The Speech Trials [Lunastorm]

[dylan]

Brindlepaw - 1008 Words
Tags: Yami Leafy [Lunastorm]

The world seemed to move in a quicker pattern lately, one that was much more reasonable when it came to pace. Ever since that day a couple moons ago, when the pain of her mother was not just a memory but a reality she lived by in such slow motion the she-cat was becoming less and less jumpy/weary of others. Did she still have her cowering in fear moments when another she-cat besides her sister crossed her path? Yes, but thankfully it was not as near the fear shown less than a moon ago. Progress was being made, although slow it was still progress in the right direction.

This particular she-cat had high hopes when she was first apprenticed with her siblings. She had been a warrior apprentice and had received a tom mentor. She had every intention to prove to her mother she wasn’t a weak and helpless cat that was dumb and slow…but she couldn’t even make it a quarter moon into apprenticeship. Her communication issues had been too large and too difficult to handle. The setback was enormous and she had trouble just grasping the concept of borders.

And so she was presented with two options: become the youngest elder or become the medicine cat apprentice. Even though she was slow, it didn’t mean she wanted to be an elder. She had been told this was the path she was suppose to follow and now she was on the right journey. How could this young apprentice believe all that? She was suppose to be a warrior apprentice like her siblings. She was most disappointed in herself for not being smart enough. She had failed and all she could do was settle for being the apprentice to the medicine cat. The medicine cat probably didn’t want her either and was just doing this to be kind. Oh…and the worst part is her new mentor in her new position just so happened to be a she-cat.

Lucky for her the she-cat had been one she had known for all her life. Brindlepaw was not nearly as weary of her new mentor…after all she spent quite a bit of her kithood in the medicine cats den. The little she-cat had not known this would be very beneficial to her. Having been in the medicine cat den so much had an excellent knowledge of herbs. She knew what they looked like and could name them…her speech just got in the way of her saying the proper terms. So being the cat she is, Brindlepaw had given the herbs new names that were easy for her to say. But she could still fetch the herb from a pile if needed and know what it was for. So in actuality Brindlepaw had already gotten down one of the hardest first steps and this had been done while she was a kit and trying to hide from her mothers wrath. The only problem with herbs she had was finding them in the territory and treating the cats with the herbs if it was more than a two step process she freezes and confusion settles in.

Brindlepaw awoke, her bright eyes blinking slowly as she looked around. It still amazed her and scared her that she was no longer in the nursery, she was an apprentice now. The level of responsibility had grown and now was the time to push past all of the boundaries. She had half expected to see her mother hovering over her, waiting for her to wake so the day could begin. The she-cat had awoken, yes, but not in the nursery. An audible sigh escaped her mouth, just like each time she awoke. It seemed that even after all this time she still could not forget the hold her mother once had on her. It seemed that she would still jump when she first woke up, and twitch in her sleep. Most of the time when Brindlepaw slept it was restless sleep. She could be found mewling in her sleep, but the second she woke half of what she had dreamed would be forgotten. It was probably a good thing she forgot so easily.

With one last blink of her eyes and a yawn, the she-cat stood up, shaking off her fur and looking around the den. It seemed as if there weren’t any patients at the moment, which was both a good and bad thing. Good because it meant no one was hurt, but bad because it was boring. Maybe she could practice! That’s it! With a grin on her face, the little apprentice trotted over to the herb supply and stared at the marigold. It wasn’t much, but Brindlepaw could identify it easily. To other cats this was known as marigold, but this she-cat called it ‘Oof’. Why oof? Well to Brindlepaw it looked like a big ball of poofyness, so instead of calling it poof, it was deemed as oof. This was part of her speech issue, the first syllable of a word was usually cut off. For instance, her name would be indleaw. It was slowly getting better, at first she had not been able to say any of the syllables except the last.

Brindlepaw was staring intently at the marigold, she was trying so hard to become better at her speech, so that she wouldn’t be made fun of, but it was starting to become tiresome. She knew it was Poofy, but saying marigold was her goal. ”Aol” was the first try. Wow…that wasn’t anywhere near what she was trying to say. It frustrated her that she could have it in her mind, but having it come across to her mouth was not working. This was how her brain worked, all the time. She glared at it some more and tried a few more times, with the same result each time. It looked as if this one was a little too hard for her. Maybe she should have started with something easier….then again marigold wasn’t that hard to say for normal cats.