your greatest adversary

...is unawareness. 

Antares defensive training!

---

<sub>There were times when Shadow wasn't around. Times when Antares would find herself with too much free time; dangerous, perhaps, for an apprentice. They'd be bound to find some way to entertain themselves and get in trouble when left to their own devices. Had things gone differently growing up, Antares might not have been an exception. But, restless one night -rather than leaving camp in secret- she approached the den where her mother slept and prodded her awake. Antares knew how much inner turmoil her mother was experiencing, even though the war that had claimed so many was far behind them. Most recently, their family had lost Aries. And although Antares missed her best friend and sister dearly, she knew from losing Polaris that the world wouldn't stop because she was grieving. It would move on, and leave her behind if she couldn't keep up. 

But Antares didn't plan on being left in the dust. Andromeda's eyes blinked open, slightly wary but concerned. "Is everything alright?" She asked quietly. Eos' sleeping form was beside her, and uncle Caelus beside Eos. "Train me." 

---

Antares' paws skimmed the cold forest ground. The snow from earlier in the season had melted; it never stayed around long in Fire Empire. Yet the earth still held a dead chill. A chill broken apart by the hybrid's breaths that billowed in the night. She slowed her pace; scenting the ground again. Her whiskers twitched in confusion with the conflicting information she picked up. Where was she? Antares knew she had to be somewhere in the general vicinity, but specifically...she was unsure. Her eyes darted around, carefully examining each dark spot that could conceal another cat. The starlight that filtered down from the leafless trees helped shed some light, but it didn't illuminate all. She had to focus on the scent, and track that alone. But the path criss-crossed itself, and deciding which way she had gone last would be difficult. She followed one path that veered off to the right, brushing by a thick clump of ferns. Wind rustled the tree branches; Antares thought she had heard rustling sound, muffled by the breeze, but she couldn't have been sure what had caused it...then a stronger scent drifted to her. There! Antares glanced back over her shoulder at the ferns, where a dark shadow lingered low. Her mother had used the sound of the wind in the trees and undergrowth to mask the sound of her approach, but it had kicked up her scent. Before Antares could so much as react, her mother lunged from the shadows, two blue orbs flashing in the night as she launched her surprise attack!</sub>

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Antares and Andromeda belong to me