"I do not understand how any cat would willingly eat that!" Onewhisker had his mouth hung open as he backed away from the fish. Gorsepaw had managed to swallow his piece, after which he backed up from the prey, tail lashing and ears pressed flat against his head. It seemed neither of them enjoyed the taste.

"It's an acquired taste," Fireheart replied, whiskers twitching in amusement at the WindClan cats' reactions. "We can finish it; you can have the vole." He signaled to Bramblepaw, "If you're hungry, go ahead." The apprentice nodded, moving quickly to take a bite of the fish.

"I'd rather a rabbit." The brown warrior muttered, "There had better be more than fish and voles here or this won't do."

"There's deer," Bramblepaw said, looking up from the trout. There was a sparkle in his amber eyes. Onewhisker looked at him.

"Thank you, Bramblepaw. I don't know what happens in ThunderClan or RiverClan for that matter, but WindClan does not eat deer." Onewhisker split the vole, moving a piece towards his apprentice. Gorsepaw murmured his thanks before starting to eat his bit.

"I can't speak for RiverClan, you'll have to ask Mistyfoot for that, but last I was in ThunderClan, we didn't eat deer," Fireheart mewed. Bramblepaw looked up at the ginger warrior, offering some of the trout to him. Fireheart shook his head; he could eat later. Both pieces of prey were measly and he had eaten earlier. He could wait.

As the patrol finished their meals and the bones and fur left over were buried, they set out further on to the territory. Fireheart took the lead as they moved down to where Gorsepaw and Bramblepaw had been hunting. The terrain itself was similar to WindClan's territory, he noted. There was an occasional gnarly tree, stunted and barren of leaves which was different from the moors.

As they kept moving, they came across the stream Fireheart had spotted from their vantage point earlier. Part of it had sheer ice covering it, further down there was a fallen tree. Past the tree, the ice broke off and the stream continued to flow steadily away from them and towards the mountains.

Fireheart examined the ice, it seemed thin after being under the sun's morning rays. They would have to go around to the tree to cross then, the patrol made their way further down the stream to where the tree was situated. Its branches were in the water and it was at an angle, pointing to the streambed. Overall, the stream did not seem to be that wide, if need be a cat could jump over it. That would be easier than having to use the tree every time. He should mention this to Tallstar later.

Bramblepaw meowed, "I caught the fish over here. There was a good amount of them when I saw them."

"So, there's at least an abundance of fish," Fireheart remarked, he glanced into the moving water as Onewhisker jumped on to the tree. He could see a few moving shapes in the streams flow, closer to the bottom. They looked small as they darted around the freezing water.

"Last I checked, we aren't RiverClan." Onewhisker reminded them. He moved further along the trunk, Gorsepaw following his lead. Fireheart murmured his agreement. While that was true, prey was prey and if need be fish would suffice. WindClan needed to move and if they needed to eat fish to do so, it would have to be done. Bramblepaw jumped on to the trunk next and Fireheart followed a few moments later, soon enough they were on the other side.

Onewhisker took the lead. After a few rabbit-hops, the brown warrior stopped in his tracks, his nose lowered to the ground. A twinge of panic hit Fireheart, what was he smelling? This was unfamiliar and undefended territory; any number of dangers could be here. Was it a fox? A badger? A rogue? Fireheart sniffed the air, he relaxed as he recognized the scent. Rabbit.

So, there were rabbits here, that was a good sign for WindClan. Onewhisker signaled Gorsepaw forward, he cast a glance at Bramblepaw. "You like learning other Clans hunting techniques, eh?" The warriors' voice was barely above the whisper, "Why don't you help Gorsepaw catch this rabbit?"

Bramblepaw looked to Fireheart questioningly. Fireheart nodded, "If you want to, go ahead." He was intrigued, why would two cats be needed to catch the rabbit? He could not remember ever seeing a WindClan warrior hunt before, this would be new to him.

Bramblepaw meowed, "Sure!"

He trotted over to Gorsepaw and Onewhisker quickly. The WindClan warrior gave him a stern look, "You're going to need to be quieter than that. I hope they teach you that in ThunderClan." Bramblepaw's ears went back as he murmured an apology. Onewhisker continued, "Right." He explained, "one of you is going to need to be the chaser and the other the catcher. You'll both find the rabbit and then one of you will move ahead of its path and hide. The other will chase it to that location. You two can work out who's who."

Gorsepaw looked uninterested by his mentor's words, he would have been taught this moons before. Despite this, he nodded along with Bramblepaw. Onewhisker twitched his tail, "Get going." Gorsepaw took the lead after the rabbit trail, talking quietly to Bramblepaw as they headed up the hill and out of sight after their prey.

Fireheart padded over to Onewhisker, sitting down to await the young cats' return. He meowed, "I've never heard of that technique before. Using two cats seemed odd to me, I'll have to try it to see how it works."

"In the moors, there is no cover." Onewhisker explained, "The rabbit can see us come when we see it, it's better to work between two cats than just one. It's much more effective, Rabbits are fast." The tabby tom settled on a patch of brown grass, "I don't know if you would be able to do it though."

