A loud thump sounded, waking Gorsepaw from her dreams. She looked up to see Timber standing over her, a freshly caught mouse lying on the ground in front of him. "So... I never got your name." The tom said awkwardly.

"Oh.....I'm Gorsepaw." Gorsepaw meowed wearily, her eyes heavy with exhaustion as she looked up at the tom.

"Gorsepaw?" Timber repeated, settling down in front of the apprentice. "Never heard a name like it. Isn't that a type of flower bush..?" Gorsepaw nodded uncomfortably.

Timber nudged the mouse towards her. "Go on, eat it." He pressed when Gorsepaw looked away. "You'll never get better if you don't eat." The she-cat sighed reluctantly, and took a small bite out of the mouse. She suddenly realized how hungry she was and gulped it down in a few quick bites. Timber was watching her in amusement when she finished. Gorsepaw froze in the middle of washing the remains of the mouse off her whiskers.

"Did... You want some...?" She asked, meeting his eyes hesitantly.

Timber blinked, then laughed. "No, no, no! There's plenty of prey in the barn!" I wonder... What's a barn? Gorsepaw thought as Timber continued. "Enough to feed an entire group of cats, that is."

"An... Entire group of cats?" Gorsepaw began. "Like a clan?"

"Clan? What in the name is a clan?" Timber asked.

"Oh... It-it's where I come from..." Gorsepaw mewed.

Timber nodded slowly. "Tell me more about these... Clans." Gorsepaw thought for a moment.

"Tell me what a barn is, first, then!" The she-cat meowed.

Timber chuckled. "You're in a barn."

Gorsepaw's ears flattened, and she looked away. "Mouse-brain!" She hissed under her breath.

"Well...?" Timber asked, poking Gorsepaw in the ribs with a forepaw.

The tortoiseshell she-cat sighed, and began explaining. "Well, there are four clans by the lake, and I'm in one of these clans called ThunderClan. We live in the forest and the other clans... They have other territories in a specific type of area, kind of specified by their clan's name." She hesitated before continuing. "Every full moon, we meet at the island for a Gathering, and speak under the truce made by StarClan... If we break that truce, StarClan will be angry. But... I haven't been to my first gathering yet..." She sighed, her head drooping.

"Well... Hopefully you'll be back to your clans soon." Timber said comfortingly, before he got to his paws and padding away. "I'm going to find Julie." He added looking at Gorsepaw from over his shoulder, twitching his tail tip as he slipped out through a jagged hole in the wooden wall, which Gorsepaw had learned that it was wood carved flat by twolegs. The young she-cat decided she should do something useful and make a fresh kill pile for the two cats, they needed to know she was thankful that they were letting her stay. Gorsepaw tasted the air, mouse scent flooded over her from every corner of the barn. She stalked towards the freshest and nearest scent. She spotted the slight flicker of movement. Mouse. She though eagerly, and leapt forward, missing by a tails length.

"Fox dung!" She spat, furious at how clumsy she was. I should know how to hunt! I'm an apprentice! But then... She remembered how she was taken away from her clan almost instantly after she was made an apprentice.

"Need help?" A voice sounded from behind her. She spun around to see a shadowy brown tom, who's eyes were as yellow as the sun. "You seem unable to hunt."

Gorsepaw felt heat flood up into her fsce. "I know how to hunt!" She hissed before she could stop herself.

The tom chuckled. "Well, you seem quite rusty on how to do it."

Gorsepaw opened her mouth to protest, but closed it immediately. "You're right." She mumbled. "I can't hunt."

The tom snorted. "Well of course you can't! Come over her and I'll teach you." He beckoned her over with a wave of his tail.

Gorsepaw walked over to him and listened as he explained the basic hunting technique.