Chapter Three

                                    

                                          
Mudpaw growled with frustration as he tried to pull another tick off of Jaywhisker's fur and missed.
	"Hey," the elder called. "Couldn't you be a bit more careful?"
	Tawnymouse had put Mudpaw on tick duty too, and he and Flowerpaw were trying to get as much done as they could. Flowerpaw was a few tail-lengths away, pulling a tick off of Pebblestorm.
	"Sorry, Jaywhisker." Mudpaw sighed. "Lucky Cloudpaw," he muttered to Flowerpaw. "He got a lucky catch, that's all it was, but Quickmist acted like he took down a hawk."
	Flowerpaw nodded in agreement. "Now we're stuck doing the worst jobs in camp." 
	"For the whole morning!" It feels so good to rant, Mudpaw thought with another long sigh. A few days ago, I was excited to go hunting, no matter how much I caught. Today I'd do anything just to catch something and impress Tawnymouse!
	"You can talk and yell around outside," Jaywhisker snapped. "Right now, be a regular apprentice and focus."
	For another while, Flowerpaw and Mudpaw caught as many ticks as they could. Then the Clan deputy called from outside the elders' den.
	"Hey. You've been doing this for the whole morning. Sprucewing was telling me how hard you've been working."
	Mudpaw's eyes lit up. "I never thought Nightfall would ever say that to us," he whispered to his littermate.
	Flowerpaw nodded vigorously. "I wonder what she wants."
	"Hard?" Jaywhisker muttered. "These two apprentices could definitely work much harder than this."
	Mudpaw and Flowerpaw both ignored the grumpy elder, knowing how he was acting had nothing to do with them. They took off running out of the elders' den to meet the SkyClan deputy.
	"Mudpaw! Flowerpaw! You nearly knocked me off my paws!" Nightfall scolded.
	Flowerpaw dipped her head respectfully. "Sorry, Nightfall."
	Nightfall's whiskers twitched in amusement, and he turned to look at the brown spotted apprentice. "I was just going to tell you that Reedclaw decided to shorten your punishment to a quarter moon. He said that it wasn't worth missing out on hunting practice just because of one not-so-good lesson."
	Flowerpaw's green eyes widened, and her heart flooded with joy. "Really?" she asked.
	"Yes, really," the dark-furred deputy answered, purring.
	Mudpaw looked up at Nightfall hopefully. "Did Tawnymouse shorten my punishment, too?" He had to squeeze punishment out of his mouth - he'd done nothing wrong. He didn't deserve to be picking ticks off of the elders, especially bad-tempered Jaywhisker.
	Nightfall shot him an apologetic look. "No. In fact, he was thinking about making it longer if you weren't working hard."
	Mudpaw hissed, not at Nightfall, but at his mentor. He wondered if Tawnymouse could hear from here. No matter how good his hearing might be, he decided, He wouldn't be able to hear me.
	"Of course, I won't let him do that," Nightfall meowed reassuringly. "I'm Clan deputy, and even Tawnymouse follows my orders." 
Mudpaw stared at her in amazement. He couldn't imagine Tawnymouse following any cat's orders if he didn't agree with them. But then, only a few days ago, Tawnymouse had agreed not to fight with his apprentice anymore. I wish he really stopped arguing with me so much, Mudpaw thought with a sigh.
	"And I say you need hunting practice," Nightfall went on. "Every apprentice needs to practice hunting. Quickmist told me that you haven't even learned how to hunt."
	Mudpaw felt hot, his fur brushing against his littermate's. He wondered if Flowerpaw could feel the heat that was radiating off of him. "That - that's true," he stammered.
	Nightfall sighed. "Being a strict, firm mentor is one thing, but not teaching an apprentice to hunt just because they don't focus during battle lessons is different. I'll make sure Tawnymouse teaches you how to hunt."
	Mudpaw nodded gratefully. "Thanks, Nightfall," he mumbled. Maybe Nightfall isn't such a bad deputy after all.
	"It's my duty to make sure the apprentices are getting the training they need," Nightfall responded smoothly. She dipped her head to Flowerpaw and Mudpaw. "I need to organize some more patrols. The fresh-kill pile is empty."
	Mudpaw and Flowerpaw lowered their heads in reply, and Nightfall walked away.
	"I guess it's time to get back to work," Mudpaw sighed.
	Flowerpaw nodded. "I feel bad for you. Jaywhisker's the most difficult cat you could meet."
	"Why do you think he's so difficult?" Mudpaw commented. "His father's father's father's father's father's father's father's father was Jayfeather."
	"What? Jayfeather's a ThunderClan cat. Was, anyway," Flowerpaw mewed, staring at her brother like he was crazy.
	"Somewhere in the middle, there was a SkyClan cat that mated with Jayfeather's kin," Mudpaw explained with another sigh. "Not all of Jayfeather's family is a medicine cat, after all. I'm not surprised that at least one took a mate from another Clan."
	Flowerpaw shrugged. "Let's get to work."
	Mudpaw hissed with frustration but nodded. "Yeah. Why do elders have so many ticks anyway?"
	Flowerpaw laughed. "We'll never know."