wake me up when it's all over (Rowan, Lion)

Morning sun glittered through the Thunderclan camp. The older apprentice was the first one in the den to awaken, blinking her eyes heavily she let out a yawn that seemed almost too large for her tiny face. Still trying to blink the sleep from her eyes she stood. Tiny bits of moss littered her bi-colored fur, the orange sections of her fur catching the sunlight that filtered into the den, glowing almost like fire against the untarnished white that acted as a base color for her coat. She shook her small frame, tail sticking board straight in perfect alignment with her spine as she shook. Her rear paws lifted from the ground slightly from the force and when she felt the tilt begin to take her off balance she stopped and staggered slightly from her plush moss nest that she had made the day she had been made an apprentice. Though bits of moss still clung to her short fur she began to stretch, taking care to maximize the amount of movement in her spindly little legs. She couldn't help but looking down onto them thinking that the kits that were in the den had larger and much more powerful legs than she did, and she had been an apprentice for several moons now. She shook her head in her lack of confidence reminding herself and that she didn't need brawn or size when she had speed and intelligence on her side. Sure, the kits were fast, but compared to her they were blundering oafs. She couldn't help but think to mentally thank her mentor for taking advantage of her small size and teaching her the best way for the small apprentice to fight, and not to fight dirty like she had seen some of the mentors doing in the training hollow when she had first started her apprenticeship with Sandflight. She sat for a moment, just outside of her nest and began to pick the remaining bits of moss from her coat as she continued her inner train of thought. She suddenly remembered that Sandflight had promised her that she would bring her along on patrol today to go refresh the scent markers on the Windclan border, just the two of them. She shivered with excitement. Over the time that she had been training with her mentor she had grown particularly attached to the kind warrior, even if she had no interest in becoming a protector of the clan and had more interest in a connection with Starclan- a whole world that fascinated the apprentice, she couldn't wait to see if Starclan had blessed her with a connection or not in her warrior years.

Once the last small bit of moss had been cleaned from her fure she continued to groom herself, her head dipped so that she could reach the fur on her chest, she rasped her tongue across the white on her chest with long and careful strokes. She couldn't help but purr very quietly, she loved spending time with her mentor. She would tell her all these amazing things that she had seen and done, she would show her all these places that Cherrypaw found to be so fascinating, she showed her how to move among the trees without a sound, and better yet she told her legends of Starclan. A small smile wisped across Cherrypaw's muzzle at the thought. She couldn't help but wonder what sorts of things that Sandflight would tell her today, she wondered if there would be any other cats on the patrol with them- hopefully Rowanstar. Cherrypaw looked up to her leader with a great admiration with thousands of years of her warrior ancestors standing behind her to fuel them. Though the apprentice's dreams lie on another path, she really was interest in Rowanstar to see what kind of a cat he was under the leader's façade. She hadn't really gotten the chance in her lesser moons that she had seen to really get to know her leader, all she knew from the elder's stories was that he was a noble and very, very good leader. She was still curious as to what kind of cat he was.

Once she had finished grooming herself, she sat for a moment considering what should be done today. Her head tilted to one side "I should check on Grousejaw, I know it's still early but there's a chance he might need some help, and then I should check on the Elders. Just get my duties out of the way so I have the rest of the day with Sandflight." she nodded to her inner monologue, then stood. Her tiny paws padding delicately, and silently from the apprentices den. She slowly made her way through the camp, headed towards Grousejaw's den. She didn't try to hide walking through the camp, her head held high- she was in a terrific mood today. She finally found herself at the medicine cat's cave, she poked her head into the mouth of the cave blinking her eyes to adjust to the lack of light that was held within. She stood for a few moments, the smell of the various herbs that the medicine cat had stored near his nest in the back part of the cave hit her nose and she sighed, the smell of dried herbs was wonderful, especially because she knew that there was the lavender that she helped harvest the day before drying somewhere in it's place in the back of the den, it filled the air within the cave with it's relaxing scent. She waited for a few more moments, listening for sounds of the medicine cat rustling about the den getting things organized like he normally was, or preparing herb mixtures for possible emergencies. But, the only sounds that reached her ears were the sounds of a sleeping cat. Cherrypaw ducked her head and backed away from the den quietly "Oops, I better not bother him then..." she said silently, though she felt bad because there was nothing she could do in her favorite pass-time. Disappointed she padded back down into the camp and into the center before stopping to take in a deep breath of the scents around her. She knew that the elders were bound to be awake. Most of them woke up at the very first signs of dawn just to make sure that they had shaken the sleep from their old bones before the apprentices arrived to bring them their meal. Cherrypaw decided she should take them some prey. Briskly she padded over to the fresh-kill pile and picked up a plump mouse- In Greenleaf she had to carry the elders their prey one by one, since some of the mice were as heavy as she was.