History: 

Leveled: Yes - Level 3

Words: 1552

As an apprentice, Doepaw didn’t want to be a warrior, but had been put into the role, because of the lack of cats in the clan. She wasn’t happy, not in the least, and so she made the second biggest decision of her life. She left.

It was dusk, the evening after Doepaw’s apprentice ceremony, and the small clearing that the Tribe of the Falling Skies had settled in was filled with dappled light. Doepaw sat with her only fellow apprentice, Ashpaw, and the pair watched the camp. Blizzardsight, who had taken on the role of leader while the clan recovered, moved between the few survivors of the deadly fire, talking and reassuring the anxious cats. Ashpaw looked away from the scene of the camp, turning to face his friend.
“Are-” Ashpaw paused as he began to mew, “are you sad that you aren’t going to be a healer?” He knew that her dream, her lifetime ambition, was to be the healer of the tribe, but at this stage, it didn’t seem to be possible.
“Yes.” Doepaw mewed in return. “I understand why Blizzardsight chose to make me an apprentice now, and I understand why I can’t be a healer, but…” She looked down at her paws. “I can’t help but feel furious at him. It isn’t fair. It’s all I ever wanted and it’s been taken from me.” She looked at Ashpaw, ears back.
“I get it, Doepaw, I really do. I don’t quite know what I expected for the tribe, but this isn’t it.” The small calico looked over the camp again. “We have lost so many cats in the past few days, and it looks like we’ll lose more soon. We don’t even have a healer for you to train under.” He crouched down, lying down with his paws tucked under him, years back. “I just wish we knew what to do. Blizzardsight is doing the best he can, but it isn’t enough.”
Doepaw looked over the camp, before mimicking Ashpaw’s movements. “You know, we could just… I don’t know, leave. Get up and go. Not look back.” She mewed.
“You’d do that? Just… leave? Permanently?” Ashpaw looked at her, slightly startled by her suggestion. “Where would you go? You have no training, and I’ve promised Blizzardsight that I’d help him. And I need to find my mother, too. I can’t just… leave.” He looked away. 
Doepaw shrugged. “It… seemed like it could’ve been a good idea, but…” She shook her head. “I guess it’s silly.”
The calico shook his head, standing, and rasped a tongue over her ear. “We’ll be fine. But maybe we should rest. It’s late, and we’ll be up early tomorrow.” He turned to where the tribe were temporarily nesting. “‘Night.”
“Goodnight.” Doepaw mewed in response, before looking over the camp once again.

What if… what if I did leave? No one would notice. Maybe I could learn to hunt, and to protect myself, and then I could just- go? They wouldn’t send anyone after me. Blizzardsight doesn’t have enough cats… Doepaw began to mull over the idea, plans beginning to form. Eventually she stood, having formed a solid escape plan in her mind, and went to join Ashpaw in the nests. I will leave. She decided as she fell asleep.

​

Almost thirteen sunrises past before Doepaw felt ready to set her plan in motion. She had learnt hunting techniques in those days, and now had a decent success rate. She could catch mice, and in theory birds - she had been taught how to stalk them, but had not had the time to make a proper attempt - and she knew enough of how to swim to not drown in the river, should she fall. All in all, she had been fairly successful, in her mind. 
Blizzardsight had sent both Ashpaw and Doepaw off in separate directions to see if they could hunt on their own, and this, Doepaw knew, was her chance. She slipped off, pretending to hunt, and following the scent of prey. After she was sure that no one had followed her, she ran. She was fast, she had realised over the past few days. As fast as, if not faster than, several of the tribe’s warriors. She kept running, her pawsteps echoing in her ears, and heart thumping in her chest. She knew the moment that she had reached the border that no cat had followed her.

I’m free, she thought. I’m free, and none of the tribe, not Ashpaw, or Blizzardsight can stop me.
Soon she slowed, the speed that she had been going at catching up to her, and making her breath quicken. From here, the world seemed… bigger. Scarier too, and she began to get worried.

