Stagfrost

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Apprenticeship

But all the games were left in the dirt as Stagkit became Stagpaw, and all his energy and focus were directed towards his training. He was always a proud cat, and grew a reputation among the queens and elders for not being too willing to clean their nest, check for thicks, or keeping the dens clean, and when he did he tended to mutter about how he should be training and not, as he put it 'wasting my time with this'. But while that was his reputation in the elders' den and nursery, he was to the warriors known as someone who would often come and ask for lessons, and would happily drag with him any warrior who gave in, leading the way to the training island.

 

His first lessons were hunting, since that was what his mentor deemed most important, but Stagpaw found himself thriving more when it came to swimming and battle training, and he would ask sparr with anyone who would give him the time of day. He still did well in hunting and on hunting patrols, but he performed extra well on border patrols in particular. It was quite a few times warrior commented on how thorough he was when marking, never leaving an area unchecked.

 

One night his father took him out to show him something, and he said it was a surprise and to celebrate how well Stagpaw was doing in his training. But on their way to the place Frostsky wanted to show Stagpaw they could hear a sound in the night, and then another. Stagpaw noticed his father freezing up. Confused, the young tom looked around, scared and his fur started to bristle. Frostsky told Stagpaw to wait there while he went to check out what it could be, and - too scared to protest - Stagpaw obeyed. He waited, hidden in a bush and scared for his life.

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Time went by, and after about 15 minutes he thinks he can hear something that sounds like faint voices, but didn't move like he had been told. Another 30 minutes went by, and a quiet rain slowly started to wet down Stagpaw's fur. The only thing that could be heard was the trickling of the raindrops, and a part of Stagpaw considered going after his father and making sure things were alright but didn't want to disobey his dad.

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Then, cutting through the rainy night, a sharp, bloodcurdling howl of pain and fear could be heard. Stagpaw felt himself freeze up as he recognized his father's voice, and for a few moments, he stayed in place before bolting out of the bushes he had been hiding in and rushing after his father, not caring about what had caused the other voices anymore.

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He ran through the night, stumbling over roots and slipping on wet moss and rocks, calling for his father but being left without a response. His sense of smell and sight was almost useless due to the rain and clouded night, but he went in the right direction, and almost stumbled over the body. He fumbled in the dark and managed to recognize his father's body. He was about to ask him if he was ok, but as his paw reached out to check on his father, they came back covered in blood.

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Once more Stagpaw froze up for a heartbeat, before frantically starting to search over the body. It was dead and cold from the rain, covered in smaller wounds over the back and shoulders, and the neck ending in a bloody mess. He found the head a mouse length or two further away, the whole mess seemingly left to rot.

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For the rest of the night, Stagpaw stayed there, crying over the body, before falling asleep next to it from tiredness. He was found the next day by a morning patrol, and quickly taken back to camp, getting to spend the following few days in the medicine den due to catching a cold that night. A patrol was sent out to search for what might have caused the death of Frostsky, but no clues were found.

 

The whole event took a tol of Stagpaw mentally, and he started to do worse in training than he had before,even falling behind many of the other apprentices. He could no longer no out into the night, became stressed when it started to rain, and had trouble sleeping, all thanks to nightmares and horrible visions of that dreded night haunting him at the slightest memonry of it.

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Cats close to Stagpaw could see he wasn't well, and that something needed to be done or Stagpaw wouldn't be able to contiune on like this. A freind of his, Windpaw, tried to go on a few walks with him during the evening, and sleeping next to him, but it didn't seem to help. But Windpaw was presistant, and was the only one Stagpaw actually talked to about the event and how he felt about things. For Stagpaw, Windpaw was very much a rock for him to lean on, and it was thanks to and with Windpaw that Stagpaw started to heal, and gradually got back into his training. 

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Eventually he passed his assement along with Windpaw, reciving the names of Windflight and Stagforst (a name he requested after his father), and during their vidlig they sat togather, silently watching over the camp togather, and for the first time in a good while Stagfrost felt comfortable with the night.

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