Tigerlily of RiverClan Chapter 3

"Tigerkit, from now on you will be known as Tigerpaw. Currentclaw, I understand you are still greiving the death of your previous apprentice, Carppaw, but I also understand you are also ready for a second chance a training an apprentice. So you will be Tigerpaw's mentor," Minnowstar announced to the clan. She continued until all of Tigerpaw's denmates were officallyy apprentices.

"Tigerpaw! Flurrypaw! Icepaw! Loinpaw!" The clan chanted. Tigerpaw looked up at the huge black-and-white tom that stood over her in awe.

"Don't worry, I promise I won't eat you," Currentclaw joked as he touched his nose to Tigerpaw's.

"Thanks!" Tigerpaw said back. "Especially for being my mentor, I know it wasn't crazy long ago that Carppaw died in battle over Sunningrocks," Tigerpaw sadly remembered the vigil for Carppaw the night that RiverClan won back Sunningrocks.

Currentclaw gave curt nod, "it is true I still miss that old 'paw, but taking on you is a service to my Clan. But enough of that, do want to see the territory or stand here gossiping like a bunch of elders?"

"Can everybody else come with us?" Tigerpaw asked, looking up with big, pleading eyes.

Currentclaw looked down and said, "we'll see what their mentors say," he turned. "Do you want to come tour the territory with us?"

Rainclaw, who was Loinpaw's mentor asked, "do you want to go with them?"

"You bet I do!" Loinpaw exclaimed.

"Can we go, too?" Flurrypaw begged Lightstep.

Lightstep looked down and replied, "why not?"

"What about me?" Icepaw asked Feathercloud.

"I don't think there's any way to stop you," she joked.

"Well, let's go!" Currentclaw said.

"So now, that you've seen the territory, let's fish," Currentclaw offered.

"Sure!" Tigerpaw replied, already staring down into the water.

"Mind if we stay?" Rainclaw asked. "Feathercloud and I thought it would be a good time to start working on fishing, Flurrypaw already knows the basics of fishing, so she can go and work on fighting with Pikepaw."

" 'Course," Currentclaw answered, bending over Tigerpaw. "Do you see anything?"

"No, all the good fish are probably all hiding in the depths of the water, hiding from the crazy warm green-leaf sun," Tigerpaw explained thoughtfully, looking up to her mentor.

Currentclaw nodded, impressed, "good thinking. Do you want to take a dive?"

"Really? Pikepaw told me that he only learned how to last moon!" Tigerpaw exclaimed.

"I think you're ready, most apprentices have to be responsible enough to know when to come back up, but you are nautrally patient, responsible, and self-disciplinced," Currentclaw revealed. "Now, if you'll excuse me," he dived into river with a splash.

Tigerpaw intently watched the water, watching his big shape glide through the water. He resurfaced with a carp in his jaws. It continued to squirm in his jaws for a second, but stopped after he crunched a little harder on it's neck, killing it. "Can it try?" she asked, impressed.

"Come with me. Take a deep breath and jump in the water. Keep your eyes closed for second under the water to get used to the water on your eyes, then open them. You need to see a fish to catch it. Just grab one of the fish, and swim back up," Currentclaw explained. "Now, on three. 1... 2... 2 1/4.... 2 1/2... 3!" They dived.

The world was upside down for a moment as she took the plunge. Tigerpaw opened her eyes. It was fuzzy for a moment, but it cleared after a few heartbeats. She tried to go under, but Tigerpaw couldn't swim down. Her lungs ached after many attempts to go down. She brought her head back up.

"It was a good try," Loinpaw offered.

"But not good enough," Tigerpaw growled.

Currentclaw was already out of the water. "Having trouble going under the water?" he asked.

"Yeah," Tigerpaw replied.

"Yes!" Icepaw shouted as he dropped a moderately sized pike on the ground. "What do you think?" he boasted.

Feathercloud looked at the pike and said, "congrulationsns on your first pike, Icepaw."

Loinpaw looked up to the sky, the sun was going to set after a while longer, "can we go back yet?"

Rainclaw looked at his apprentice, "Sure."

Feathercloud said, "we should be going back as well."

As Currentclaw sat up to leave with the others, Tigerpaw whispered to him, "I want to practice a little longer, please."

"Okay, so, when you dive stay compact until you get down far enough to not float. You shouldn't lift your chin to float like regular swimming," Currentclaw told her.

They dove under together, and Tigerpaw curled into a slight ball, keeping her tail, and chin down, with her legs close together as she swam. Her eyes ajustedd to the gloom as she eyed a few pikes swimming together. She swam a bit faster as she caught up to the fish. She plucked one from the group and re-extended herself so she'd float back up. She watched her mentor do the same, but he was also using his paws. Tigerpaw tried to swim upward, and it worked just fine.

Currentclaw resurfaced just after Tigerpaw, "you did good. Ready to go back yet?"

"A few more fish before I go back," Tigerpaw argued.

Tigerpaw dropped 3 fish on the pile as she and Currentclaw returned. "Good job, Tigerpaw," Nightfall praised.

Rainclaw padded over and asked, "are you hungry after all that?"

Tigerpaw's stomach growled loud enough for ShadowClan to hear, giving her away. She puffed out her fur with embarassmentt, "yeah. I'm pretty hungry."

Nightfall grabbed a carp off the pile, "Not for long."

"Thanks, Nightfall!" Tigerpaw exclaimed as she tore into the scales of the carp.

Currentclaw sat next to his apprentice, "Y'know you're quick both on land, and water, you're strong, and you have good insticnts. Once I put you into some battle trsining, you just might be better at battling than Ripplestream," Ripplestream was one of the fighters in the clan. He always fought on the front lines in battle, going to great lengths to help out his clanmates in battle.

Tigerpaw forced her fur to lie flat. She never wanted to harm a cat. She couldn't imagine befriending, say, a WindClan apprentice, then be forced to fight them in battle. Nothing would be the same between them, and she didn't want that to happen. But she also knew that cats might one day attack her so it would be best to be able to defend herself. "Okay!" she tried her best to sound cheery, but she still feared that reluctance still sounded in her voice.