ohay, I finally got up and finished this. Sorry for the wait!

Light padded silently behind Rising. The tabby was quiet too, his head and tail lowered. The other tom wasn't sure what to do; he had always been bad with words, but he didn't like seeing Rising like this. He had been so cheerful earlier.

Should I try and talk to him? But there's nothing to talk about…

Nevertheless, he quickened his pace until he was walking next to the tabby. "Um, Rising…"

He was cut off. Rising turned to face him. "Let's hunt."

Light blinked. "Huh?"

"I said let's hunt. I'm hungry, and I bet you are too. You haven't eaten since I found you, and you look pretty thin."

"I do?" He tried to turn to look at himself but obviously he couldn't tell from his angle. "Well, okay. I could do with some food, I guess."

"Come on, then." Rising's sad mood seemed to be gone as he altered his direction toward a large patch of gorse and other bushes. Light followed him, sniffing the air for prey as they went. "Weren't you supposed to be showing me around the territory?"

The other tom twitched his tail. "There's not really much to see. Anyway, we have plenty of time." He suddenly froze, tasting the air. "I can smell something!"

Light could smell it too. The scent of fresh mouse lingered in the air. He lowered his head to the ground and tried to find where it led, taking a few steps forward along the trail before looking up at the gorse bush. Something small was moving around in the bush. Definitely a mouse.

"It's over there," he whispered to his friend, nodding in the direction of the creature. The dusty brown cat's ears pricked up and he immediately crouched down to conceal himself.

Focusing on his target, Light began to carefully put one paw in front of the other, occasionally glancing down to make sure he wasn't about to step on anything that would make a loud noise. His concentration was interrupted, however, when he heard a crunch behind him and saw Rising leap up and bound past, pouncing in the mouse's general direction. He landed in the bush and let out an annoyed mewl as the mouse fled deeper into the bush out of his sight, while he struggled to free himself from the twigs.

Light's shoulders sagged and he stood up with a sigh. "Did you ever get taught how to hunt?"

Rising winced as more of the twigs poked his fur. "Mother tried to teach me, but she hasn't gotten far yet." He let out another hiss of annoyance at the bush.

Light padded over and inspected his situation. "Um… hold still." He leaned forward and began to pry branches out of his friend's fur, trying to avoid hurting him. The tabby tried to struggle a few times, but stopped when his helper growled at him to hold still. Eventually the spotted tom had pulled away enough twigs for him to scramble free and onto the grass again, where he began to bite the debris out of his fur. Light sat and waited for him to finish.

When he was done, Rising glanced at his companion. "Do you know how to hunt properly?"

Light paused. "Well, uh, I guess… I mean I wasn't even halfway through my training before I was exiled, but…"

"Could you teach me?"

He blinked in surprise. "I..." Wouldn't it be like being a mentor? I'm only seven moons old; I can't train anyone yet! Although he is more inexperienced than me…

"I guess I could teach you the basics," he mewed thoughtfully. "I don't know that much, though."

"You know more than me!" Rising's gaze was hopeful. "Please?"

"Alright, sure. Now?"

His friend nodded.

"Okay." Light stood up and padded over to a cleaner patch of grass. "We'll start with the hunting crouch. Bear in mind that I'm not very good at any of this yet."

Rising padded over to sit next to him. Light glanced over at the tabby. "Watch me." He lowered himself down so his belly almost brushed the ground, keeping his head low and his tail held slightly off the ground to avoid making sounds in the grass. He flattened his ears to conceal as much as possible; there wasn't that much cover on the moors. After staying like that for a few seconds, he got up. "Your turn."

He watched as Rising tried to imitate his crouch. The tom crouched down and lowered his head like Light had done. His tail swished from side to side.

"Keep your tail still or the prey will hear you," Light warned him. Rising stopped swishing and let his tail lie flat on the ground.

"Can you lower yourself a little more?" the spotted cat questioned. Rising frowned and positioned himself slightly lower to the ground. It wasn't the ideal level, but Light didn't want to push him too far.

"Flatten your ears," he said to the tabby, who did as he was told. "And keep your tail up slightly so it doesn't drag." He did this too.

Light looked him over for a few seconds before telling him he could get up. Rising sat up and looked over at his friend. "How did I do?"

"Well… obviously you need to improve a little more, but you're doing good for now. Want to practice stalking?"

He received a nod from the other cat.

"Okay, watch me." Light dropped into the crouch again, making sure he was in the same position he had been in before and began to carefully put one paw in front of the other. "Check the ground every so often to make sure you're not going to step on a twig or something," he added as he stalked. He tried to look as professional as possible, even though he was anything but. After a while, he leapt from his position and landed a couple of feet away from where he had started. "Try it."

Rising tried to copy him, although he seemed to have trouble balancing his weight. It was obvious he was trying hard; his face was furrowed with concentration and his limbs were tensed. "Try to relax a bit more," Light told him. "Hold yourself in a firm position, but don't tense up."

After a few more paw-steps, Rising leapt just as Light had in his demonstration. He landed on the ground, stumbling a bit before righting himself. "Was that good?"

The other tom nodded. "Obviously you're not going to get it right first time, but it was well done." He paused for a moment. What next?

"Are you a fast runner?" he asked.

