If only I knew you better...(BrightxFinch)

[Cloud of Diamonds]

The medicine cat heard a faint rustle and thud and assumed it meant that Finchpaw had caught something. Hoping to StarClan it hadn't been enough to deterr other small rodents, she sniffed the air delicately. Shrew, was that? No, the scent was stale, she could tell. But in the briar...a faint brushing noise could be heard. A memory of the first time she caught a sparrow presented itself in her mind, and she remembered wondering why birds had feathers. Half closing her eyes, she padded forward another few pawsteps, stepping into the dense tangle. A swallow, she now saw, apparently sleeping in its nest. Briefly analyzing the situation, she calculated the distance and her right paw shot out like a flash to end the avian's life. The swallow died with barely a brush of feathers as its head went limp when she tugged it out of its thorny home. Silently thanking her ancestors, she bunched her shoulders and backed out of the prickly bush, only getting two thorns in her pelt. Dropping the bird ot quickly nip the stickers out, she looked over at the ginger and white FogClanner, holding his mouse. His expression was one of such joy that Brightnose was almost taken aback. Was this what he'd longed to do as a kit? Yes, most cats liked hunting, or at least so she thought. But this seemed to be something else entirely. Was it only through some strange desire of his father's that he was where he was now? And yet surely even Rowanheart would not have lied about his own child's wishes? Of course he wouldn't, snapped her logical side. Rowanheart would probably consider it a penultimate sin if he lied about what one of his precious sons wanted. Brightnose felt like knocking her head against a log. How silly she was! All these ludicrous, wild guesses and suspicions. Sighing in torment of her thoughts, she nodded at the FogClan tom in front of her. "Good catch, Finchpaw. You seem good at hunting in the open, so why not show me your skills in a trickier situation? Feel up to climbing a tree with me once we've buried our prey?" She offered. The oak where they'd been collecting leaves would be ideal, it had low branches and a good amount of foliage, but not so dense as to be unmanageable. It would be a good activity to take her mind of these silly notions.

[Whiskers]

Finchpaw had dropped his prey and had knelt down again, his muzzle open and searching when Brightnose reappeared with her own catch. The distraction startled him and disappointed him-- he had thought he had smelled something else, a little ways from here, but now the scent was lost. Despite this, it only took Brightnose's compliment to keep the smile on his face. He never was a very egotistical cat though, so he found himself looking toward the side, his fur growing a little hot.

His attention snapped back to her in a second however, with Brightnose's next proposal.

"Climb a tree?" he echoed her suggestion with growing intrigue. "I've love to try it! Here, I'll bury yours too," Finchpaw did not wait for her answer, but began to rake up the dirt with his paws, tarnishing his white fur. When the hole was big enough for both prey, he was careful not to damage the animals, despite the fact they were already dead. It was actually ridiculous how much care Finchpaw put into burying the animals, but he was unaware of how he set each one side by side, or how he carefully distributed the dirt over them like a blanket.

"Done!" Finchpaw announced, turning back toward Brightnose. His eyes were searching elsewhere though, his gaze lifted upward, toward the tree tops. "Which tree are we climbing?"

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[Cloud of Diamonds]

A rare mrrrr of laughter escaped the medicine cat's throat. She twitched her silvery whiskers at the exuberant cat in front of her. The tabby and white tom was the happiest she'd seen him in moons. Although, she wondered, why had he taken such care in burying their prey? Ah well, it didn't matter. Brightnose gestured with her mostly dark-colored tail to the oak that wasn't far off, and said "This one." Not waiting for a reply from Finchpaw, whom she was sure would follow her, she walked swiftly over to the base of the tree, and sprang onto the lowest branch. She sat for a moment, tail twitching slightly, before going on to the next one. Here she looked up, her orange and white face brighter in some places becuase of the spots of light coming down through the leaves. Why did trees have leaves, after all? Were they like a cat's paws, or were they just for decoration? Pondering, she waited for Finchpaw to join her.

[Whiskers]

"This one."

Finchpaw's gaze flickered to the lucky tree that Brightnose had chosen and he nodded his approval. It was nice and thick, with branches reaching upward, spreading like fingers grasping for air. The ginger-and-white tom let his female mentor go first, and once again, he watched her movements. Her shoulders were strong, he thought. His claws snuck out and teased the ground in preparation for the climb.

