"Alright, time to send out hunting groups!" I said loudly to be heard, just as Fallan yawned widely in my ear.

Everyone had started to wash themselves after the game as I rose my voice from the heap of dirt. Wind swirled through the dusty clearing, but it didn't bring with it the scent of rain.

Diamond's eyes got big at that, her head bobbing up and down from under Hannah's rough tongue. I could tell she thought she might get to go into the forest and try for her own prey.

"I'm sorry, Diamond. You're not big enough yet- but we'll bring you back a soft mouse."

Midnight was the first to get to her feet, and looked rather exited at the prospect of catching something to eat.
"I'd like to help," she meowed shyly, looking up at me with bright, shiny purple eyes.

I was about to reply when Fallan rudely sneered.

"You're too small! You won't be able to catch anything but a sick mouse. Maybe not even that," she added matter-of-factly, causing my fur to spike on the shoulders a bit. Where did that come from? Fallan didn't even know how to use a tone like that.

Midnight flinched at her words; as did Hannah, as she sat and cocked her head a little ways off.

Fallan had never been that rude to anyone! Well, maybe she gloated a bit, but she had never gone any farther than that. The short, stubby cheetah barely had room to talk. After all, she'd only caught her first piece of prey two days ago. And she was overweight for being a cheetah, whose species were naturally long-legged and thin.

And she herself knew she was pretty small for a cheetah, so speaking out about Midnight was unjust.

I didn't know why Fallan was undersized and so chubby, even when she'd had almost nothing to eat as a cub, but you didn't see me running around talking about it.

Mother-cat once told me that I was slightly oversized myself, and I knew that I was muscular in my shoulders when it came to a cheetah's build.

Hannah was the skinniest of all of us, and she had the prettiest pelt as well. It was a yellowish color, much lighter than our pelts were. I was the fastest, and Fallan the slowest.

None of these things bothered me- I loved her no matter how she was, but when she insulted another cat I couldn't help but think of how anyone could insult her much worse. Was that a horrid thing to think about your sister?

Heck, the only time Fallan moved remotely fast was when she was scared. Like the other night when the bear had literally sent her clawing up a tree in panic.

"I can catch things!" Midnight hissed at Fallan, interrupting my thoughts and arching her back.

"If I had someone to train me, I'd be hunting all the time," Midnight said less hostile but her stance was still stiff.

I bounded off of the dirt-mound and stopped right next to her, ignoring Fallan and bending down to whisper in her ear.

"She's the smallest out of me and Hannah, and she has short legs and is clumsy. So why don't you just show her who can hunt better? I can help," I added mischievously.

The black kitten was stiff for a few more seconds, still glaring angrily at Fallan. Then, straightening up, she smiled and whispered back while Fallan stared in confusion, seemingly lost and wondering why her sister was whispering.

"I'm going to catch the whole forest! And.." Lowering her voice even more, she said "Could you teach me how to do that?"

Winking at her, I raised my voice so that Fallan could hear. "What a good idea! Fallan, your coming with us to hunt. Hannah, I need you here to protect Diamond and our nests. Just yowl if you hear anything." Hannah waved us off with her tail, distracted while picking fleas out of Diamond's pelt.

For once, Fallan didn't look down at the prospect of her having to hunt. She flexed her claws and looked proud. As if she's already won.

Fallan could act that way if she wanted, but I was sure she wasn't going to be able to catch very much. The cheetah had very little experience and patience, as well as lacking commitment to any and all tasks.

Hannah looked up from grooming Diamond and meowed back cheerfully.

"What I could really use now is a fat vole! I want Diamond to try it, too." She finished the sentence licking her lips and looking down at the kit.

Clearly, she'd given us a challenge- Catch her a vole. Whoever could do that first might be the one to win the challenge.

Fallan nodded once at me without expression, then shot an menacing glance down at Midnight. I couldn't not say anything.

"Fallan, keep your looks to yourself. I don't know if you're jealous or-"

"I'm not jealous!" She lashed her tail indignantly, forcing her angered gaze to stare into the trees. Briskly I stretched out my back and looked at her.

"Okay, then let's head down to that small creek up ahead. I think I smell some mole over t-"

"Nevermind, actually... I can take care of myself, thanks. I'll hunt by myself," she snapped.

"And I don't need any of your help, like she does!"

She turned and stormed away, leaving me breathless and astounded as my sister was swallowed up by shadows.

"Fallan! You can't just run off like that!"

"Yes I can!" I could picture her turning her nose up, not at all watching where she was going as she stormed off through the woods.

"Then stay close by or you aren't eating tonight," I threatened.

This wasn't the Fallan I knew- I'd never heard her sound anywhere near this angry with anyone. The sound of her paw-steps were gone and I wondered if she had even heard me.

