Hope rolled onto her back, batting at a moss ball she had found. It was nice, resting like this. It felt like she was a bored youngling in the nursery again.

Suddenly, she felt something crash down on her limbs, making her yelp. She blinked up to see Sun grinning mischievously at her, her pounce pinning Hope to the ground.

"Hey!" Hope huffed, rolling over and trying to squash Sun, batting a halfhearted paw at her.

The blow connected and it sent Sun toppling away, falling over with an "oof". Hope grinned and Sun pouted at her.

"Meanie."

"You attacked first."

Sun rolled her eyes. "Fine. Can we go hunting? I'm suuuper hungry."

Hope nodded and stood up, shaking the dirt off of her pelt. She tried to groom Sun's fur as well, but she quickly recoiled.

"You're just like my mother, always trying to keep me clean." Sun shook her pelt disdainfully, nudging Hope. "Come on, let's go."

Hope nodded, following Sun off into the forest. Upon parting her jaws to taste the air, she caught the scent of squirrel.

"Hey, Sun!" Hope whispered, poking Sun with a paw. "Squirrel."

Sun looked up at her and nodded, catching the scent before creeping after Hope into the undergrowth.

Hope slithered from bush to bush, stalking the small, russet-coloured squirrel. "Let's try a rabbit tactic, I'll go over there and you scare it towards me," she said as quitely as possible.

"Okay." Sun and Hope started to move, Hope going upwind of the squirrel so it wouldn't scent her, and Sun doing the opposite.

Almost immediately, the squirrel's round ears pricked in alarm and it started sniffing around, hesitantly getting to its paws.

Giving a menacing growl- to be fair, it wasn't very menacing-, Sun leapt out of the bushes. The squirrel squealed in terror and darted straight towards Hope.

Hope was ready for it, springing out of the bushes right before it could start its climb on a nearby tree to hook her claws on its back and kill it with a swift bite to the base of its neck.

"Wow, I don't think I've ever caught a squirrel before!" Sun said, eyes sparkling. Unfortunately, Hope decided to ruin the moment, rolling her eyes.

"Well you still havent," she pointed out, cuffing Sun playfully over the ear. "I did all the work!"

"Hey, no fair! I helped," Sun snapped, though Hope knew she wasn't really mad.

"Come on, let's go eat."

"Yeah."

With that, the two she-cats padded back to their makeshift camp. Sun had insisted on carrying the squirrel, and Hope let her.

Hope felt a raindrop hit her muzzle, rolling down her nose. She stared at it, trying to shake it off, though her attempts were futile as more and more rain came crashing down. Sun flattened her ears and took off to find shelter, Hope pounding after her.

"Sun, slow down!" She yelled over the wind and rain. "Let's just find a tree to stay in for the storm!"

Sun whipped around, forcing Hope to stop abruptly, skidding to a halt. She nodded, rushing to a nearby tree that had a small hole in the bottom, enough to fit parts of two cats.

They both made their way over, plopping down inside. Sun set the squirrel down and started eating. Hope was surprised she was eating it already, since she herself wasn't hungry, but she dug in anyways. She was grateful to have a warm meal, despite the storm outside.

"Now my fur is all wet!" Sun complained. Hope huffed, shivering.

"You think you've got it bad? My pelt can barely protect me from this Moons-forsaken rain! I'm so cold."

Sun shuffled closer. "Stay close to me, then. We can probably get warmer with body heat or something."

Hope nodded. "Good plan." She rested her muzzle on her forepaws, waiting for the storm to pass.

Hope yawned, waking up to the bright sun shining in her eyes through the trees. She nudged Sun awake, squeezing out of the tree, which took quite some effort.

"It's over," Sun mumbled, padding out of their hole as well. "Should we go back to the water?"

Don't go to the shimmering lake.

Hope disregarded the warning and nodded. "Yeah, that's a good idea. Let's go." She flicked her tail, weaving back through the trees in an attempt to find the clearing once again.

Finally, they reached it, and Hope flopped, basking in the sun.

"I might stay here for a while," she mumbled, and Sun copied her with a nod of agreement.

"It's nice here, Hope. I only wish we could stay. The Blazing Skies of Hopeful Suns' camp. Our new home."

I'm SO sorry about the late upload! I didn't have wifi for a while, and I was busy. Quite the lackluster chapter, too, but I hope it makes up for skipping a day.