"Our loss of Wolfstep leaves Hawkpaw with no mentor," declared Thornstar. Cats bowed their heads in respect. A quarter moon had passed and Hawkpaw was on his feet once more, more determined than ever to make Wolfstep proud. Heartstorm stood near Hawkpaw, hoping he would be chosen this time. Stripedfur, Moorpelt and Hawkpaw all wanted him as mentor. Heartstorm spotted Acornheart's hopeful gaze. 

                  "Heartstorm, you have had good training from Blacktail and you are ready to take on an apprentice. I hope you will pass on all you know to Hawkpaw," announced Thornstar. Heartstorm leapt to his paws with joy. He padded up to the High Rock and joined Hawkpaw and Thornstar. Hawkpaw grinned happily at Heartstorm. They touched noses. Heartstorm turned to the crowd of cats and they burst into cheers. Heartstorm leapt down with Hawkpaw behind him. He grinned happily. Eelfrost and Deerflame rushed to his side. 

                  "This is great!" exclaimed Deerflame. "Good job!" 

                   "Nice dude," grinned Eelfrost. Heartstorm could only smile. Moorpelt and Stripedfur approached them. 

                  "Teach our son well," nodded Moorpelt looking proud. 

                  "Thank you," smiled Stripedfur. Heartstorm finally managed to escape the crowd with Hawkpaw. 

                   "You feeling good enough to swim?" asked Heartstorm. Hawkpaw's eyes widened. 

                    "Yeah! Right now?" he exclaimed. 

                     "Let's go then," Heartstorm nodded. Hawkpaw followed Heartstorm out, ranting on excitedly. Just then, Silverdrop appeared, trotting to Heartstorm. She congratulated Hawkpaw and said she was glad he was better now. 

                     "You're going to be a great mentor," whispered Silverdrop as she walked past Heartstorm. He smiled blissfully then shook himself and led Hawkpaw towards the river running through the middle of RiverClan. 

                     "I wanna see what you've learned about swimming and fishing for now," Heartstorm said. "I know from Wolfstep and from what I saw when you were a kit, you're very good at it." Hawkpaw puffed out his chest proudly. They reached the river. The air was cool and the sun was partially covered by white fluffy clouds. 

                     "It's not very warm today," noted Hawkpaw. 

                    "You'll see, it's better swimming now than in leaf-bare or new-leaf," assured Heartstorm. Hawkpaw nodded, shivered and slipped into the water. He gasped. "You alright?" Hawkpaw nodded numbly. 

                    "It's cold," he said. 

                     "I know, keep swimming," Heartstorm said. He walked down the river bank, Hawkpaw swimming after him. Heartstorm noted the way he swum and kept giving Hawkpaw encouragement or ways to improve. 

                      "Right, good job," Heartstorm said finally. "Come up and dry yourself." Hawkpaw gratefully hauled himself out of the water and shook himself. Water sprayed everywhere. 

                      "Wow, that actually felt good," grinned Hawkpaw. "What are we going to do now?" Heartstorm looked up. The sky was darkening. It must be late in the afternoon now. 

                     "You can't forget, you're an apprentice. You've got duties. Such as feeding the elders," Heartstorm said firmly. Hawkpaw groaned. 

                      "Please?" He begged. "I was hurt. Rosepaw and Dustpaw will hunt for them." Heartstorm knew he would have felt that way as an apprentice but he was Hawkpaw's mentor and he needed to teach Hawkpaw to be the best warrior he could. 

