A cream tabby stretched lazily in his nest before curling back into a ball. He rested his thin tail on his nose and snuggled his face into his paws. A voice called him from outside his den, but he didn't care. All he wanted to do was sleep, so he flattened his ears to shut out the noise.

    Suddenly he was jerked from his nest and carried out into the bright light of day. He was thrown on to the dry grass and landed with an oof. He rested his yellow orbs on the cat that had thrown him out with a grumpy glare.

    "Dunepaw! I'm tired of this!" A brown tom with black patches glared at his apprentice. "Ever since— no ever since you were born you've been like this! You've always slept in till after after sunhigh and haven't even done any work the previous day!"

    "Relax, Waspfire," Dunepaw drew a white paw over his ear, noticing his ear tips were burning in slight embarrassment.

    Waspfire sighed and muttered something inaudible. "Go clean yourself up by the stream. Come back and you can help me, Shadestep, and Gingerfall repair the elders' den." Satisfied with his instructions, Waspfire bounded towards the elders den where Skyglow and Seabriar, the elders, were waiting.

    Dunepaw ambled off, a grumpy expression painted on his features. His tail swished back and forth and his head hung low. He earned a few snickers from Swiftpaw and his sister Melonpaw when he walked outside. I'll show you one day, Swiftpaw. Dunepaw snorted.

    The soft trickling of water sounded to Dunepaw's right and he quickened into a trot. He reached the stream and stood at the bank before hesitantly dipping his paws in. He splashed some water on face to wake himself and he sat down in the stream and licked his fur clean. He walked slowly out and shook himself dry.

    The sun was hot on his pelt and he dreaded the next task at paw. Though he very much appreciated the elders, he also found them annoying. Their stories were sometimes made up or they had added awesome feats that they had conquered. Most of the made up and over dramatic stories came from Skyglow.

    The white molly always told how she had lost her eye. She exaggerated most of the time that she had been attacked by ten foxes. She said she had fought them all off single pawed, but lost an eye in the event. Dunepaw's thoughts about the elders stopped when he saw Skyglow eyeing him from where she lay lazily besides her broken den with Seabriar.

    "About time, young'un!" Seabriar mewed loudly when Dunepaw reached them.

    "I'm not deaf, you know," Dunepaw muttered. He ambled grumpily over to his mentor and waited patiently for directions.

    "This log is being decomposed quicker then usual," Waspfire wrinkled his nose when he flipped the log over and a few bugs crawled out. "No wonder the elders have so many ticks!"

    "We can't do much about it, so what do we do? Replace the whole den?" Gingerfall questioned.

    "That looks like the obvious choice. But making a den takes time. Where will the elders sleep?" Shadestep asked.

    "We can put them in the nursery. I'm sure the queens won't mind. Plus, Spottedkit and Dustkit will get to know more of our history." Waspfire decided.

    Dunepaw shook his head. "That's rabbit - brained! The kits and queens could ticks and fleas! Do we really want to give more work for Alderfleck?"

    Waspfire grinned in pleasure. "There's my inventive apprentice!" Waspfire rubbed Dunepaw's head in a playful way that showed pride. Dunepaw liked it, even though it ruffled the fur on his head.

    "Alright, Dunepaw, where should they sleep?" Gingerfall tilted her head smugly.

    "In the warriors' den of course," Dunepaw stated.

    Shadestep sighed. "There is.. room in there..."

    Gingerfall nodded reluctantly. "Then that's decided. We can move the log over to Lone Tree. It's already our main hunting space. Perhaps the bugs will attract even more prey to that area? I'll find some warriors to help us move it." Gingerfall bounded off to a group of strong heft warriors and chatted a little while. She came back moments later with Dunepaw's uncle Rubblefall, Pineberry, Tinyfur, and Brambleears.

    Gingerfall ordered Melonpaw to help out, as did Brambleears order Elmpaw to help out. The strongest warriors pushed the log towards the exit of camp while the other warriors pulled the log up the slope. The three apprentices worked together to create a clear path in the camp to make moving the log slightly easier.

    Dovestar noticed what they were doing and joined in, and at last the log was out of camp. The job to push it down to Lone Tree would be easier since the moorland sloped down. Waspfire relieved Dunepaw of his duties and the mentor and apprentice were now off to feed the elders and queens.

    Waspfire took a black and white rabbit in his jaws and dragged it over to where the elders were basking peacefully in the sunlight. Dunepaw took two crows and a mouse to the nursery. He gave one crow to his mother Hollybloom and the other to Dayripple. He gave the mouse Berryswirl.

    Hollybloom purred her thanks and gave her son a nuzzle. "Thank you, Dunepaw. How is your training going?"

    "Well, we just moved the elders den out of camp," Dunepaw mewed after giving his ear a good scratch. Hollybloom blinked. "It was rotting pretty bad... So they're going to be moving into the warriors den."

    Hollybloom wrapped her tail around her paws. "I see. You'd better get going, then. Sitting here talking to me won't get you to be a warrior any quicker!"

    Dunepaw chuckled and scampered off. He met up with his mentor and awaited his next task. It was sundown now, since he had waited so long to wake, but Waspfire and Dunepaw were assigned to a last minute hunting patrol. Waspfire let his mate Ambervine tag along, as well as his son, Spicedust.

    Dunepaw was a bit jealous. He didn't have many friends besides his sister and his aunt and uncle Robinblaze and Rubblefall weren't much company. Hollybloom was expecting his new siblings and Nightwatcher spent most of his time with her. Waspfire was a cat Dunepaw looked up to.

    When Dunepaw was a little kit in the nursery, Waspfire would often visit him and Melonpaw. Waspfire and Dunepaw were both big pranksters, and with Waspfire being an elite warrior, no other cat except Gingerfall or Dovestar could order him around. This made the duo nearly unstoppable.

    Once they made it to Lone Tree, Dunepaw decided to make his way towards the rotting log. Beetles and bugs of all sorts swarmed the log. Rustles in the grass alerted Dunepaw and he dropped into a hunter's crouch. A rabbit revealed itself from the tall grasses and sniffed around checking for scent.

    Dunepaw waggled his haunches and creeped around the edges of the clearing. He made his way close to the rabbit until he was in leaping distance. Finally, he pounced. He landed squarely on the rabbit, and ended it swiftly with the killing bite.

    "Good catch!" Spicedust called from a ways with another rabbit in his mouth.

    "Thanks," Dunepaw meowed behind his rabbit. "Why isn't Flypaw with you?"

    Spicedust shrugged. "She had already been on two hunting patrols and a border patrol. I asked but she said she was tired. She deserved the rest."

    Maybe that's why Waspfire doesn't let me rest... But I do do things! I helped get a log out of camp! Dunepaw shrugged. "Where are the others?"

    "Waiting for us. Let's go, it's getting late, and I have a certain someone to get to!" Spicedust trotted along up the hillside with Dunepaw.

    Once they reached camp, Dunepaw's legs ached fiercely. Waspfire sent him to go eat, so he picked up a large squirrel. He hadn't eaten much that day and had only been allowed to have a few nibbles of a scrawny mouse throughout the day. It was punishment for sleeping in. Suddenly the life of an elder didn't sound too bad.

    All Dunepaw could think about was his nest at that point, so he crawled into the bramble den and curled up tightly in his nest beside Elmpaw and Melonpaw. Finally he went to sleep underneath the moonlit sky.