Eager, and perhaps over-eager, apprentices were common, but he was surprised to see Falconpaw had this much energy at this time. Shrikewind was normally ready to fall asleep on his paws—he was struggling to hold in a yawn even now. The icy air was draining his willpower to stay out, but he knew the time was valuable, so he wanted to focus on something that would keep them moving. “We’re going to practice tracking. You might think it’s easy to do because the snow leaves pawprints, but it isn’t that simple. The snow doesn’t leave scents behind too well, and some animals actually burrow within it.” He paused to give Falconpaw some time to digest the information before he asked, “What can you scent around us?”

“No, that’s normal,” Shrikewind assured. “That’s what we’re practicing. So,” he paused to check the direction of the wind, “hunting in the snow often requires us to be downwind more so than normal. You can also check which way the snow drifts have been blown around. You might catch a scent, or you might not.” Stalking prey was also harder in the snow, but he was sure Falconpaw was old enough to know. “Take a walk around while staying downwind. Let’s see if you can find anything that might suggest prey or something else has passed by recently.”

Shrikewind trailed a little behind to give Falconpaw room to search. He was surprised when the tom actually came upon something, and he moved in to take a closer look. “You’re right. That’s a shrew. Looks like it came out of the snow and froze.” He prodded it, but it was so stiff that he didn’t think it would be edible. “Good job. Try doing that again, and let’s see what else we can find.” Hopefully it was too cold for predators to be out, though it also meant that they might not find anything living at all. He tasted the air and came up with nothing in their immediate surroundings, so he knew it would be a challenge.

It was a little while before they came upon the scent that Falconpaw mentioned. He paused to consider it carefully and frowned. “That’s... a raccoon.” It wasn’t the most dangerous creature they could come across, but raccoons had a reputation of being aggressive, especially if they were hungry. “We need to be careful,” he cautioned. “It’s probably out trying to forage, and with food as scarce as it is, it might not be too happy to see us.” Shrikewind scanned, trying to determine which direction the scent was coming from. It wasn’t stale, so it was still likely nearby them.

Shrikewind’s eyes darted to the rocks that Falconpaw pointed to. He couldn’t see anything, though he didn’t doubt his apprentice. The deputy nibbled on his lip, indecisive. They weren’t that close to camp, but it was making its way in that direction. Did they leave it be, or try to chase it away from that direction? He was sure it wouldn’t go close to camp... but what if it did? It was bitter cold and prey was scarce. If it was hungry, it would pose a problem. He dug his claws into the frozen snow. “We have a decision to make,” he said with a sigh. “We can either let it go, or try to make it go the other way—it’s heading in the direction of camp.” Falconpaw still had much to learn about fighting, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to put him in danger. “It would be safest for the clan if we redirected it, but that would be dangerous for us.” He held Falconpaw’s gaze, the question if he wanted to fight it lingering in the air, unsaid.

Shrikewind could see Falconpaw’s determination, and he nodded slowly. “Very well. Here’s what our plan is. I’ll approach it directly and get its attention. While I do that, I want you to stay hidden and sneak around to the side. You’ll ambush and surprise it, and hopefully with that we can get it to turn around and move away from camp.” He paused so the apprentice could take everything in, then he signaled for Falconpaw to disperse.

Shrikewind quietly approached where the raccoon was last seen, eyes searching every area he could make out in the darkess. He had to move forward a little to find it between a few knobby tree roots. Shrikewind made sure to loop around so he was blocking its way towards their camp, then he let out a warning yowl. It immediately turned to face him and bared its teeth, and he false-charged it to make it move backwards. It swiped the air, clearly not expecting his feint, and in that moment he jumped at it, swiping its nose.

The combination of attacks had it flustered, and he saw it aim for Falconpaw. Shrikewind used all of his strength to push at its leg, making it miss his apprentice. He expected it to turn and aim for him once more, but instead it scrambled away in the direction opposite of camp. Just like he wanted, and just like he planned for, thankfully. Shrikewind started to follow it, but such action didn't seem necessary--it continued to scurry off without hesitation. He waited until it disappeared from view, then he turned towards Falconpaw. "Are you all right?"

“You did well!” Shrikewind said with a purr. “Not many your age can take on a raccoon with such positive results.” He did one last scan, then turned towards the direction of camp. “I think we’ve done enough tonight. You deserve some rest and something from the fresh-kill pile.” He beckoned with a wave of his tail as he started back home. He’d have to tell Floodstar about what occurred, but he was sure it could wait until morning—after all, he doubted the raccoon would be coming back.

(Do you want to timeskip in this thread to continue it, or do you want to end it here?)