A scrawny mouse dangling from one of Skypaw's claws dropped back down to the fresh kill pile as he turned to see who addressed him. His wrinkled nose, from inspecting the mouse, straightened back to normal when he saw a brown and cream colored kit standing near him. "Oh, uh, hi," he meowed, placing his right foot back on the ground. Even though he had been out of the nursery for only a moon, he couldn't recall her name but she knew his. She must have a sharp mind. "You're up early. Practicing for when you have to go on morning patrol?" She looked to him to be old enough to be an apprentice.

A smile grew slowly on the gray and white patched tom as Lightkit mewed on. She must be nervous around me! The thought both pleased and disappointed him. It pleased him by making him feel important, important enough to make her uneasy to talk to him but on the other paw he really didn't want her to be nervous around him. And for another reason she was going to be his den mate soon.

"Yes, a warrior," Skypaw replied still smiling. "I'm not into flowers and smelly herbs like some cats are." He cast a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure Graythorn, the grumpy medicine cat, wasn't around to overhear him. The last thing he wanted to do today was to be assigned to help him gather herbs. He had done that before and once was enough. "Know what I heard?" He continued without waiting for Lightkit to reply. "The ceremony for this moon will be soon, maybe even tonight."

Ah ha! Her name's Lightkit! Skypaw smiled again. Thanks! He noticed her excitement and fully expected her to dance around with glee but was surprised when she sat down instead. She must be more mature than I thought.

"Lemonspeckle," he said proudly. It was an honor to be trained by the deputy but it did have its downsides too. Like right now. Sometimes Lemonspeckle was too busy with his deputy job that he runs off on a patrol and forgets to train him. "But it's really up to them if we'll get to train together. And if we do it'll be later on in your training because you'll be learning the basic stuff first." He didn't have to say it but it was implied he was beyond that stage. But in reality he could use some improvement there but Lightkit needn't know that.

"So you like to swim? Did you know I swam in the ocean?" He was part of the ill-fated patrol that went exploring and stumbled upon the large body of water. A kit had died when he followed them. Skypaw still felt guilty about that.

"You swim through dead mice and birds very well," Skypaw said with a laugh. "But you sure look like you'd be a natural in the water. Ratstar wants every cat to learn how to swim." He did feel a twang of guilt when Lightkit went on about his swim in the ocean. In reality is wasn't a swim per say. It was more of a tumble. He looked off in the distance as he recalled that experience. It was dark and he was looking out over the ocean for the first time ever. Waves were lapping over his feet on the shore when suddenly a large one engulfed him and sucked him in. He remembered the salt, the sand, the cold, the tumbling over and over, and the fear. Then just as quickly the wave deposited him back on the shore. He was never more relieved than he was then. But he did swim out to help Coalkit afterwards though. ....Coalkit ...

He realized he had zoned out but for how long? He gave his pelt a shake as if it would shake off his mood and his memories. "Uh, sorry about that." He put a smile back on his face to cover his feelings. "Hungry?" he asked indicating the fresh kill pile with his tail.

Lightkit watched Skypaw with a curious expression. For a moment there, the apprentice had seemed to zone out. Maybe she had bothered him with something she'd said?

She was about to try to break Skypaw out of his strange mood when he apparently did it himself. Lightkit watched as the tom gestured to the fresh kill pile and felt her stomach rumble in response. She wanted to eat with him, but perhaps her mother would smell the prey on her breath. Lightkit had stopped needing milk quite a while ago, but going back to her den with the scent of mouse caked into her fur would probably raise some questions about her whereabouts: aka, leaving the den without permission.

"I um... yeah, actually. I am a little hungry. But I think maybe I should wait for breakfast..." she drifted off, uncomfortably shifting. Lightkit didn't want the apprentice to realize she had sneaked out to come talk. Maybe one bite couldn't hurt?

"Actually," Lightkit changed the subject. "Were you okay just a moment ago? You seemed to be thinking about something really hard."

_
;ooc; exciting!! also feel free to end the thread whenever you want, we don't have to drag it out too long! we could pick back up again later after the ceremony at some point, too. c:

Lightkit cocked her head. A moon ago, there had been something going on ... but if she was being honest, she hadn't been preoccupied with anything besides her own family. Regardless, she felt a hint of recognition when Skypaw mentioned the death of the kit.

"Coalkit?" she mused. "I think my mother told me not to ask questions. I didn't really play with him though."

Maybe she should feel ashamed that she didn't remember, but instead she felt curious as to what the death of Coalkit had to do with Skypaw's sudden change of mood. There was a sense of foreboding in the air. It was something Lightkit hadn't experienced before and something she wanted to not feel again.

