What path we choose defines us. What little choices affect our entire lives within our Clan. Apprentices are those who begin their rank with the ability to be accountable for their own actions. Though kits are not accountable. Apprentices begin that accountability upon becoming an apprentice. They must know right from wrong and learn from their mistakes from their mentor's guidance.
"Blinkpaw! Ashenpaw! Cherrypaw!" These words repeated over and over, chanted across the abandoned hay bale camp. Blinkpaw held himself high proud to hear his clanmates calling his name. He found himself a sense of belonging. The chanting slowed to a stop as warriors and other cats started back to their duties or just going over to the three apprentices to congratulate them on becoming apprentices.
"Congratulations on becoming stupid apprentices like myself, Blinkpaw, Cherrypaw, and Ashenpaw!" A large bulky tom approached them, he was around their size. Average for a DarkClan cat. He gave an amused smile. The usual kind of DarkClan cat anyways.
The tom paused in his tracks when a cat called "Shadowpaw!" The tom turned and wished the three new apprentices good luck in their training. Cherrypaw was pulled away from the two brothers to go see the medicine cat den. Blinkpaw sighed.
"I hope our mentors decide to work together and we get to explore the territory!" Ashenpaw seemed excited. The leader, Aspenstar had called their mentors over to speak to them quickly. Ashenpaw was excited to see his mentor, Birchleaf. Blinkpaw could not see his mentor anywhere.
"Hey Birchleaf!" Blinkpaw greeted the deputy with a face of awe. The deputy had simply nodded his head to greet Blinkpaw. "Do you know if Duskgaze will be with you and Ashenpaw? Ashenpaw and I want to explore the territory together but I was wondering if you two would…" He slowed down in his ramble and stopped himself when Birchleaf started to speak to him.
"Well, Blinkpaw. Your mentor is finishing his talk with Aspenstar. If you want to go with us, I can speak with your mentor and see if he'd like to go with us." He gave a friendly smile that Blinkpaw grew to hate later. "In the meantime, you two suit yourselves until I'm finished talking to Duskgaze."
Blinkpaw watched as Birchleaf went to a group of warriors and started chit chatting. He growled and received a smack on the head due to it. Ashenpaw shook his head. Blinkpaw looked and saw Aspenstar with his shining golden pelt coming from the leader's den talking to Blinkpaw's mentor who was a dark grey tabby tom with brilliant hazel eyes.
For the large apprentice he disliked that Birchleaf wasn't even taking the time to talk to Duskgaze but was spitting out orders to other cats. He watched as Duskgaze approached him. "Hey Blinkpaw!" His mentor greeted. Duskgaze nodded his head in greeting to Ashenpaw
"I want you to talk to Birchleaf so I can go with Ashenpaw!" Blinkpaw quickly said without acknowledging his mentor was hurt by his ignorance. Blinkpaw looked up at him with eyes that Duskgaze just shook at him.
"Alright then Blinkpaw." He said simply. Duskgaze turned to the deputy and they started chatting away. Blinkpaw looked satisfied with what he got. He got both mentors to agree to talk to each other.
"Blinkpaw." Ashenpaw spoke up. "You should have at least said hello to Duskgaze. Duskgaze is one of the best mentors in this clan according to multiple cats' sources!" Blinkpaw rolled his eyes. "You should show your mentor more respect."
"He's right sonny" An elder was standing behind the two. Blinkpaw scrambled back and Ashenpaw looked behind him. "Now could you two pass me a nice plump vole from that pile. I'm sure it'll pass some time while you wait for your new mentors to sort things out between each other."
"Right!" Blinkpaw jumped up grabbing the plumpest vole from the pile. He leaped over to the elder and gave him the vole. "Is this good?" He asked politely.
"Yes that is." The elder half dragged the vole back to the elder's den. Blinkpaw, please turned to Ashenpaw. Ashenpaw was sad it seemed. Blinkpaw turned his head to see Ashenpaw and his mentors. They were bickering.
