The Northern Kit

[Mapleheart]

Feeling very small, Maplepaw gazed at the tall deciduous trees that made up someclan's territory. Fond memories came to him of his home back up North, where only one of these magnificent trees had grown: his namesake, the maple tree. There were hundreds of them here in this small forest. He could smell a faint scent of an adult female, and not far away, another. They must live here.

He jutted his multicolored chest forward and took a small step towards the forest.

[kellyfoo]

Up above, high in the bows of the mighty oaks and maples and birches, Oakstar was hunting. She was crouched on a branch that seemed hardly wide enough for her lean form, eying a squirrel that seemed on the verge of suicidal to escape the ambitious queen that now lurked mere feet down the branch from it, trying to snag it. Oakstar's orangey eyes were bold and intense as she took an experimental step further out, testing how far the branch bent. Finding it sturdy enough, she leapt. knocking over the squirrel with her own weight and sending it falling. It must have been a rather uncoordinated squirrel, by the looks of it, becaue where most would have snagged a lower branch, this one simply banged and bounced off of the branches below, killing it along the way. It was hardly the way a code-bound warrior, a ClanLeader, no less, would have wanted to end a hunt, but a kill was a kill, and freshkill helped the clan she so fervently led. Looking down, she realized that her battered, dead squirrel, had actually landed inches in front of a small, multi-colored kit, and upon realizing this, Oakstar's eyes lit up. To kill two birds with one swipe of the paw...one trip to the border and she retrieved both a large prey, and hopefully a young kit. Backing up a bit to the safer regions of the branch, she then turned and began working her way down the tree, glancing up to inspect the kitten below her every now and then.

When she had finally reached a spot about six feet above the ground, she decided to save some time and leap, landing a few feet in front of the kit and slightly to the right. Trotting forward, she settled back on her haunches in front of the kit and used a forepaw to pull the large gray squirrel towards her, although her eyes never moved from the form of the kit. "You wish to join the TreeClan, young traveller?" She definately seemed welcoming to the prospect of having this apprentice around, although she couldn't be sure right away whether he'd be assigned to herself or to her deputy, Rainwhisker. That could be sorted out in the camp. However, she didn't want to appear too over-eager...nor did she want to come off as soft. At least he didn't smell of kittypet, like the last few cats to come through these parts.

"My name is Oakstar. I am ClanLeader to the TreeClan." She didn't know if he knew her name, knew her reputation as the youngest leader any clan had seen in some time. However, formal introductions were always important, and as she sat, regal and tiger-like in her pose, she hoped he found her to be an honorable enough looking ClanLeader. She needed apprentices, and, eventually, warriors, if they were going to survive the dark days that every medicine cat seemed to scream about.

[Mapleheart]

Maplepaw leaped back a few tail lengths as the grey squirrel came to a halt at the ground in front of him. He looked back and saw a very regal looking she-cat in the previously unoccupied space. The kit blinked in surprise. How had he missed her as he stared at the canopy? He shook his head and looked back towards Oakstar.

"Yes...yes, I have been looking for a clan in a forest. None of the ohter clans around here seem to have many trees. I like them...the trees," he trailed off, thinking that he had rambled on too much for a first meeting. "My name's Maplepaw,"

[kellyfoo]

Oakstar's vivid, orange-gold eyes lit up as the kit rambled...in his nervous words were comments she liked to hear. His love of trees was definately good news, but his name...his name was also a Starclan-send, for it was a name any TreeClan apprentice would be happy to have. Giving him a small dip of her head, she said, "You find us on a lucky day, then, Maplepaw. I happen to be in the running for an apprentice or two." She'd always been a bit better with the younger cats...they didn't judge her leadership quite as harshly as adults. Granted, the adults of her Clan hardly judged her at all, they were so loyal, yet she was always afraid they were, always concerned at the looks they sent her. Giving her brightly-striped tail a flick, she eyed the young cat, noting his white markings...his contrasted color could be good camoflauge in the forest. In the treetops from below, his white would appear light like the sky above, and from above his dark would match with the branches around him and ground below. It was a good color-scheme for a tree-climber.

Standing, she said, her voice quiet and a bit guarded, since you were never sure who else was around your borders, "camp is this way, Maplepaw. But...I want you to understand that I may have to take on more than one apprentice." There weren't enough warriors to train all the apprentices they needed...thus, as a ClanLeader, she'd have responsability fall on her.

With that final note she turned, heading back towards their main camp, where Maplepaw could start to learn the ways of his new people.

(Go ahead and start a new thread at the Main Camp...Oakstar will join you there with another apprentice)

[Mapleheart]

Maplepaw tilted his head and gave a slight smile as the leader turned and headed towards the camp. Perhaps he had found his place after the long journey South. He certainly hoped so.

[To: "Apprentice!"]