Firestar was hunting again. He had already eaten twice this morning but the usual array of mice and rabbits weren't cutting it. There was a problem however, a large amount of deer had apparently moved in during the morning and they appeared to be intent on staying. He let out a small hiss. If it wasn't one thing on the plains it was another.

"Considering a kill?"

Firestar nearly leapt from his pelt. "Miranda," he said breathlessly. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

"Same as you I purpose," Miranda said gaze trained on the herd. "I'm going to take down a deer."

"What?" Firestar turned to face the tall she-wolf.

"The herds are back for the heated season." Miranda flicked her tail at Firestar. "Do you not do herd hunts?"

"Ugh no things were a little… different in the forest." Firestar looked at the deer than back at Miranda. Her gaze was so intense that it made his pelt stand on edge.

"The clan will be needing more meat than it's getting if we want to remain strong." Her tone was firm. "I will teach you."

"Ah." Firestar started but then remembered his whining stomach. "Alright. What should we first."

"First, we gather others this is a great task we're undertaking. Squirrelflight and Barker will be out to join us in a moment. Lionpaw and Fearapaw will join us too."

As though signaled Firestar heard paw steps. Squirrelflight and the rest of her patrol padded towards up to the pair. Squirrelflight leaned close to her Father.

"What's going on?" She asked quietly taking note of the silence between the pair.

"Miranda says we're going deer hunting," Firestar replied.

"Deer hunting?" Squirrelflight exclaimed. Miranda turned towards them with a sharp gaze.

"We need to be quiet." She growled tersely. She turned back to the deer. "Now look at the herd."

Firestar glimpsed at the deer. They were calmly eating and foraging occasionally raising their heads to scan for danger before returning to eating. Their pelts were pale with thin splatters of black and white underbellies. Firestar winced at the thought of ending up on the wrong end of a pair of antlers.

"We will separate out in the grass in pairs of three." Miranda's tail gently swept the ground. "Our mark is the sickly looking one with the chipped antlers."

Firestar recalled the sorry looking deer hanging out near the back of the herd. Its pelt lacked the sheen of the other deer and it shuffled stiffly through the grass.

Miranda continued on. "Lionpaw and Fearapaw will observe from underneath that thicket. Firestar and Squirrelflight you will take position over there near that cluster of stones. Barker and I will take up the rear."

"Right." Lionpaw said taking a step forward.

Miranda's tail stopped him. "Not yet small paw we are almost ready." She beckoned Fearapaw and Lionpaw to her side. "From the thicket, you will have a clear view of the entire herd. If it looks like they're suspicious of our presence make this noise." Miranda made a soft trembling whistle.

Fearapaw and Lionpaw mimicked the whistle until Miranda was satisfied. She dismissed them with a wave of her tail.

She turned to Firestar and Squirrelflight. "We will use tail signals and calls. Firestar, Squirrelflight. When it is time to move I will lift my tail and swish it once. Then I shall make this call," Miranda made an almost bird like trill. "When you hear me, you will make the same trill and then you two will surround the deer on either side. I will make the call one final time and that will be your signal to cut it off from the herd and drive towards the volcano."

Firestar nodded though he was still apprehensive. Squirrelflight responded by making a similar bird-like trill.

"Good sound, try lightening the sound and lengthening the trill though." Miranda said with a note of happiness. "Barker I will explain to you what we're doing when we're in position. Let's move."

Firestar and Squirrelflight quietly slipped into position. Firestar flexed his claws as he waited for Miranda's signal. He glanced at Squirrelflight, her tail was twitching with anticipation. He turned his attention back to where Miranda and Barker were. Miranda was carefully slinking through the grass in an almost cat-like manner. Barker followed close behind albeit with a little less grace. Firestar tensed she had stopped. Her gaze turned towards them and she nodded slightly. Miranda lifted her tail and gave the signal along with the bird trill. Brrreeeiiii.

Firestar's heart beat quickened as he broke away from the stones. He was careful barely rustling the blades of grass as he took his position on the left flank. Suddenly a trembling sound rang out. Lionpaw! Firestar tensed, he looked upwards and saw their target was slowly backing away. The rest of the herd were quickly trotting forward. Brrreeeiii. The blood began to roar in his ears at the sound of the signal. Without thinking he charged at the deer. It reared and for a moment Firestar froze. He closed his eyes and tensed, waiting for the sickening crunch of his bone underneath the deer's hooves.

"Come on," Squirrelflight snapped. Firestar's eyes shot open. The deer had changed paths it was charging towards that volcano with Squirrelflight hot at its heels. Firestar watched breathlessly, the expression on Squirrelflight's face was intense and focused. She kept close but out of reach of the deer's hooves. The deer however, was still doing his best not to get caught it began to break away from Squirrelflight.

Firestar took a deep breath than set off after them. The deer seemed to have forgotten that Firestar existed, it nearly tripped when he sprang out beside it. It took a sharp turn and tried to head towards back however Squirrelflight refused to give it a mouse length.

And she didn't have to at that moment Barker sprang out of the grass. He leapt up and dug his teeth into the deer's shoulder. It staggered under the unexpected weight heavily leaning forward. Squirrelflight leapt out of the way. Firestar quickly slashed the other leg ensuring that any up righting would be met with pain. Firestar stiffened at the noise that rang out from its mouth. It was almost unnatural.