Blinkpaw approached them with curiosity to their bickering. "Hey, what are you guys fighting for?" He asked out of curiosity. He had heard enough to know they were fighting about the apprentices. "Is it something wrong?"
Duskgaze glanced to Blinkpaw and dragged him out of the camp by the scruff. He was let go of when they got out of camp. "Birchleaf is a lazy deputy. What he wanted to review was not the entire territory." Duskgaze fluidly passed by Blinkpaw and motioned for him to follow.
"What do you mean not the entire territory?" Blinkpaw asked out of curiosity. He took step after step closer to where Duskgaze was leading him. Duskgaze hummed something before turning. He sat down on the edge of grassland and farmland.
"The territory without the farmlands. You see that Farmplace? It's home to many rogues and loners no matter how many times we drive them out. LeafClan takes that place for themselves more often than not." Duskgaze said softly. "The land you sit on there is the grasslands, pass this line and you'll be on farmlands."
Blinkpaw nodded in understanding. "So if I cross the wooden things there, we'll be treading on the most dangerous part of our territory?" He asked curiously in which Duskgaze nodded. "Can we go in there?" Once again, another nod.
Duskgaze stood up stretching. He turned around to the farmplace. "Prepare yourself though and stay on high alert." Duskgaze told Blinkpaw before jumping through an opening in the wooden things as Blinkpaw referred them as. Blinkpaw followed close by.
They pushed through the farmland fields. For Blinkpaw, this was like a whole new adventure. He knew the land to the forest. But for him, he had never ventured beyond those two points. The two passed a familiar log to Blinkpaw. He slowed to a stop next to the log. "A storm caused that to be there. I believe it came from Light Forest." Duskgaze flicked his tail at the log, he didn't even stop to look. Blinkpaw started to move towards Duskgaze.
Paws came to a stop. Blinkpaw flicked an ear when he heard a noise. He turned his head. Blinkpaw looked back at where his mentor was. Duskgaze was gone. Blinkpaw started to panic. He kept looking around before calling out for his mentor. "Duskgaze!"
He heard another noise, this time a crack of a twig. Blinkpaw pushed himself into a stance. He saw movement to the right and heard noise to the left. Blinkpaw looked straight ahead to see a silver tom approach him. "A clan's pathetic apprentice?"
Blinkpaw hissed at being called pathetic. "I'm a perfectly capable warrior." He growled. Blinkpaw decided to hold his ground and not run away. After all, he could tell there were other cats around the place. A small voice whispered, he paid no heed.
"Oh, mind you, a warrior showing a warrior around a territory? Isn't that what an apprentice does." The tom found amusement in teasing the young apprentice at his own lie. Blinkpaw grumbled something. Yet again, a small voice called. Blinkpaw hissed lowly for the voice to shut up.
"Well, you caught me, I'm an apprentice. A perfectly capable one too." He found courage to smoothly state it. In reality, he was shaking in fear. They could smell his fear scent. He glanced around.
"My, my, you lie. Rosirad." The tom smiled and flicked his tail. Blinkpawsaw one of the cats who were hidden in the grasses dart at him. Jump. Blinkpaw jumped over the cat. He didn't know why he jumped. The voice had become clear enough for him to hear that one word. The cat seemed a bit surprised to see the apprentice jump. "I didn't see that coming." he commented, before motioning something.
Blinkpaw hissed at the cat. He looked around fearfully. Blinkpaw. The voice came again. Cats came swarming. Let me help you.
"Blinkpaw!" A voice could be heard over a ringing noise in his ear. "Blinkpaw!" The voice could be heard again. For Blinkpaw, he opened an eye to see a dark forest like place. "Blinkpaw!" The voice came again. Blinkpaw woke finally. A silver she-cat with dark stripes on the face, shoulders, legs, and tail could be seen. "Good you are up." The she-cat said, pleased. Blinkpaw looked around.
