw

TreeClan allegiances and attributes

TreeClan allegiances:

Clan Leader:
Diamondstar ~ Totally black with a white diamond on her forehead. female

Deputy:
Talonclaw ~ Light brown with white belly and unretractable claws. male

Medicine Cat:
Smoakears ~ Tan with grey ears. female

Warriors:
Boltchtail ~ Tan with light ginger specks and tail. male
Apprentice - Sunpaw

Twigwhisker ~ Sleek, brown tabby. male

Snowfang ~ Short white fur, with shimmering pale blue eyes. female
Apprentice - Birchpaw

Seedheart ~ Grey with black specs. female

Woodpelt ~ Tan with thin brown stripes. male

Ripplefur ~ Grey tabby with wavy stripes. male
Apprentice - Dawnpaw

Wildflight ~ Jumpy, and hyper ginger tabby. female

Blotchfur ~ Small tortoise shell. female
Apprentice - Songpaw

Twotail ~ Shy, tan tabby, born with a double ended tail. male

Pinebelly ~ Light black, with slightly longer torso than normal. male

Birdsong ~ Beautiful, sleek, grey cat. female
Apprentice - Coldpaw

Robinstripe ~ Ginger and grey tabby. male
Apprentice - Soilpaw

Peddlenose ~ Bright tan cat. female

Lightclaw ~ Black with white claws. male
Apprentice - Moonpaw

Apprentices
Soilpaw ~ Brown tabby. male

Coldpaw ~ Light grey tabby with frosty blue eyes. female

Birchpaw ~ White tabby with short grey stripes, ans a slightly huskier than normal tail. male

Dawnpaw ~ Sleek tan-ginger she-cat. female

Songpaw ~ Thick but not husky white cat with blue eyes. female

Moonpaw ~ Silver-white with glowing blue eyes. male

Sunpaw ~ Gold-ginger with shining amber eyes. female

Queens:
Stempelt ~ Long, dark brown furred she-cat, with a black stripe down the back. female

Elders:
Blossumfur ~ Pretty white fur with deep amber eyes. female

Darkberry ~ Cat with long, black fur. male

Puddlepelt ~ Utterly brown with dark amber eyes. male

Kits:
Frogkit ~ Hazy grey with grey eyes. male

Lowkit ~ Short and tan furred. female

Rainkit ~ Grey furred with lighter grey specs. male

TreeClan Attributes:
TreeClan is the only clan that lives partly in the thick trees that cover it's territory, living in tree low hollows and former owl homes. Back in the forest, the lived between RiverClan and WindClan. Now, by the lake, they live between ThunderClan and Windclan. TreeClan cats have longer, more curved claws than the rest of the clan cats, which allows them to hold on to branches and get more leverage while jumping from branch to branch. They are also very agile cats, which also makes it easier to live in tree hollows