Jaypaw's mind whirled as he walked back to WindClan camp with his Clan. He lagged behind the others, ignoring Heatherpaw's "Aren't you excited?"'s and Breezepaw's "I'm going to show ThunderClan who's the best!"'s. He ignored Nightcloud's questions about what he thought of the gathering and he ignored Cranberrystripe's concern.

"A contest! I can't wait! I'm such a good fighter, I bet I can win for WindClan!" Boulderpaw hissed.

"Yeah, right! I can fight way better than you can," Breezepaw butted in with a sniff.

"You've been an apprentice for a moon. I've been an apprentice for three. I'd like to see you try," challenged Boulderpaw.

Jaypaw flattened his ears to his head to try block out the chatter.

"Great StarClan, I don't care what I do; I'm so excited!" Heatherpaw exclaimed trying to lighten the conversation.

Jaypaw growled quietly to himself, resisting the urge to scream. He tried to ignore the whispers but they pestered him, creeping under his folded ears and slipping through his ear canals, resonating in his brain.

Trying to keep his mind blank but the thoughts just kept coming, raining down on him. He'd never be a normal apprentice. He just needed to accept that. Still ruminating, he and the rest of his Clan retreated, the night wrapping its body around them as they walked.

The world was bright the next morning. The sun dipped into the curve of his back, slipping into the roots of his fur and flooding his body golden. Jaypaw sat up, a yawn pushing out of his mouth.

Idle chatter hummed around him, washing away yesterday's emotion. Birdsong greeted Jaypaw as he stood and stretched, scents already guiding himself out the den and into the day.

"You know I'm a pretty good climber for a WindClan cat! Do you think I could scale the Skyoak?" Whiskerpaw's words to his mentor splintered the idyllic day. Jaypaw's slept on emotions gushed back into him, tasting stale as they eddied around his mouth.

"You'll need some practice," Ternbreeze, his mentor replied, "but you're a surprisingly good climber."

Jaypaw swivelled his ears to catch the conversation by the nursery.

"It's not fair! I want to be in the competitions too!" Tansykit whined to her unsympathetic mother. Jaypaw rolled his eyes. The world wasn't fair. He'd learned that as a kit.

He swivelled his ears again. There had to be someone in the Clan who wasn't talking about the competition!

"So all the apprentices are training for the daylight gathering and they'll be doing that until the next quarter moons so that means no apprentices on border patrols," Emberfoot explained to Sedgewhisker. Jaypaw growled.

"Jaypaw!" Cranberrystripe called to him. Jaypaw turned, hearing her footsteps walk in his direction.
"How would you feel about doing some hunting practice today?"

"I don't want to," Jaypaw said sullenly.

"All cats old enough to run across the moor, join here beneath the Tallrock," Harestar announced.

Jaypaw twitched, surprised. He wasn't sure why there would be a meeting called. Waspkit, Tansykit and Brookkit weren't six moons old. Boulderpaw and his littermates weren't old enough to become warriors.

Cranberrystripe let out a huff of impatience as the two of them sat down, waiting for whatever Harestar was about to say.

"As you all know, in a quarter moons time the apprentices of all Clans will be competing against each other. Apprentices will compete in only one category so that there won't be too many cats competing against each other and creating a mess of things. I've discussed with mentors what their apprentice's best skill is." Harestar explained.

Jaypaw's blood turned to rapid waters, tumbling through his body as his heartbeat sped up.

"Boulderpaw, Heatherpaw and Breezepaw will be fighting. Whiskerpaw will be climbing. Furzepaw and Jaypaw will be hunting."

The rapids stilled. He turned to Cranberrystripe and said "alright. Let's go,"

The molly purred.
"I'm thinking we'll go and start among the deer-grass!" She turned away from him and started walking. "And we need to work on that run of yours!" She called over here shoulder.

Jaypaw scowled and walked slowly after her. He was happy he was being included in the competition but it made his belly clench. He had so much to prove and he wasn't sure he could.