Maybe… Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea after all. 

The trees seemed bigger here, closer together, and it was darker, and everything seemed as though it began to creep closer as soon as she looked away from it.
“Kitten?” The other cat startled Doepaw, who had been lost in her thoughts of fear. “Why are you alone?” The cat that had appeared was an older she-cat with a rough grey coat flecked with white from age. 
“I-” Doepaw looked around, searching for an escape route, but she found herself frozen and unable to move. 
“Hush, kitten.” The she-cat spoke. “I’m Ghost, and I’ll not harm you.”
“I’m Doepaw,” the younger cat managed.
“Doepaw, eh? One of those tribe cats?” Ghost mewed. At Doepaw’s nod, the cat turned away. “Come on, I’ll take you home.”
“No!” The cry was immediate.
“No?” Ghost turned back to her. “Whyever not, kitten? It isn’t safe out here for a youngling such as yourself.” Doepaw shook her head.
“I’m not going back, and you can’t make me.” Ghost tilted her head at the response.
“Alright, kitten. I won’t take you back, if you tell me why.”
“I-” Doepaw looked at the elder cat. “I wanted to be a healer, but then the fire destroyed everything, and I have to be a warrior now, and I’m useless at it.” Doepaw mewed in a rush. Ghost looked down at the fluffed up kitten.
“Alright. Come with me, I’ll take you to my den, and I’ll teach you how to be a healer, since that seems to be your goal in life.” Doepaw looked up, eyes widening in surprise.
“Why?” She mewed.
“I owe your tribe a lot, they saved my kit from near certain death, and took him in. It’s the least I can do. Once you’ve learnt enough from me, you can head off on your own.” Ghost turned back to face the way she had come from. “You coming, kitten?” Doepaw’s ears burned. 
“I’m not a kitten. I’m an apprentice.” But she followed anyway, and allowed herself to be nosed into a nest in the small den that ghost had set up.

Over the next few moons, Doepaw learnt everything, from hunting and fighting, to how to grow herbs on her own, and how to apply them to the injured or sick. Ghost had set herself up as healer of loners and rogues who needed help, and Doepaw was eager to help, and to learn. It was her sixth moon living with the elder grey cat that the pair had a serious discussion.
“Doepaw,” Ghost had mewed, “we need to discuss your training.”
“I promise I’m learning, and I am doing the best I can,” Doepaw rushed out.
“Kitten, hush and listen to me. I am very happy with your progress, but I find that there is nothing else for me to teach you. I am old, and I have reached the point where I just want to rest. My time is up, kitten, and you know it.”
“But- but you can’t.” Doepaw mewed. “You have to stay, and keep teaching me.”
“Kitten, you have grown so much since I found you, but now you are ready to strike out on your own.”
“I don’t feel ready. I don’t feel ready at all.”
“But I know you are,” Ghost meowed, rubbing her head over the younger cat’s neck.
“You have a decision to make, kitten. Will you return to your tribe, or will you wander like I have?” 
“I-” Doepaw stared at her mentor, “are you sure I should go?”
“Of course, kitten. You are almost an adult, you are strong in body, mind and most importantly, in heart. Go, choose your destiny.”
“I will.” Doepaw mewed, knowing that this would be her last conversation with the cat who had taught her all that her knew.
“If you would do an old cat a favour, I’d be much obliged.” Ghost mewed, as Doepaw turned away to head into the forest.
“Of course,” Doepaw mewed.
“Tell Blizzard that I miss him, and that I am proud of you both.” Ghost turned, leaving Doepaw in shock, and then she too, turned back towards the forest, facing her old home, and took a deep breath, before beginning her journey home.

​

Doepaw was accepted when she returned home, as a healer, not a warrior. On the night after her ceremony, having gained the name Doeleap, she heard a voice.
“I am proud of you, kitten. Don’t forget me.”