"Where are we?" Blinkpaw asked quickly. "Who are you!" He had a scared look across his face. The she-cat laughed. Blinkpaw didn't like that laugh. He hissed, "Tell me!" He growled, getting up, His hind leg collapsed on him and he yelped in pain as he was forced to sit down again.
"This, is the Dark Forest. Where all StarClan rejects go." The she-cat smiled innocently. Blinkpaw made a noise in response. "But you aren't dead. However you are a hope to some of us." She said, turning to a tree. "I am Silverbird. Your's truly, your ancestor." She introduced herself, "You might be wondering why I'm here." Silverbird meowed. "But Most LightClanners were here anyways. StarClan rejects LightClanners." She hissed. "It's those… LeafClanners that decide this.
Blinkpaw looked at her with a scared expression. "What do you mean LeafClanners? They've always been described as lazy individuals." He meowed. Blinkpaw didn't want to be here. He wanted home, he wanted to be with his siblings and everyone else. "They probably aren't bad cats!" Silverbird twitched her whiskers in amusement as Blinkpaw tried to explain that they weren't bad cats.
"You will understand in time young kit. Had I not saved you back there you would have never found yourself in your own Clan's camp. In a medicine cat's den no matter." Silverbird meowed. "You should thank Duskgaze for finding you and bringing you back there." She added before speaking again. "That is, when you wake again. Should you not believe me, I'll wait for you to understand." She meowed. The world around Blinkpaw faded.
"Hey Blinkpaw!" He heard his sister's voice and he responded with a flick of an ear. "Good you are awake!" Cherrypaw meowed. She sounded excited. The medicine cat den… He thought to himself. He tried to recall how he got here. "How are you feeling." Cherrypaw asked. Blinkpaw found little to nothing in the way of wanting to respond.
"I'm doing fine." Blinkpaw mumbled in response to Cherrypaw. He took it upon himself to get up. He finally recalled how he got here. "Where's Duskgaze?" He started up quickly, recalling what Silverbird had said. He quickly got up. Pain in his hind leg made him pull weight off of it.
"Careful there." Cherrypaw meowed. "Duskgaze…" She trailed, Cherrypaw seemed a bit off. She didn't want to say. Blinkpaw grumbled something. "He's outside talking to Birchleaf!" She finally said. She took no time in bolting off somewhere.
Blinkpaw took a few unsteady steps to the outside of the hay hole of a den. He took a little trying not to put weight on his foot. He took his time. He heard a low voice. He could tell it was Birchleaf. He had to recognize the voice. "You let your apprentice get hurt. You are not deserving of an apprentice!" Birchleaf had lowly said.
"Let me have one last chance!" Duskgaze meowed, "Please, Aspenstar, Birchleaf!" He sounded like he was begging. Blinkpaw sat down to the edge of the den. He listened in closely. The three cats seemed to be having a disscussion.
"You said that the last time you got your apprentice killed. And look now, You've had your last chance get hurt." An unknown voice spoke. Blinkpaw assumed it was Aspenstar. He realized they were debating whether or not Blinkpaw needed Duskgaze as his mentor.
"That wasn't my fault. Harepaw had not understood what it meant to not wander off!" Duskgaze pleaded. He sounded desperate and tired. "In fact, I saved Blinkpaw's life!"
"And Blinkpaw was already out. He didn't save him." Aspenstar's voice growled, It was low. Blinkpaw didn't want to change mentors. He didn't want to have things change. Blinkpaw hung his head. He shouldn't have gotten distracted. Then he wouldn't be here.
"He did a pretty good job for a newly made apprentice. He dodged well and he did take down one of those rouges." Duskgaze said, he tried to pull the card that Blinkpaw did well. "He may have been hurt, but he doesn't deserve some change because of my mistake!" Blinkpaw's ears pricked at the sound of that.
"He did almost… too well." Aspenstar's voice sounded suspicious and Blinkpaw winced. Silverbird got some cats to suspect him for something. Blinkpaw lowered his head even further then it was down. "It's decided. You will not be Blinkpaw's mentor."