Rising thought for a moment. "I'm alright at it, I guess."

"Well, in my Clan we're trained to be fast because we chase rabbits over the moors. Since you live here," he gestured to the moors and rocks, "you'll need to be fast."

"Should we race, then?" Rising questioned, his tail flicking excitedly.

Light smiled slightly. "Sure, why not? We-" His words were lost as Rising bounded past him, the wind disturbing his fur as he dashed past. The tom jumped up in surprise. "W-wait for me!" he yowled, sprinting after him.

"It's a race, remember?" his friend cheerily called back.

"Where are we going?"

"I have no idea! Let's just run until we see somewhere to race to!"

Light caught up to him and ran alongside him, feeling the wind streaming through his fur. He and Rising ran at similar speeds – he guessed Rising ran faster because he was stronger than him, and he ran faster because he had been trained and was more streamlined. He stared straight ahead into the wind, narrowing his eyes so dirt and dust couldn't get into them. He had missed this feeling; when he had been in WindClan he would do this almost every day, for training or just for fun. He hadn't done this in a while. For a moment, he felt like he was back at home.

Rising's voice cut him out of his thoughts. "There's a large tree over there! Race you!"

The spotted tom picked up his pace and sped toward the tree, Rising on his heels. The tabby tom was falling behind and Light reached the tree first, flopping down in the shade and panting heavily. Rising arrived a moment after, lying down next to him. "My stamina isn't that good," he remarked with a growl.

"Mine isn't very good either," Light said between breaths. "But we'll get better at it." He rested his head on his paws, trying to catch his breath.

Rising rolled over and batted at a long piece of grass. They lay in silence for a while, and Light felt himself dozing off.

He was almost asleep when his friend spoke to him. "What are the Clans like?"

The question surprised him. Light paused, his tail twitching. "Um… what do you want to know?"

"Like…" Rising hesitated for a moment before continuing. "What are the Clans called?"

"WindClan, ThunderClan, RiverClan and ShadowClan," Light replied. "I'm from WindClan. We live on hills like these, but with fewer rocks. ShadowClan live in dark pine forests where the ground is always damp. ThunderClan live in regular forests and RiverClan live in forests too, but the trees are thinner and there are more bodies of water around. They can swim, and they enjoy it too." He wrinkled his nose. "I don't understand how."

Rising's eager gaze was fixed on him like a kit being told a story. "Which Clan is the biggest?"

Light thought about this for a few seconds before replying. "I think ShadowClan or RiverClan are the biggest. ThunderClan used to be, but they've gradually shrunk to a more normal size. WindClan are the smallest, and from what I've heard this is usually what happens."

His friend nodded, seemingly processing this information. "Do you constantly fight each other?"

He received a shake of the head. "Nope. Sometimes we fight if one Clan does something to anger another, like steal prey from their territory, but that usually doesn't happen. We all follow the warrior code, after all."

"The warrior code? That's a set of rules, right? What are the rules?"

Light's shoulders sagged. "Telling you all the rules and explaining them would take forever."

"Oh, okay. Maybe later, then." Rising looked up at the sky, and Light noticed that an orange tint was spreading across the horizon. "We should look for somewhere to sleep for the night," the tabby remarked. "The sun will go down soon and I don't want to be walking around in the dark. This tree is too exposed."

The spotted cat nodded and stood up, stretching his limbs. They felt slightly cramped after the run and he found walking difficult. Rising appeared to have a similar problem and the two padded slowly away from the shelter of the tree, scanning the moors for a sheltered place. Light saw a large clump of heather and gorse and nodded toward it. "Does that look okay? There could be spaces in the bushes for us to sleep."

"Let's go and see." Rising picked up his pace and Light followed behind. When they reached the bushes, the spotted tom nosed in between the branches and crawled into a hollow space free of thorns and sharp twigs. He turned his head and nodded to Rising. "There's space for both of us." It wasn't the most comfortable makeshift den, but it would have to do for now.

His friend crawled in with him, wincing as his fur snagged on the twigs and lay down next to Light. "I hope it doesn't rain again," he mumbled, curling up as his eyes began to close.

"Yeah." Light could see the sky clearly through the branches; if it rained they would be soaked and liable to fall ill. He rested his head on his paws, remembering how about this time yesterday he had been crawling away from the fox and into the badger set for refuge. His eyes began to close. "Oh, um, by the way, thanks for getting me out of the badger set."

"Hm?" Rising's head lifted in surprise. "Badger set?"

The tom blinked in confusion. "You know what I mean… when you found me, I was in a badger set. You got me out." He peered at the other cat. "Didn't you?"

The tabby shook his head uncertainly. "Nope. There was a badger set nearby, but it had collapsed from the rain. If you had been in there, you would've been crushed. I wouldn't have been strong enough to pull you out."

"But…" Light's mind spun. For a little while he was too bewildered to know what to say. "I was chased into the set by a fox the night before. How was I out when you found me?"

He didn't get an answer. Rising was already asleep, his breathing rhythmic and steady.

Light sighed and closed his own eyes. He would talk to him about it tomorrow; for now he just wanted to sleep. Pushing away his confused thoughts, he let himself fall unconscious.

Finally! Sorry if it seems rushed; I don't like writing filler and I'm not very good at it :/