Chapter 4
"Stop wiggling!" Splashflower scolded.
Ripplekit flattened his ears to his head, before finally sitting still. "Sorry," he apologized as he felt his mother's tongue drape over his back. Today was his apprentice ceremony, and he was terrified. Despite the nightmare he had received, the young tom wanted nothing more than to train as a warrior. He wanted to feel responsible for the safety and well being of his Clan. Not to mention, he wanted to make sure that whatever monster had killed his Clanmates in his dream would be stopped.
"I'm so excited!" Minnowkit squealed as she gazed out into the clearing. Looking back at her brother she wondered, "Who do you think my mentor will be?"
Ripplekit shrugged. "I have no idea," he answered honestly.
Finally, Splashflower sat back and gazed at her two kits with admiration. "I can't believe the two of you are about to become apprentices," she breathed. The silver queen stood up and began to head for the nursery entrance. "Now remember what I told you earlier: you are to walk out into the clearing in a dignified manner. Do not behave like a kit!"
Ripplekit and Minnowkit nodded, before following their mother out into the clearing. As they passed, every cat stared at them, causing Ripplekit to grow slightly uncomfortable.
Morningstar pushed her way out of her makeshift den and yowled, "Let all cats old enough to swim gather here for a Clan meeting!" The leader didn't have to wait long, as a majority of the Clan had already assembled. Morningstar then beckoned Minnowkit and Ripplekit forward with her tail.
Slowly, Ripplekit walked towards her. With every pawstep, his heart beat quickened in his chest. He glanced back at Nightsky, hoping to read her expression. To his disappointment, the black she-cat remained stoic. Gulping, Ripplekit turned and faced towards his leader, ready to learn who would be mentoring him. As he waited, he could feel his chest tightening.
"Minnowkit and Ripplekit have reached six moons, meaning it is time for them to become apprentices. Minnowkit, from this moment on you shall be known as Minnowpaw. Your mentor shall be Briarpelt, who is a very skilled warrior." Glancing up at the dark brown tom Morningstar added, "Cloudheart was your mentor, so I expect you to pass on everything she taught you to Minnowpaw."
Briarpelt dipped his head. "I promise I'll do my best," he vowed, before touching noses with his new apprentice.
It's my turn, Ripplekit thought. Even though he knew he should be excited, the little tom felt as though he was about to be sentenced to exile. Glancing forward, he waited for Morningstar to announce his fate.
"Ripplekit, from this moment forward you shall be known as Ripplepaw. Nightsky will be mentoring you. I know she will teach you everything she knows when it comes to herbs and interpreting omens," the RiverClan leader announced.
No! he thought as a wave of dread came crashing down on him.
Suddenly, he felt Nightsky's pelt brush up against him. "We need to touch noses," she whispered in his ear.
Ripplepaw jerked away from her, hissing. "Get away from me!" he spat, his fur bristling.
Nightsky stared at him, shocked. Before she could say anything, Waveheart and Splashflower padded up.
"There has to be some sort of mistake," Waveheart insisted as he stared at his son. "Ripplepaw is supposed to train as a warrior!"
"He isn't fit to be a proper warrior," Nightsky growled, narrowing her eyes at her apprentice.
"Yes, he is! I know he has breathing problems, but he'll over come them in time. You can't force him to train as your apprentice if he doesn't want to!" the white warrior argued.
Nightsky flicked her tail back and forth, annoyed. "There's no other place for him in the Clan! So he'll either train as my apprentice, or he can spend the rest of his life as an elder." The black she-cat turned to face Ripplepaw, who was scowling.
"Give it a try," Splashflower whispered into her son's ear.
Ripplepaw glared at his mother. "How can you say that?" he asked. "Isn't my happiness important?"
Splashflower flattened her ears to her head. "I just don't want to see you stuck in the elders den for the rest of your life. You have so much potential, and I don't want it to go to waste. Besides, you might grow to like it." When Ripplepaw didn't respond she added, "Please? For me?"
Ripplepaw huffed, before looking over at Nightsky. "I guess," he hissed.
Nightsky gave him a smug look, before padding back towards her den. The silver tom sighed, and slowly followed after her. Once inside, the strong aroma of flowers and berries over came him. Great! I'm going to be stuck with this for the rest of my life.
"I was thinking we could go out looking for chervil," his mentor meowed as she pointed towards a pile of herbs.
"Okay," he muttered, not interested.
Nightsky flicked her ear in annoyance, but didn't say anything. Instead she ordered Ripplepaw to study the herb's appearance and scent. The silver tom sat there for a few seconds, looking at the plant. Finally he meowed, "I think I'm ready."
