Chapter 20: Doing Duties

A bird chirped and fluttered through the sky as down below Ash, Rusty, Dust, Cinder, Lily, and Snakeseye walked through the forest. Ash looked around, examining the area. "We're working on hunting today," he told the others as he lead the way towards the forest clearing. "You should probably learn this quickly because the Firebenders will expect you to fetch prey for them."
"Ha! Fat chance," snorted Lily.
"Okay, it's your funeral," Rusty shrugged.
"Hey!" Lily protested, "you're my mentor, you're supposed to encourage me!"
"Not to encourage you to do stuff that can get you killed," Rusty pointed out.
Lily grumbled. "Fine. I'll fetch stupid prey for the Firebenders."
"So you're not gonna fetch smart prey?" Rusty joked.
"Stop teasing me!" Lily complained.
"Rusty, stop it," Ash said, "Cinder, I suppose you know a bit of hunting already." When Cinder nodded, Ash continued, "thought so. But we can still refresh your memory. This should be easy for you predators. But Snakeseye, you're gonna have to work a bit harder."
"Why are you acting like the leader, Ash?" Dust snorted.
"Because he's good at it!" Cinder smiled.
"Right," Rusty laughed.
Ash shook his head. "Whatever. Let's see which apprentice can fetch the biggest piece of prey."
"And do NOT hunt any deer!" Dust put in.
"Yes," Ash nodded agreement, "if you scent a deer, head away from it."
The three apprentices all exchanged confused looks. Rusty added in, "if you need help, come find us. We'll try to help you."
"But come to me, because I am better at hunting," Dust boasted.
"Hey!" Rusty growled.
"No fighting," Ash said. "Now, begin."
The three apprentices all darted off in different directions. Rusty turned to Dust and Ash. "Let's stalk them! Then we can watch them better."
"Stalk them?" Ash echoed. "Isn't that, like, invading their hunting concentration?"
"We'll hide, duh!" Dust pointed out.
Ash shook his head. "Fine."
Rusty and Dust both took out in the direction of their apprentices. Ash followed where Cinder went, and began tracking her. Ash duck down by a bush as he saw a moving gray shape. He peeked his head from the bush to see that Cinder was stalking a squirrel, who didn't notice her. Cinder then leaped and pinned the squirrel, quickly taking its life. She's good! Ash thought. Cinder then picked up the squirrel and climbed a nearby tree, hiding the squirrel up there. Ash then stepped out of the bushes. "You may not want to do that," he said, making Cinder jump.
"Ash, don't scare me like that!" Cinder protested. "And what was wrong with that? I thought putting it in a tree would be okay."
"Well, some animals can climb trees..." Ash began.
"Like me," came a voice. Ash looked up to see a fox hop down from the tree, holding Cinder's squirrel. It was revealed to be Ember. "See, Cinder. If you want to hide prey, bury it. Disguises its scent with dirt." Ember then hid the squirrel under some dirt, covering it completely.
"Who are you, how do you know my name, and what do you know about hunting?" Cinder demanded.
"You don't remember me?" Ember asked. "It's me, Ember. I was in The Bending Tower during the
blizzard." Ember then shook his head. "I'd better get going. You guys are busy, and I'll bet Moonlight probably needs me for something. See you." With that, Ember trotted off.
"Strange fox, he is," Cinder said.

After hunting was over, the group returned to The Bending Tower with five rabbits, two squirrels, a fish, and a songbird. They all dropped their prey in the large pile. As they put their prey down, a yellow fox with red ears came over. "We didn't tell you to go hunting," Graves growled.
"Buddy," Dust said, not sounding scared at all, "we almost got trampled by deer while hunting last time. You should be grateful we even considered going out again."
"Really?" the fox said with a slight smile.
"Really," Rusty nodded.
"I'll keep that in mind," the fox murmured, trotting off.
"What's with him?" Dust asked.
"I think his name is Graves," Snakeseye said.
"Mm. Strange name," Rusty shrugged. With that, he and Dust trotted off.
Then, Streak came bounding over. "Hi! You went hunting?"
"Yep," Cinder nodded.
Streak looked at all the prey. "Whoa. What did you catch?" he asked Cinder.
"The fish, two rabbits and a squirrel," Cinder replied.
"That's good!" Streak gasped.
"Thanks," Cinder smiled.
While the two kept talking, Lily wandered off, as Ash trotted away towards The Bending Tower, deciding to go talk to Airwing about the whole new deputy event. Ash brushed past some other members of The Bending Tower, thankful not to bump into any Firebenders.
Ash then entered the elders' den, where both Kabu and Airwing were siting.
"Kabu?" Ash said, a bit surprised, "you're actually accepting the fact you are being forced to retire?"
"I'm getting old anyway," Kabu gave a small smile. "What are you up to?"
"Oh. Well, tensions are high because of the whole deputy thing," Ash shrugged.
"We're well aware," Airwing nodded.
"Who do you think will become deputy?" Ash asked.
"Obviously someone brave, trustworthy, loyal and meant for the job," Airwing said.
"In that case, I may be right about my predictions of River becoming deputy," Ash replied.
Airwing gave a small chuckle, but Ash wasn't quite sure why.
"I think River would be good for the job," Kabu nodded, "but there are other possibilities, too."
"Airia thinks it should be me," Ash muttered. "So does Streak. Max thinks Airia or Stone should be deputy. Twig wants Creature to be deputy. There's a lot of choices."
"Goldwing will know just who to pick, with good reason," Kabu nodded.
"I believe that too," Ash agreed, and Kabu and Airwing exchanged looks. "Anyway, the meeting is tomorrow, I guess, so I'll see you then."

Author's Note:
Thanks to A01315 for Graves.
I'm considering doing a super edition of Ironfang. Thoughts?