HollyClan: Apprentice Ceremony
"Owlfeather, you are ready for your first apprentice. You had a good mentor in Cedarcloud, and I hope you will pass on all that she taught you to Wingpaw."
Berrypaw listened to the deep voice of his leader from the edge of the small clearing. The whole Clan was gathered around the Old Root, a big, ancient stump that Howlingstar used to address the Clan for ceremonies and important announcements. Today it was a ceremony, the naming ceremony of two kits becoming apprentices.
Littlekit and Wingkit were two very popular young she-cats. They always had been talkative little furballs as far as Berrypaw remembered. Especially Wingkit. He had shared a den with them for four moons of his own kithood, and he remembered how much the little tortoiseshell could natter on about something as unimportant as a centipede. It seemed his one quiet moon as an apprentice was coming to an end, because after today he would once again be sharing a den with those two. Not that the older apprentices were particularly quiet…
As the newly-made apprentice touched noses with her mentor Berrypaw was taken back to his own apprentice ceremony.
He had been the only cat to be apprenticed during that ceremony. His mother had been so proud, and he so very excited. Meadowlark groomed his light brown fur until it was as soft as the fuzz on a dandelion. Everything in his life was perfect. His mother had seen to it that he had all the fresh-kill he wanted, he was free to do as he pleased all throughout camp, and whatever mischief he may have gotten into was quickly resolved by Meadowlark. She could get him out of anything. His apprentice ceremony had been the day that his life took a turn for the worst.
Howlingstar announced that his mentor was to be Slatefur, an old gray tomcat with a bad attitude. Like all of HollyClan, Berrypaw had always been somewhat in awe of Slatefur. His skill as a warrior was nearly legendary, and to be his apprentice would be a huge honor. He had a reputation of producing the best warriors, such as Nightfang and Oakfang, two massively built warrior toms who struck fear into the hearts of other Clans. Not many cats could tangle with those two and come out without serious injury.
Initially he revered his mentor and hung on to every word. But now… He watched in envy as Littlepaw was assigned Bearpelt as a mentor. Why couldn't I have gotten anyone but him?
"What's the matter Berrypaw? You're making some odd faces…" Leafpaw's green eyes were sparkling as she spoke. He hadn't noticed her approach. "Aren't you pleased to have your old denmates back? It'll be just like old times." Leafpaw and her sister, Sunpaw, were three moons older than Berrypaw. The young tom had always looked up to them simply because they were older, and nothing had changed now. They were all apprentices, but the two sisters seemed so much more confident than he felt. He thought that becoming an apprentice would suddenly make you feel more grown up, but he didn't feel any different.
"Of course." Berrypaw responded halfheartedly. "I'm just not looking forward to…" He trailed off when he spotted Slatefur marching purposefully across camp toward him. Training…
"Berrypaw." His mentor's greeting was flat. "It's time for training. Come on." He turned away and made for the camp entrance without waiting for his apprentice's response.
Berrypaw sighed and flicked his tail in farewell to Leafpaw before padding after his mentor.
Slatefur immediately picked up the pace once outside of camp, leaf litter flying up at his paws as he pelted into the forest. Berrypaw stumbled after him, his paws skidding on the fresh dew as he struggled to accelerate and keep pace with the gray tom. He inwardly berated himself for not anticipating this move from his mentor. Slatefur was quite fond of the abrupt takeoff.
They dashed through the forest along the familiar path to the sandy hollow. Most training sessions involving drills or battle practice were done here. Berrypaw knew for certain his mentor wasn't about to start teaching him how to fight.
Sure enough, when they came to a halt on the soft sand, the first words out of Slatefur's mouth were, "Alright, get started on your drills and don't stop until I say so."
The apprentice suppressed a groan and dropped into a crouch, as instructed. Slatefur's drills involved stalking from one end of the hollow to another until he decided that the technique was in the realm of adequate. So far Berrypaw had only received the order to stop for one technique, and that was the basic mouse-hunting technique that most Clan cats learned as kittens.
Eyes narrowed with concentration, the young tom stalked forward slowly. All his focus was on taking his weight onto his haunches and setting his paws down silently. Still, he flinched when sharp stones jabbed into his paw pads, making a tiny noise each time. He could tell he wasn't being quiet enough by the way Slatefur's right ear kept twitching in irritation.
Every day went like this. Berrypaw would do the drills, trying his hardest at first, but after several rebukes and disparaging comments from his mentor, he eventually gave up and simply went through the movements without actually trying. There had been many hungry nights as a result, but what could he do? He just wasn't a hunter. He felt in his marrow that he was destined to be a great fighter, but Slatefur insisted that the best warrior was well-rounded. Nightfang and Oakfang both contributed to the fresh-kill pile each night as well as patrolling the borders diligently, and the gray tom pointed this out each and every time Berrypaw brought it up. One of his favorite sayings was: "If you can't defeat a mouse, how can you expect to defeat a cat?"
A soft sigh escaped Berrypaw's lips, which brought forth a hiss from his mentor. "Focus!"
