Fireheart stood off to the side, watching as Speckletail attempted to teach Snowpaw the hunting crouch. They had been going at it since just before sunhigh, yet there didn't seem to be any progress being made. Snowpaw was having the time of his life, batting at his mother's paws and rolling about in the grass, but he wasn't copying her movements with any accuracy. After a few more failed attempts, Speckletail gave up, sitting down with a heavy sigh.

"I don't know what to do, Fireheart. I can't get him to copy me," the old queen meowed despondently.

"That wasn't too bad," Fireheart lied. Speckletail gave him a disbelieving look and he meowed hastily, "Well no, it was pretty terrible, but I know you can do it. You just need to figure out a way to let him know that he's supposed to copy your movements."

"But we don't have a signal for that yet," Speckletail meowed with a sigh. "And I can't think of one that would be simple enough to use."

Fireheart thought for a few moments, frowning as he tried to think of a way to solve the problem. Speckletail was right; it was difficult to come up with signals. Even after nearly a quarter moon of training, the only ones anyone had come up with were the typical directional tail gestures taught to every member of the Clan, regardless of they were deaf or not, and "Watch me".

Then, slowly, an idea began to form in his mind. It wasn't the most refined idea in the world, borne of desperation, but it was the best he could come up with. Muttering the plan to himself, Fireheart turned to face Speckletail again.

"I think I have an idea that could work," he meowed. "But I'm going to need your help with it."

"Of course, Fireheart. What do you need me to do?" Speckletail asked, her eyes shining with hope.

"Once I get Snowpaw's attention, I want you to stand a few tail-lengths apart from me. I have a signal that I'm going to try to use," Fireheart explained. "I'll perform the signal, and then I'll go down into the hunting crouch. Your job is to do the same immediately after me. Hopefully, if we repeat that enough times, Snowpaw will be able to connect the signal with the command to copy your movements."

Speckletail pondered his suggestion for a few heartbeats, then nodded. "Let's give it a try."

Fireheart nodded and walked over to Snowpaw, who was staring at a sparrow on top of a nearby tree. He tapped the younger tom on the shoulder to get his attention. Once Snowpaw had turned his gaze onto him, he tapped the white apprentice in between his eyes, then gestured between himself and Speckletail with a sweeping motion of his tail.

Watch us.

Snowpaw nodded and sat down obediently, his eyes fixated on his mother and the ThunderClan deputy. Fireheart padded away until he was standing about three tail-lengths away from Speckletail. Checking to make sure that Snowpaw was still watching, he made a circular motion on the ground in front of him, moved his paw in Speckletail's direction, and made another circle. Then, he allowed his body to fall into the hunting crouch, with Speckletail doing so immediately afterward. They stood up again, and Fireheart repeated the signal. And once again, both warriors went into the hunting crouch.

Draw a circle, draw a line, and another circle. Then crouch.

Draw a circle, line, and another circle. Then crouch.

Circle, line, circle, crouch.

Copy me.

They repeated this process several times until, at last, Snowpaw's blue eyes lit up in understanding. He nodded eagerly, waving his tail from side to side, indicating that he wanted to try the hunting crouch one more time. Fireheart moved to the side to allow Speckletail to place herself in front of her son. She repeated the same signal Fireheart had used, then went into the hunting crouch. After a moment of hesitation, Snowpaw copied his mother's movement. He was a little off-balance and his movements were on the slow side, but that didn't matter. He was doing it. They had finally figured out how to get him to copy his mentors' actions.

"Well done, Snowpaw," Fireheart meowed approvingly, touching his nose gently to the younger cat's ear. I'm proud of you.

"Thank you, Fireheart," Speckletail meowed gratefully. "We couldn't have done it without you."

"Maybe, maybe not," Fireheart replied awkwardly. "But we still have a lot of work to do. Now, we need to get Snowpaw to fine-tune his movements. Let's try to think of a signal that we can use to get him to improve his balance. And then we'll have to see what we can do about his pace..."

They continued training until just after sunset. Eventually, it became clear that Snowpaw was growing tired, so they decided to call it a day and headed back to the camp. Despite his exhaustion, however, the white tom's head and tail were raised proudly. After an entire afternoon of training, he had managed to perform a near-perfect hunting crouch three times. The only lingering issue was his pacing, but Fireheart knew that would improve as he got into better shape.

When they arrived back at the camp, Snowpaw bounded over to the mossy stump where the apprentices shared their meals, taking a seat beside Fernpaw and Ashpaw. The two older apprentices waved their tails in greeting, and he nodded back happily. Fireheart chuckled to himself, then turned and padded over to speak to Bluestar, who was sitting underneath the Highrock. He sat down beside the blue-gray molly, feeling her tongue rasp over his forehead as he did so.

"How was Snowpaw's training today?" his mother asked.

"Good. Great, actually. We managed to teach him the hunting crouch," Fireheart told her, pride for the young apprentice leaking into his mew.

"I'm glad to hear it," Bluestar murmured. "There was a time when I worried about Snowpaw's future. It isn't often that a deaf cat is able to become a warrior. But I'm glad to see that he has the right cats to support him."

"That, and Speckletail would never let us hear the end of it if we didn't turn her son into a warrior," Fireheart added, and the ThunderClan leader laughed.

The two cats fell silent for several long moments. Fireheart gazed around the camp at his Clanmates, sharing meals or patching up the camp wall. Although they had made significant progress in repairing their camp, it was still too exposed for anyone's liking. An owl screeched from somewhere in the distance, and Fireheart pressed himself instinctively against his mother's fur, feeling her tail brush gently over his shoulders.

Tigerstar was the leader of ShadowClan, and no one knew when or where he would finally decide to exact his revenge on his old Clanmates. Everyone knew that ThunderClan was vulnerable after the fire, and RiverClan would no doubt be seeking repayment soon. Even in the comfort of their own home, they still weren't safe. The queens refused to let their kits away from the nursery for too long, fearful that a hawk might swoop down and take one of them.

Fireheart wouldn't trade the life of a warrior for anything in the world, and he certainly had no intention of going back to being a kittypet. At times like this, however, it was hard not to feel envious of their comfortable, mostly danger-free lifestyle.

Snowpaw is starting his training! It's going to be a long process, but our boi is going to become a warrior one day. I decided to skip over Snowpaw's apprentice ceremony since I didn't want to have two chapters in a row with special Clan ceremonies, but I'll make sure to give him an on-screen warrior ceremony when the time comes.

I think I just murdered the word ceremony.

Also, I have a plan for Darkstripe and Tigerstar...not going to say what it is, but it does involve a certain angry black gremlin cat.

Thanks for reading!

-TheShadowedWarrior