Sundown

Chapter Six(year one, moon three)

Snippaw cracked a tick between his teeth, wincing at the taste.

"Tell me again why my former apprentice thought it right to punish you?"

"I assume it's because I didn't obey without question."

"He always did have a control issue. Thought because his aunt was the leader, it let him do whatever he wanted. Guess all the punishments I gave him still didn't give him a clue."

Snippaw nodded, cracking another tick between his teeth.

Bugkit, Olivekit, and a cinnamon tomkit Snippaw had never bothered to get to know came bounding in, their fur messy and wet from rolling around in the snow.

"Hello, kittens."

"Snipdusk, we want a story!" Olivekit demanded, his little tail raised.

"Alright, calm down. What do you want to hear about today?"

The kits thought for a moment, before the cinnamon one hopped forward.

"SunClan! Brackennight says they're aggressive."

"Let's see. . . What about the first leader of SunClan?"

"No, we want to hear about Sandystar!" Olivekit protested.

"And how he became leader!" Bugkit added.

"Isn't that a bit mature for you kittens?"

"We're all five moons."

"I suppose someone has to tell you. . ."

Snippaw paused, as curious as the kits were.

"Well, when Sandystar was just a 'paw, he was rather ambitious, always trying to prove himself to the old leader, Stonestar. Once, he tried to take on a fox by himself, nearly dying in the process. He succeeded in driving it away, but Stonestar only reprimanded him for his careless risk and stupidity. This made him angry, an anger he carried through his rather normal warrior years as Sandyrain."

"That's a weird name," Olivekit remarked.

"Well, he was named after his mother, Raineyes. Sandystar's fighting skill kept building, and so did the cats who wanted him as leader. He was telling them about what changes he would make to create a 'perfect' SunClan. Once his cliqué was big enough, he staged a rebellion, during which Stonestar allegedly fell off the mountain and died. Once it was over, the remaining SunClan cats reluctantly accepted him as their leader, if only to stop the bloody battle. For the past season or so, he's made changes to SunClan, putting more restrictions on his cats. Half the apprentices are too young to be training and the other half should be done by now."

"Whoa. I would hate to live in SunClan," the cinnamon tomkit mewed, gobsmacked.

Snippaw silently agreed with him, a faint feeling of pity stirring up inside him for the poor apprentice he met on his first day.

"Why don't you kittens go grab me some prey?" Snipdusk purred, ushering them out.

Snippaw cracked the last tick between his teeth. "Is there anything else you need done?"

"Not me, but the clan could really use more prey."

"I'll keep that in mind," Snippaw muttered, fully intending to sleep for the next ten seasons.

"Snippaw, hey!" Fennelpaw called from near the thorn tunnel. "I was just about to go hunting, want to join me?"

"Not right now, thanks," he called back, vanishing into the apprentices' den.

"I'll go!" came the silky voice of Newtpaw.

Snippaw curled up, but something was keeping him awake. A faint nagging deep inside him, a faint guilt.

He was being selfish. How could he sleep while half his clan wasn't getting the food they needed?

With an exasperated sigh, he trudged out of his den after Newtpaw and Fennelpaw.

—~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~—

"There's a mouse right over there, Snippaw," Newtpaw whispered, gesturing to the root of a rather large tree.

"So catch it."

"You're also on this hunt, so make yourself useful and catch something."

Snippaw sighed, dropping in the hunting crouch he'd watch the other apprentices do so many times.

"Be slow," Fennelpaw warned.

The white tom drew himself through the snow with a painstaking lack of speed.

The moment before he leapt, a stick cracked under his large paws and the mouse raced away.

"Why did you come? You can't hunt."

Snippaw shrugged, not caring to answer.

"Newtpaw, be nice. He wanted to do something for his clan, obviously. Besides, you're not the best hunter either."

"Maybe, but I'll be a warrior any day now."

Fennelpaw rolled her eyes. "So will Basilpaw and Sweetpaw and you don't hear them bring it up every two seconds."

"Whatever. I'm going hunting on my own. See you back at camp."

"Let's hope."

Newtpaw's small frame vanished under snow as he bound away, his thin tail flowing out behind him.

"Come on, Snippaw, let's find more prey."