Shake It Out [Private]

[Shells]

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[atrb=background,http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/346/dawnmid.png] Pale ginger paws sped lightly across the moorland, leaping happily over every obstacle in their path. Dawnpaw felt happier and more at ease than she had ever before; she had been chosen by Dogstorm to be WindClan’s new medicine cat apprentice. Training to become a warrior was never one of Dawnpaw’s favorite things to do, and she had constantly put off this training by insisting to help Dogstorm with healing the injured RiverClan cats after the flood. Nothing was more satisfying to her than solving the equation of exactly what treatment a sick or injured cat needed, and then watching the cat become fully restored to perfect health again. When Dogstorm had asked Dawnpaw to become his apprentice and learn how to be a full medicine cat, she had been overwhelmed with excitement. For the past few sunrises, Dogstorm had been teaching Dawnpaw the different herbs and what they did. There were so many different kinds of herbs and medications! She still was unsure of many of them, but she was willing to work her hardest to learn them all; after all, what would happen if Dogstorm fell ill or was killed, and she had to figure out how to heal him and others on her own? Dawnpaw shook her small head briskly; Dogstorm would never die. As far as she was concerned, her mentor would outlive her since he knew so much about medicines. Besides, medicine cats did not have to fight in battles, so they were at less risk than the rest of her Clanmates, right? So why then was Dogstorm having her meet him at the Dry Riverbed for some training in fighting moves? As she approached the rock alcove that surrounded the Dry Riverbed, Dawnpaw slowed to a steady pace, sniffing the air cautiously. She was in the northern part of WindClan territory, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t run into any cats from other Clans along the way. Many cats passed through here on their trip to the Moonstone, and Dawnpaw didn’t want to run into them before she had even had any defense training. She was a medicine cat apprentice, so she was protected under the warrior code from any other Clan cats, but her new apprenticeship had not yet been announced at the Gathering. The warrior code might protect her from other Clan cats, but it did not protect her from the rogue cats that scrounged around their lands. Padding quickly into the alcove, Dawnpaw sighed in relief as she reached the Dry Riverbed where apprentices came regularly to train with their mentors. She was glad that there were no other apprentices there that day because she would probably look pathetic in comparison to them during her training session with Dogstorm. She was also relieved that there were no RiverClan cats there. Most of RiverClan seemed not to know about this place yet, but Dawnpaw was sure that, with time, they would begin to discover it. She was friendly with RiverClan since she had helped Dogstorm while he was healing them, but she still felt less at ease around RiverClan than she did around her own Clan. Pausing to sit beneath a large log, Dawpaw wrapped her tail around her paws and stared out toward WindClan camp. Dogstorm would be arriving at any second, and she wanted to make sure she was completely prepared. It had been several sunrises since she had come here with her last mentor, and she had not shown very much enthusiasm for her training session. Although this was just another training session for fighting techniques, Dawnpaw felt completely different. She would not be practicing these moves to use in battle against her friends in the other Clans; she would be practicing these moves so that she could defend herself or help protect the kits from nuisances such as badgers and foxes. A new spark of excitement flared in Dawnpaw’s stomach as she shifted on her haunches and kept a strong gaze directed toward the entrance to the Dry Riverbed, where her mentor would be arriving shortly.