open{alive with the beating of young hearts}

[bast]

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[atrb=background,http://i46.tinypic.com/2dkhd1k.jpg] [scrolly:h(306),w(482),sy] IT was a little known fact that Egretpaw loved to run. In ThunderClan, it wasn't necessarily a common trait seeing as the dense forest didn't allow for much sprinting. Most of the runners lived in WindClan while everyone in ThunderClan preferred stalking through the undergrowth at a steady loping pace or scaling the trees like squirrels. Don't get her wrong, Egretpaw didn't mind those things either. Nothing quite beat laying in the sunshine on a sturdy oak branch, able to feel the life thrumming through the old tree, swaying gently in a passing breeze. It was beautiful. Even with that beauty though, Egretpaw still liked a good run. She perhaps would never outrun a WindClanner but the little white she-cat did enjoy just letting her worries slip away as she flowed through the forest, swerving around trees and feeling the soft caress of fern fronds as she passed through them. It was liberating, being able to move and flow with the forest, twisting through it the way a stream found the path of least resistance through the dense undergrowth. TODAY, her mentor was off trying to make amends and keeping busy with other duties, leaving Egretpaw largely to her own devices. Some apprentices might have spent a lazy day sunning themselves on a rock by the stream or roughhousing around with their friends. Egretpaw might have gone off to hunt with another warrior or apprentice, or gone to help the medicine cat gather herbs if the forest hadn't just seemed to be calling to her. The second she'd woken up, Egretpaw had known she'd wanted to go for a good long run. Normally Flameheart would be loping along beside her or just ahead, but today Egretpaw didn't mind finding her own path through the forest. 'MY little wild child,' purred Icestream, the soft white face floating up in Egretpaw's memory as she ran. Her mother's soft blue eyes looked down at her, downy off-white fur brushing up against the stark white of Egretpaw's pelt. 'My little child of the wind. Go on, go see what secrets the trees have to tell, hear the stories the wind wants to share.' ICESTREAM. A blossom of warmth rose up in Egretpaw at the memory of her gentle mother. Icestream had always told Egretpaw she was special, and not because of her fits. She said that Egretpaw could hear the whispers of the wind and the laughter in the trees. It took a special cat to hear those things, and Icestream was glad Egretpaw got to enjoy them. She was Icestream's little windling, her wild child. Egretpaw liked to think her mother was running beside her, flowing beside her and showing her the way, whispering 'I love you's in the wind's caress. Maybe that was why she liked to run so much? Egretpaw certainly loved a great many things, but few things so much as anything that had made Icestream smile. So, every now and again she would run and imagine Icestream ran with her. Today, Egretpaw ran farther and longer than she ever had before, streaking through the green foliage and right out of ThunderClan territory. She knew the second she passed out of her clan's lands but strangely did not feel afraid. Instead she felt confident and strong, things Egretpaw seldom truly felt. INSTEAD of turning back like most of her clanmates might have, Egretpaw ran toward Fourtrees, a lonely white streak through the green foliage all around her. She'd never been to a Gathering, despite being nearly eight moons old. Sometimes when her fits got her down, she wondered if Nettlestar was ashamed to have her in ThunderClan, ashamed to have a cat that had fits standing in the ranks and that was why Egretpaw never got to go. Other apprentices liked to tell her it wasn't her fault, that it was Flameheart's because all he did was cause trouble so Nettlestar had to keep him on a short leash. Egretpaw didn't like those rumors any more than her own dark thoughts so she often ignored them. Flameheart was a good cat. A tiny bit misguided, but good and he had good cats looking out for him, even if he didn't always see it. She hoped she'd get to see him tonight, that he wouldn't be spending all of his time with Brightcloud anymore...maybe he'd share a meal with Hawkeye again and she could go listen to them talk. She liked those evenings, when dusk was crawling over camp and she could share a rabbit with Hawkeye while Flameheart regaled them with some tale from his own apprenticeship shenanigans, Hawkeye sometimes correcting his exaggerations. Without Icestream, those nights with Flameheart and Hawkeye felt the most like having family and since the incident with Brightcloud carrying Flameheart's kits those nights had become more and more rare. FOURTREES loomed ahead of Egretpaw and as she drew closer, her steady running lope slowed. The grass was tender and slightly damp under her paws as she rose over the hill to look down on the Gathering clearing. Going down the hill, she slid more than ran but managed not to lose her footing. Breathing hard but smoothly from the long run, Egretpaw looked around at the towering trees. The clearing looked massive without anyone else in it. Egretpaw had to wonder what it looked like when it was full, if it was noisy or if everyone was respectfully quiet. What did the leaders look like standing the rock? Were they the only ones that talked or did others share news? Egretpaw wondered if she was the only one that stood in this empty clearing but didn't feel alone. This clearing didn't feel empty, it felt full with bodies pressed close but no one was there. The scents of hundreds of cats from hundreds of generations wafted over Egretpaw's nose, tinted with earth and dew. When she closed her eyes, Egretpaw could imagine the clearing full of cats with star-studded pelts and jewel-bright eyes looking up at a snowy white full moon. It was a beautiful picture. Tagged;; open Singing;; "Here I Am" by Bryan Adams Words;; 1054 Notes;; NA [/scrolly]