Ivypool looked around, wondering when the camp was ever going to be repaired. It had been a couple moons since the attack of the Dark Forest, and ThunderClan was doing it's best to repair the camp, but the number of cats that had died and were severly wounded needed more attention than the camp did.

Bramblestar, who became leader after Firestar's death, decided that the cats wounded and hunting and rebuilding the Clan was more important than rebuilding the camp. Besides, the other three Clans had promised peace for until after all the Clans had healed.

Inwardly she sighed, looking at Molepaw scamper over to his sister Cherrypaw, carrying a piece of fresh-kill.

Cherrypaw had broken a foreleg and had been confined to the medicine den until the next claw-moon. Molepaw had asked his mentor to delay his warrior assesment so he could become a warrior with his sister.

"Ivypool!" called Squirrelflight "What are you doing? We need to leave for the sunhigh hunting patrol."

"Sorry." Ivypool replied, then walked over to the camp exit where Berrynose and Rosepetal were waiting with Squirrelflight. They turned around and headed into the forest.

As soon as they entered the forest, Squirrelflight, who was leading the patrol, veered sharply and headed toward a area enclosed by trees.

"Okay, we need to split up. We'll get better results that way." He meowed, "I'll go with Berrynose. Rosepetal and Ivypool, you go together. You go along the WindClan border but give them space. Stay in the forest."

Before he had finished Rosepetal and Ivypool were nodding in agreement, and Berrynose followed Squrrelflight through the trees toward the ShadowClan border.

Together, Ivypool and Rosepetal went in the designated direction, not speaking. They didn't go far before Ivypool smelled mouse. She stopped suddenly. Judging from how Rosepetal stopped when she did, she guessed that her friend had smelled it too.

"This way," Rosepetal whispered, "I can see it." She was staring at it.

Ivypool followed her gaze and saw a mouse scuffling around at the roots of a tree.

"You get it." Rosepetal meowed. "I'll get the next one."

Ivypool got down in her best hunting crouch. While she was stalking, getting close enough to pounce, her paw felt a twig beneath it. Before she could reposition her paw, it snapped. The mouse froze and scurried to it's small burrow. However, before it could get there, Ivypool pounced. She landed on it perfecly and gave a killing bite to it's neck.

"Nice catch." Rosepetal meowed.

"Thanks," Ivypool mumbled around the mouse, "it almost got away, though."

She buried her prey and kept looking for prey, her senses now more alert than before to be in the forest.

She had been in the camp, rebuilding for the past few days.

Soon they got another mouse and a blackbird and started heading back to the closing, where they met Berrynose and Squirrelflight waiting for them.

"Good job." He meowed, nodding at their catch.

The two she-cats dipped their head in thanks, their mouths full of prey, and started heading back to camp.

When they went through the thorn barrier, they quickly dropped their prey on the fresh-kill pile and the hunting patrol dispered. Ivypool headed toward the medicine den to check on Cherrypaw. The apprentice was lying inher nest, lapping up some water from a ball of moss.

"I brought you a mouse." Ivypool mewed to Cherrypaw, who raised her head when Ivypool came in.

"Thanks, but I've already eaten. Molepaw brought me a mouse earlier." The she-cat replied.

"In that case, I'll have it." Jayfeather came in and meowed. "I'm hungry!"

Ivypool stifled a mrrow of laughter and passed the mouse to Jayfeather. Before he ate it, though, he went over to Cherrypaw and sniffed at her leg.

"I know you're sick of being stuck in there, so you can move back to the apprentice den tommorow. I think you've healed."

Cherrypaw's eyes brightened as he said that. "But I'll have a word with Foxleap about not being to rough with you. You'll have to do shorter training sessions and no battle training for a half-moon, until the Gathering."

"Thank you, Jayfeather!" In an instant, Cherrypaw stood up and dashed over to Molepaw at the fresh-kill pile and gave him the good news.

Jayfeather gave a snort of laughter. "Knowing Cherrypaw, she won't be out of battle training for another half moon. She'll get Rosepetal to do it sooner than that. I'd guess a few sunrises at least."

A mrrow of laughter came from Ivypool before she went over to pick her fresh-kill while Jayfeather settled down to eat his mouse in the medicine den.