Final Assessment (Private: Roo&Smoke)

"Good morning, Mistlepaw," Sagevine meowed to his apprentice. Indeed it was; for a day so close to Leafbare, the sun was poking out here and there from behind the clouds and the chilly breeze with a bite was nowhere to be seen.
"Go grab your breakfast and meet back with me here so I can tell about what your assessment will be," The mentor ordered.

The apprentice nodded, bounding off obediently towards the fresh-kill plie and draging a small fish from the top. Mistlepaw slumped down and began chewing on the salty meat, the rich vitimins adding to the glossyness of her ginger and white coat. After crunching the tail up and burrying the bones, the she-cat washed her paws and and whiskers clean of dirt and fish before turning and trotting back to where Sagevine had arranged.

Sagevine sat down as his apprentice neared and he wrapped his tail around his front paws. When she reached him, he began explaining what she would be doing.
"First, you will be hunting in a certain area of the territory that I will specify in a moment. When you have collected your prey by sunhigh, you will go back out and do a patrol by yourself on the ThunderClan border. Do not worry, because during the entire time I will be watching your actions," After all of this the tom gave a small and inaudible sigh. It was a lot of work for him as well as his apprentice.

Mistlepaw sat next to her apprentice and took in what he was saying. She was overwhelmed with how much had to be done, though she tried not to show it on her face. She took comfort in the fact that Sagevine would be near her all the way through, so if something big were to go wrong, he'd be there to help out. 
"I understand," the young she-cat said, pushing any uncertainty out of her voice.

Mistlepaw sat next to her apprentice and took in what he was saying. She was overwhelmed with how much had to be done, though she tried not to show it on her face. She took comfort in the fact that Sagevine would be near her all the way through, so if something big were to go wrong, he'd be there to help out. 
"I understand," the young she-cat said, pushing any uncertainty out of her voice, "But, Sagevine, how do I pass?"

"Well," Sagevine started. "When you're hunting, make good catches. You don't have to get a lot of prey, but get the job done well. When you patrol the ThunderClan border, just be silent and put your scent down on our side of the territory. We had an apprentice do it on the other side once and he almost got killed," Sagevine finished.

Mistlepaw, no better informed and clear on what to do, stood and turned towards the camp entrance, her claws flexing in excitement. 
"Alright, Sagevine," she mewed, "I think I can do this."

"If you're sure, then alright. You've been training for a while and I'm very proud of your progress. You'll show this clan that even the farthest visitor has a heart of a warrior," Sagevine purred to his apprentice.

Mistlepaw joined in her mentor's purring, her fur prickling and chest puffing out with pride and liberation in her clanship. For the first time since Sagevine had told her about her final assessment, Mistlepaw felt excited to recieve her warrior name. Up until that point, the main things going through her head was was she ready? If she got it wrong, would the clan reject her? What will happen with her and Sagevine if she does pass?

Sagevine noticed his apprentice deep in thought. "Try to keep your mind clear. Focus on what you have at the moment, and block everything else out, alright? We'll leave as soon as your ready," He talked to her in a calm voice.

Ooc: I hate typing the word calm. It comes out as clam, caml, cam, and even cal because my brain is too fast for my freaking hands. Same goes for the word from. A lot of times I say form instead of from and you'll definitely notice that xD

Bump :3

Ooc: I know right?! It happens with me a lot when I'm reading too. For some life-destroying reason, when I'm reading really fast I sometimes mistake the word 'that' for 'what'. I don't know why, but it gets so annoying because I have to pause reading and go back to re-read the sentence that made no sense!xD

Mistlepaw took a deep inhale, "I think I'm ready now, Sagevine. I know where I'm going to go and I know what I'm looking for."
The young she-cat was just anxious to leave the camp. In here nervous state, she felt claustrophobic in RiverClan's camp and wanted to get out into the open.

Sagevine gave his apprentice a single nod. "Then you have permission to leave as soon as you want to. I won't be far behind, but you won't know where I am," Sagevine said.