And what was more weird, Midnight and me hadn't even done anything to provoke it. After playing the game, I would of expected that Fallan would be happy I'd finally had some fun with her. After all, she'd had two kits to play with, too. There was absolutely no reason for her to be mad.

And if she didn't snap out of this soon I'd have to make her!

"What's upsetting her?"

"Only the Sky-cat knows, Midnight. Let's start scenting for prey."

And what was worse; I didn't exactly know how to handle a situation where Fallan bypassed my authority. My sister had never been aggressive or hostile in this way before; not even to a wolf.

Maybe I'd have a talk with Fallan tonight, when everyone was asleep, and see what was bothering her. She'd have to understand that Midnight was one of the pride, and that I'd claw her ears off if she ever snapped at me again! Just thinking about it made my temper boil. I opened my jaws and scented a faint trace of squirrel, mingled with the forest scents.

"Stay close to me, and we'll see who catches more prey."

I looked up to quickly study the trees above me, worrying as I realized some were floating down. Most of the leaves were green and still stuck on the thick limbs of the oak, but falling leaves was a sign.

The breeze from earlier blew more gently through the trees, but 'Cold-paws was only a 'Paw or two off. This was the transition between the two, when leaves fell and frost started forming.

I dearly hoped that we would not see any snow this year, but there was little hope of that. My mother had said that we'd pass some mountains on the way, and we could choose to go around them or through.

Snow was the last thing I wanted, no matter how fun Fallan or Diamond might think it would be. It froze the ground and made your paws cold, sending away many prey creatures to their unreachable burrows in the ground.

Personally, I had seen snow only while the world outside was thawing. After Mother-cat died many 'Paws had passed without her, but I'd managed to support Hannah and Fallan through the rest of the winter and into spring, all the way up to now.

"Come on, Midnight. Let's go catch the whole forest." We chatted idly until the squirrel's scent trail freshened up, and it was seen nibbling on the cold ground. The creature was scrawny, but I showed an example for Midnight by leaping from behind some brambles and fiercely restraining the creature.

"Do you know how to give the killing bite?" She nodded no, so I showed her. Midnight looked faintly embarrassed.

"I've never been able to do that right," she admitted. We turned away and she caught another scent almost right away. Midnight was catching on well, so far, which surprised me since this was only her first lesson and she was still a half-grown kitten.

Her crouch was nothing less than perfection. The kit was well concentrated, low and stalking silent but quickly, scenting for where her prey was while-so.

This wasn't really my style of hunting, to be honest. It was my natural instinct to run after prey as soon as it was heard or scented, because I'd lived in the grasslands with my mother as a young kit. This was not a cheetah's natural habitat, but I'd had to learn how to stalk and pounce as a kit because I couldn't yet hunt very large prey. It was easier, now, to catch smaller prey rather than large ones that lived in the open.

Turning back to Midnight, I noticed the small black kit had increased her speed rapibly, disappearing behind a blackberry bush edged with tall grass. I stalked forward quietly.

Though I couldn't see where she was as her black pelt drifted around in the shadows, I went in the direction she had headed. There was a fierce rustle and a growl from Midnight, and then she padded around the bush with shining eyes.

Ah, there was her prize! A vole had, in fact, been nibbling on the seeds. "Great catch!" I praised her.

"This is only the second piece of prey I've ever caught, but I used to try every day."

"Perhaps your getting better because you have someone to show off for," I mused. Midnight looked up at me thoughtfully.

"Whatever it is, this is great! Let's keep hunting." I agreed with Midnight, so we moved to a different area, traveling by the shadows until I lifted my tail to stop.

A tiny bird was pecking on the forest floor, trying to get a large grub worm out of the ground. It was pierced by a shaft of light from the Great Spot, making it easy to see.

"Quickly! Go around that thicket over there, with the dip in the ground. It's going to smell our scent," I hissed urgently. Midnight hurried, but I risked calling out to her once more because she looked flustered.

"It's bound to smell my scent now." I talked louder on the last few words, and the bird's peaty eyes shot up to me half-crouched among the bracken.

Midnight was behind a small shrub, poking her head out just barely to try to get a good point on the bird. It was opening it's wings to take flight by now.

Suddenly racing in, she pounced from a bad distance, and missed the small blue body.

Quick as the Sky-cat, the bird shot up into the air with a loud squawk of alarm.

Midnight didn't give up that easily.

The kitten coiled up her back legs, them sprang into the air like a frog. She just barely caught the bird with a claw-tip to it's wing, then dragged it down and landed on the flapping creature's back.

On the ground she put her jaws over its neck and bit down so hard I thought it was going to break in half. The bird went stiff immediately, and she slithered silently back to me with it in her jaws, then dropped it on the ground beside my squirrel.

"Did I do anything wrong?" she asked, looking up at me.

I blinked in confusion. Midnight was the best stalker I had ever seen! So silent, so stealthy... But she could work on that approach a bit.

