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Bone frowned in confusion, trying to wrap his mind around the concept. "No kill here?" Bone couldn't understand the reasoning behind the concept, but choose to bow to the greater wisdom of his comrade. Berries sounded tasty enough anyway.

Bone trotted off after his friend, sniffing the air. Mmmm... parus! Wait, no, Hazel said no parus, berries! Berries! He could smell them now. That way! Bone trotted faster after Hazel's retreating tail, almost catching up.

Lore shivered a bit. She hadn't seen any such Sentinal, but didn't want to any time soon. "That sounds scary, I will keep a closer watch on Bone in the future." Lore glanced at Bone at had to double take. "Hey, where'd he and Hazel go?" Lore looked back and forth. She wasn't very concerned about his impression on other Sentinals, if they were frightened of a martes they should be ashamed of themselves! No, Lore was concerned about the safty of her new valuable companion friend. He couldn't get into trouble on her first day with him, surely! No one would let her have a rare companion ever again! Lore tried to rationalize. "Well, the Brigadier's here, and all these other Sentinals too, I'm sure nothing too bad could happen. And Bone is with Hazel. They can both hold their own, surely! Right Raine?" Lore relaxed a bit, expecting a positive prediction, but was still worried enough to peer around to try to find where the two had gone.

Hazel bounded off, hot on the berry-trail. Such a large graduation like this couldn't possibly fail to have a major feast! Ah, and there it was...small piles of multicolored fruits being rationed out by the hard-working Gatherers. Snickering, Hazel whispered conspiratorially into Bone's ear. "Oho! Want eat berry? Lotsa fun! But more if we..." Muttering his shady plan to steal the berries to his cohort, Bone, the little thief actually felt pride in his "good" rolemodeling.

Nodding, Raine had to agree with Lore's feelings on the matter. "Yes, with the Brigadier watching, I'm quite sure that most Sentinels will be on their best behavior." She hesitated, suddenly self-concious.

Though she was definitely more confident and relaxed around fledglings, Raine's sub-consciousness had suddenly realized that Lore wasn't a small Sentinel anymore. She had grown up, and the ex-Minder's instinct to protect the young ones had vanished.

Raine hoped that this wouldn't make their friendship awkward, as she never seemed to know how to be easy-going around other adult Sentinels.
Perhaps it was because her main conversations with other Sentinels consisted of unemotional reporting of facts, on a strictly professional level.

Still, besides her relative isolation, Raine could not deny her progress...She had made friends at the last gathering she'd been to, and though the busy Ranger had not been able to see them after the festival, they were still on good terms...perhaps Raine did not need her Minder's instinct alone to befriend others. She much appreciated Lore's cheerful attitude after all; it was quite infectious. Surely she would not be angry at her for speaking her mind? Even if Raine was a bad, bad Sentinel for thinking such selfish thoughts....maybe she deserved it if Lore thought badly of her lack of character...

"...It might be rather unkindly to say this...but with so many more vulnerable companions running around, who would go for a Martes when they could easily pick off a Mus or two?" Raine blurted her thoughts out. Now she waited for judgement...

Taking advantage of the opening Bone had created, Hazel took the quickly-closing window of oppurtunity to dash at the berries. However, he wasn't being very quick, nor discreet about it. Rustle.

As fast as he could, Hazel lugged a pile of branches next to the pile. He then dashed under this make-shift cover, just as the Gatherer turned back around. With his dark chocolate fur, and the odd splash of white, Hazel blended in perfectly.

Whether or not he had planned it out this way, his crazy plan had worked. While the Gatherer was busy being appalled by Bone's prank. she had overlooked the sudden appearance of branches that had not been there before. Branches that had convieniantly popped up right next to her pile of berries...

Sticking a paw out from his hiding place, Hazel quickly motioned to Bone to join him. From inside his cover, he could effectively gain access to the berries, hide from the pranked Gatherer, and stuff his face, all at the same time. Cheeks bulging with the tasty morsels, the Martes tried to surpress his gleeful giggles.

Liam felt something pressing against his side, and its comforting warmth told him it was Hazel. He snuggled the smaller female as tight as he could with one wing, preening her near ear tuft. Thorn was looking away now, at that pretty girl, the other crafter he'd tested. Lore. He sighed. Thorn really was all grown up now... not his fledgling any more. He was still his son, though, no matter what colors might scream, and he was still his family. Him, and Hazel, and Winnie. All Liam's family. He cuddled even closer with his mate, leaving Thorn just a little bit by himself... as he would be from now on.

Thorn noticed that the pair of Martes had somewhat disappeared, and he nabbed Rika with a talon, Willing her up to the top of his head. He trusted Furry Hazel not to eat another Companion after his lesson at The Longest Night, but he wasn't so sure about Lore's new girl. He thought hard about Lore for a while. She shared an affinity with him, and he knew she was skilled. She was his friend, too, and he knew he could work with her. He wondered if, when she wasn't working for the bards, she would be interested in setting up a workshop with him, or at least near his territory. Especially if that Martes of hers was skilled at finding metal. He was actually considering acquiring another Mus, a companion to Rika, to help with the panning. He wasn't sure if Cassiel was at all cut out for it. He'd followed his teacher's example and scouted out a piece of territory near some slow-moving water, to make it possible for his companions to find metal in the river without getting swept away. He would have to go about finding a Keeper and asking Lore after the ceremony.

This is totally not fair. She's not that much smaller than all those others, and they get to step forward and take on a task and graduate. And she's stuck back with the Minders and Teachers who ignore her (or try their hardest to ignore her) for another season, watching the stupid hatchlings begin to fledge. Muttering sourly to herself, Dodger has been watching the ceremony from a distant vantage point all this time. Wouldn't do to be noticed, she'd probably get yelled at. But maybe later on she can sneak in and grab a little treat at the feast!

Winter landed with a raither rough landing on a branch near Dodger. She looked around hoping nobody saw her do that. She peered down at all the others. Maybe she wasn't spose to be here. She didn't see any other fledglings around. Her glance fell onto Dodger. Ohhh another fledgling. But why was this one so odd looking. She ventured to go near Dodger. "Are we allowed to be here?" She whispered softly. She had no judgement to pass onto Dodger unlike others might pass. She found the odd looking Sentinel a bit amusing with her coloring.

A sort thump behind him caught Liam's attention for a moment; turning his head back to look he saw Winterwind and another fledgling talking. Maybe she had found a friend! He hoped so, because he was afraid he'd be a bit moody for the next few days. It would do the girl some good to have a good friend. Roth, for his part, was soon bored with seeing the fledglings graduate. So long as they were getting out of his nest, good riddance! Liam didn't seem to want to leave, and he was now cuddling ferociously with Feathery Hazel. Thinking of Feathery Hazel made him wonder where Furry Hazel had gone. He'd seen glimpses of the Martes earlier, and, knowing that he was safe under the watchful eye of all the adults gathered, went off to look for him.

Sylverbeth arrived and made himself comfortable pretty far from the actual graduation. Beth was wary about being around other people; he worked hard as a Watcher and did his best to fit in, but tended to shy away from people because of his rather unorthodox name. He stood tall in his chosen tree and preened himself. Survaying the graduation Beth kept a keen eye out for the Brigadier. He bobbed his head around a bit and stretched letting out a silent yawn.