flight of the sparrow [open]

[Mo]

She should have been hunting. That's what she had came out there to do; it was what she was told to do. But with the sun shining down across a perfect sea of tall sweeping grass, there was only one thing Sparrowpaw wanted to do. She crouched down, poised and frozen, enjoying an exhilarating feeling of anticipation that rose in her. And then suddenly, without warning, she sprung forward.

Sparrowpaw sprinted across the plains. That was the way she run: full speed and holding nothing back. It was her favorite thing to do. She felt like she was flying. That's at least what she liked to imagine. She pictured her paws slowly skimming above the ground before the left it all together. She pictured herself climbing into the sky, higher and higher until she touched the clouds. She closed her eyes and felt the wind rushing around her, tousling her fur, and the sun warming her and she felt like she was really in the air. It was the greatest feeling.

Opening her eyes again, Sparrowpaw realized she was coming to the edge of the tall plains and she slowed her pace. She stopped and collapsed in between two grass hummocks, laying on her side as her breathing slowly returned to normal.

For a moment, the young apprentice felt a twinge of guilt. Her job had been to hunt. That was why she had been sent from camp and every moment she wasted was time she could have spent catching prey for her clan. But she justified her run as a warm up to stretch out her muscles. She'd try for a rabbit after wards and she'd catch one. This she promised to herself and felt immediately absolved.

[occ: not sure where I'm going with this post, but I wanted to put Sparrowpaw in something =P]