Luckily, he didn't have to hear it long. Miranda appeared so quickly that Firestar couldn't even begin to imagine where she came from. Her powerful jaws snapped tightly around the underside of the deer's neck. The deer's tried to cry out again but instead of a powerful cry came an airy gurgling noise. It tried to pull away from Miranda but the added weight and injury to its leg made it impossible. It continued to struggle for a few more minutes before succumbing to fate.

Firestar took a few cautious steps forward. Blood was still pouring heavily from the wound on its neck and every so often it twitched ever so slightly.

"Ahah," Miranda exclaimed she trotted towards the hind part of the deer. "Excellent job."

"That was amazing." Fearapaw raced towards Squirrelflight and skidded to a stop. "You were great! You all were!"

Lionpaw sniffed at the deer. "I can't believe it…" he poked it with one claw.

"Believe it small paw." Miranda's tail was wagging excitedly. "and such a clean kill too!"

"This is clean?" Firestar in disbelief. He had seen cleaner battle fields.

"Oh yes," Miranda replied. "But you'll have plenty of time to learn the difference. The best part is this is only the first type of herd hunting. There is wet hunting and dry hunting and cold hunting."

Firestar was overcome with a strange mix of fear and elation. This was easily one of the most terrifying experiences of his life but at the same time he had never felt so free.

"We better get this back to camp." Miranda tail hadn't stopped wagging. She grabbed one of the legs of the deer.

Firestar quickly joined in. He was ready to eat.

Hollypaw heard Fearapaw before she saw and made a quick mental note to teach the young she-wolf the benefits of walking quietly.

Kinkpaw raised her head up from grooming with a confused expression.

"What is it?" asked Icepaw noticing the expression.

"Deer." she said.

Now Hollypaw wore the confused expression. "There's a deer in the tunnel? With Fearapaw?"

"No, well yes, but no I think the hunting patrol has a deer." Kinkpaw shuffled to her paws while sniffing the air. "I'm sure of it."

"What are you going on about." Jaypaw growled as he slid out of the medicine cat den.

Before Hollypaw could reply Fearapaw leapt through the tunnel first followed by Lionpaw.

"Feara- Fearapaw. Is that deer I smell?" Kinkpaw said taking a step forward.

"Yes!" Fearapaw's eyes shone with excitement. "Miranda and the hunting patrol caught it."

Hollypaw opened her mouth but no sound came out. A deer? They had caught a deer. Those things with enormous antlers and heavy hooves. She glanced at Jaypaw his mouth was opened but no sound came out. She leapt to her paws pelt bristling. "Was anyone hurt"

"Not at all," Lionpaw said his eyes bright with a similar excitement. "Which only made it even more better."

Hollypaw could only listen gap jawed as Lionpaw recounted the hunt. "Well." She said trying to fully process the story. A loud bark broke her from her thoughts and before she could move a paw step Miranda and the rest of hunting patrol appeared deer in tow.

Miranda, Barker and Firestar drug it towards the fresh-kill pile. They dropped it carefully making sure not to knock over the rest of the pile.

Icepaw and Kinkpaw rushed over towards the kill, Hollypaw gathered herself and followed. Heat still gently wafted from the deer. She sniffed it near the large wound on her throat. It was a strange scent, a strange and delicious scent.

"What is that?" Mousefur's head poked out of the Elder's den. Longtail, Shallowpaw, and Arrowpaw followed her.

"Hey deer." Arrowpaw's tail twitched with happiness. "It looks great."

"It is great!" Barker confirmed. "I'm sure everyone will love it."

"I'm sure we will." Hazeltail said pulling up behind Barker. "If we could figure out how to share it."

"No problem," Miranda laughed. "No problem at all." She drug her teeth into the hunch and twisted and tore until a large portion of meat came free. She dropped it at Firestar's paws.

"I-I guess you're right." Hazeltail stammered.

Miranda continued ripping off portions and tossing them to her clanmates. Hollypaw leapt back from the portion Miranda tossed at her feet. Her pelt flushed with embarrassment as she padded back towards the meat. She stared out it for a few seconds before taking a tentative bite. A rich meaty flavor flooded her mouth. The texture was different from the small prey she was used to eating and it was tough but not in a bad way. Hollypaw began taking large ravenous bites though she quickly remembered her manners. She coughed then straightened herself hoping that no one had been looking.

"Hollypaw," called Lionpaw from near the medicine cat den. "Come join us."

Hollypaw grabbed the rest of her portion and padded over to the rest of the apprentices. She settled down in between Lionpaw and Arrowpaw. Lionpaw had gone back to eating, tearing at the prey with a similar as Hollypaw had earlier. The other apprentices also appeared to be enjoying their meals with the exception of Shallowpaw who was taking careful controlled bites.

"She was so amazing!" Fearapaw said trotting over with her meat.

Hollypaw nodded, Miranda had proven to be far more than some rouge traveling the grassland. "I'll admit Miranda is talented."

"Eh" Fearapaw cocked her head. "Oh, well yes, but I was talking about Squirrelflight. You should have seen the way she chased that deer! You would have though she had been doing it forever."

"Barker was impressive too, that deer had no chance of throwing him off." Lionpaw chimed.

"Well today Sandstorm showed me some basic attacks. She was really good." Shallowpaw looked up from his meal.

While everyone else descended into conversation about who's mentor did what Hollypaw sat and listened. It was… nice. While she couldn't ignore the pangs of melancholy that arose whenever she was reminded of what she lost moments like this, simple carefree moments, made everything a little more bearable.