Arriving at the patch of deergrass, Cranberrystripe plunged into it. It crepidated around her, rustling and swishing with her movement. Jaypaw followed her in. It tickled his belly as he walked through it, the cottony heads bobbing against his body. Jaypaw turned to his mentor, confused.
"Why are we training here? We'll never catch any prey. Every time I move the grass rustles!"

"That's the point. You need to learn how to step so lightly that your prey won't hear you coming. Rabbits can hear your every move, and so can birds." Cranberrystripe replied with a grin. Jaypaw pricked his ears. He sat stiff and still making sure he wasn't making any noise. She was right, he marvelled at the sweet-scented cat as she stalked towards him. She was making barely any noise; the swaying of the grass disturbed by her movements sounded just like the wind.
"This will also help you with your running. We won't focus on it now but every WindClan cat has to learn how to run," she told him.

Jaypaw tested the grass with his paws. They responded with a crunching sound.

"You already step very lightly, but it can't hurt to step even lighter. Step quietly but with pressure, so you don't fall. Try to glide but keep your balance. You can do that by balancing your weight evenly," Cranberrystripe instructed, crouching down to guide his movements. When he took a step she guided his paws, making sure he was stable but still walking with pressure in his feet.
"That's great!" She praised.

After a while of this, Jaypaw figured his walk was near perfect. Cranberrystripe agreed, so they left the deergrass to move on to some actual hunting. They decided to walk to the nesting ground of the woodlarks.

"You know, I think it's my blindness that makes me step lighter. I always have to step tentatively, so that taught me to step lighter," Jaypaw remarked.

"Hunting birds is easier than hunting rabbits. What you need to do is listen out for the bird. Once you pinpoint its position, stalk it. Creep up on it. Show me your stalking." His mentor commanded. Jaypaw narrowed his eyes. Cranberrystripe seemed stricter today and he wasn't sure why. Shaking his head, Jaypaw began to stalk, each paw placed with care on the ground. He had to feel out for dips and unevenness in the ground, and for the plants that scattered the moor. But he'd practised this before and was quite capable. He crouched low while he was stalking, then took a moment to gather his strength. With an elegant spring, he landed. Jaypaw swung his head around.
"Does that meet your standard?" He quipped.

"That was pretty good!" Cranberrystripe's response was pleasantly surprised. "I see our earlier lessons have been beneficial." She circled him thoughtfully.
"You need to remember to stay downwind of your prey. You need to calculate how far away you are to the bird and then adjust how far you pounce accordingly." Cranberrystripe stopped circling him and stepped back, falling silent to give him time to process what she had told him.

"The thing is, my eyes don't work. I can't see how far away my prey is from me because I can't see it!" Jaypaw's last words came out accusingly.

"That's not true. You've told me yourself that you're perfectly capable despite being blind. So use those ears of yours! You'll hear your prey getting louder as you get closer. You'll hear it and be able to figure out where to pounce," his mentor retorted.

Jaypaw sniffed. "What about rabbits?"

"We're focusing on birds," Cranberrystripe said impatiently. "Now come on, stop arguing. We need to be quiet; I want to see you in action."

The two cats sat quietly for a short while. The flap of wings overhead sign Jaypaw to the presence of prey.
"Is it a woodlark?" He hissed.

"Use your nose!" Cranberrystripe retorted.

Jaypaw glared at her but unhinged his jaw to taste the air. The dusky smell of a woodlark seeped through his mouth and he rose into a crouch. Still in this crouching position, he began to stalk towards it, trying to step away lightly as possible. He and Cranberrystripe had made sure to sit downwind. With each delicate pawstep, he crept closer and closer to the bird until its pecks at the earth sounded very close. Gathering his weight in his haunches, he leapt. His paws crashed into the ground, the very edge of his paws crashing into the bird. This pinned it to the drying grass, and Jaypaw bent down to bite its neck.
He sat up, teeth glistening.
"That was terrible!"

Cranberrystripe walked over to him.
"Messy, but not terrible. It's your first catch! Celebrate!"

Jaypaw huffed, but he couldn't help feeling a sliver of sun-warmed pride glow in his chest.