As soon as Brightnose got properly situated on a branch, Finchpaw leaped onto the tree, his claws catching the rough brown bark of the oak. Climbing was natural, even too easy for him. He had...actually never climbed a tree before, but he had no problem making his way up to where Brightnose was.

"I wonder how high I can go," he spoke, his eyes eternally glued to the sky now, searching for the bits of blue hidden by the leaves. He wanted to try to climb to the very top...perhaps later, if he had extra time. Brightnose wouldn't mind, even if it was a strange thing to want to do. After a moment of silence, Finchpaw murmured again, "This is actually a good place to hide."

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[Cloud of Diamonds]

The light-pelted she-cat was thrown out of her reverie when the orange apprentice landed neatly beside her. She turned her brown-green gaze on him, saying, "Well, I would not advise going beyond that half-broken branch up there, as the limbs above it appear small and weak, and I would be rather upset if you joined StarClan early, Finchpaw." The half-broken branch was about seven badgerlengths above, so he would still have lots of room to climb. But now...time to surprise Finchpaw a little, see if he was on his toes. "But before you start climbing, answer me this; what do we use oak leaves for?" Brightnose almost smiled. It wasn't like her to put in such a random question, but she felt sure Finchpaw could answer it. He'd been training for over four moons, after all. But his next remark surprised the medicine cat herself. Why would Finchpaw be thinking about places to hide? For hunting, perhaps? She had to ask. "Tell me, why do you think this is an especially good place to hide? And what from? I'm curious." She cocked her head slightly, waiting for his answer.

[Whiskers]

At the mention of the thin, very breakable branches, Finchpaw became slightly crestfallen. Ah, he should have realized that not all the branches were strong and sturdy like the one he was sitting on. If only he was a real finch; then he could land lightly on each one and the branch would hardly tremble--

The thought was interrupted by Brightnose's stupid question. Aw, foxdung, Finchpaw didn't have any idea whatsoever. Had he ever used oak leaves before? Finchpaw could not recall a time. If only she had asked him about something he had used or would use. He squirmed, uncomfortable with not having an answer, and it irked him he couldn't simply find it through a method of deduction. He was reminded of his nursery days and those long hours of interrogation by his own father.

"Tell me the warrior code, Finchpaw."

"I don't know..."

"Finchpaw, how can a cat get into Starclan?"

"I don't know..."

Maybe it was because of these memories that caused him to sound frustrated when he admitted defeat. "I don't know," Finchpaw's tail began to lash back and forth with a fury, but it was directed at himself, not at Brightnose. "Maybe--"

Finchpaw never finished his guess, because of Brightnose's next question. It had not even registered in Finchpaw's mind that he said that thought aloud. Had he really slipped that badly? It was, however, not too late. This was something he could recover from; he had been in worse situations before. All he had to do was shut down. Finchpaw's face became passive, his tone was light and he was careful not to throw any more hints Brightnose's way.

"It's a good place to hide for obvious reasons-- it's high up, and the leaves act as a wonderful cover. If you wanted to, say... hunt, or perhaps have a one-on-one with a friend, a tree like this would be a perfect place to go. We all need to escape from the bustle of clan life sometimes, don't you agree?"

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[Cloud of Diamonds]

Oh, StarClan. Here we go again. Again was the turmoil of thoughts woken in the she-cat's intellect. Stop it, she growled at the raging inferno that was her emotional side, stop it! Are you a newborn kit that has to make up problems for entertainment? No, but you're acting like one.

But as much as she tried, it was difficult to find a logical explanation as to why her apprentice's manner had altered so quickly. Was he truly hiding something? One moment relaxed and happy, the next reserved and blank-faced. If that wasn't a sign of a secret she was a mouse.

Oh, yes? Couldn't he have a perfectly good reason like the ones he just listed? Are you really that bored that you have to suspect your own apprentice of having some deep, dark secret?