Onewhisker's words puzzled Fireheart. Why wouldn't he be able to do it? He was certainly not as fast as a WindClan warrior but neither was Bramblepaw. There were two parts, he imagined that Bramblepaw would probably be the catcher, he could do that as well as any Clan cat. What made Fireheart different from his apprentice?

"Why do you say that?" Fireheart looked curiously at the other cat. Onewhisker's ears went back and the fur on his back twitched.

"I don't mean anything by it." Onewhisker paused, his tail moving slowly from side to side behind him. The brown WindClan warrior looked nervous as he explained, "Your eye. I imagine that has got to affect your hunting? I know you can hunt now but so much of how WindClan hunts is sight rather than scent, which I believe is what ThunderClan focuses more on."

Fireheart was surprised by the response. His sight? He had not expected that to be the reasoning behind Onewhisker's statement. He was not completely blind, he had perfect vision in his other eye. The WindClan warrior shifted on his paws. "I didn't mean anything from it," He repeated. "I apologize if I've offended you."

Fireheart shook his head, "You haven't!" The ginger tom stopped in his speech for a moment, considering what to say. Fireheart cleared his voice before continuing, "I can see where you're coming from. When it first happened, I went moons without being able to reteach myself and without figuring it all out. I couldn't tell distances for a while." While imprisoned, there was no way for him to adjust and change his habits so he could learn new methods. He never had to hunt; he fought a few times but they were never to his favor. Never in a way that he could learn to fight around his eye. It was frightening for a while. Adjusting to having to listen for a cat rather than seeing them on that side took a while for him to get used to and he ended up keeping his blind side to the back of the den for ease. No cat could sneak up on him then.

Having a cat appear from that side or speak without his prior knowledge of the cat being there was unnerving during that time. The fur on his back bristled as he remembered those times, Fireheart took a deep breath willing the twinge that formed in his chest to go away. Fighting with one eye, at first, as well as hunting seemed impossible, Fireheart could see where the other warrior was coming from. He shrugged, "Brightheart had the same issue with distance, so I think that's what happens."

Brightheart had been in a similar situation with her eye as Fireheart was in TigerClan. She had never been able to work on working around her eye, Tigerstar had deemed her useless and she spent her time in the medicine den. It was far from the same, but they had that commonality. Fireheart was glad he was able to help her; she had turned out to be a good warrior and became surer of herself in the recent past. He murmured, "When I escaped, it was frightening until I made it to the barn. It affected a lot. I couldn't hunt, I fought a fox and I don't know how it did not kill me in that state." He sighed, "I was starving and exhausted and I had Bramblekit, too. I have no idea how we managed to survive."

"When I got to the barn, I started working with Graystripe and Cloudtail and figuring things out." Fireheart's ears went back, "It took me much longer than I wanted to actually catch prey for myself again but I did it."

A rustling caught Fireheart's attention, he turned to see Gorsepaw hurrying towards them. Alarm filled him as he realized he could not see Bramblepaw, where was he? He called out to the ginger and white apprentice, "Where's Bramblepaw? Did you catch the rabbit?"

Onewhisker turned towards the young tom as he made his way to them, Gorsepaw's eyes were round and his tail lashed excitedly behind him. He explained, "it slipped just out of his paws and we both took off after it." Gorsepaw was shifting from paw to paw, "Bramblepaw ran ahead of me and he caught it, he's with it now. We found something you got to see!"

Fireheart and Onewhisker exchanged confused looks. What was Gorsepaw talking about? At least Bramblepaw is safe, Fireheart thought. They had caught the rabbit, too. While it doesn't seem as though it went as planned, they caught it. Onewhisker asked, "What is it?"

"You got to come see," Gorsepaw repeated, his tail was raised high as he turned back where he came from and moving quickly away. Onewhisker shook his head, muttering something about apprentices before following. Fireheart followed quickly after the WindClan warrior. What could they have possibly found that Gorsepaw did not want to tell them it but rather show? It did not seem dangerous or bad, judging by the apprentices' excitement.

They followed Gorsepaw through the field until they came across a bramble thicket. What was so special about a bramble thicket? They were practically everywhere. The apprentice turned to face the two warriors. "Bramblepaw followed it through there," the young ginger and white tom pointed with his ear towards an opening in the thicket. He explained, "He caught it on the other side and called me over."

Gorsepaw turned away and disappeared into the opening. Onewhisker followed quickly after, while Fireheart hesitated a moment. He dug his claws in and out of the ground below him a few times, steadying his breath. After a moment, he forced himself forward and through the tunnel.

The sight that greeted Fireheart on the other side of the barrier was a small hollow. The ground dipped down a bit from the overgrown bramble thicket which surrounded this hollow. There were a few flat rocks not far from where he stood, past them a few gorse bushes and some more rocks. Across the clearing was a fallen tree, its branches covered in brambles. Fireheart was in awe; he understood why the apprentice had been excited. This was what they were looking for.

Gorsepaw and Onewhisker were closer to the center of the hollow, talking to one another. The rabbit lay not far from the two WindClan cats. Fireheart looked around the hollow quickly, he could not see his own apprentice.

