"Hurry up!"

Pine narrowed his eyes at the she-cat in front of him. Wing was looking down at him from atop the ravine with an annoyed expression. She sheathed and unsheathed her paws impatiently. Next to her Sheer was looking at Pine apologetically while Rain studied her paws, disinterested in what was happening.

Pine scowled and scrambled up the stone pile quicker, ignoring the way the hard stone hurt his paws. When he reached the top of the ravine Wing was pacing back and forth.

"You need to walk faster," Wing scowled. "A good prey-hunter needs to be fast."

"Don't be so harsh on him," Sheer meowed. "He's only been a to-be for two moons. He has time."

Wing shot Sheer a doubtful glance and looked down at Pine. "Well, we might as well continue." She sighed. "We have a bit more time before sundown to finish our training."

Pine held back a sharp retort as he followed his Tribemates. He was not slow. He was faster than most of the to-bes and a few of the prey-hunters. I'm just somewhere new. I don't know where I'm going.

He had not yet seen all of his Tribe's territory. He guessed it was because some of the older cats were still wary of the rogues. Which was ridiculous, Pine knew he could fight off any of them. With enough training, that was.

"Here we are," Wing meowed. They were in a small, circular clearing surrounded by stones and dead bushes. A fallen tree lay in the center of the clearing, cutting it in half. The ground was hard stone except for a small patch of dirt near the tree. "Follow me," Wing meowed, entering the clearing.

Pine followed warily, watching the sky in case any eagles might be watching them. There was no covering, so hiding from the eagles was not an option. At least if one comes I can fight it off, Pine remembered. Showing Wing his skills might make her proud of him.

Wing sat by the tree and wrapped her tail neatly over her paws. Pine sat facing her about a rabbit-length away. "What do we do now?" Pine asked curiously. He glanced up at the sky again. "Will we be catching eagles?"

"Not yet," Wing meowed. "We need to have some bait first."

Pine stopped himself from sighing. I don't want to hunt. "What if we use me as bait?" he offered. "It will be quicker, and I could fight off any mangy old hawk if I had to!"

Wing shook her head, annoyed. "No, Pine. You're not strong enough to fight off an eagle, even a young one. The cave-guards can worry about that."

"We could use Rain as bait." Pine pointed out, looking over at the to-be who was washing a paw.

"Hey!" Rain meowed indignantly. "That's not fair! Why can't you catch a mouse or something?" Sheer twitched his whiskers, trying not to laugh.

Pine smiled, imagining the gray she-cat fighting off an eagle while keeping her fur clean. "Stop," Wing growled. Pine looked at the prey-hunter. "We are not going to be using cats as bait. We will use a mouse."

Pine growled slightly and scuffed the ground with his paw.

Wing glared at him. "I am sure you can find a mouse in this clearing. You haven't caught one in a while. Practicing will keep you from forgetting your form." She pointed with her tail at the fallen tree. "You should be able to hide there. Your fur will blend in with the tree."

Grumbling to himself, Pine crouched next to the tree. "Perfect form," Wing complimented with surprise. Pine lashed his tail in annoyance. The only time his mentor had praised him that day was about his form. Nothing about how hard he had been working to keep up, or about how avidly he had been learning.

He ignored Wing until she walked away. He looked around the clearing, hoping to see a mouse. A few minutes later he was ready to give up. Wing acted like this would be a great place to catch a mouse, he thought bitterly. But all I see is stone. Suddenly, he heard a faint scratching sound. He swiveled his ears, trying to find the source of the noise. Across the clearing, about a wolf-length away, there was a small mouse. It was sniffing the roots of a dead bush. 'It must be looking for food,' he thought.

He slowly moved forward, unsheathing his claws and bunching his muscles. He narrowed his eyes, waiting for the perfect time to pounce.

"Stop hesitating!"

Pine pricked his ears and jumped to his paws. "Who's there?" he asked loudly. "I'm not afraid to fight you!" He growled, looking around to see what rogue had wandered into their territory.

"It's just me," Wing growled, appearing from behind a bush.

"Oh," Pine mewed in disappointment and relief.

Wing stomped over to him, tail lashing and eyes glaring. Pine felt his heart drop. Tribe of Endless Hunting, please help me, he prayed.

"Pine That Clings to Rock," she growled when she stood in front of him. She looked him in the eyes. "You need to calm down and focus on what is ahead of you. You can't be prepared to fight every time you sense danger. That's the cave-guards' job. And look, your prey has just escaped."

He looked over at the bush, where the mouse had disappeared. He looked back at Wing. "I'm sorry," he murmured, not meeting her gaze.

Wing sighed. "I can't deal with your apologies today. Let's head back." She turned away from Pine and walked over to the path they had come from.

Pine looked over at Rain, who was rolling her eyes. "Gosh, you'd think a wolf had bitten off her tail," she meowed. She looked at Pine. "Ignore her. Wing has always been easily annoyed."

He gave Rain a fake smile. "I guess," he mewed with a shrug. He ran towards Wing, who was now walking next to Sheer.

"Take a deep breath," Sheer mewed quietly. "He is still learning."

She shook her head. "Splash and I have been trying to make him a better prey-hunter for the past two moons. I might give up and ask Splash to take over. She has more patience."

Pine flattened his ears to his head. I'm trying, he thought desperately to himself. I just hate being a prey-hunter.

Rain walked up to him and put her tail on his back. "Cheer up! She'll calm down soon."

Pine shook his head. "It seems like every day she becomes more annoyed with me." He sighed.

"Please, she's only having a bad day."

"Every day is a bad day for her."

Rain laughed. "My mother has always been a pain in the tail. She takes a while to warm up to other cats."

Pine shrugged. How can she talk about her mother like that? Lark would claw my ears off if I said something rude about Brook.

A snowflake fell on Pine's nose, making him squeak in surprise. "It's snowing," he meowed. He had never been in a snowstorm. He had only seen them from a distance when he was younger.

Rain looked up at the sky and smiled. "It is!" she meowed excitedly.

Wing stopped and glared at the sky. "We better hurry up in case a blizzard comes through."

Pine looked over at his friend, who just twitched her whiskers in amusement. "That's my mother."

The patrol walked in silence the rest of the way. When they made it to the cave Wing stomped over to the prey-hunters' sleeping area. Pine ignored her and walked over to the to-bes' area, hoping to see his sister. But the to-bes' area was empty.

"Where is she?" Pine wondered aloud.

"She went out with Snow and Flight."

Pine looked down at a tiny black tom-kit. "You shouldn't be over here, Roar," he warned. "You're not a to-be yet."

Roar shrugged and continued speaking. "They left at sunhigh."

"Sunhigh?" Pine meowed. "Shouldn't they be back by now?"

Roar shrugged again. "I don't know," he meowed. "Do you want to play prey-stone with me? Leaf's taking a nap and Night won't let me wake her up."

What if she gets caught in a blizzard? He looked over at the entrance again where he could tell the snow was falling more heavily. I shouldn't worry about now. Lark can take care of herself. He shook his head and looked down at the kit. "Sure, but don't plan on winning," he meowed with a smirk.

Roar laughed and ran over to a pile of stones on the end of the cave. I hope she's safe, he thought, running after the kit.

I hope you liked the story! If you have any feedback or questions, I am happy to answer them!