"Duskpaw!" called a voice as soon as she stepped out of the den. Graysplash bounded towards her, abandoning his place by the prey pile.

He skidded to a stop and smiled warmly at her. "How are you feeling today?"

"Good," she replied, and it was true. "Enough to start my training."

"Really?" he asked, his smile widening. "That's wonderful! Seapaw and I were just about to head out to the pond. I'll ask Sunspring to join us." He paused and surveyed her. "He will find a way of training to will suit you, I think. Adjustments need to be made..."

He trailed off, scrutinizing her, and she squirmed. Suddenly, Graysplash's eyes seemed to catch on something behind her. "There's Seapaw! You go off and wait at the camp entrance with her. I'll join you with Sunspring as soon as I find him." He padded off.

She watched after him for a second longer before turning to the prey pile, where Seapaw sat taking quick bites out of a mouse. She looked up as Duskelle approached.

"Duskpaw!" the young she-cat exclaimed, cocking her head in surprise. "What are you doing out of the medicine cat's den?"

"I've healed, Seapaw," Duskelle told her. "I'm going to start my training today."

She smiled brightly and pushed aside the remains of her meal. "Really? That's great! Honestly, I can't understand the Upright Lock. Graysplash is going to help me with that today, but it's so complicated-"

"He told us to wait," Duskelle interrupted — she had spent enough time with Seapaw to know there would never be a pause in her jabbering — "At the camp entrance. He's gone to find Sunspring."

"Oh! Sunspring is coming?"

Duskelle nodded as she began to walk towards the entrance. Sea trailed after her.

"Duskpaw!" came Sunspring's gruff voice. "How ya feelin', gal?"

She bit back an urge to wince at his strange accent. "I'm well, Sunspring."

"Graysplash here tells me yer ready to start trainin', eh?"

"That's right, I think I am."

Graysplash joined them, interrupting the discussion. "Are we ready to go? Come along!"

He raced through the camp entrance, and the others followed together. Duskelle cast a last glance at the medicine cat den where she knew Storm was, but all she could see was its dark entrance.

She turned and disappeared into the reeds.

---

"I've got to get a read on ya first, Duskpaw."

Duskelle wrinkled her nose in confusion. "A read on me? What do you mean?"

"I need to know what kind of body type you have, whether your skills lie in agility or strength," Sunspring said as he surveyed her. "Where I come from...I've seen the way Nofurs fight." 

That said, he started her on a routine of complex and strange stretches, claiming that he remembered them from a set of owners long gone. As she struggled, she could see Graysplash and Seapaw merely...talking.

"What are they doing?" she asked Sunspring as she finally collapsed, unable to complete a motion. "Why are they just talking?"

"He's teachin' her the Warrior code," the old tom-cat responded, reaching up with a paw to scratch at his ear. "That's somethin' that depends on yer morals, not yer paws, and I ain't the one to teach it. Now, let's get started. First — yer stance."

"My stance?" she asked, and he nodded.

"Twolegs are like us felines in this; balance is key, gal! Spread yer legs apart to take your weight evenly — yeah, make sure they ain't touchin'. Now I ain't sure about this, but I doubt yer paws are supposed to be inwards like that..."

— — — 

Duskelle panted as she bent over her knees. Seapaw lapped frantically at water from the river besides her.

Seapaw had challenged her to a race back to camp and Duskelle had obliged. She'd lost, of course — the territory was still new to her, and she wasn't exactly agile while running through the woods — but the experience had been exhilarating. She couldn't stop comparing it with her run through StarClan as a cat, how much more lively that had been, how the heartbeat of the forest had seemed to pound through her.

The earlier lesson continued with Sunspring doing his best to remember what he had learned during his days with the creatures. Every time Duskelle felt herself giving into despair over her differences and her body, she pushed back with those memories of her dreams and the real paws and soft fur and weaving tail that she had.

Seapaw finally rose and sat back, rasping her tongue over her dripping teeth. She panted out words slowly. "I...told you...that I'd...beat you..."

Duskelle offered a tired smile. "I think that's the slowest I've ever seen you speak, Seapaw."

The apprentice scowled and batted Duskelle's face lightly with a paw. Duskelle laughed and flicked the she-cat's ear.

"Seapaw," came a soft, feminine voice, and she straightened to see that Brookpaw had approached them. Duskelle observed her warily. Brookpaw had never made it a habit of hiding her absolute distaste for creatures — Twolegs. The young she-cat's eyes were wide and her expression seemed to be almost too trustful, too compassionate.

