River's Children
Wooly had just finished with another story when they heard someone clearing their throat. Speckle's head spun to face them as her fur bristled in surprise. Instead of any potential intruder, she was met with the firm yet kind gaze of her mentor.
"Ah, Miss Bright! Is it dark already?" Wooly spoke, a warm glimmer in his eyes. When Bright simply nodded, he smiled. "I remember when I first became a student… ah, but that's a tale for another time. Go on and say hello to your grandmother for me. And that I miss her Dearly." For a split second, Wooly's eyes flashed with grief, before gently nudging Speckle forwards.
The young student took a second to get to her paws, the reality of becoming a student suddenly hitting her in full. She took a glance back at her grandfather, before starting out of the den with her mentor. She squinted slightly as they left the through the vine curtain, the last rays of the setting sun hitting her directly in the eyes. The duo quickly made their way over to the other teachers and students. Surprisingly Briar and Elder's Bark weren't there.
"Where's Briar and the other healers?" Leap asked, looking around, having noticed the same thing. Red Coal simply chuckled and put a paw on his student's head.
"They already went. Surely you remember that from your early lessons right? It's to test how strong their connection to our ancestors is." As Leap tried to get his teacher's paw off, Rust spoke up.
"That's because the connection at Mother Root is weakest at sunhigh, right?" Copper simply looked at her and nodded, though there was a slight glint of pride in her remaining eye.
"Correct. Now, the connection to our ancestors isn't a requirement for becoming a healer, but it's always a good idea to have at least one who Can talk to them, in case of severe emergencies." Rust nodded slightly, as Leap grumbled something about not going with his brother. Bright cleared her throat and looked at the group.
"Come on now, we can ask more questions during lessons. For now we need to get to Mother Root before it gets too dark to see." With that they started off. At the entrance to camp, Speckle hesitated at the small river in front of her. It was only one jump across. She could do it. She could do it. Just ignore the rattling in your lungs Speckle. You'll be fine.
"Speckle? Speckle." She was shot out of her daze by the gentle pressure of a tail on her shoulders. Looking up from the water, she saw that the others were already across. She shook her head to clear her thoughts before leaping across, just barely avoiding the water hitting her back paws as she landed. Hurrying ahead, she ignored the questioning stares from the others. Unfortunately for her, Bright's stride was longer than her own, and her teacher quickly caught up.
"Copper, you take the lead, Speckle, slow down a moment and talk with me." The younger teacher nodded, speeding up slightly as Speckle and Bright fell behind the others. Leap gave his cousin a concerned look as he passed.
"What's going on? You're not one to freeze up like that. I've seen you pounce on students nearly twice your size as a kitten." Bright's voice was soft and filled with concern, not the frustration Speckle had expected for some reason. The student couldn't bring herself to look her teacher in the eye, mumbling. "You have to speak up, I can't hear you when you mumble."
"I said I don't know. I just. Freeze up when there's a lotta water. It just happens." Her voice was still quiet as she shuffled her paws. There was a moment of silence and finally she looked up at her teacher, only to find a face of determination and thought.
"I see. I think I understand, and we can work on that later. For now let's get to Mother Root, and afterwards we'll talk more, alright?" Speckle nodded quietly, and the duo hurried to catch up.
"-and the reason we have to take the long way to Mother Root." Copper finished her sentence as the two caught up. "Oh, Bright, I'm sorry, I got carried away in a discussion about why we're not using the border path to Mother Root, even though it would be faster."
"No need to apologize, I'm sure everyone appreciates the extra lesson. How much did we miss?" Bright simply chuckled, clearly amused by the younger teacher. Copper cleared her throat and looked away, clearly embarrassed.
"Nothing too much, at least nothing Speckle wouldn't already know from what I've heard. Just a little explanation of why we're at war with…" Copper's gaze shifted and got distant as her voice trailed off. She seemed to get lost in her own thoughts for a moment, before vigorously shaking her head and looking back at the group. "Anyways, why don't you take back over now that you're back?"
"Very well, what else is there to say though…" Bright hummed in thought as the group continued on, careful as the sun's light slowly left them, leaving nothing but the claw moon and star's glow in the sky to light their path. Even in the low light, Speckle couldn't help but look around in amazement at how wide the territory was. The path they followed was well worn, carefully tended to by healers and regular clowder cats alike, but outside of the path, the plant-life was untamed, only trimmed by the various prey that lived in the same territory that the cats did.
It had never dawned on Speckle until just then how Close their food source had always been to camp. Well, the fish had been a bit obvious to her, after all she had seen cats fish in the river that bordered their camp when things were too cold to really leave camp. But the rest of it? This was all new to her. The sheer vastness of it all was almost overwhelming.
"Oh yes! I assume you all have been told the history of Mother Root, correct? And how we as a clowder used to live closer to it but moved away to our current camp to avoid risking any attacks to it?" Bright peered behind herself to look at the rest of the group. The students nodded, of course they had, between Speckle and Briar, the other two had heard more history than any one normal cat could stand. Bright hummed slightly, clearly trying to think of any other topics to discuss, when her ears perked. Speckle's did the same and she looked ahead to see what had gotten her teachers attention.
Her eyes went wide when she saw the huge tree coming into view. It looked almost as wide as the nursery, if not wider and she had to crane her neck to see the top of the tree. The bare branches seemed to cradle the moon, and as she looked back down, the visible roots did the same to the earth below. Once they were just a few tail lengths away, Bright held her tail up to stop the group, and she gestured to a small opening just to her left. It looked to lead directly under the tree, which must be Mother Root, though it was quite dark.
"Alright, once we're inside, you are to be silent, and find a good spot to sleep. Your Ancestors will speak to you once you're dreaming. And again, do Not say anything until you've emerged again." Waiting for each of the students to nod, Bright then let each of them enter, following behind once they were in.
The inside of Mother Root wasn't anything Speckle had expected, instead being a plain den with a compacted dirt floor and rooted walls, with a single large mass of root in the middle, seemingly propping the entire thing up. She hesitated, before settling down near the middle like Leap and Rust had, and closed her eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep.
"Speckle?"