Lilyclaw nudged Dawnkit in an attempt to wake her up."Come on Dawnkit!You have to get up."Lilyclaw thought for a moment."Dawnkit,your apprentice ceremony is today."When she said that,Dawnkit got up immediately. She then jumped on Thunderkit to wake him up,and then pawed at Dewkit.
"Wake up!You have to groom yourselves!We're becoming apprentices today!"Dawnkit then immediately began grooming herself. Lilyclaw groomed Thunderkit while Dewkit slowly began grooming her tail. They finished grooming then padded into the clearing. As they did,Flamestar lept onto the Highrock and summoned the clan.
"Let all cats old enough to catch thier own prey gather beneath the Highrock for a clan meeting!"Dawnkit watched as the clan got out of ther nests."Today we will be naming three apprentices,"Flamestar announced as he looked at Dawnkit,Thunderkit,and Dewkit,his pride obvious in his gaze."Dawnkit,step forward."Dawnkit padded up until she was in front of the Highrock."From this day forward,until she has recieved her warrior name,this apprentice will be called Dawnpaw. Foxfur,you will be mentor to Dawnpaw.I hope that you will pass on your courage and strength to your apprentice. Dawnpaw touched noses with Foxfur and went to sit in the crowd.
When the ceremony was over,Dawnpaw went to where Thunderpaw and Dewpaw were and they began heading to the apprentice den.
"I hope Lionfang is nice.I don't really know him that well,"Dewpaw fretted.
"Well,I know that Wolfclaw is strong,so he'll be able to teach me a bunch of good battle moves,"Thunderpaw said.
Fernpaw and Cloudpaw hurried over so that they could help Dawnpaw and her siblings."We got some moss for you. We put it by the entrance to the apprentice den,"Fernpaw mewed.
"Thanks,"Dawnpaw responded.
"Oh,and I'd recommend not making your nest near Beepaw's,"Cloudpaw meowed.
"Why not?"Dewpaw asked.
"He thinks it's already too crowded in there.I doubt he wants any more cats crowding him,"Fernpaw said as she rolled her eyes.
When they got to the apprentice den,Dawnpaw and her siblings eaach grabbed a bundle of moss and went in to make thier nests."So.. just not near Beepaw. We need to figure out which one belongs to Beepaw,"Dawnpaw meowed around her bundle of moss. Thunderpaw set down his bundle of moss and began sniffing each of the nests.
"Redpaw... Cloudpaw... Fernpaw... Mosspaw..."Thunderpaw muttered as he sniffed each of the nests. "This one's Beepaw!"he exclaimed when he reached a nest on the other side of the den.
"Oh,well we were building our nests over here anyway,"Dewpaw said as she began putting her moss in a scoop in the den's floor. Dawnpaw began doing the same. Her nest was beside Cloudpaw and Fernpaw. When Thunderpaw got back over,he began making his nest next to Redpaw. When they were done making thier nests they went out of the den and headed over to where thier mentors were waiting for them near the entrance to camp.
"It's about time you got over here,"Lionfang muttered.
"We're taking you to see the territory today. Tomorrow we can do battle practice,"Foxfur said, ignoring Lionfang. Dawnpaw thought it best to ignore Lionfang too. He's probably just in a bad mood today. They then headed off into the forest. While they were walking,Dawnpaw was staring up at the trees and tripped on a root,causing Thunderpaw, then Dewpaw, to land on top of her.
"Mouse dung!"Dawnpaw excaimed from the bottom of the stack of apprentices.
"Great Starclan,watch where you're going!"Wolfclaw exclaimed. Foxfur's whiskers twitched in amusement but she just kept on walking. Dewpaw scrambled off of Thunderpaw and Thunderpaw jumped off of Dawnpaw. She then hurried to catch up to Foxfur so that she wouldn't be at the back of the group.
"Where are we going?"she asked Foxfur once she caught up.
"The river,"Foxfur replied.
"Hey,can I climb one of these trees?"Thunderpaw asked rather loudly. Dawnpaw turned around to see him staring up to the top of an oak.
"No. Now come on,"Wolfclaw said as he walked up to Thunderpaw and pushed him in the direction they were going.
"Fine,"Thunderpaw grumbled as he began turned around and continued walking as well.
"My paws are going to fall off!"Dewpaw complained.
"Well,you're going to have to get used to actually walking places,"Lionfang growled to his apprentice.
"So,what does the river look like?"Dawnpaw asked,trying to ignore Dewpaw's complaining.
"You'll see in a moment,"Foxfur meowed.A few moments later, the undergrowth stopped and they walked onto the shore of the river, which was flowing quickly,the water sliding past right beyond thier paws.
"Wow,"Dawnpaw sat down at the edge so that she could watch the water sliding past. She saw a large fish swim past and stared at it. A moment later, another fish swam near and seemed to stare at her a moment before swimming away. Suddenly, she saw a flash of orange out of the corner of her eye. She turned and saw Thunderpaw sitting at the edge of the water,his paw soaked."What in the name of Starclan are you doing?"Dawnpaw exclaimed.
"Fishing,"Thunderpaw replied simply,his eyes still trained on the water.
"Thunderclan cats don't fish!"Dawnpaw remarked.
"I do,apparently,"Thunderpaw replied bluntly. Just then,Dawnpaw saw Dewpaw sneaking up behind Thunderpaw. She opened her mouth to ask what she was doing,but Dewpaw signaled with her tail for her to stay quiet. Then,she leaped onto Thunderpaw's back,knocking him into the shallows of the river.
"Hey!What happened?"Thunderpaw yowled as he jumped up.
"You got knocked into the river. What do you think happened do you think happened?"Dewpaw mewed,trying to sound innocent,although she couldn't keep the laughter out of her voice. Thunderpaw got out of the river and shook the water out of his pelt,getting Dewpaw wet in the process. Dawnpaw turned around to find Foxfur sitting right behind her and jumped backwards,getting her legs soaked by river water.
"Fox dung!" Dawnpaw exclaimed as she climbed out of the river. Foxfur simply twitched her whiskers in amusement as she continued watching the apprentices. Wolfclaw and Lionfang were sitting a few tail-lengths away under a tree with a very stern expression on their faces. Dawnpaw could see the amusement in thier eyes,though,and knew they weren't really that stern. She looked back over at Thunderpaw,who was grooming the water out of his fur, and sat down to do the same. Then she saw Dewpaw, who was staring at the river,a distant look in her eyes.
"While we're here,"Foxfur began abruptly,"do you smell that fishy smell?"
"Yes,"Dewpaw replied,suddenly alert.
"Those are the Riverclan scent markers."Foxfur said."Dawnpaw,get your nose out of your fur and pay attention!"
Dawnpaw gave her fur,which was almost dry,one last lick and then scented the air. She smelled a sour,fishy scent and realized it was the scent Foxfur was talking about. Thunderpaw quit grooming and scented the air too,and as soon as he did he wrinkled his nose.
"Well,let's get going before Moonhigh,"Wolfclaw said as he got up. Dawnpaw looked up at the sky and realized the sun was already beginning to go down. How long have we been here?
"Alright,let's get going. we can probably show them the rest of the territory before the sun sets,"Foxfur said to Lionfang and Wofclaw. They headed off again and Dawnpaw wondered where they were going. As they walked through the undergrowth, she tried to imagine what kind of surprises the future would hold.