Making an attempt to steer herself back into reality, Brightnose took a breath and asked, "Oak leaves are used to stop infection in wounds, Finchpaw. We chew them up and add them into a healing poultice, often one of marigold or horsetail." Why was he so agitated? It wasn't as if she'd asked something unreasonable. Pausing for a moment, she continued, "Yes, indeed you are right, Finchpaw...but did my queries disturb you? You seem slightly...unnerved, if I may be so bold as to state. I pray forgiveness if I caused you to be uncomfortable somehow." Normally she wouldn't have made such a personal statement, even to him. But still, her rabid curiosity was getting the better of her, as it so often had when she was younger.

[Whiskers]

Irritation flamed within Finchpaw's belly, forcing his claws out of their hiding place to clutch at the oak branch he sat on. Since when did Brightnose get so intuitive? Since when did she decide to care? It had been four moons since he had slunk into her den, a stranger to her, as she was a stranger to him. And in those four moons, they had been comfortable with their positions and had not needed to change them. Now, Brightnose was beginning to mess with what Finchpaw was familiar with. She was throwing the balance off. And Finchpaw hated her for it, in that single frame of time. He wanted to tell her to leave him alone.

He wanted to tell the whole forest to leave him alone.

His position did not move, Finchpaw's expression did not change, he was a perfect statue. With his golden eyes staring straight on ahead, unmoving, maybe she would go away. It was a good solution, Finchpaw thought. Why answer when he could ignore? He was not obligated to provide her with an answer. He could be stony still and strong for once in his life.

But it was just a desire...he could not ignore her, he could not escape her, it was not Finchpaw's way. He did not run away, he only hid. There was a difference. And his silence would only fill Brightnose with more questions.

"Yes, they did disturb me, Brightnose," it amused him how he could be so casual with the truth. "In fact I found them irritating, inappropriate, and uncalled for. All you need to worry about is my education. So stick to Starclan and herbs. The rest of my life should remain my own." Finchpaw turned his head sharply to look at her, feeling a steely coldness replace the fire. The cold prevented him from worrying about how blatantly disrespectful he was being. Oh well. He's stress about it later.

"Now that this lovely interrogation is over," he mewed softly, his mood rapiding returning to its usual calm state. "I'm going to climb a little bit higher now. Might as well get as close as I can to Starclan, eh?" He spoke sarcastically, smiling to himself, before he began to climb, leaving his mentor behind.

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[Cloud of Diamonds]

Lost. For. Words. For once in her life, the FogClan medicine cat had nothing to say, not even crazy afterthoughts. Her mind, nearly always filled with thoughts, ideas, and questions, was simply a blank bank of shock. One moment everything was going fine, then BOOM. For a second furious wrath threatened to envelop her, but then her cold logic kicked in.

"I see. Well, if that is how you feel, then I will never make the mistake of inquiring again. I shall leave you now, as you seem to be undesirant of my company." Spoken politely as if nothing had happened. She would have said more, oh yes, she would have unleashed the maelstrom unfolding in every part of her conciousness upon him until the poor tom was struck dumb as she had been. But what, she thought, would have been the point? It would only serve to make even more riled up, most likely, and snapping out unneccesarily was something
soft-brained warriors did. Padding to the StreamClan border briefly to get the juniper berries,
she turned around and started to head for home, pondering. True, maybe she'd been a bit too forward, too probing. True, Finchpaw had a right to be a little annoyed, but she had been perfectly polite, and he should have been as well. But that did not go enough way to explaining her apprentice's unwarranted outburst. What he had said raised many questions.
Why did he seem like he only wanted her to care about what he was supposed to do, not he himself? Of course she was supposed to care about him, he was her apprentice for StarClan's sake. Uncalled for...well, excuse her. She had just as much right to be curious as he did, thank you very much. A cool refusal would have just fine with her. And despite the fact that he'd been right in defense of his privacy, he had no place telling her what to do. She should chastise him, but wasn't going to do it until she'd gone over what he'd said, all of it. Thereats of his life...was he doing something he didn't want her to know about? Her original thoughts on the subject were now reluctantly acknowledged as possible answers. And interrogation? Did he truly view it as that? Why? What was he hiding? And the last remark, about StarClan...spiteful, almost. Mocking. Doing what she did best, the calico she-cat slowly made her way back to camp.