Mistlepaw gave her mentor one last nod before getting to her paws and heading towards the exit of the camp, struggling to contain her excitement and anxiety as she walked with a spring in her step. 
Once she was out of the camp, shooting one last nervous smile over her shoulder at Sagevine, Mistlepaw took in sharp breath of the clear riverside air. Being out of the camp had the desired effect of making her claustrophobia disapear and the she-cat began to feel much more relaxed. 
After quickly revising the route in her head, the apprentice set off towards the border between ThunderClan and RiverClan, which happened to be the wide river that gave her clan their title. Sagevine's instructions rang in her ears: "First, you will be hunting in a certain area of the territory that I will specify in a moment. When you have collected your prey by sunhigh, you will go back out and do a patrol by yourself on the ThunderClan border."
Padding along the bank and bypassing the sent marks for now, Mistlepaw reached the widest part of the river that was several rabbit hops from one bank to the other, the running water split with stepping stones spread across the length of the torrent.

Sagevine had let her out a moment before he began to follow her. He was nervous for his apprentice, as most mentors would be, but for different reasons. She knew what she was doing, she knew the cost if she failed and the prize if she won. Sagevine knew his apprentice would get the job done.
He followed her to the river bank, hiding his scent in the thick reeds, but his sage eyes allowed him to easily blend in undetectable to his apprentice.

Thankfully, most of the ice that had been covering the river was now melted and floating down the rapid water in thick chunks. Mistlepaw could see many tiny fish darting about the rocky bed, as well as one or two large trout gliding with strong tails upstream. The apprentice licked her muzzle and wasted no time in leaping flawlessly from one rock to the other until she reached the centre.
Taking great care in keeping her shadow out of the way of the fish so as not to alert it of her presence, Mistlepaw unsheathed her claws, hind as well so she could keep her balance on the frosty rock. Once the fish was in the perfect possition, the apprentice's leathal paw fell, claws like thorns digging into the animal's soft, scaley side. With great effort, she managed to pull it from the water and slap the body beside her on the stone where she held it firmly down with her paws and bit savagely into its gills until its frantic writhing ceased.
Overwhelmed with how excellent that had gone, the she-cat proceeded to carry the body (which was about a tail-length) towards the RiverClan bank, far more precarious and unsteadily than before. Once she landed back on the snow-covered land, she dropped her kill and looked down upon it with emense pride. 
"Now, I'll catch a few more and then go and check the scent markings," she told herself, before returning to the river bank.

Sagevine was swelling with pride. His apprentice was doing well in the first moments of her assessment alone! That was a wonderful catch for winter and would feed the elders until they were fat!

Fur prickling with disbelief at how well the assessment was going so far, Mistlepaw returned to the centre stone, only to find, to her disapointment, no more fish within reach from that possition.
"I knew that splash would have scared them off!" she hissed scoldingly at herself before returning in good spirits to the bank. Pacing further down stream, she found more prey making their way up the strong river current. There were less than before and no more as big as the one she had just caught, but there were enough for another good catch. 
There were no stepping stones this time, so instead the apprentice waited quietly hanging over the edge of the water, waiting for the food to come to her. At last, two slimmer fish glided over to the bank after some bugs that lay on the water's surface next to Mistlepaw. Feeling confident, the young she-cat shot out a paw to claw the nearest fish, before diving in for the other one once the first fish had hit land.
Now that she was in the water, the tow was even stronger than it had looked. Mistlepaw had the live peice of kill in her jaws and was frantically kicking to make it to the bank. Once she reached it and began pulling herself up, the fish in her mouth began wriggling frantically, knocking them both back into the water, forcing Mistlepaw to open her jaws and allowing the prey to swim to freedom. 
Irritated at the loss of her catch, Mistlepaw dragged herself back onto land and finished off the fish that had thankfully stayed where it had been thrown.

Ooc: Sorry for all the long posts, I don't mean for them to go on so much ._.