"Please Aspenstar! One last chance!" Duskgaze asked pleadingly. Blinkpaw sighed. Whoever his mentor would be next. Blinkpaw wanted to keep Duskgaze as his mentor. He growled at the thought of having another cat. Despite knowing Duskgaze for a little. Blinkpaw hated change.
"It's final." Birchleaf had said firmly. "What Aspenstar says, is law." He finished, and Duskgaze seemed to whimper. Blinkpaw had turned himself around to not face the outside. He grumbled to himself.
If I can't be mentored to Duskgaze. I'll be the worst apprentice DarkClan will ever have. He promised to himself. He sulked in anger and didn't realize Duskgaze was behind him. "Hey Blinkpaw." Blinkpaw flinched and spun around, wincing in pain from his leg.
"Hey Duskgaze!" Blinkpaw sheepishly meowed. "I wanted to uh…" He trailed off, recalling that Aspenstar said that he was out when Duskgaze found him. "Know when I might get battle training so I can battle better!" He covered up what he was going to say.
Duskgaze shook his head. "I won't be your mentor." Duskgaze told Blinkpaw firmly. Blinkpaw may have already knew that but he shrunk. He shrunk in the spot he was in. He hung his head once more and mumbled. "I'm sorry Blinkpaw"
Blinkpaw glared at his paws. He looked up at Duskgaze, "It's fine. I'll still be a good apprentice for you." He promised. "I won't let my former mentor down." Blinkpaw held his head up high for his former mentor.
"But you've only had me as a mentor for a tiny bit." Duskgaze tried to point out which Blinkpaw responded with a shake of his head. Blinkpaw pushed past his former mentor with little pain as he put less weight on his hind paw.
"Blinkpaw! Don't leave this den!" Cherrypaw called out from the den and Blinkpaw turned. He sighed seeing Cherrypaw. "Violetflower doesn't want you to leave the den quite yet!" Cherrypaw meowed. She pulled Blinkpaw back and had him sit down in the den.
Blinkpaw watched his mentor leave the medicine cat den. "Why can't I leave. I can handle my leg!" He spat. He was angry to be stuck in a den once again. "I can do everything an apprentice and a warrior can do!"
Cherrypaw sighed. "That's the problem Blinkpaw, Violetflower doesn't think your leg will heal well. She doesn't think you'll be able to ever be a warrior." Cherrypaw explained. "I don't quite understand why quite yet. However I might be able to understand later and explain it better for you." She continued.
Blinkpaw was on the verge of throwing a tantrum. "Then what can I be then. A pathetic excuse for an apprentice who simply go to the elders den and never serve my Clan on my first day as an apprentice. Has StarClan forsaken me?" He spat. He took no time trying to tune her out. He was tired.
"Blinkpaw, please, have some rest." Cherrypaw told him. "You'll be levelheaded in the morning." She continued. She paid no attention to her surroundings and a dark grey and silver smoked she-cat threw some herbs at Cherrypaw. She yelped. "What was that for Violetflower?"
"You weren't supposed to tell him that quite yet." Violetflower rasped. "I haven't confirmed if it will be yet." Blinkpaw let out a shaky sigh of relief. "But he may always have trouble with that leg in the future. After all, Getting thrown on to the ground so hard your bone cracks, will always cause trouble for a cat."
Blinkpaw laid himself down. He tuned the two bickering she-cats of this starclan forsaken hay hole out. He rolled over and tried to soothe himself to sleep. He wondered where Ashenpaw was, was he in the apprentices' den having a nice sleep? Did he come by and check on his pathetic runt brother? Blinkpaw weighed different things throughout his mind.
The chocolate mink quietly fell asleep after a little while he was in the middle of reviewing his day and asking questions that were not needed. Violetflower and Cherrypaw did not notice the tom had fallen asleep but what they did then, would not matter.
A/N: I am so enjoying writing this! I had fun introducing Silverbird. She's kind of my favorite Character. I enjoy her character. Birchleaf's joking manners are to come, I love his personality.