                       "I know it's not the best thing but it's part of being a warrior. Think about it as helping your Clan. You can pretend to be a warrior hunting for your clan," Heartstorm said. "Now get on with hunting. I'll watch you and see what level you're at." Hawkpaw thought for a while then shrugged. He slipped away to find prey. Heartstorm followed quietly, keeping a good distance. If Hawkpaw was as good at hunting as swimming, he'd be very glad. He suddenly heard some rustling. He stopped, hoping Hawkpaw would hear it as well. Hawkpaw continued slipping quietly through the undergrowth though. Heartstorm grit his teeth and followed. There was some rustling once again and Heartstorm really hoped Hawkpaw would hear that or they'd have problems! He watched as Hawkpaw continued to make his way forward. Heartstorm wanted to sigh out loud but suddenly, Hawkpaw stopped moving and tweaked his ear. Heartstorm watched intently, hoping Hawkpaw had heard the rustling. To Heartstorm's relief, Hawkpaw started to inch forward to a bush where the rustling had come from. Hawkpaw sniffed the air and Heartstorm did as well. Heartstorm smelt birds and the faint scent of... mouse. Hawkpaw peered at the bush. There was no more noise. Then suddenly, the mouse shot out of the bush and past Hawkpaw. Hawkpaw stared in dismay and surprise. The small mouse shot away and disappeared quickly. Heartstorm, watching from behind a few trees bit his tongue. He continued following Hawkpaw. A bird cawed and fluttered down to the ground. Heartstorm pricked his ears, aching to catch the bird. But Hawkpaw had spotted the bird as well and had stopped. Heartstorm saw Hawkpaw tense and crouch. Slowly he crawled forward, total concentration on the bird. His face was twisted in a funny face, totally concentrated on the bird. Heartstorm thought how funny it was, just some time ago he had been an apprentice, concentrating on hunting, with no idea his mentor was watching a few paces back. Hawkpaw unsheathed his claws quietly. In a quick movement, Hawkpaw pounced. He sunk his paws into the bird. It squawked in panic and started flapping its wings. Heartstorm cringed. Hawkpaw was looking at the bird as if terrified. The bird cawed sadly. Then Hawkpaw let the bird go. It took off into the sky. Heartstorm frowned and watched as Hawkpaw slumped to the ground sadly. Heartstorm stepped out and padded up behind Hawkpaw. 

                    "What's wrong?" asked Heartstorm. Hawkpaw looked up and seemed even more distressed that Heartstorm was there. 

                      "Did you see that?" asked Hawkpaw softly. 

                      "What, you letting the bird go?" asked Heartstorm. Hawkpaw looked down and sighed. He gave a feeble nod. "What happened?" 

                       "I don't know," moaned Hawkpaw. "Something's wrong with me." Heartstorm frowned. 

                       "After the battle you mean?" Heartstorm asked. 

                       "No," Hawkpaw said, slowly getting up. "I can't hunt. I've never been able to hunt." 

                        "What do you mean?" asked Heartstorm. 

                         "I don't know!" moaned Hakwpaw. "Everything's fine. I can hear the prey and I can creep up behind it and all easily but..." Heartstorm didn't agree and objected in his mind but nodded for Hawkpaw to continue.  "When I actually catch it and all.... It's like... I don't know. Feeling the prey wriggle in my paws.... wanting to let me to let it go. It's not fair that I have to take its life." 

                       "You don't like killing," Heartstorm summarised. 

                        "Well..., yeah," Hawkpaw sighed. "Is there something wrong with me?" Heartstorm wanted to say yes but Hawkpaw wasn't Eelfrost or Deerflame whom he could laugh and joke with, Hawkpaw was his apprentice. 

                       "No," Heartstorm said firmly. "There is nothing wrong with you. You know...." Heartstorm suddenly thought about fish and his first few times catching fish. "I didn't like hunting fish either. Not really because I had sympathy towards them but I just didn't like their bodies wriggling in my paws." Hawkpaw looked up hopefully. 

                       "B-but," Hawkpaw stammered. 

                       "Look," cut in Heartstorm. "You said it yourself. You can't kill your prey. Not a mouse or a bird, prey. So you already know it's prey, meant to be hunted and eaten." Hawkaw nodded feebly. "If you don't catch food. If all of us wanted to save our prey's life, we would starve. Understand?" Hawkpaw nodded. 

                          "But... I can't kill it...," whispered Hawkpaw. 

                          "You said you understood," Heartstorm said firmly. "Now you must choose. Either you choose the prey, or your Clan. Everytime you kill prey, don't think of it as taking an animal's life but giving life to your Clan, RiverClan. Everytime you hunt something, you'll be saving your Clan, feeding your Clan." Hawkpaw thought then finally nodded. 

                      "I get it!" he exclaimed. Heartstorm nodded and smiled.

                     "So are you going to chose the prey or your Clan?" Heartstorm asked, knowing the answer.  

                 "My Clan of course!" exclaimed Hawkpaw. Heartstorm smiled and gave Hawkpaw a nod of approval. 