The kit pushed a mouse from the edge of the pile closer to Skypaw, hoping to lighten the mood. Something told her though that food wasn't going brighten anyone's spirits.

"I interrupted you getting breakfast," she mumbled. "Sorry. Tell me about Coalkit?"

_
ooc; oh man, I accidentally refreshed the page in the middle of my reply. and ok yeah, when we get bored with this one, it would be fun to do one with Lightpaw as an apprentice, too

Lightkit gently padded forward and sat down where Skypaw had indicated. Even her own stomach was beginning to hurt with the dread that suddenly hung around them.

The kit listened patiently to Skypaw's story. Her hair stood up on end as the apprentice spoke, and when he paused, the silence in the air was palpable. When Skypaw began speaking again, Lightkit took a deep breath, realizing that she had been holding it the entire time.

"I had no idea." Lightkit watched the apprentice hang his head, and her stomach cramped for him. That was a lot of weight to carry around for someone almost as young as she was. Something else was bothering her. She had just snuck out of the nursery, and here Skypaw was lamenting the death of another kit who had died because of so many cats sneaking around. It was something Lightkit would no longer do now that she had seen the result. There was a vast difference between going to the center of camp and leaving the camp altogether, but there was some important wisdom here that the kit could recognize in the tone of Skypaw's voice.

Suddenly taken over with sad feeling, Lightkit stood up and knocked her head against Skypaw's chest, letting out a small purr.

"My mom does this when I'm feeling sad." Lightkit didn't consider the awkwardness of what she was doing, but the kitten was uncomfortable seeing someone older than her be so upset. Usually it was an older cat that consoled a younger one. She wanted Skypaw to pick his mood back up again. "I think that Coalkit is in Starclan right now, and there's no way he blames you. Try to cheer up, Skypaw. I'll bet he's watching you from the stars. Find a way to honor him."

That seemed like advice her mother would offer, and she was fairly certain similar words had left her mother's mouth. There was no way the kit could have come up with them all on her own. But Lightkit couldn't think of how Skypaw could heed this. It seemed to her that her advice was worthless if she couldn't think of an example of honoring Coalkit's memory herself. But maybe it wasn't her job to figure out and it wasn't her path to walk. The best she could do was offer one more head bump against Skypaw's chest.

Lightkit sat back down and licked her paw, rubbing it over her ears so she didn’t have to meet Skypaw’s eyes. She was embarrassed that she’d copied her mother’s words now that she was being asked about them further. Now she felt the need to come up with a way to help the apprentice, not only to save face, but also to offer him a chance at peace. Walking around sad all the time seemed miserable, and the kit couldn’t imagine having to live like that.

“Well,” said Lightkit, placing her paw firmly back onto the ground. “If Coalkit followed you to the water, maybe every time you go to the ocean, you could find dark stones there and make a rock pile for him somewhere safe. It would be like every stone is Coalkit and you’re bringing him home.”

Lightkit felt suddenly nervous. Maybe her idea was dumb and the older cat would regret asking her something so important. A shrine did seem pretty dumb now that she thought about it, but the words had already left her mouth.

“Of course,” she continued, back to rambling. “An apprentice wouldn’t have time for something like that. I’m sure you are very busy!”

And how would a dumb rock pile help Skypaw feel better anyway? It would just force the apprentice to think about the kit every time. Lightkit had learned from her mother that some cats didn’t believe in Starclan. Lightkit wasn’t afraid of death or of losing her loved ones. She knew that one day they would all meet again in Starclan and swim and hunt together endlessly. But there was always a possibility Skypaw didn’t feel the same way she did. What then? She may have insulted him with her idea! The kit was sure she was overthinking it, but she had wanted to make a good impression and it seemed like that was slowly going downhill for her.

Lightkit felt relieved. Skypaw had listened to her. He liked her idea! The kit purred as the apprentice patted her shoulder with his tail.

As Skypaw gestured to a vole in the food pile, her stomach growled again. What was the harm in joining him? After her original guilt at sneaking out, maybe it would make her feel better to get scolded after all. When her mother smelled the prey on her, she would just be honest. And if she was being honest with herself as well, she just couldn't stand not eating any longer.

"Yeah, thanks." Lightkit hooked the vole toward her with a claw. Settling down to eat, she gave the kill a hesitant bite. Its juices flowed into her mouth, and she was about to dig in quicker when she looked up again at Skypaw, waiting on him to begin eating. "S'good." Her mouth was full of meat, but she didn't want to continue eating and be rude.