The New Light of Hope: Books I to VI.

Chapter XXII: Making Early Preperations.

Milly:

Date: July 22, 2019.

"Be sure to stock on enough herb in the case of any animal coming back with wounds that have a likelyhood of getting infected if not attended to!" HopeWhisper instructed IvyStem and Amethyst ran off to grab what HopeWhisper said was needed. I watched as they ran off to retreive the herbs that were needed and I went back to helping BeetleLegs, GoldenShine, FiercePounce, and SilentShadow with battle training while the others helped out with other things around the area. Though everyone was calm, focused and serious with what they were doing, I on the other hand was not–I felt uncomfortable about the situation, knowing that I now had numerous sets of eyes watching my every move and knowning that the Sky of Silver Souls were now on to me after that night. I was fearing for my life by this point and I didn't know what would happen in the next several days from now, but whatever happened, I was not really prepared for. But, I decided to just play along with what was currently going on and just play it cool and to try to not act too suspicious to the point where it caught everyone's attention and I did not want any of that to happen. And so, I played with my role and just went from there, but I would have to make a hard decision at some point.
…
Aurora:

"Sneak up behind him and once you're close enough… pounce!" I told Shadow during training when he was about to go against Antler as a practice run. He nodded his head in agreement and began to carefully trot his way into nearby shrubs and hid out of sight of everyone and right behind Antler, where he wouldn't suspect a thing. He watched as Antler was looking around, wondering where he was. Prepared as he was, he leaped out of the bushes and pounced on him and pinned him down, catching him by surprise. "Excellent job, Shadow!" IvyFoot praised. He looked over at his mother with a warm smile as he went back to concentrating and let Antler back up.
During some of his fighting rounds, he managed to win and let some have an easy win.

ShadowStalker:

"We'll have an easy victory if we keep fighting like this!" I told everyone, the other apprentices agreed with my words and some of our trainers did as well, though some of them looked a bit worried at the same time. "All right, apprentices, before we head back to help out around the Division, would you all like to go hunting with the other hunting apprentices?" Aurora asked us. We all replied "Yes" in response and then we were split up into groups; I went with DeerPounce, Storm, Chief ArrowHeart Aurora, SageEyes, Dusk, and Briar on our hunt, where Briar showed how to carefully stalk a shrew and once I was close enough, I pounced on it and gave it the killing blow. "Nice one." She replied. Our hunting trip went well as expected–Storm caught a starling, Cream had caught a large rabbit, and Briar caught a sparrow. Then we came back to show our trainers our catches. "Excellent work, you four!" DeerPounce told us. "Now then, let's head back and be sure you feed the elders."

"Yes, sir!" Our voices were muffled by our catches but we managed to give a clear answer. After all was said and done with, we all went back home.
…
StormShadow:

"Does anyone need a starling, a rabbit, or a sparrow to eat?" Cream asked the elders. "We had our fillings for today, but thank you for the offer." BrokenClaw replied. "But, is it okay if we gave the sparrow to HazelStripe? He hasn't really eaten much in the past couple of days now."

Cream: "Absolutely! You know we wouldn't just let you all starve to death, no elder deserves to go hungry or go to sleep on an empty stomach."

FlowerHeart: "Well, at least we know you care about your elders."

Cream: "Of course."

BrokenClaw picked up the rabbit and placed it in front of HazelStripe; our grandfather lifted his head in a prostate manner and began to sniff the rabbit, but then turned it down again. "Come on, HazelStripe." BrokenClaw muttered as he nudged the rabbit a little closer to him. "Try to eat something, or you'll die of starvation."
Openly hearing his words, HazelStripe began to take small little bites of the rabbit—in recent days, our grandfather began to act strange and hardly got enough sleep. Grandfather must really miss grandmother a lot. I whispered quietly to myself. "I'll go get some water if he needs it and I'll also get the Healer's in here as well." Briar told us before she darted off to the Den of the Healer's to fetch the three to help us out.

"He hasn't slept in over four days." NightStone concluded. "And he recently just ate some food, we'll give some water and a little bit of valerian root and some poppy seeds to help him sleep, but it would be best if he was left undisturbed in the meantime while he tries to rest up to regain his strength. Thank you for letting us know sooner."

"Anytime." Cream responded, then we left to tell our father about the situation.
...
ShadowStalker:

"I wanted to talk to you about this now before it was too late." Aurora told me; she had decided to talk to me abou an important quality of what it is like to be a good and responsible leader as one day, I would be the one that would take her place when she and her friends left the Forest when the Diablos gave in. "Now, I want you to know this, Shadow and you must listen very carefully to what I'm about to tell because if you don't, you're going to have to learn it the hard way." She continued. "Because I must teach you what it means to be an inspiring, responsible, wise, noble, selfless, loyal, valient, and understanding leader of the Protectors as you will be in my position someday and you have a lot to learn until then."

Shadow: "Good ahead, Aurora. I'm listening."

Aurora: "Good. Know this, Shadow: Being the future leader of the Protectors of the Forest, victory is something you won't always achieve as you may need to call off the attack if you're being overpowered; a good leader always puts others first, even if it means that it may cost his or her own life in the midst of it all."

Shadow: "Really?"

Aurora: "Yes, and it's important for you to know this early so that way you will remember it in the future when you will take my place as leader when me and my friends leave at some point in time whenever the Diablos give in. Promise me you will remember all of this when we leave."

Shadow: "Of course, Aurora; I promise."

And a promise I kept, even to this very day.