The sunlit warmed Brightkit's back. Dirt covered the bottom of her paws and they were starting to ache. She and Sedgekit had been out training since sunhigh.

"Come on, try again," Sedgekit meowed, standing a few tail-lengths away. Besides him was clump of ferns that was the object of Brightkit's recent ire. "Just put more power into your back legs and the jump is really easy."

"Easy for you to say," Brightkit huffed. "You have legs like a rabbit!" I guess all that jumping around actually helped him. I never would have thought I would regret not being an excitable mouse-brain. She crouched down and fixed her eyes on the ferns. Putting all her strength into her back legs, she leaped into the air. Landing only a few mouse-lengths, Brightkit realized she again failed to hit the mark. "Fox dung!" she growled.

At that moment, Sorrelflower appeared next to her. "Don't say that, Brightkit," she admonished. Brightkit shrunk at her mother's gentle chide. Of course, the one time I lose my temper, Sorrelflower is right there!

"Sorry," she mewed. Her ears were hot and she stared at ground. It was only a small warning; I don't why I'm getting my fur so ruffled about it.

Sedgekit skittered over to them and exclaimed much more loudly than he needed to, "We're practicing our pounces! Do you want to see how far I can jump?" He didn't wait for an answer. At once, the kit was crouched on ground with a very eager expression. Sedgekit shot over the ground on landed ungracefully a whisker away from the clump of ferns. "I got right on top of it before, I promise!" he meowed quickly.

"Oh, I'm sure," Sorrelflower purred. "But pouncing is less about where you land and more how you do it. If you want to be a good hunter, you'll need to land more neatly than that." She turned her head to Brightkit. "You may have only gone a small distance, but you landed skillfully."

Brightkit let out a small purr.The compliment was enough to wash away the lingering shame from moments ago. Just then, Brightkit heard Smokefoot's voice from the fresh-kill pile.

"No, I don't think he's woken up yet."

"Oh, what a terrible thing. I hope he recovers soon and we can find out it was an accident." That was Amberberry's coarse meow. They must be talking about Pinetail, Brightkit thought. Only a few sunrises ago the medicine cat had been found unconscious and badly injured on the border with RiverClan. No patrol had found any suspicious scents or been able to talk to a RiverClan cat about what happened.

Smokefoot mew grew hushed and Brightkit perked her ears. "I hear Tawnystar is a mouse-length away from taking a patrol into their camp and demanding answers."

"Certainly not!" Amberberry exclaimed. "I don't think standing in their camp and accusing them of trying to kill our medicine cat would ease the tension."

Smokefoot shrugged. "I don't think it's smart, but I do want to know what happened."

Amberberry cast a glance to the medicine cat's den. "Pinetail will tell us when he wakes up."

Smokefoot gave a mew of agreement, but his gaze was far less confident.