Mundane

--- to circling

 Mundane

"Do you want to be exiled from Clan territory?" Blackthorn jeers. "Work harder! Stretch farther! Run, apprentices, as hard as you can, until you could beat a rabbit in a race! Run!"

I bite back a sarcastic retort, screaming "Yes, Blackthorn!" with all the others before gritting my teeth and forcing my legs to move faster. I feel like I could fall over and die at any moment.

"This is... brutal," Whitepaw gasps as she falls into stride beside me. We're both panting for breath, and we can barely talk, but we manage to have a sort of lopsided, slow, breathy conversation as we wait for the signal that we can stop running.

It takes entirely too long before Blackthorn finally yells, "Alright, everybody stop running and get over here!"

Whitepaw and I slow down, trotting the short distance between us and our physical training mentor. I feel kind of bad for the cats who ended up on the other side of the clearing, but mostly I'm just glad I wasn't one of them. We slowly gather around Blackthorn, waiting for his next instructions.

"How many of you feel like you're halfway to StarClan right now?" Blackthorn demands.

Most everyone in the group mutters some sort of affirmative, including me. But what would any training session be without a show-off? Flamepaw steps forward, tossing his head proudly. "I'm not tired, Blackthorn," he announces. Beside me, Whitepaw mimes gagging, and I have to agree with her. What an idiot.

"Then you're not working hard enough!" Blackthorn bellows, causing the prideful apprentice to cower. "Keep running until you're sufficiently tired, and then you can rejoin your friends. As for the rest of you, this concludes today's physical session. You now have some free time, but make sure not to be late for your next session! Dismissed!"

As everyone turns to walk away from the dreaded training area, we can hear Blackthorn getting after poor Flamepaw, yelling things like, "You'd die in the first battle you ever went to! Do you really think the foreign warriors would ever be so slow? Run faster or I'll chase you myself!"

My whiskers twitch at the thought of Blackthorn haring after a young apprentice, and beside me, Whitepaw purrs as though she's thinking the same thing. "Poor, poor Flamepaw," she giggles. "I guess I do feel a little bad for him. Imagine, having to stay late with Blackthorn!"

"I know," I agree. But mostly, on the inside, I'm just glad it's not me.

Whitepaw and I make our way over to the area where the apprentices sleep. The camp is divided into clearly defined sectors: the warriors' area, the leader's, deputy's, and medicine cat's area; the training areas; and so on. We're allowed to go into some of the different areas, especially if we need the medicine cat, but for the most part we're just shuttled between the apprentices' area and the training areas.

"I'm so tired," Whitepaw complains, pushing her way into the den where we sleep. "Can I just die already? Or is that not allowed?" She wrinkles up her nose and lowers her voice, mocking Blackthorn. "Do you want to live? Keep risking your life! Work harder! Get closer to death more often!" She snorts and reverts to her normal voice. "He's so strict! I swear he wants us all to die. Then his work'd be over."

"Oh, I definitely think that's his goal," I assure her jokingly. "Maybe he's secretly plotting against the Clan! Oh, no, what if he's one of the prophecy?" We purr, enjoying each other's company while we have the down time.

"The prophecy is real." A small black head pops up from one of the nests a short distance away.

"Oh, hey, Breezepaw!" Whitepaw greets our shy denmate with a friendly smile. "Didn't realize you were in here. Don't tell me you actually buy into that prophecy stuff?"

"I believe it." Breezepaw crawls out of her nest, her voice hushed and hoarse from lack of use. "Firetail told me himself that his mentor received a prophecy about four apprentices that would change the Clan, and I believe him."

I exchange a glance with Whitepaw. Breezepaw has never talked this much, not even in a learning session. She usually gives the shortest, most succinct answers anyone could possibly give, and even then the most I've ever heard her say before was, in fact, during one of our sessions, when she was answering a question that just couldn't be answered in three words or less. This must really be something that's important to Breezepaw, but... I don't believe it.

"It would be cool if it came true," I concede, just to placate Breezepaw and her fragile emotions. "But I wouldn't count on it happening any time soon." Beside me, Whitepaw nods, clearly understanding why I'm being so careful with my words here.

"It's real," Breezepaw promises. But instead of backing up her claim, she mumbles something about going to talk to a session mentor and pushes her way out of the den.

I watch her go. I'm never quite sure how to act around Breezepaw; she's just always so distant, so hard to talk to. But we always try, because she doesn't have many friends. At the same time, though, I always feel like I have to be coldly polite around her, which is... awkward.

"Hey." Whitepaw uses her nose to nudge me in the cheek. "What's that expression for? You're not worrying about something again, are you? I swear, I always tell you not to worry..." She lets her teasing trail off when my expression doesn't change.

"Hey, I'm sorry," she tries, pressing up against me as I settle down into my nest. "Did I do something? Are you mad at me? I swear, I didn't mean it, whatever it was. You sure you're okay?"

I have to give her credit for trying. "I'm fine," I promise. "I just want to get some sleep before our next session, so, if you could leave me alone..." I smile slightly as she scrambles out of my nest and into her own.

"If you need me, I'm always right here," she offers. I nod and curl up, my muzzle on my paws. "I'll wake you when it's time for our next session." A note of longing enters her voice. "I swear, I'll always be here for you."

"Yeah, yeah, just let me sleep," I mumble into my paws.

"Sorry! Sorry." We fall silent for a moment, and then she whispers, "Sweet dreams... Sunpaw."

 to legend ---