Owlears approached the leaders den cautiously, while Gorsestar wasn't dangerous he was still the leader even if he was a horrible one. Then again as Honeyskip often says an ignorant cat is always more likely to lash out.
He wasn't sure why he was called up here, Doveclaw had told him the leader needed to see him in his den. Owlears swore that she acted more like his deputy than his actual deputy. Owlears could see why, he was friends with Hawkfeather and he would never say he was aggressive or hostile, while Gorsestar and Doveclaw were always trying to promote a fight. Owlears was only a apprentice when Gorsestar became leader, after Moorstar's treachery was revealed many cats doubted whether or not Gorsestar should even be leader, he was pretty sure Owlears was only made deputy to try and appease the fear that he would start another bloody battle.
When he made it to the den Gorsestar and Dovewing were already there their tails curled around her feet as Doveclaw was sorting through some herbs and
"You needed me sir?"
Gorsestar motioned for him to take a seat, and when he finally sat down he noticed how old Gorsestar seemed. He had to have at most four more lives left, thank Starclan for that he didn't know if he could go much longer without killing him.
"So you must have noticed the amount of kits that need to be made apprentices will force most of our warriors to have one."
Owlears stifled a chuckle, it was amusing that Gorsestar just caught on to what the rest of his clans knew for a long time.
"Yes sir I've noticed the issue."
Gorsestar sat up "Good you'll be happy to know that I have a plan, later on tonight I'll be meeting with you and some other senior warriors to tell what I have planned, I'm telling you now so you can tell your mate"
"Why would that matter sir?"
"If I tell her it's going to be nonstop complaining about my choices for your kits mentor."
"Well now I'm worried about my kits sir."
"You should be that cantankerous pacifist Smallrapid forced me to choose them."
Oh. Well now he wasn't worried so much, he found it pretty amusing that Gorsestar was forced to listen to Smallrapid, although being mates with Smallrapid's daughter he guessed it ran in the family.
—
Flickerkit was sitting on his favorite rock near the elders den, it leaned against another rock and had water collect on it in the morning, Flickerkit realized that the ground under it was washed away slightly forming a small crevice he could fit in to hide from others.
He watched the camp as the Dawn patrol came back, he noticed that Doveclaw was with them but didn't have any prey on her.
He heard the elder's den rustle and saw Smallrapid walk out. His grandfather seemed older than he remembered and the more Flickerkit thought about it, the worse the future for Smallrapid seemed.
"Hey Flickerkit you excited for today?"
He paused "What's today?"
"Your apprenticeship ceremony of course, I still remember your mother's ceremony she was so nervous, and speaking of your mother here she comes."
Honeyskip approached Flickerkit as he slowly looked up and saw her seething , she looked like a pile of embers threatening to ignite a forest fire.
"Flickerkit why don't you leave while I talk to Smallrapid for a bit"
Flickerkit obliged mostly out of fear over what his mother might do if he disagreed.
—
Mumblekit sat on the rock nearby his mother listen to her argument with Smallrapid, it's funny really she's always calling me lazy and yet here I am eavesdropping without her noticing. Mumblekit liked to eavesdrop or spy in on people it wasn't that he wanted to blackmail them or anything, he just wanted to show that he managed to fool them and that they weren't so skilled as they thought.
"I can't believe you would sabotage Flickerkit!"
Mumblekit turned back to the argument in front of him, he considered telling Flickerkit that he learned about the crevice way before him but decided not to, Flickerkit should be allowed some after all, even if he was arrogant about it.
He heard Smallrapid snort, "It's funny how your saying I'm sabotaging Flickerkit when you've created problems for each of your kits that they'll have to solve on their own."
"Oh I'm so good at sabotaging my kit's future, after all I learned from the best."
"You've got no one to blame but yourself for your problems!" Mumblekit covered his ears, he heard his mother scream plenty of times but never Smallrapid, he was usually calm or cheerful.
"At least I pick good mentors for my kits!"
"Please I picked cats who would do something other than blindly praise Dandelionkit, ignore Flickerkit and insult Mumblepaw."
Honeyskip stormed off towards the warriors den, she looked like she would kill anyone in her way, but at the end Mumblekit swore he saw something, he had trouble telling what it was, but it almost looked like she was crying.
—
"All cats old enough to run on the moors gather around tallrock for a clan meeting!"
Dandelionkit marched out of the nursery with her head held high as she made her way to the tallrock, she remembered the stories told by Smallrapid about how the rock used to be called clawrock even though the rain eroded away any signs of battle, because Moorstar refused to change it. It was forced to be changed to tallrock after Moorstar died.
Gorsestar cleared his throat,
"Three kits have turned six moons of age and as such will be apprenticed to mentors. Flickerkit, Dandelionkit, and Mumblekit step forward."
As she walked forwards along side her brothers she couldn't help but notice how dirty Mumblekit was, his fur was stuck up and still had moss stuck in it. It seemed their mother already gave up on Mumblekit and only tried to prepare her and Flickerkit for the ceremony, she swore she heard a few cats giggle at how Mumblekit looked. She couldn't believe her mother let Mumblekit look like this, it made her look bad, although she felt as if there was some other reason she was mad over her mother's actions.
Gorsestar frowned and lifted his tail to stop the giggles and murmuring, at the bottom of the tallrock she never realized how intimidating he was and from down here she could see how he was the best fighter in the clan, despite his size she could see his muscles ripple under his pelt, even with his age he seemed like he would be one of the fastest cats in the clan.