I shook my head. "You didn't do anything wrong, but if you make sure to judge the distance correctly and leap squarely-in on the bird, you won't have to jump for it."

The kit's eyes widened as she beamed. "Right! That makes more sense." She smiled up at me, and I realized I could probably tell her just about anything and she'd believe it.

Well, at least she was a quick learner. And I'd never felt as looked up to before. My own sisters hardly paid attention during hunting lessons.

"You caught that bird faster than I found my squirrel," I pointed out.

She looked at her paws in respond of my praise, becoming bashful again. No doubt this kit would would make a wonderful hunter, and showed promise already.

"Come, lets go deeper into the woods," I mewed and stood up. Midnight hesitated a long moment before responding.

"I think I'll hunt by myself for a bit... If that's okay?" She finished by shrinking under my questioning gaze.

"It's dangerous out here alone at night..."

Though I didn't really see why she might want to hunt alone, I'd let her anyways. Midnight had earned it, and probably could do more when no other cats were around.

"Okay. I suppose you'll need to concentrate if your going to be catching a whole forest of prey anyways!" She smiled at my joke, but only for a second.

"I'll leave this here and come back later to fetch it," I said while starting to kick dirt over the blue jay.

"Make sure you don't go very far, and if you get lost, follow the scent trail back to the clearing. I'm not going to let you out of radius of sound, so yowl if you hear anything."

"Okay," she mumbled.

She started backing away, then turned around and slunk silently into the shadows, her purple eyes glinting in the Great Spot's moonlight as she turned.

Throwing one last glance at her, I know I couldn't leave her to roam the first alone. Kittens were easy pickings for owls and probably weren't very different prey than mice, according to them.

Plus, I wanted to see how Midnight was catching on, you know, see if she needed to improve on something else. Then, if so, I'd give her tips later and do some drills.

Actually, I had to admit, I liked the cat's company. Perhaps even more than that of my sister's, though I would miss them if they left one day.

If I went forward after Midnight, she'd probably wonder why I gave her permission and then went against it. Or she'd get shy again and be out of the hunting mood.

I could just hide... But wouldn't it be nosy, to spy on the kit while she hunted?

Well, no, because I'd just be supervising her. Midnight was just a kit, and shouldn't be roaming the woods herself. Plus, she had great potential- I knew she couldn't be showing it to her fullest with me around.

Moving too quickly along the fluffy black kit's scent trail, I came out under a large berry bush just a few tail-lengths from the kit. Ferns and long grass must have hid me from sight, while the wind blew my scent behind me and not forward.

Backing up and looking out from the shadows underneath the bush, I saw Midnight crouching down and scenting for more prey.

Not bothering to check what she'd scented, I pressed my body along the ground to duck behind a tree, closer to where the black cat was crouched.

I poked my head out from a bit of undergrowth and saw her turning around a pine tree, out of sight.

Phew.. She hadn't scented me.

Padding with my head low, I stayed far behind this time, following her scent trail only as quickly as she moved.

Finally I made it to where I could see her stalking a piece of prey, but only half her body visible from the undergrowth.

Climbing my way up a pine tree quickly, I tried to be silent but a few pieces of bark peeled from under my claws. Without Midnight so intent on prey, she would've known is was an animal bigger than a squirrel.

With a bit of struggle, I scooted to the near top then clung to a side trunk with needles poking my face. Ignoring the bristles, I peered down.

A scrawny hare was laying down, its sides heaving with the effort to breathe. It was easier to make out the rabbit than Midnight, but from it's heaving flanks I thought it was dying.

An owl or fox must have got to it first, I thought to myself, and desperately hoped Midnight wouldn't try to hunt the creature then drag it back to the clearing. Did two animals fight over prey and leave the rabbit here after they couldn't make an agreement?

Thankfully, the black kit didn't bother to stalk anymore.

Instead she padded up to the smelly creature and peered down at it with intent purple eyes. Her tail waved back and forth, as if indecisive. Surely she had to smell the fox-scent by now, as well as blood from the open wounds.

Midnight poked the rabbit with an unsheathed paw, causing it to squeal in fear.

Why don't you just kill it, I asked Midnight silently. Don't be cruel like Fallan.

The rabbit was clearly uneditable and suffering.

Just as I thought to leap down from the tree and tell her not to try and take it back to camp, she leaned down and bit it's throat.

I wasn't sure if she was going to take it to camp or not, so still I leaned forward, ready to leap down.

No need, though.

The rabbit's head lowered as it took it's last breath and Midnight dropped it gently. She cast wary glances around the forest before angling her ears towards the rustling sound of prey farther off.

Midnight turned away and faded into the shadows, leaving the rabbit laying on the ground with glazed eyes.
I jumped down and buried it, knowing that Fallan or some other animal would try to claim it as their own prey.

Then, I followed Midnight away from the fading fox scent and through the deeper woods.