                  "Then you can do this. I'll be watching you. I believe in you," encouraged Heartstorm. Even if Hawkpaw didn't think he could do it, Heartstorm was sure Hawkpaw could do it, he just needed a small push. "Did you tell Wolfstep about this?" Hawkpaw shrugged. 

                     "We learned the hunting technique and all...," Heartstorm frowned. "But we never got down to actually hunting and killing. He said I was to feed the elders. But since I couldn't hunt..., Dustpaw hunted twice as much for me." Heartstorm nodded. 

                   "Right then, let's begin, go on. You can do this," Heartstorm pushed. Hawkpaw nodded more determined and trotted off. Heartstorm let him take the lead before sneaking after him. He saw Hawkpaw's tail disappear behind a tree. He trotted after him. Suddenly, there was a crunch as a branch was stepped on. Heartstorm froze and in front of him, so did Hawkpaw. Hawkpaw then crouched and sniffed the air, pricking his ears and kept his tail low. Heartstorm felt a burst of pride for his apprentice, looking so determined. They inched closer and Heartstorm smelt the faint smell of vole. The scent grew stronger and stronger, filling his nostrils, making his hunter instincts turn on. As Heartstorm passed a tree, he finally spotted what Hawkpaw had his eyes glued on. The vole was large and sniffing and nibbling on some leaves. Hawkpaw's eyes were set on the vole, cold and resolute. Hawkpaw's muscles bunched up and Heartstorm knew he was leaping. Hawkpaw leapt and caught the vole in his paws. Without even thinking, he bit into the vole's neck and it snapped with a small crack. Hawkpaw's eyes went wide and Heartstorm feared Hawkpaw would be distressed at what he had just done but instead, Hawkpaw dropped the vole and jumped up happily. He looked around crazily then spotted Heartstorm. 

                  "I did it!" yelled Hawkpaw happily. Heartstorm grinned and joined Hawkpaw's happy celebration. 

                    "You did great, I'm proud of you," Heartstorm said. 

                     "Do you think Wolfstep would be proud of me?" asked Hawkpaw, calming down. 

                      "Of course!" exclaimed Heartstorm. "It'll be sunset soon but I'll give you more time, see if you can catch something else then you can bring this food to the elders." Hawkpaw nodded enthusiastically. 

Heartstorm and Hawkpaw returned to camp. From Hawkpaw's mouth hung a vole and a juicy mouse. He was grinning and puffing his chest out in pride. Rainfeather passed them and nodded to Hawkpaw in approval. Stripedfur trotted to them, her eyes lighting up as she saw Hawkpaw's catch. 

                    "Wow!" she cried. "Good job Hawkpaw!" Hawkpaw beamed happily. Rosepaw trotted over as well with Dustpaw. Dustpaw cocked his head but Rosepaw looked amazed. 

                      "Nice," she said. Hawkpaw flicked his tail happily. Dustpaw was eyeing him suspiciously but then shrugged and turned away. 

                     "Get some rest tonight," Heartstorm told Hawkpaw as he headed for the elder's den. "You did well today. Tomorrow, we'll start at sunrise." Heartstorm thought Hawkpaw truly deserved a good night's rest. Hawkpaw nodded enthusiastically. Heartstorm bid Hawkpaw goodnight and turned to his den. He slipped inside, feeling his stomach bubbling with happiness. He spotted Silverdrop who looked up from her nest and trotted to Heartstorm's side. 

                    "How was your first day as a mentor?" she asked happily. 

                     "Great," Heartstorm replied, thinking about everything that had happened that day. He felt extremely proud with Hawkpaw's progress. 

                     "Not too tiring?" asked Silverdrop. 

                      "No..., it's really nice. Like having a kit of me own..., you know?" Heartstorm said thoughtfully, staring into space. Silverdrop looked up at Heartstorm with her soft eyes. 

                       "No. I've never had kits," she said amused. "But if I did, if it was a she-cat, I'd name her Bloomkit and it was a tom, I'd name him Bramblekit, depending on his colouring, or maybe Bumblekit. It's cute isn't it?" Heartstorm chuckled. 

                        "You really like names which start with "B", don't you?" he teased. Silverdrop shrugged. 

                      "Maybe," she said. "But I like you too, and your name starts with "H", doesn't it?"