Apprenticeship

"From this day forward, until she has earned her warrior name, this apprentice will be called Sandpaw, in honor of her sandy-red colored pelt."

Sandpaw glowed in pride as she stood on top of MossRock, facing the entire Clan as she waiting excitedly. Next to her was newly named Snowpaw, her childhood friend.

"Lunarlight, you will be both Snowpaw and Sandpaw's mentor. I expect you to pass all your knowledge and skills onto them."

Lunarlight dipped her head towards Midnightstar respectfully before bending down to touch noses with Snowpaw. Almost solemn yet cool, he gave his new mentor a tiny nod before she turned towards Sandpaw. Quivering with excitement yet feeling quite calm, she flicked her tail and touched noses with Lunarlight before stepping down and joining Snowpaw at the bottom. The rest of the Clan began to gather around and congratulate them warmly. Sandpaw and Snowpaw were popular even as kits.

"Well, we made it," Snowpaw couldn't help smiling. "We're apprentices now!"

Sandkit grinned slightly at Snowpaw, thinking of how much fun they would have with the other apprentices.

"Yeah, apprentices!" She giggled back and suddenly, horrifying images of Nightkit's last moments floated through her mind, making her tremble in agony.

Nightkit! He…he would've been here, with Snowpaw and me, being made apprentices. Why didn't he live to his sixth moon? Why did StarClan choose me…of all the other cats they could've chosen, they chose me to bear the pain. Oh, Nightkit. Are you up there, seeing this now and watching over me…?

"Hey, Sandpaw! Earth to Sandpaw, why are you so silent all of a sudden? We don't need to keep a vigil or anything, hey! Look, let's go and find someplace to rest in the apprentices' den and grab a bite to eat.…Whoa, did I say something wrong? You look like you're going to… to … um … cry…." He replied in a sullen tone.

Snowpaw's voice jolted her back to reality. Sandpaw quickly turned away and wiped her eyes, which had gotten a little wet.

"Oh, um. No! No, no, I…I just remembered something…uh, sad. N-nothing's wrong." Sandpaw immediately replied, though it was hard to disguise the tearfulness in her voice and the bitter sound of regret.

But Snowpaw caught on pretty quickly, well. The fact that Sandpaw always was cheerful and bouncy was the first clue, but the look of sorrow in her eyes chilled Snowpaw's heart. It was all Snowpaw needed to see what was paining Sandpaw.

"It's Nightkit, isn't it?" He murmured slowly. He waited patiently as Sandpaw finally nodded in return.

He jumped back as she started to wail ,"N-nightkit should've been here with us! He would've been an ap-prentice with us…why did StarClan do that?"

Snowpaw found it hard to keep a level stare back at her sad, golden-brown eyes.

"W-well…StarClan must've seen what a great cat he was and decided they wanted more cats like him in their clan. Besides, that was in the past. You have to toughen up and forget those things, look up at the future and confront those fears! If you keep hiding, StarClan will never be able to give you the life they have planned for you! Look, it isn't much, but I'll try to be the brother you would've had, OK?"

Sandpaw looked at him slowly, as if going over every word he said. She finally managed to choke out, "Confront my fears…I-I'll try, but I'm not so sure I can do that. W-what if I'm too scared?"

"The only thing to fear is fear itself," Snowpaw purred comfortingly, "And you won't have to do that alone. The whole of StarClan is with you, and I'll help too. What do you say?"

This time, Sandpaw smiled through the darkness in her heart and pressed her flank against Snowpaw's, purring hard and feeling like the luckiest cat to have a friend in her time of distress, "I'd say I'm starving, let's grab something quick before those other greedy apprentices steal it all!"

Snowpaw smiled in return, "Now that's the Sandpaw I know! Come on, I fancy a vole or too."

Sandpaw walked beside him, falling into step.

"Snowpaw…I just wanted to tell you something,"

"What?" Snowpaw asked in confusion.

"StarClan took my brother but gave me the best friend in the world to make up for that!"

Snowpaw nudged her teasingly, "And I got a famine-faced kitty that needs me to look after her before she goes chasing after badgers again for her lost kin! Come on already! We're lucky if there's anything left for us!"

Sandpaw smiled inwardly and sighed happily. Life seemed to begin again for her, and everything was so exciting. Soon she would learn how to hunt, fight, and everything else. Even if things get hard, at least she would have a friend to do everything with. The terror of the past seemed to fade away as she stepped into the apprentices' den, her new home.