"I can't help but notice that you didn't prepare Mumblekit for the ceremony, Honeyskip."
All eyes turned toward Honeyskip who ducked her head in embarrassment.
Gorsestar continued to speak with his hard yellow eyes filled with anger.
"Very well then, I know who should mentor Mumblekit, now, Mumblekit you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Mumblepaw. I will be your mentor and turn you into a warrior that all clans will be proud of.
Mumblekit was practically bursting with happiness and rushed over to Gorsestar to press noses.
Dandelionkit couldn't believe it, her brother had been apprenticed to the leader, one of the strongest cats in the clan, her mother however was smiling. Dandelionkit thought it was naive of her mother to smile, after all as she herself said.
"There are two types of intelligent cats, the ones who flaunt it and the ones who hide it with the mask of stupidity." And from what Dandelionkit saw, Gorsestar was definitely the latter.
"Flickerkit you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Flickerpaw. Your mentor will be Newtfur. I hope Newtfur will pass down all he knows on to you."
"Newtfur, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You have received excellent training from Smallrapid, and you have shown yourself to be brave and loyal. You will be the mentor of Flickerpaw, and I expect you to pass on all you know to Flickerpaw."
Dandelionkit had to stifle a laugh, Newtfur while he was one of the best fighters was always bringing back weird animals and bugs or asking unanswerable questions, in a way he was a perfect mentor for Flickerpaw.
Flickerpaw and Newtfur walked to each other and pressed noses, they both seemed to observe the other for any possible doubt or curiosity.
Gorsestar turned towards her and frowned.
"Dandelionkit, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Dandelionpaw. While I doubt your ability to become a warrior including your lack of respect toward your clanmates I will at least let you try. Your mentor will be Sunleaf. I hope Sunleaf will pass down all she knows on to you, Starclan knows you'll need it."
"Sunleaf, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You have received excellent training from Hawkfeather, and you have shown yourself to be wise and humble. You will be the mentor of Dandelionkit, and I expect you to pass on all you know to her."
She slowly walked to the frightening she-cat, Sunleaf loomed over her, her weird purple eyes looking harsh and unforgiving. Sunleaf whispered to her.
"Looks like I need to help you compete with your brothers for best warrior."
Sunleaf smiled as they pulled away.
"Don't worry kit you'll prove Gorsestar wrong."
Dandelion couldn't believe what she was hearing, how dare Gorsestar insult her in front of the entire clan, she went to complain about it to Honeyskip but she just held up her tail, she didn't seem upset, she seemed murderous. Honeyskip marched over to where Smallrapid and Gorsestar were talking only for Gorsestar to order her to her den. Sunleaf tried to greet her only to be hissed at.
The older apprentices walked towards her and her siblings.
Russetpaw was the first to speak "So it appears we've got some new den mates."
Tigerpaw snorted "With three more on their way as well, we'll be lucky if the apprentices' den doesn't collapse."
Lionpaw walked up and greeted them
"Well if Mumblepaw is as tough as he looks than me and him can build it all on our own.
Lionpaw placed a tail on her shoulder.
"And it's nice to see you be made an apprentice Dandelionpaw, we'll have to go on patrol soon, my parents always told me to follow my dreams."
She brushed his tail off, "Then it seems that you'll need to keep eating bad prey before you go to sleep, because I'm your nightmare." She said, smirking at him.
Tigerpaw just laughed. "Oh please Lionpaw how can you not notice this cutie." Tigerpaw flicked her tail under Flickerpaw's chin.
Flickerpaw was clearly lost in thought when it happened as he jumped back words before crashing onto the apprentice's den and tearing a hole in the brambles that made up its wall.
Newtfur walked up in time to see Flickerpaw coming out of the apprentice's den covered in leaves and vines.
"I was under the impression that my apprentice would be a cat and not a plant." He said with a deadpan voice.
"Well it seems that you can prove how good you and Mumblepaw are at building dens, Lionpaw"
Tigerpaw left Lionpaw with Mumblepaw as she and Dandelionpaw left to talk with Leopardpaw.
—
Flickerpaw frowned, it appeared he would be stuck in the medicine den for the rest of the night, but thankfully he would be let out to explore the territory tomorrow, Newtfur stopped by to talk to him. They had an interesting conversation over whether or not mice were smart enough to make clans before Newtfur told him about a time he found a bunch of mice tied together, he talked to some Thunderclan warriors about it who said they saw the same thing happen with squirrels.
Mumblepaw and Lionpaw were talking over how to patch the den up, Lionpaw was explaining how to tie brambles together so Mumblepaw could help. Dandelionpaw was off talking with Russetpaw again the best way to attack the other clans in case of war. Flickerpaw thought it was dumb planning on how to attack Riverclan considering the fact they could just hide behind their river, so the best course of action would be just not letting them off their island until there forced to surrender, although they could fish so maybe it would be best to just learn how to swim.
Flickerpaw heard some cat yowling at another one and saw Owlears storming out of the leaders den where some of the warriors were meeting. Flickerpaw noticed that Smallrapid or Hawkfeather weren't invited despite being some of the most experienced cats in the clan, the only thing they had in common was that they both preferred peace. Flickerpaw had a good theory over what the meeting was about, and unlike most things he thought of it didn't take a genius to figure it out.