The quarter moon dragged on with Jaypaw finding he was having difficulties with his hunting. He couldn't correctly calculate his leaps, he kept alerting his prey to where he was by stepping on some unexpected gorse or simply being in his prey's line of sight. Scent and hearing didn't show him which way the bird was actually facing. His first success proved to be one of very few. As Jaypaw's frustration grew, Cranberrystripe's patience seemed to match him at every step. 

"Come on, Jaypaw, it's time to practice hunting. Two days til the competition!" Cranberrystripe chirped outside of the apprentice's den

Jaypaw got to his feet, gathering unwilling body and forcing it to move.
"Two days of wishing Harestar never apprenticed me" Jaypaw grumbled snarkily. 

Cranberrystripe ignored his words. "We've only got a few days so you need to work really hard today. Especially because Harestar's stopping by to watch. And Boulderpaw's fighting was apparently very impressive so you've got big paw prints to fill," she said in a business-like tone. The two walked out of the gorse tunnel.

A cool wind had picked up, whipping over the moor. Like a song from StarClan, it ripped every shred of conversation from their tongues and flung them into the distance. Jaypaw wondered where his words would end up.

They arrived at an open patch of heathland. Harestar's scent unravelled in the wind; Jaypaw that he was already waiting for them.

"Hello, Harestar!" Cranberrystripe greeted him. Jaypaw could hear faint undercurrents of anxiety in her voice. He stiffened. She was worried about what Harestar would say about Jaypaw's dismal hunting ability. Jaypaw couldn't blame her; he was worried himself.

"Hi, you two," Harestar returned the greeting. "Just letting you know I don't expect your hunting to be perfect, Jaypaw, or to be up to the standards of the others." He walked over to them. Jaypaw's eyes widened with shock. "Not because of your sight!" The tom added hastily. "But because you're a tunneler and have received significantly less hunting training than the others."

Jaypaw nodded but he wasn't convinced. 

"So, let's see these new hunting skills!" Harestar said.

Jaypaw ran over what he had to do in his head, ears pricked and body tense. He sat as still as the lakewater. A flurry of wingbeats caught his hearing. He stiffened, tracking the bird to where it landed on the grass. Rising to his paws, he stalked over to it, trying to glide soundlessly with every step. Focusing so hard on his step control he forgot to be careful of uneven terrain. His paw crunched down on a small heather plant, crushing it. The bird let out a trill of alarm before deserting the area. Jaypaw sat back with a growl of frustration, turning back to face his mentor. 

"Don't worry about it! Everyone misses a catch from time to time! Furzepaw wasn't perfect when I checked over her," Harestar encouraged. But his tone wasn't bright and airy. Jaypaw could almost feel the doubt humming underneath it. His heart rate began to climb. Despite his rising fears he pricked his ears to listen out for more birds.

He padded around, searching for the familiar smell of one of the heathland birds. His mouth was dry, he tried to draw up some saliva as he scented. The flowery fragrance of the heathland painted the roof of his mouth. A woody scent met him; a stonechat! He swivelled his ears, listening out for the small bird. His sharp ears picked up the sound of blackberries being plucked from between gorse plants. Creeping closer, he veered off so that he was downwind of the bird. Jaypaw could hear exactly where it was, getting louder as he got closer. He sprung forward, using all the power in his hind legs, but his claws closed around nothing but grass, sinking deep into the dirt. The bird flew off with fluttered alarm. Jaypaw hissed in anger. He'd missed his second piece of prey!

"Well, bad luck, try again!" Harestar sounded like he was speaking through gritted teeth.

"It's completely useless," Jaypaw spat. "I'm a useless hunter. I'll only embarrass the Clan if I compete." He bristled. 

"You have two more days to hone your skills. I know you can hunt, you've shown me. Maybe you're just tired?" Cranberrystripe suggested.

"No, I'm not tired. The times I caught birds was a fluke. Usually, I step on something and scare away the prey or I misjudge my jump," He sat and drew his tail around himself, suddenly drained. "The other apprentices will be hunting rabbits and squirrels and all kinds of difficult prey! I can't catch small birds!"

"Maybe it was a bit ambitious to expect to be able to teach you how to be a perfect hunter in only a quarter moon..." Harestar ventured.