Ooc: It's okay XD

Sagevine watched his apprentice intently, his muscles tense and ready to spring after her if she had reached too far and got carried by the cold current of the recently unfrozen river.
Even though she lost a fish, she had still caught a very large one and another medium sized one, much more than a normal apprentice may have gotten. Her failure was not to be ignored however. She had jumped into the freezing water and would cold for a while, showing poor judgement on her part.

Once the two fish now lay slain at her paws, Mistlepaw felt that she had earned a brief resbite as set to work rasping her tongue across her soaked fur to warm herself. The water had been icy to begin with, and now the sharp winds were turning the droplets into icicles. Once she was a little dryer, the best thing to do, she decided, would be to move around. But first, she wanted to bury her prey. 
Striking her paw into the ground this time, her claws soon reached through the soft, sparkling snow and scratched the rock hard earth. This was a problem, for once the apprentice had cleared some of the snow to expose the ground beneath, it became apparent to her that it was going to be impossible for her to dig a hole to bury the fish in. She couldn't even puncher the surface.
Disheartened, the she-cat was about to leave the prey covered over a thin layer of snow, but she stopped herself. I can't risk food like this by burrying it so poorly, Mistlepaw told herself, prey is scarce, especially around this season, you know that!
She brought the fish out of the snow again and looked aroung, wondering what to do. The winds were picking up again and the young cat had began to panic, when her bright blue eyes caught sight on the willow tree, it's long, limp branches resting on the water's edge. A plan flashed in her mind and she sprinted over to the roots of the great tree and scouted around until she came across a small gap inbetween to winding roots. Beaming with joy, Mistlepaw hid the fresh kill in this gap ad covered it by bending some nearby reeds to hang over the gap.

Sagevine beamed with pride at his apprentice's cunningness. Not even he would have been able to think of that! She was doing well so far indeed.
He and another warrior, Mintfrost, would be judging her from different angles. That was one thing that he did not inform Mistlepaw of; another cat would be judging her.

Leaving her safely-hidden fish, Mistlepaw padded quickly upstream again along the snowy bank, her the movement warming her up slightly, though she still shivered. Her pink pads were swollen with the cold, but she could hardly feel them. She was far too busy scenting for any signs of prey nearby when something caught in her nostrils. Not prey; a cat. The whoosh of snow falling from a branch made the young she-cat whip her head around and her gaze burn like blue fire across the river, scanning the opposite bank.
A few heartbeats later, the hunched brown body of a tom appeared, sticking out clear as a full moon in a new-leaf night against the white background. Judging by his size, Mistlepaw guessed he was a young warrior, obviously ThunderClan, about the same age as Sagevine. He had seen her too, his green gaze meeting hers and, with no more than a respectful nod and a friedly smile, he turned and began to walk away. 
Mistlepaw was about to do the same when a voice from where the tom had appeared caught her attention.
"Who was it?" it said. This voice belonged to a she-cat, quite young, no older than Mistlepaw was herself.
"Just a RiverClan cat. Come on, let's get this bird back to the elders," came the tom's voice, drifting away as he got further away from her. 
Odly enough, there was something about the unseen she-cat's voice that made Mistlepaw stop and wait, hopig that she might come into view. She waited for several heartbeats, but nothing came. Coming back to her senses, the apprentice rose from the ground and continued on towards the scent markings.

Sagevine followed his apprentice closely without making a noise. Oh, his mentor would be proud to have seen his death silence then. StarClan knows she was always praying for him to shut up.
But he stopped in his tracks when he caught scent of the ThunderClan warrior and his companion. He had met Hazelcharm before -wasn't his name Hazelrise now?- at Gatherings, and frankly he didn't think they got along too well. Sagevine was very cocky and he wasn't afraid of the ThunderClanner knowing that.
Yet the scent of his companion smelt familiar, if not deluded by the dingy smell of ThunderClan's forest. It took a second before he got the connection between them, but the cat smelled similar to Mistlepaw. Sagevine knew he wasn't pure RiverClan, and he knew exactly why he was one of the best trackers in RiverClan, so he trusted his nose with his soul.
He leaped from his hiding place and to the border in a flash, not caring that his apprentice would see him. "Wait, Hazelrise!" He shouted after them.