The apprentice stopped and stared at Slatefur, keeping his anger and frustration hidden under a blank mask. He had become very adept at hiding his emotions in the past moon, as Slatefur had the tendency to crack down on apprentices when he sensed the slightest hint of rebellion or attitude. Being an extrovert, Berrypaw had learned this the hard way.
Slatefur met his gaze steadily, forcing him to look away with an irritated twitch of the tail. The older tom gave a short growl and grumbled, "I guess this training method just isn't working with you. It worked fine for my other apprentices, but you're something else." He hid it well under a cloak of annoyance and anger, but Berrypaw sensed that his mentor was disappointed in him. He glanced up resentfully and dug his claws into the sand.
"I'm supposed to assess you today. It's been a full moon since your training began." Slatefur said quietly, his eyes boring into his apprentice. "Go. Hunt. I will follow, unseen." His tail flicked dismissively.
Berrypaw, ears perked, trotted into the forest, feeling new life in his paws as well as a stab of apprehension. He knew as well as Slatefur that he had not once caught any prey, and yet the one moon assessment was one tradition that was as immoveable as the Warrior Code itself. Howlingstar himself would hear about Berrypaw's training at the end of today. He entertained the thought of not trying at all simply to shame Slatefur, but he dismissed the idea almost immediately. Slatefur's reputation ensured that the only one to experience shame would be Berrypaw himself.
Why is this so hard? He thought, tasting the air as he loped out of sight of the training hollow. The other apprentices make it look so easy. Did Leafpaw and Sunpaw struggle so much with their training the first moon? No…. Sunpaw brought home a fat rabbit her third day of training. Why couldn't that be me?
Feeling the determination to prove himself course through his veins, Berrypaw began to pick his way silently and carefully through the undergrowth. He was surprised by how much easier it was to move quietly with damp leaves and twigs underpaw as opposed to the pokey little pebbles and spiky pods dropped from the sweet gum trees near the stream. He wondered if Slatefur had planned it that way on purpose, but gave a soft growl and focused all his senses on locating prey.
The forest was bright, brighter than Berrypaw could ever remember it being. Most of the leaves were gone from the trees, but as he peered upward, he could see countless buds fattening up before they would fan out as leaves in Newleaf. The past few days had been warm and sunny, and Berrypaw was eager to see his first Newleaf and Greenleaf, but Mouseheart, one of the senior warriors, had told him that it would not last. According to her it was too early for Newleaf, and yet the weather was balmy and the trees were producing leaves. Wasn't that what Newleaf was? When the trees made new leaves to replace the ones they dropped in Leaf-fall?
Berrypaw paused to look up at a tall maple. He didn't understand trees. A cat's coat thickened in preparation for the cold, but a tree lost all of its leaves. It just didn't make sense to him. Surely more leaves would serve to keep a tree toasty throughout Leafbare like fur would to a cat, right?
A scrabbling noise to Berrypaw's right caused the apprentice to jump. All he saw of the mouse was its little gray rump as it darted away and disappeared into its burrow at the base of a gnarled old ash tree. He had missed his chance!
Shaking his head, he turned his thoughts once more to the hunt, listening hard to the sounds of the forest. Small sparrows squabbled noisily somewhere near the treetops, completely beyond the young tom's reach. He blocked out that sound and strained his ears to hear things closer to the ground, pink nose quivering as he inhaled deeply in search of succulent prey scents.
The familiar sound of leaves being tossed aside caused Berrypaw to crouch readily, his gaze traveling to a small clearing where a fat robin was rooting around in search of worms. With all the slowness of grass growing, the light brown tabby inched closer and closer to his unsuspecting victim. His heart was pounding in his ears, quickening to almost unbearable speeds with each paw he put forward. Never before had he gotten so close to prey.
He gathered himself to pounce, amber eyes unblinking. But he waited too long.
Beak full of worms, the chubby bird took to the air, leaving a disappointed HollyClan apprentice behind it.
Berrypaw had never been more frustrated in his life. One more tail-length and he would have had it!
Growing clumsy in his annoyance, Berrypaw succeeded in losing two more mice, a shrew, and a winter-thin chipmunk before his mentor appeared at his side once more, the unreadable expression back on his face. The sky was tinged with orange and the shadows of the trees appeared never-ending. "Let us return to camp Berrypaw. It grows late."
Berrypaw bowed his head in acquiescence, too exhausted after his efforts to secure his first catch to even sulk after failing so miserably. He knew his mentor had seen, and he felt too embarrassed and unhappy with himself to even make eye-contact with the older cat. A moon of training and he could barely get close enough to feel the wind off a mouse as it dove into hiding!
"What did you learn today, Berrypaw?" Yellow gaze focused on the forest ahead, Slatefur did not look at his apprentice as he asked the question. Berrypaw simply plodded along without answering. Surely the gray warrior wasn't going to try and make this into some inspirational moment to get him to try harder? The young cat didn't think he could bear it. When he didn't show any sign of responding, Slatefur growled, "It wasn't a rhetorical question."