"Jaypaw can hunt, Harestar! Or are you forgetting the times he brought back prey in these last sunrises? Don't you dare think about pulling out!" Cranberrystripe sounded angrier than Jaypaw had ever heard her, and he'd annoyed her plenty of times within the moon he'd been apprenticed to her.

Jaypaw winced, knowing she would be in trouble for speaking to her leader like that later. He stood, suddenly drained. "No, it's okay. I'm not good enough for this competition. I'll just stay in camp." He started walking away, not looking at either of them. "But we're telling everyone I'm sick!" He turned around, glaring back at Harestar. He dragged his paws back to camp. Neither Harestar or Cranberrystripe followed for quite some time.

Back in camp later that night, Nightcloud flitted around Jaypaw anxiously after he told her the news.
"Are you sure you're alright? Harestar didn't pressure you in any way, did he?"

Jaypaw squeezed his eyes shut and sighed.
"No, Nightcloud, he didn't. I made the decision to pull out on my own and I suggested it. Harestar agreed with me that I haven't had enough training." He said shortly.

Nightcloud said nothing for a long time, but Jaypaw could feel her gaze on him. He gritted his teeth, frustration rising.
"Go on and say it! You think he pulled me out because I'm blind!" Jaypaw spat. He uncurled his lips and looked at his paws. "You're right. He didn't say it but I know that's why he really did it."

Nightcloud continued to groom him. Jaypaw rested against his mother, curling his body inwards.
"What do you want me to do?" She asked him.

"Nothing." Jaypaw buried his face in her fur. "Pretend you don't know. I'm only telling you and Breezepaw. Heatherpaw too. Everyone else is being told I'm sick. I guess I'll have to come down with a fever tomorrow."

"You're an incredible hunter, Jaypaw. And if anyone says otherwise I'll shred them." She stopped washing him, tone deadly serious. "That includes you."

Jaypaw didn't reply. The two sat together at the busy hubbub of camp began to die down as the sunset patrols went out and others retired to their nests, or quietly shared tongues like Jaypaw and Nightcloud. The sweet silence felt heavenly to Jaypaw and he relished in it, letting his mother's tongue and the songs of deserting birds flying to their nests for the night bring him relief.

"Nightcloud? Sorry to interrupt but I need you for the last hunting patrol. Leaftail has come down with a greenleaf cough and Kestrelflight wants him to rest," Emberfoot's apologetic voice disturbed Jaypaw's peace. He cracked open an eye, sniffing indignantly. Nightcloud gave him one last lick before standing up, jostling Jaypaw to the ground. He too stood up.

"Thanks, Nightcloud," he acknowledged her. A small light illuminated his ribcage inside his chest in a warm glow. Despite how grey the world seemed, at least he had Nightcloud.

Jaypaw staggered over to the apprentice's collapsing down into the nest of soft bracken and moss. He closed his eyes, eager to sleep. With a wry shake of his head, he thought about how all he seemed to do lately was go off sulking to his nest. He really needed to find a new place to go and sulk.

"Hey, Jaypaw," his brother whispered.

He snapped open his eyes.
"What do you want?" He growled.

"Are you sure about not competing? Because I really want you too." Breezepaw shifted in his nest so that he was facing Jaypaw, paws hanging over the sides of his nest. He stretched his front legs, trying to touch paws with Jaypaw.

"Yes. A three-legged rabbit could hunt better than I can. Do you want a blind cat who can't hunt embarrass you, Crowfeather and the Clan?" Jaypaw couldn't keep the bitterness out of his voice.

Breezepaw licked his lips.
"But... don't you want to prove yourself?"

"Yes. But I have a lot to prove and right now I'm not good enough to show everyone that blind cats can be warriors. So I'm going to wait. It'll be better that way" Jaypaw told him, resolution bleeding from his voice, staining both of their paws red.

"I'm just worried about you. I know you hate being treated differently and as if you're not as capable. I know you're upset." His paws bumped against Jaypaw's.

"It's for the best," was all Jaypaw said, before rolling over in his nest and closing his eyes.