"Brookpaw?" Seapaw asked, standing up. "What is it?"

Brookpaw turned her head and connected gazes with Duskelle. Had Brookpaw's eyes always been such an intense, dark green? She could've sworn they were much lighter...but how could own eyes' memory lie?

"I was going to ask if you wanted to go out for a walk, maybe hunt. I thought I'd try and get to know you better, Duskpaw."

At the sound of her name, Duskelle startled. Brookpaw? Wanting to know Duskelle better? She stared unblinkingly at the she-cat. Had she gone mad? Was she possessed?

"Brookpaw?" Seapaw asked gently, and the delicate apprentice turned to look at her. "Have you...did you hit your head on anything today? Do you think you need to visit Lilacfeather?"

Brookpaw frowned. "Why would you think that? Of course not!" She shook her head as if trying to get rid of cobwebs tangled in her ears. "So what do you say? Should we go for a stroll?"

"Er..." Sea shared a glance with Duskelle, and she saw that the other apprentice was equally as confused. "Why not? Let's do it."

"That's great!" Brook exclaimed in what Duskelle knew to be a rare display of excitement. The she-cat was never forthcoming about her thoughts and emotions, but today she was acting entirely strange and Duskelle couldn't fathom why.

Brookpaw padded off toward the camp entrance. Seapaw looked uneasily at Duskelle again, and then rose to her feet. Duskelle followed her. 

She stepped over the small stream at the entrance easily as the two cats jumped fluidly. "Where should we go?" Seapaw asked.

"South, I thought," Brookpaw responded quickly. "There's always more prey down there — I was hoping to land-hunt some."

"Land-hunting?" Seapaw asked. "But don't you hate to land-hunt, Brookpaw? You always say that you don't like to scrounge through the undergrowth like ThunderClan..."

Brookpaw abruptly threw back her head and laughed, but her eyes darted from side to side as if she were stalling to pull words onto her tongue. "Of course not! Did you really fall for that? I was kidding! I—I'll race you to the lake!"

She smiled nervously and then turned to race away. Seapaw and Duskelle followed unsurely.

For a while they traveled quietly but soon enough, the competitive spirit in Seapaw made itself known. She picked up her pace, running after Brookpaw, and Duskelle had to do so too. Soon, they were whipping around tree trunks and jumping over fallen logs, leaves whipping their faces.

Until eventually, they skidded to a stop at the lake, all of them panting and laughing.

"I swear no one will ever get the best of you, Seapaw," Duskelle said, grinning as she sat down.

The she-cat stuck her nose up in mock-haughtiness. "No need to swear it, Duskpaw, it's always true."

Brookpaw smiled too. "Of course! Seapaw's always fast, yeah?" They stared at each other for a second awkwardly before the moment passed and Duskelle nodded. Both she and Seapaw had eased up on the run to the lake and were too tired to worry about Brookpaw's odd behavior.

"Hey, Brookpaw," Seapaw said after a while, once they'd all regained their energy. "I'll challenge you to a fishing competition. Duskpaw will watch to make sure neither of us cheat — first to three fish wins."

Brookpaw at her challengingly. "You're on."

"Loser takes the others' den cleaning duties for a week. Still on or afraid of losing?"

Brookpaw laughed. "Never! Sounds to me like you're stalling because you're scared."

The sun glinted off of Seapaw's teeth as her mouth curved open. "You wish. Let's go!"

Both of them situated themselves by the water's edge, paws poised to scoop. Duskelle watched each of their wavering, outstretched paws for a second before abruptly crying, "Go!"

— — —

 Brookpaw stood beside her mountain of fish later, triumphant. "You should've known you were better off forfeiting."

Seapaw stretched nonchalantly, blocking her own, significantly smaller mountain with her body. "I take any challenge that comes my way. I've got honor."

Duskelle glanced at the darkening sky. "It's late. We should get back to the camp."

"Oh, you're right, Duskpaw," Brookpaw said, following her gaze. She'd made an effort to talk to Duskpaw today, to tell her that she was a valued member of RiverClan. Duskelle, unable to find another reason, assumed she was making up for how she'd treated her before. She still couldn't figure out what made Brookpaw change her mind.

Seapaw looked from the fish to Duskelle. "I think — if you held the tails with your paws — you could help us carry back a lot of these."

Duskelle crouched down. "You're right." She began to carefully pick up the fish.

The clouds grumbled in the distance as they made their way to camp.

——— 

afraid this isn't my best work but I've gotten to that point where it's cool as long as I get a chapter out ahaha thank you if you're still reading this after all these years!