Berrypaw sighed and took a moment to choose his words carefully. A cheeky answer wouldn't win him any points with Slatefur and the prospect of going to his nest without eating didn't appeal to him, although he wouldn't be surprised if he ended up going hungry tonight anyway in light of that miserable performance.
"I learned not to take too long to pounce when stalking a robin."
"Anything else?"
It was the first time his mentor had used even a vaguely approving tone with him, so Berrypaw began going over his whole day again and trying to find the little lessons that might please his mentor. "I learned that remaining still and undetected will bring out more prey than rushing through the undergrowth. I learned that no matter how fast you are, mice are always faster… I learned that squirrels will sound an alarm and scare all the prey away if they see you…" He kept wracking his brain for another lesson, but turning up nothing he fell silent.
"So long as you learned something today, we have made progress. A warrior who cannot learn from his mistakes is not a warrior the Clan can count on." Slatefur cast a fleeting look at the young tom padding behind him. It seemed as though he might say something more, but then he faced forward and the two padded back to camp without another word between them.
"You may take prey tonight. I expect twice the effort tomorrow." Slatefur dismissed his apprentice as soon as they reached the camp entrance and padded off to share prey with Bearpelt near the huge holly bush that served as the warriors' den.
Relieved to be alone and free to do as he pleased, Berrypaw snatched a fat dove from the fresh-kill pile and hurried to the apprentices' den, which was set up in the tangled branches of a fallen oak tree. Moss, bracken, and feathers made up the floor of the den while a thick mat of branches and leaves made up the ceiling and walls. Generations of apprentices had worked to create a thick screen from the elements.
The den was empty when Berrypaw entered, much to his surprise. Before Wingpaw and Littlepaw there had been five apprentices total, so it was a shock to find no one asleep or sharing tongues at this time of day. Normally Berrypaw was the apprentice kept out the latest.
Meticulously, he plucked all the downy feathers from his dove and deposited them in the nests that had been laid out for the two newest apprentices. It would take awhile for the sisters to amass enough feathers to make a comfortable sleeping place, but he could give them this much.
As he nibbled on his dove, Berrypaw realized that he was more tired than hungry. He stared at the bird for a moment, wondering when his next chance to eat might be. It would probably be the next night if he caught prey… If. That shouldn't even be a problem for an apprentice in his second moon of training!
Feeling slightly sick and depressed, Berrypaw abandoned his prey and padded over to his nest. Someone else would eat it.
As he was circling to get comfortable Sunpaw and Leafpaw padded into the den. Leafpaw's jaws split into a giant yawn as soon as she set foot into the den, but Sunpaw still looked like she was full of energy.
"Hi Berrypaw!" Sunpaw meowed. "How was your-" A startled squeak escaped her lips and she flinched back when Leafpaw's paw suddenly thwacked her forehead solidly.
"Sorry, spider." The brown tabby meowed apologetically, one eye closing in a quick wink at Berrypaw. He was grateful for her interference. He had no wish to share how his assessment went, and he got the impression Leafpaw knew that. She had always been somewhat more attuned to the feelings of others than her sibling.
"I'll show you spider!" Sunpaw tackled the bigger cat in retaliation, leading to a lengthy scuffle between the two sisters.
A small shower of feathers shot up as Berrypaw flopped down into his nest, resting his head on his paws and closing his eyes. He was exhausted, but sleep would not come right away. He listened to his denmates' play-fighting and had almost been lulled to sleep by the familiar sound when the rest of the apprentices returned from training.
"She-cat fight." Duckpaw commented as he entered the den. Berrypaw heard the two she-cats break apart to greet their fellow apprentices.
"How was training?" Leafpaw asked, sounding amused.
"I'm not done. Greenwhisker's got me on the moonrise patrol tonight. I just have a little time to eat right now before I go." Berrypaw recognized the deep voice of Stormpaw. The black tom had been nothing more than a loner wandering the forest when HollyClan found him, but Clan life seemed to come natural to him. Duckpaw, too, didn't seem to have a hard time adapting.
"You can eat this!" Berrypaw heard Littlepaw's excited mew and the thump of something heavy being deposited on the floor. From the appreciative comments it drew from the other apprentices, it must have been prey.
"Wow! That's nearly as big as you, Wingpaw. Who caught it?"
"Wingpaw did." Littlepaw announced proudly.
"Berrypaw! Do you want to come share with us?" Berrypaw felt a small paw prod his side and he opened his eyes to see Wingpaw's eager face a whisker's length in front of his own.
"No thanks." He growled, rolling onto his side to face the back of the den. A disappointed silence followed, but it was quickly dispelled by Leafpaw.
"I would like some Wingpaw. It's a very impressive first catch. The fattest squirrel I've seen in moons!"
As his denmates chattered happily about Wingpaw's first catch, Berrypaw covered his face with his paws and fought the urge to wail. Why did Wingpaw have to make her first catch so easily? It just wasn't fair!
