The morning sun rose slowly over the trees. The wind lightly yanked the brush and leaves. The ground was cold, covered with small drops of dew. Faintstar padded quietly to a bare area.

Already, he could smell the traces of prey, running everywhere. Patiently he waited for his apprentice, Miserypaw, to arrive. His apprentice was quiet most of the time and the leader often wondered if that was a good thing.

A small twig broke suddenly from underneath a bush. Out of habit, the blind tom crouched and followed the noise. Soon, he was able to take in the strong stench of the mouse, unaware of its defeat. Even blind, the leader was capable of pin pointing the exact location of his prey.

A small pounce and the mouse lay dead at his feet. He buried it and continued waiting for the apprentice to arrive...

The small mew of the apprentice slightly started the leader. "Hello Miserypaw." he nodded in her dicrection, "We will be hunting today." The large tom padded up to the apprentice and flicked his tail behind her, "Let's start right away."

Faintstar's whiskers twitched at the sound of prey. His sightless eyes trailed into the distance, "Tell me what you smell." Faintstar sat and relaxed. There was plenty of prey around and hardly any of it was well hidden in this area.

She's good, Faintstar thought. His sightless eyes scanned the clearing as he picked up the scents she traced. She was right, there was a thrush, a vole, and even mice. "There are two" he said, amused. "As you hunt more, you will be able to tell how much prey there is. If the scent is stronger, obviously there are more."

The leopard tom stood and stretched, "Now," he got into an example crouch, "Creep lightly on your front paws, and heavily on your back. You want all your power in your hind legs so you can pounce." He rocked back and forth to show the difference in body weight. His tail was level to keep his balance as he did so.

Faintstar smiled slightly. The anxiety in the apprentice's voice made him shift uneasily. Being blind, he wouldn't be able to tell if she did it correctly until the apprentice actually tried. Silently he nodded.

"Go ahead and continue." he whispered. "Be quick, but don't dive into the prey. They aren't as dumb as you may like to think." Amusment and anger showed in his sightless eyes as he remembered the first time he tried to hunt. His senses were stronger than any other cat, but his blindness almost made him stupid. His first prey, a vole, was staring right at him and he didn't know. Faintstar brought his attention back to his apprentice and waited patiently as she hunted.