Hello, guys! :D I won't be able to update Everything but Nothing today as my mom has outlawed me from using the internet except for uploading this (long story). But enjoy this! :)
California Rain: I am finding this a bit easier to write with; first of all, they aren't spitting insults at each other. :P Yeah, I'm pretty sure "thrice" is a word. If it isn't, oh well. :P I'll fix that mistake, thanks. :) And you're starting to figure out the storyline! *gasp* :0
SakuraFlutist: Thanks! :)
Cherrynose: Yes, aren't they cute? 3
zestia240: Thank you! :D
RandomFalcon: You made an account? Cool! :D Amberkit is actually a bit serious about this promise, but Tigerkit's going to change that. ;)
Smurflover: It's okay if you don't want to, but it helps boost my review count and I always get so happy when I get reviews. :D And yes, other people are reviewing every chapter (thank you, my faithful reviewers)! :D
Disclaimer: I don't own Warriors.
Chapter 4: Ceremonies
Cats come streaming out of their dens, flocking to the space beneath the Hightree. Brightsky makes us stand up, flicking dust off our rumps with her tail, just as Doveflight and her two kits come out. The two queens exchange small talk—such as "Our kits are going to be apprenticed!", and things like that—before leading us to the Hightree, too.
Branchstar is still waiting for the elders to stagger out of their den when we find ourselves a position beneath the Hightree, so I take the time to examine Cloudkit and Graykit. Cloudkit has soft-looking white fur, with blue eyes. Graykit has, of course, a gray pelt—it'd be stupid if he had ginger fur like mine and was called Graykit—with green eyes.
Graykit is talking with Tigerkit, Darkkit, and my brother, but Cloudkit is sitting silently by her mother and father, who is, as I thought, Breezetail. Thinking she must be lonely or not feeling well, I pad over to her, giving her a bright smile.
"Hi, my name's Amberkit. Your name's Cloudkit, right?"
The look she gives me is enough to scorch the fur off of a squirrel. "What does it matter to you?" she says icily.
I become defensive. "I was just trying to be friendly!"
Cloudkit sniffs, looking at me. "I don't need to be friends with little kits." A cold leafbare wind blows around the camp.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"Duh, I was born five sunrises before you! So I'm older."
And what does that matter? I think inside my head, and decide to leave. Cloudkit gives me no parting "good-bye" as I pad back toward Lilackit and Petalkit. I want to talk to Lilackit and Petalkit, to warn them about Cloudkit's frostiness, but Branchstar is starting to speak, so I hold my silence.
"Cats of LeafClan, we are gathered here today to perform two ceremonies," he announces. "First, there are a few apprentices who have earned their right to be a warrior." He calls up a ginger she-cat, Redpaw, and names her Redpelt, and then a black tom, Thunderpaw, and names him Thunderflash, using the formal warrior ceremony words. There's one more apprentice, Swallowpaw, but she's a medicine cat apprentice, and will get her medicine cat name when Whispersong decides so.
The Clan cheers their names, and I add my voice to theirs, though I'm impatient for me to become an apprentice. Then it's time for the apprentice ceremony, and I'm excited. First he calls up Cloudkit and Graykit, as they're older. I cheer the new Graypaw's name, but avoid saying Cloudpaw's. Branchstar apprentices Cloudpaw to Ivyrain, and Graypaw to Rainsong.
Though Blazepelt's litter and Brightsky's kits were born only a few hours apart, Brightsky's litter was born first. As I was the last kit to suckle at my mother's belly, I'm the youngest kit—very soon to be apprentice—in LeafClan, though not by much.
In accordance to birth, Branchstar calls up Darkkit, Petalkit, and Tigerkit. Up in the Hightree—which I think is ironically named—their pelts shine with perfection, and I don't think Tigerkit regrets being licked anymore. Who wants to look like a drowned mouse in front of your Clan?
Darkkit is now Darkpaw, Petalkit is Petalpaw, and Tigerkit is Tigerpaw. Their mentors are Breezetail, Twigclaw, and Ravenwing. LeafClan cheers their names. "Darkpaw! Petalpaw! Tigerpaw!"
Now it's my littermates' and my turn. Branchstar calls us up, and I trail Ashkit and Lilackit as they pad calmly to the Hightree and jump up. I'm not sure if soon-to-be-apprentices-but-still kits should be allowed to climb in trees, but I follow my littermates' lead and leap into the evergreen next to Branchstar.
"First up, Ashkit," Branchstar meows, looking at my dark gray-pelted brother. "Ashkit, 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 Ashpaw. Your mentor will be Pounceclaw. I hope Pounceclaw will pass down all he knows to you." He nods at the white-and-brown splotched tom, who joins us, leaping onto a lower branch of the evergreen.
"Pounceclaw, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You have received excellent training from Mousetail, and you have shown yourself to be passionate and wise. You will be the mentor of Ashpaw, and I expect you to pass on all you know to him."
We cheer Ashpaw's name. My brother and Pounceclaw leap down from the Hightree in a singular motion, and Branchstar continues on. He makes Lilackit an apprentice, Lilacpaw, and apprentices my sister to Cedarheart. LeafClan calls out Lilacpaw's name. "Lilacpaw, Lilacpaw!"
Then it is my turn. I am the only one left on the Hightree besides Branchstar. The light brown tabby tom repeats the same speech he used for Cloudpaw, Graypaw, Darkpaw, and the others, and starts to name my mentor. There are only two warriors who aren't the deputy or the leader left who don't have any apprentices, and that's Ashfeather, the dead Oakpelt's sister, and my father, Birchstep.
Fathers and mothers aren't allowed to mentor their children, so I figure I'll get Ashfeather. But as Branchstar starts to say, "Your mentor will be," he stops, looking flustered. I think I understand why he stopped. If Ashfeather is my mentor, Birchstep will be the only warrior, not including Branchstar or Falconflight, that doesn't have an apprentice.
Warriors with apprentices can still hunt prey, of course, but warriors without one are faster at catching prey and have more time to, with no apprentice to teach, or an apprentice that lags behind and that might accidentally scare away possible fresh-kill.
There are a large amount of kits for a leafbare, I think, and count in my head. Eight. There are eight apprentices now, seven if you don't include the fact that Branchstar has to figure out who my mentor is and complete my apprentice ceremony. Plus, my father is one of the younger warriors, so he's not as good as hunting and catching prey as Pounceclaw or one of the older warriors might be. So who shall my mentor be? I wait for Branchstar to finish his sentence, but a few Clan members are shifting their paws, the elders in particular, who are waiting to get back to their dens and lie down, safe in shelter away from the cold leafbare wind. Branchstar finally opens his mouth again.
"Amberpaw, your mentor will be…" he pauses, as if making a final, last decision in his head, "…Falconflight." A gale of wind whips up, but it's not enough to disguise the murmurings that start up.
Falconflight? The deputy?
My reasoning for Branchstar not giving Amberpaw Ashfeather as a mentor, but Falconflight instead, may have a hole or two in it, but I tried hard to make it all work. :) Oh, and you get to meet Cloudkit/paw! Isn't she a sweetie? :P
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~Ponyiowa