Hailstone sat by the rock pile eating a thrush on his own. Looking around he saw the the kits, Snowkit, Rainkit and Hawkkit playing in front of their mother by the Nursery and the apprentices ate in a circle.

Cloudpaw, the white one, sat with his back to him. Hailstone had hoped that having Cloudpaw as an apprentice that he'd finally have someone to share tongues with.

Snorting quietly Hailstone finished his thrush. Having Cloudpaw as an apprentice had only pushed the Tom further from him.

Quickly washing himself he walked to the other side of the camp pretending not to notice the whispers that started when he walked past.

"Cloudpaw. It's time for training." Hailstone said to him when he got there.

"When are you gonna teach me battle moves? You must know loads of good ones with your heritage." Cloudpaw asked me.

That was a blow, aimed at his mother. "Five minutes and then we're leaving." Hailstone only said and walked to the entrance.

Cloudpaw padded over to him and they went to the training grounds.

"Can I ask you a question?" Hailstone asked as they walked.

"I suppose so"

"Why do you hate me so much?"

"Well your mother's killed so many cats and your brothers and sister are nearly the same." Cloudpaw started

"I asked why you hate me, not my siblings and my mother." Hailstone told him.

Cloudpaw was silent at this but didn't say a word after this.

"You need to work on your stalking techniques but you'll be pleased to know you should be able to do your hunting test tomorrow."

Cloudpaw grinned at this. "Thank you Hailstone."

Hailstone smiled slightly and then was serious again. "But only if you can show me what you've learnt about hunting today and we can't do this if we just talk can we?"

Cloudpaw shook his head and began to practice the hunting rabbits crouch.

At midday Hailstone decided that Cloudpaw was ready to do the hunting test the next day and so he gave Cloudpaw the rest of the day off.

When Hailstone got back to the camp he found Miststar had come back from her talk with Starclan.

Hailstone was called over to her den and so was the other two mentors Rainstone and Snowtiger.

In Hailstone's opinion he thought Rainstone was an attractive she cat but, like all the others, she didn't seem to like him.

"How's your apprentices?" Miststar asked them.

Rainstone spoke first. "Littlepaw is becoming quite a talented Hunter but I think if he carries on the way he is, he should be ready to become a warrior in a moon or so." She reported.

"Skypaw is a well balanced talented cat, if we could, I am sure she would be able to do her final tests within the week." He said gruffly.
"And anyway, you shouldn't be worried about me and Rainstone, you should be worried about Hailstone. According to Skypaw, Cloudpaw hasn't even started on fighting training yet."

Miststar turned to him. "Is this true?"

"What they're saying is true but I was going to tell you why I've been taking so long training him to be a hunter." Hailstone asked for permission.

Miststar nodded her eyes trained on him.

"Cloudpaw has shown improvement however I thought that if I trained him to hunt first then he would learn balance, which he needed when he first became an apprentice because he was very lopsided, so he could learn to fight quicker and easier, and so if times were tough he'd be able to help hunt with or for the warriors whenever it is needed. However saying this, I was going to come to you and tell you that he is ready for his Hunting test." Hailstone quickly finished when he realized he'd began rambling.

Miststar narrowed her eyes. "Good. Tomorrow you'll have the day off from training him and instead stay with Rainforest, she's begun to complain cats don't visit her often now."

Miststar rose and walked to the high ledge. "Let all cats who brave the storms gather to the high rock." She yowled.

"Cloudpaw is having his Hunting test tomorrow and I want no cat to go near or help Cloudpaw tomorrow. Is this understood?" She informed them.

The clan nodded and and I saw Cloudpaw looking proud as the cats looked at him.

"Second of all, there is an full moon meeting tonight so I would like these cats to come with me, Whitecloud, Raintail, Stormtail, Snowtiger, Hailstone, Skypaw and Littlepaw those cats have a piece of freshkill and have some sleep. Nothing else to report."

Hailstone smiled to himself. For the second time in his life, he was going to the full moon meeting. The first time was when he was an apprentice and had to make the mandatory meeting to become a warrior.

Grabbing a small mouse I ate it quickly and slipped into the warriors den to sleep.