Chapter 3: Hunting and Moss-Changing

Stormpaw yawned, blinking sleep from her eyes. Firelight was standing over her, looking impatient. "Come on, wake up, we're going hunting," she hissed. "I'm going to give you another hunting lesson." Stormpaw scrambled to her paws, fur bristling with excitement. She followed the ginger she-cat out of the den and across the clearing. It had been a couple days since she and Willowpaw became apprentices and Stormpaw found that this was preferable to sitting in the nursery any day.

"Where are we going?" Stormpaw asked, padding beside Firelight.

She shrugged, "Just a spot in the forest, nothing special." The two cats walked deep into the forest. Tall white birch trees towered over them and sunlight dappled their pelts. Firelight stopped. "Okay Stormpaw, what do you smell?"

Stormpaw breathed in deeply. Scents washed over her tongue and she began to sorted them out. "I can smell Sunfall, she was probably out picking herbs, rotting leaves, and- bird," she finished triumphantly.

Firelight nodded, "Good. Birds are difficult to catch. Although they have a terrible sense of smell, their hearing and sight make up for it. You don't have to worry about staying downwind of a bird. Approach it however is most convenient for you. Watch me," she sank into a hunting couch and silently padded forward. Stormpaw followed on equally silent paws. Finally a blackbird came into view. It was eating a red berry. Leaping forward, Firelight snagged the bird's wings as it tried to take flight and brought it down and killed it with a swift bite to the neck. Stormpaw watched, taking note of her mentor's actions. "If you can find a place with seeds or a berry bush, you a likely to encounter a bird if you wait long enough, which I'm afraid isn't your strong point," she meowed, burying her catch.

Stormpaw padded forward and tasted the air again. She couldn't distinguish any other prey scents though and she headed back, disappointed that she didn't have a chance to try herself. "When can I try that?" Stormpaw meowed.

"We can head back to the hollow and hunt on the way. Pinestar wants to bury some prey for leafbare. She thinks the frozen ground will freeze the meat and when we are starving we can dig it up and rest it. The problem is that we have to dig the hole now and bury the prey when the ground is frozen," Firelight explained as they padded back.

Stormpaw scented the air once more, trying to pick up the smell of prey. She was about to open her mouth to suggest the prey was hiding from the cold weather when Firelight slapped her tail over Stormpaw's mouth.

"Listen!" Firelight breathed. Stormpaw listened hard. She could hear a soft scrabbling. Firelight nodded at her, urging her to catch it. Stormpaw sank into a hunters crouch. Putting her weight on her haunches to keep her forepaws light, she crept forward. Stormpaw barely dared to breathe. A vole was scurrying around the roots of a tree. Suddenly it stuck it's nose in the air and froze. Realizing this meant it had scented her, Stormpaw sprung forward. It was a clumsy catch, she barely hooked her claws in the vole before it wiggled out and Stormpaw brought her paw upon its back. She quickly killed it and brushed past the bracken to where Firelight waited.

"Good, you caught it," Firelight got to her paws and picked up the blackbird. Stormpaw was grateful that she hasn't said anything about her clumsy catch. She thought about why the she nearly missed it. Thinking back, Stormpaw remembered how the vole froze with his nose in the air. I must have been upwind! Stormpaw sighed. She hurried to catch up with Firelight who had stopped in front of the entrance tunnel.

"Can you take this to Dappleleaf along with your vole?" Firelight asked, motioning to the blackbird clenched between her teeth. Stormpaw nodded and Firelight passed the bird to her.

"Will we be doing any more training today?" Stormpaw asked.

Firelight shook her head, "No, let's rest today." Stormpaw opened her mouth to complain but quickly shut it again.

Carrying both prey in her jaws, Stormpaw made her way over to the nursery, a small den dug beneath a couple of bushes growing on the side of the hollow.

"Dappleleaf?" Stormpaw ducked through the bushes. Dappleleaf was watching her kits wrestle. Her eyes were gleaming with pride and happiness. "I brought you some food," Stormpaw dropped the bird and vole before the queen.

"Food?" Leafkit lifted her head and pushed Lichenkit off her. She scrambled over to where Stormpaw and Dappleleaf stood. "I'm hungry, can I have some?" Stormpaw snorted and looked at Dappleleaf. The dappled queen nodded and began tearing off strips of meat for all her kits, who were gathered around her.

"How was training? Did you learn lots of stuff?" Mousekit eagerly asked Stormpaw. She nodded. "When I'm an apprentice, I'll be the best apprentice in Dawnclan!" her old denmate growled, and pounced on empty air, slashing it with his front claws. Stormpaw twitched her whiskers in amusement.

"I better go," Stormpaw slithered back out. She fluffed out her fur. There was a chill in the air and it seeped through her fur to her bones. Suddenly her belly growled softly. Stormpaw realized that she hadn't eaten and was hungry from the morning of hunting. She chose a small shrew. Quickly gulping it down, she stood again and scanned the clearing for Firelight. Her mentor was talking to Sunfall. The old she-cat stood and went into her den. When she came out, she was carrying some leaves, which she held between her jaws, and had her paw outstretched holding a couple of berries.

"Can you carry the juniper berries?" Stormpaw heard Sunfall ask.

"Sure," Firelight bent down and clutched the little blue berries in her teeth. Together they walked over to the elders den. Stormpaw, curious, followed them.

"Larkwing, just eat it!" Firelight meowed impatiently inside the den.

"I don't need it, I'm fine," Larkwing complained.

