The days seemed to stretch on endlessly. He was right. Warrior life was dull, with only sporadic moments of life.

Was he too good? Dustheart stared at his mouse. Maybe he was too good at fighting, or hunting, for it to give him any enjoyment? He would have to leave that question for later.

The sun's warmth nagged at him. He wanted to get out of the open, but he didn't feel any real need to.

"Dustheart?" Sandyflower asked. Dustheart blinked, tilting his head up to look at her. "Are you going to eat that mouse?"

He shook his head. "No, I'm not particularly hungry." Sandyflower shrugged.

"I'll take it off your paws then."

"Yeah, sure, take it." Dustheart watched as she lifted it up and sauntered away to Silverlightning. "Graceful." He remarked under his breath.

Dustheart sat there, watching the leaves rustle in the trees and felt nothing. He couldn't think of anything. Whenever he tried to, he suddenly felt like he couldn't be bothered to.

He sat there until the sun had nearly fallen completely over the horizon. He felt like he could fall over and leave sleep to take him.

"Hey, Sandpelt, Specknose, Goosepaw, Dustheart, go on a border patrol. ElmClan." Dustheart pushed himself to his paws. Better follow Ashenspots' orders, or StarClan knows what she might do.

Nothing felt right. Everything seemed to jump out at him, or hide at his very presence. Sandpelt was too loud, or Specknose, or whoever was talking at the moment.

Dustheart paused for a drink at a stream. The water was fresh and clear, but he was instead plagued by the pangs of hunger.

Ah, well. It was a border patrol, he could catch something.

Dustheart sniffed, trying to detect any prey. Ah, a shrew over in those bushes.

He excused himself for a one moment. Walking softly over, he crouched near the bushes. The shrew moved around, searching for something to eat, probably. Well, too bad, shrew. Dustheart pounced, nearly missing. The shrew scurried in a fright, but Dustheart killed it with a bite of his jaws.

Well, that wasn't the cleanest kill. Or not. He didn't know. Dustheart ate the shrew hurriedly, then rejoined the others.

At the border, Dustheart gazed across to the other side. While BlossomClan's side had lush bushes and thick undergrowth, ElmClan's was flat, with simple grass and elm trees spaced every so often. Yet they had less sunlight. It was odd, to be honest.

There were no cats in sight, thankfully. He didn't want to have to a confrontation tonight, or any night.

Each step felt weird and misplaced. Dustheart felt as though sleep could take him at any moment. He let the others walk on ahead, while he sat there, staring blankly across the river. He could wait.

"Hey!" What was with him today? He could hardly pay attention to anything. "What are you doing, staring at us, Flower-cat?" A ElmClan apprentice hissed out insults at Dustheart.

"I'm not-"

"Oh, it's you. The recently-made warrior, who thinks he can prance around just because he's older. Well, listen here, we can beat you to a pulp!" The apprentice -Mistypaw, really- paced around in a circle.

"I think you're overreacting." He could take this, he could take this. Just an apprentice. He was an apprentice a moon ago, though Dustheart. What are you to say?

"We aren't overreacting!" Mistypaw snarled. "We'll be warriors in a couple moons and we'll show you!"

"You're the only one overreacting. Your friends are just standing there." Dustheart gestured vaguely to Doepaw and Ivypaw. "Doepaw isn't even paying attention to you."

"Doepaw! Pay attention!" Mistypaw hit Doepaw with her tail. Doepaw flicked around, staring directly at Mistypaw, breathing deeply. "That's better!"

Dustheart flinched. "That's not-"

"Don't give me advice! C'mon, gals, let's leave!" Mistypaw rounded up her 'friends' with a flick of her tail, and ran off. Doepaw and Ivypaw followed her shortly afterward.

Great StarClan, Dustheart thought. Where all apprentices like this, or was he even less focused then he thought?

"Dustheart, you've been sitting there for half of this patrol. Get off your paws and come on back to camp." Dustheart recognized the voice as one of his fellow Clanmates, though for the love of StarClan, he couldn't figure out who.

Reluctantly, he brought himself up, stretched his legs, and followed his Clanmates back to camp.