Hey! Sorry it took so long... it's really hard to write a leader ceremony!
Skunkfur looked around in awe at the sight before him. Maroonpaw had led him to the biggest tree he had ever seen, and it was hollow. The rings that his mother had told him were the signs of how old the tree was were glowing brightly. There must have been hundreds of rings!
"Lie down and touch a ring with your nose," Maroonpaw mewed quietly, as she lied down. Skunkfur obeyed. "Now..." she yawned, "go to sleep." As soon as the word "sleep" formed on the she-cat's tongue, Skunkfur could only see blackness.
A little while later, Skunkfur woke up to see all of StarClan in a clearing. "Skunkfur." The voice was all of StarClan, but it sounded like just one. "Are you ready to recieve your nine lives?"
"Yes," he said confidently. He noticed Maroonpaw was here as well, looking at all the cats with awe.
Nine cats came out of the crowd of StarClan. Skunkfur gasped. Bluewhisker was one of the nine cats! And Shimmerpaw! He raced toward the two StarClan she-cats that both had special places in his heart.
"Skunkfur!" his former apprentice's eyes shined with delight. Skunkfur licked her cheek, and turned to Bluewhisker.
Bluewhisker.
Why did she have to die? this was the same thought that went through Skunkfur's head every single day. Why?
His first mate and the love of his life smiled sadly and licked his cheek. "Ready to get your nine lives?" she asked quietly.
He smiled grimly. "I don't know…"
She sighed. "I'll talk to you later." Skunkfur gave Bluewhisker and Shimmerpaw one last glance, and went back over to Maroonpaw.
A black she-cat walked toward Skunkfur. At first, he didn't recognize her, for he hadn't seen her since he was a kit. "Darkfeather?"
His mother smiled at him. She touched her nose to Skunkfur's head. It felt very strange, like honey, but it was sort of hot.
"With this life I give you protection," she mewed quietly. "Use it well to care for your clan as a mother cares for her kits." Skunkfur flinched as a bolt of pain shot through him like electricity. He felt the fierceness of a mother protecting her kits; he felt what Darkfeather felt when she was protecting him. When she died in the process.
When the pain went away, Skunkfur felt weak. Darkfeather turned and walked away before he could say anything.
Next, one of the senior warriors that had been living in PondClan before the attack, Timberfoot, padded over to him, his friendly blue eyes shining.
Like Darkfeather, he touched his nose to Skunkfur's head. "With this life I give you compassion," he mewed. "Use it when you have trouble sympathizing with those in need of comfort." The most terrible pain Skunkfur had ever felt coursed through him. The power of compassion was very great. He cried out in pain.
When the pain finally ebbed, Skunkfur was barely standing. The older cat smiled warmly and turned, walking away.
Before Timberfoot got all the way back, Shimmerpaw bounded over to Skunkfur. She smiled sadly at him, and touched his head with her nose.
"With this life I give you mentoring. Use it well to train the young cats of your clan." Skunkfur felt several different emotions, few were happy. He saw something flash before his eyes, jaws at his throat, the heat of battle. This must have been what Shimmerpaw had felt as she died.
His former apprentice gave him one more sad glance before turning and walking away.
The next cat that came toward him was a cat he'd thought he'd never see again.
"Willowwhisker!" his littermate and the medicine cat before Rosepool smiled at him.
"Hello, Skunkfur," she mewed quietly. She touched his head with her nose. "With this life I give you trust. Use it for judging your clan-mates fairly. It is very hard to do." A calm but freezing, almost burning, sensation came over him. He yelped at the intensity. She pulled away, leaving him barely able to stand up.
The next few lives were all very painful. By the time it was time for the eighth one, he felt ready to collapse from exhaustion and pain.
Skunkfur saw Bluewhisker padding over to him, smiling sadly. His heart beat a bit faster, as it always had done when he saw her when she was alive.
She touched her nose to his head gently and mewed, "With this life I give you love. Use it well and give it to all the cats you care for — especially Redstrike." She murmured the last part so no one could hear but him.
This life was unlike any of the other ones — it was warm like a rock sitting in the sun, or like lying next to his mother and sister when he was a kit.
He lifted his head to look at her, and saw nothing but love in her eyes.
"I love you, Skunkfur," she breathed into his ear.
"I love you, too…" sadness replaced the warm feeling the life had given him as she padded away slowly.
At last Cloverstar approached Skunkfur. She didn't look helpless like he had last seen her, dying at the paws of Oliver… This Cloverstar looked powerful and unstoppable, like a tiger.
"Welcome, Skunkfur, my apprentice, my warrior, and my deputy," she greeted him. Skunkfur dipped his head. "With this life I give you nobility and certainty and faith. Use it well as you lead your clan in the ways of StarClan and the warrior code."
Skunkfur was completely caught off guard when the almost unbearable pain shot through him, turning his vision white. He felt ambition, trust, a little insanity, and power. The power grew greater and greater, as did the pain, and just as he felt like he was going to die, the pain ebbed, and suddenly he felt complete, as if he had never really been.
A long, soft sigh passed through the clearing. All the StarClan warriors had risen to their paws. Cloverstar stayed in the center of the clearing and signaled with her tail that Skunkfur should rise too. He obeyed her shakily, feeling as if the fullness of life inside him would spill over when he moved. His body felt as battered as if he had fought the hardest battle of his life, and yet his spirit soared with the strength of the lives he had been granted.
"I hail you by your new name, Skunkstar," Cloverstar announced. "Your old life is no more. You have now received the nine lives of a leader, and StarClan grants to you the guardianship of PondClan. Defend it well; care for the young and old; honor your ancestors and the traditions of the warrior code; live each life with pride and dignity."
"Skunkstar! Skunkstar!" Just as PondClan would acclaim a new warrior by name, the cats of StarClan acclaimed Skunkstar, in rich voices that tingled in the air. "Skunkstar! Skunkstar!"
The cheering died down, and Willowwhisker padded up to him again. "You and Maroonpaw must put the clan back together," she mewed. "And let us assure you, not everyone in the clan is dead."
With that, Skunkstar woke up. He looked around, and saw Maroonpaw, her eyes widened.
"That was so amazing!" she exclaimed, looking again like a kit.
"Yes, it was…" Skunkstar mewed. "You can't tell anyone about it, and neither can I."
"Why not?"
"It's the rules," he answered.
She nodded. "So, your name is Skunkstar now?" she mewed.
"Yes, it is."
Done! It took forever! I am so proud of myself!
Shout-outs go to:
HardcorePercabeth for: reviewing
wraitheon1 for: reviewing, favoriting, giving me some cats and alerting
xXsandstormXx for: favoriting and alerting
Watermint for: reviewing
Warriorfanwriter for: alerting and favoriting