"Larkwing, eat it. It'll help you with your joints," Sunfall said more calmly.

"Okay, I will, if only for you two to leave me alone so I can sleep," there was a pause and Stormpaw guessed the elder was eating the herbs Sunfall had brought. Bored, Stormpaw ambled over to Willowpaw. Her littermate was sharing tongues with Sparrowpaw.

"Hi," she greeted them.

Willowpaw got up and touched noses with her. "How's your apprenticeship going? Birchtail has been keeping me busy. I caught two squirrels today on the way back from a border patrol," she meowed proudly. Stormpaw nodded, feeling happy for her sister but also feeling a twinge of envy of her littermate's hunting skills. She wished she could hunt like that. Maybe they were right when they said that she would be the best fighter and Willowpaw the best hunter.

"That's great!" Stormpaw purred, pushing the negative feelings away. "Is there anything we should do? Firelight said we weren't going to train today," she looked at Sparrowpaw.

"We could go on a patrol or something," she meowed.

Stormpaw shook her head. "It probably already left. It's past sunhigh," she pointed out, glancing at the sky.

"Or you could change the elder's moss," Rainsong came up to where they were standing. Sparrowpaw groaned and Rainsong shot her a look. "The elders are as important as any other clan member. They deserve respect," she told her sternly.

Stormpaw looked at Willowpaw. She gave the green eyed tabby a slight, almost indistinguishable not. Willowpaw returned it. "Okay. We're can we find dry moss?"

"Sunfall had some in her den," Rainsong padded away. "You too Sparrowpaw!" she called over shoulder. Sparrowpaw muttered something under her breath that Stormpaw was sure wasn't complementary.

"Okay, we should go get some moss," Willowpaw meowed and started padding towards the medicine cat den. It was built in the rocky part of camp in between two rocks. Stormpaw slipped in the stone cave. It was fairly spacious, with smooth round walls accompanied with the strong smell of herbs. A nest sat in the back, in front of a rough patch of rock, with several wide cracks that stored leaves and berries. Stormpaw spotted the moss Rainsong told them about and walked over to where it was placed. She gathered enough moss for one nest and Willowpaw grabbed enough for the other nest.

Sparrowpaw was waiting for them outside. "Let's go," she flicked her tail at the littermates. Stormpaw and Willowpaw exchanged looks of annoyance. In the elder's den, the two who were holding the moss sat it down by the current nests. Sparrowpaw hooked her claws in the moss in Graywater's nest and tore it out. She then proceeded to grab half of the moss and push it down on the bracken. "Okay, done. You do the other one," she walked out. Stormpaw looked at the nest Sparrowpaw just made. It was messy and looked uncomfortable. Together they carefully removed that moss and put it back neater and tucked in the ends that were sticking up. Stormpaw turned to Larkwing's best. Larkwing was sleeping in it and she was hesitant in waking her up.

Willowpaw tentatively approached the sleeping Larkwing. "Larkwing?" she asked.

Larkwing raised her head. "What?" she growled.

"We are going to change your moss," Stormpaw meowed.

"Well I'm not going to take up any more of your precious time," she snapped. "Go run along and go on a patrol or something, don't bother with me. I can do it myself," she slumped back in her nest.

"No, we are going to change your moss. It needs it," Stormpaw meowed firmly.

"Besides, it's not any trouble, but it will be if you keep arguing," Willowpaw added. Larkwing looked at them curiously.

"Fine, but hurry. The cold makes my bones ache if I stand to long," Larkwing said as she slowly stood up. Stormpaw and Willowpaw quickly but carefully made her nest. As soon as they stepped back Larkwing sank back on her freshly made nest. "I could really do with a nice mouse," she meowed pointedly. Stormpaw stifled a purr. The sisters ducked out of the den and headed to the freshkill pile. Stormpaw nosed through the pile of prey.

"What about this?" Willowpaw came up with a rather plump mouse.

"Great! Graywater and Larkwing can share that," Stormpaw meowed enthusiastically. When they got back Graywater had returned from wherever she had been before and Larkwing was curled up in her nest and was facing the entrance of the den. "We got you something to share," Stormpaw said as Willowpaw set the mouse down in front of them.

"Thank you Stormpaw and Willowpaw. It looks so juicy," the kind old gray elder meowed. Stormpaw nodded and padded back outside. She looked up in surprise, the sun was beginning to set behind the hills. The sky was a mixture of colours, ranging from deep crimson to pale gold. She hadn't realized it had gotten so late.

Firelight hurried over to them. "Stormpaw, I wanted to let you know that we are going on the dawn patrol. You might want to go to sleep soon and get some rest because we are going to have to wake up early," Stormpaw nodded, feeling excited. Firelight padded away. Stormpaw glanced at her sister.

"I'm going to go get something to eat, do you want to come?" she asked.

"Sure, that chickadee looks delicious," Willowpaw trotted over to the freshkill pile and picked up the bird in her jaws. Stormpaw also grabbed a piece of prey: a vole similar to the one she caught earlier that day. She plopped down and started devouring it. When she was done she stood and stretched. She looked at Willowpaw. Her sister was still eating so she padded passed her and put her front paws on the edge of the apprentice den. Stormpaw pushed upward with her hind legs and front paws. She landed lightly on the soft dirt. Falconpaw was already fast asleep in his nest so Stormpaw stepped quietly. Yawning, she shook slightly and curled up in the moss. Stormpaw relaxed her muscles and almost immediately fell asleep as well.