Nightsky nodded her head in approval, before padding out of camp. Ripplepaw followed after her, excited to see the world beyond camp. To his disappointment, there wasn't very much to see. Due to the fire, a majority of the trees had been burnt up, leaving nothing but tall grasses and the occasional boulder. "Will we come across any trees?" he asked.
To his surprise, she nodded. "There's a beech copse over by the Twoleg greenleaf place, however we won't be heading that way today."
"Then where are we going?" he wondered.
"We're going to head over by the Twoleg bridge. That's where chervil grows the best," Nightsky responded.
Ripplepaw frowned, slightly disappointed. It's becoming very difficult for me to enjoy this, when I don't even get to do anything fun!
After a long period of walking, the two cats paused beside the river where a large clump of chervil grew.
"Grab it like this," Nightsky ordered as she pulled the plant up by the root. "And make sure not to break the stem. The juices inside are very important, so we need to keep everything intact."
Ripplepaw nodded, before pulling the plants up. Before he could grab a third mouthful, Nightsky stopped him.
"You're being too rough!" she scolded. "Here, like this!" the medicine cat repeated the proper way to pull the plant up, before sitting back to observe her apprentice.
The silver tom bent his head down, and gently pulled bundles of chervil from the ground. The leaves of the plant tickled his nose and mouth, and it left an uncomfortable taste in his mouth. Once a sizable pile had accumulated at his side he asked, "Is this enough?"
Nightsky nodded. "I think so," she replied.
"Does that mean we can head back to camp, then?" Ripplepaw asked hopefully.
Nightsky shook her head. "I was thinking we could go look for some marigold while we're out. There's a patch of it close by, so it won't take us very long."
Ripplepaw let out a low growl, before picking up his bundle of chervil. As he followed after Nightsky, his mind drifted to Minnowpaw. I bet she's having the time of her life, he thought miserably.
Finally, they stopped beside the patch of marigold that Nightsky had mentioned earlier. Once again, his mentor showed him the proper way to gather the plant.
This continued on for the next couple of hours. Nightsky would "conveniently" mention an herb that was growing nearby, before taking Ripplepaw to it and making him gather it. By the end of the day, the young tom's mouth was packed full of plants.
"Place them here," Nightsky ordered once they arrived back at camp.
Ripplepaw quickly spat out the herbs, before rubbing his jaw. "Am I done for today?" he asked, glancing around camp for his sister.
"We have to organize them, remember?" the black she-cat reminded him, before pushing the herbs towards him. "I want you to separate the herbs from each other. Once you're done with that, start separating their leaves, stems, and roots. And once you've got that all finished, you can go eat. If you need me, I'll be out in the clearing," Nightsky meowed, before trotting off.
Sighing, Ripplepaw began to separate the herbs the best he could. The process was extremely boring and time consuming, which annoyed him.
By sunset, the medicine cat apprentice sat back, looking down at the herbs he had just sorted. "I'm done!" he breathed, before rushing out into the clearing. To his surprise, most of the warriors had finished eating and were now heading to their nests.
Sighing, he headed over to the remains of the fresh-kill pile, which consisted of a scrawny mouse and a thrush. Not in the mood for feathers, Ripplepaw decided to eat the mouse. He walked over to an isolated corner of camp, before taking a bite out of the mouse. As he thought about his day, he felt tears welling up in his eyes. I should be out learning how to hunt and fight! Not how to pick herbs!
To upset to eat, Ripplepaw pushed the remains of his mouse away. He then padded back to the medicine cats den. Inside, Nightsky was arranging his nest.
"You did a wonderful job organizing the herbs," his mentor praised. "I'm really proud of you."
Ripplepaw just glared at her. I hate you so much, he thought bitterly.
"Is something wrong?" Nightsky questioned, staring at him.
He shook his head. "I'm just tired is all."
Nightsky gave him an unsure look, before flicking her tail towards the moss nest she had organized. "This is your new nest," she told him.
Ripplepaw nodded, and curled up in the nest. A piece of reed poked at him, but he was too upset to complain about it. "Thanks," he meowed stiffly, before shutting his eyes.
Nightsky purred, before settling down in her own nest. "I was thinking we could go out looking for thyme tomorrow. And then maybe after that, I'll show you the proper way to remove ticks. How does that sound?"
The apprentice simply grunted, before rolling onto his side. He could hear Nightsky sigh, before eventually falling asleep.
Rolling over to face her, Ripplepaw felt nothing but hatred towards her. You've ruined my life, he thought angrily, before sleep overcame him.
I hope you all liked this chapter! It was a lot of fun to write, and I'm really looking forward to future chapters. Once again, thank you for all of your reviews. It means a lot to me that you all are enjoying the story. I will try to update as soon as I can, but currently I'm having internet issues and I'm swamped with school work, so I don't get a lot of time to write.
Thanks for reading!