"Hi!" Bramblepaw's voice rang out from above him. This startled Fireheart. How was the apprentice above him? He turned his head so he could see where the younger cat was.

Bramblepaw was standing on top of a rock just next to Fireheart he had not seen, it was somewhat flat on top and stretched above the warriors' head. Bramblepaw's amber eyes shown in the light, excitement filling them. His chest was puffed out and tail lashed behind him. Fireheart responded, "Hey."

Bramblepaw mewed, "Come up here – the view's awesome!"

Fireheart crouched, preparing himself before jumping up on to the rock and next to the other cat. He murmured, "Last I heard I was the one who was supposed to be giving orders."

"Sorry," Bramblepaw muttered, he seemed to suddenly tense. His ears going back and his tail twitching nervously. Fireheart touched his nose to his ear.

"I'm teasing." The apprentice relaxed at the older cats' words. This reaction alarmed Fireheart, why had he tensed? Was it the idea of disrespecting Fireheart or did those moments frighten Bramblepaw to this point? Guilt made his chest feel heavy, Fireheart had yet to further talk to his apprentice about this. The last thing he wanted Bramblepaw to be was scared.

Fireheart looked up from Bramblepaw, his eyes rounded at the sight. He realized why the young tabby wanted him up here.

It was a perfect view of the territory; Fireheart could see to the Twolegplace which bordered this land as well as to the edge closer to the mountains. There appeared to be more Thunderpaths on that side. Fireheart turned, surveying the view as he focused his attention towards Highstones.

He could see to the gnarly patch of trees they had seen on their way in. How strange it was to Fireheart that he could see so far. In a forest setting, they might have been able to see outside the bramble thicket. Since there were close to no trees and it was so open here, they could see further. Bramblepaw meowed, "See why I wanted you to come up here?"

"Yeah," Fireheart replied. "Has Onewhisker seen this?"

The apprentice nodded, "Gorsepaw, too." Fireheart needed to discuss this with the WindClan warrior, he signaled to Bramblepaw to follow him before jumping off the rock and heading towards Onewhisker and Gorsepaw.

He glanced at the rabbit Bramblepaw had caught. It was scrawny like the vole Gorsepaw had caught earlier. There had been more fish in the stream, but all that the patrol could find in terms of land prey was these two pieces. There had been no scent of any other prey, but at least there was some.

It was also leaf-bare, once the snow had begun to melt there would be more prey. That is if WindClan remained here until newleaf. That was entirely a possibility. What Onewhisker had said earlier ran through his head. This might not be a temporary stay at all. The feeling of guilt filled his chest again, if only he had been able to prevent this. Fireheart should have been able to prevent this.

He meowed, "What do you think?"

Onewhisker gazed around the hollow as he replied, "I think it could make a decent enough camp." He flicked his tail towards a rock at the opposite end of the dip, "That could function as a new Tallrock and that rock by the entrance was something else."

Fireheart meowed his agreement, "It would make an excellent place to keep a lookout. A good place for a sentry to be placed."

"It's like Outlook Rock but in camp," Gorsepaw remarked. Fireheart was puzzled by the apprentices' words. What was that?

"Outlook Rock is a rock in WindClan territory," Onewhisker explained. "You can see all of our territory from it. It's quite useful."

So WindClan already had experience with similar lookouts? That was good, this would not be new to them. They would need to utilize that lookout and with the threat of TigerClan, it would be an advantage. Fireheart continued, "We saw none of the hollow from Highstones, too. No one would know it was here."

The hollow reminded Fireheart of ThunderClan camp, he would never have found it without being told it was there. It was a great advantage, being so well hidden in the forest and this would be an advantage here as well. He glanced at Gorsepaw and Bramblepaw, "Nice find you two."

Gorsepaw shrugged, "I wasn't the one that found it, Bramblepaw did." The younger apprentices' ears went back as he began to protest, Gorsepaw blinked at Bramblepaw. "It's true!"

"Technically, the rabbit led you both here," Onewhisker meowed. "I don't see any sense in thanking a piece of prey, so Fireheart is right. Nice find."

Fireheart gazed around the hollow again. He murmured, "The barrier could use some cleaning up and being made into an actual barrier. The bushes could be made into dens easily. It would make a good camp." A realization hit Fireheart as he finished his words. The orange warrior glanced at Onewhisker, "Not that you'll need dens."

Bramblepaw looked confused by his mentor's words. Onewhisker responded, "We use dens. We have the nursery and the elder's den but during bad weather we use them." He explained, "With the snow, we got the last sunrise, had it been overnight we would have slept in rabbit dens and fox dens – actually the one we stuck you in would have been used." The WindClan warriors' voice was strained at the last part, his tail twitching back and forth. He looked at a gorse bush, a thoughtful look in his eyes. Onewhisker said, "We could use them as dens."

"I guess that's it then," Fireheart meowed. Onewhisker nodded, murmuring an agreement.

"We'll have to figure out the prey situation but I think this would work as a camp for however long we may need." There was a strain to Onewhisker's voice. However long they need. The idea that this might not be temporary stuck out in Fireheart's head. He hoped it wasn't so.