Thinking About Other Things

Kestrelpaw nodded his head. "Yes." Maybe it wouldn't be as easy as learning everything else had been. He'd known moves as a kit just by watching the apprentices. He's known how to hunt and croutch just by watching Griffinshade do it. He'd leanr so much by watching, but you can't watch a cat hear, can you...?

Cloudfrost flicked his tail. "Then follow me." he growled, suddenly bounding away. He was going to the most peaceful place he knew of in the forest. The place he'd taught Griffonshade, and the place he'd trained in as an apprentice.

Kestrelpaw pricked his ears and ran after Cloufrost, his large paws making imprints in the ground. Where were they going? He didn't think the could be very focused if he was running, but maybe it wasn't time for it yet. Maybe he should just stop thinking, shut up, and just go with it. But how do you stop thinking? There was too much to think about! Shut up! So hard...

Cloudfrost plunged down suddenly, over the rise that led to the small clearing. His claws scraped on the earth as he slid down half-way, then jumped the rest of the way to the ground. The hill was made mostly of damp earth, so it was easy to slip.

The clearing was surrounded on all sides by trees, most of them tall pines with no low branches. You couldn't see the sky if you looked up, branches covering the sky and only allowing small slivers of light to come through, speckling the gray tom's pelt with shadows. Vibrant flowers grew in the thick green grass that grew all around the clearing, although the earth the warrior now stood on was patched with short, dense blades of grass. Insects hummed in the undergrowth, which was made up of ferns and brambles. Intertwined with honeysuckle bushes.

Cloudfrost couldn't see the clearing, because of his blindness. But he knew it was great because of the sweet smells and the low amount of noise. "Down here," he called.

Kestrelpaw stopped when Cloudfrost disappeared. What? He looked down, seeing a hill that lead to a large clearing. Did he expect him to run down that? Because wasn't going to. He growled when Cloudfrost told him to come and stepped down slowly to the hill. With one step he felt his paw slide forward, a small hill of mud forming at the end.

This wouldn't be easy. He stepped out again, starting to walk out, but before he could even try he started to slowly slip down. He didn't dare move, just in case he fell, so he just slid with mud crawling over his paws. He wasn't going to get anywhere with this. Kestrelpaw unstuck his paw from the mud and went to take another step, but as he did he tipped over and in the next instant he was on his side, sliding down the hill at a fast pace.

He was too surprised to shriek, and it seemed like he was on leveled ground in a milisecond. He stood up, his side caked with mud. Hopefully the rain would clean it all up. How embarrassing...

Cloudfrost was too busy gazing around the clearing to acknowledge Kestrelpaw's amusing fall, though he did twitch his whiskers. "We'll train here. That way the noise from camp won't reach us." They were right before the WindClan border, so that the only sound you could hear was the prey, the rain, and the wind whistling joyously over the moor.

"Sure," Kestrelpaw said as he padded closer into the open, nearly treeless round clearing that opened up, like a caves mouth, to WindClan territory. He watched as the tall grass blew with each other with the wind and rain. Like some sort of dance or something. "So what do we do?" He asked with a tilt of his head, his curiosity almost as great as he was if he was still a kit who'd not been introduced to all of the crap he had to deal with up until now.

Cloudfrost smiled. "First of all, close your eyes." he instructed, sitting down in the sweet smelling grass. "I'm going to walk around this clearing. I'll need you, without sight, to try and find me. Okay?"

Kestrelpaw closed his eyes and listened to Cloudfrost's voice. Did... did he want him to find him now? "Do you want me to start now...?" He knew where he was, directly in front of him, but... was that the point?

"Yes." Cloudfrost's voice was a soft hiss that almost blended in with the gentle sounds of the forest. He had already started to move in a circle around Kestrelpaw, and now he was directly behind the apprentice.

Wait... did he say something? Oh StarClan! He said something and he didn't even hear it. Crap, crap, crap! In a milisecond he was already failing. Goodness why? It shouldn't be this hard should it? Just listening to someone? Does that mean he wasn't a good listener? Argh! What had Cloudfrost said before? Clear his mind or something. That was kind of hard since he was really crapping this up right now.

He stayed where he was, not daring to move yet, his ears pricked as he fought to keep himself thinking about nothing.

Cloudfrost stayed in his position, about a tail-length away from Kestrelpaw. A small smirk played out on his lips. Maybe he should give the apprentice a little help? He waved his tail, making a faint rustling sound in the grass. Then he was still again, watching Kestrelpaw's every move intently.

Kestrelpaw caught the sound of rustling. It was like mouse-movement. Instinctively, he sniffed at the air and caught Cloudfrost's sent. But that wasn't too much of a surprise since it was everywhere. He sniffed all around him, finding that it was strongest from behind. He turned around to where he thought the cat was and sniffed again before he took another step forward.

"Found me." His voice contained a smile. The blind tom turned and ran to the side of the apprentice, trying to see if he could detect the faint movement. Cloudfrost could tell which way he turned by the faintest rustling his fur made as he turned his head, as well as how his scent changed because of the damp wind.

Kestrelpaw grinned. He actually did it right! So, it was like finding prey? If that was it, he didn't think there was much need for this training. He opened his eyes, thinking that it was over, but he didn't see Cloudfrost. He tilted his head and looked to the side of him at Cloudfrost. Um..

"That wasn't all we were going to do, was it?"

"Nope." Cloudfrost grinned. "But you did very well, considering you were useless at it before."

Kestrelpaw frowned. Well, apparently he was usless. Well, isn't everybody at first? It was only hard because he could memorize what he did, because you can't memorize sound that you can't hear!

He closed his eyes again, looking away from Cloudfrost and pricking his ears again, trying to hear the sounds of everything. So what now? What next? He'djust have to wait for the next sound.

Cloudfrost smirked. "Now, just tell me everything you can hear." he mewed, coming to stand beside the younger tom.

Kestrelpaw pircked his ears, trying to listen to everything around him. "Well, I can here you, and... the wind, and some grass." Well, that's pretty boring, but that's what he could hear. He caught the scent of some prey or another and looked behind him, concentrating his hearing automatically. "And I hear a... shrew?" He shrugged. He wasn't actually sure, but whatever it was, it was gone after a while, he looked back ahead, listening more.

Eh.

"Very good." Cloudfrost purred, his voice sort-of low. He'd heard the shrew a moment before Kestrelpaw had told him, and he'd been disappointed when it left. It had been scrawny, he could tell because of the little sounds it made and the way the wind brushed over it's twig-thin ribs, but it was still prey. "You have an excellent sense of hearing, once you calm down."