Starlingpaw was awoken early that morning by the sound of Firestar calling for a Clan meeting. She quickly stumbled to her paws as she followed Cinderpelt out into the clearing and up to the base of Highrock, where Firestar sat looking down at her and Cinderpelt. "All cats old enough to catch their own pray gather here beneath the Highrock for a Clan meeting." He yowled, causing all of the gathered cats to stop there conversations. Firestar twitched his ears to listen for any unnecessary chattering. Once he was satisfied with the silence of his clanmates, Firestar began speaking again, "Noble cats of ThunderClan, yesterday one of our patrols found an injured apprentice close to the borders of our territory." Firestar mewed, pausing to let the new information sink in, then he continued speaking, "Starlingpaw, please step forward," Firestar mewed, and the sable-furred she-cat took a hesitant step forward.
"Starlingpaw, do you promise to listen to your mentor and uphold the warrior code?" He asked, staring at the sable-furred apprentice. Starlingpaw nodded.
"Yes," she mewed, her fur fluffed up in anticipation. Firestar smiled.
"Then, until you receive your full medicine cat name, you shall be known as Starlingpaw." Firestar mewed proudly. "Cinderpelt, please step forward." Firestar meowed, and the dark gray medicine cat stepped forward, sitting at the base of the Highrock as she stared up at her leader. "Cinderpelt, you have worked hard to learn the ways of a medicine cat, and helping to heal your injured clanmates." Firestar mewed, then he continued speaking after a few moments of silence. "Yellowfang has taught you well, and I trust you will pass on all she taught you to this apprentice." Firestar meowed, and Cinderpelt bent down to touch noses with Starlingpaw.
"Starlingpaw! Starlingpaw! Starlingpaw!" Yowls of excitement rang out from the crowd of cats as Starlingpaw went to sit beside her mentor. She felt overwhelming excitement build up inside of her as she stared up at Cinderpelt.
"I promise to teach Starlingpaw everything I know," she mewed, glancing up at Firestar and back at her newly named apprentice. Starlingpaw felt she might burst with happiness. I'm finally an apprentice! She thought, and padded over to the medicine den to start her training.
"Good luck, you two. And listen to everything that Cinderpelt tells you to do." Firestar mewed after them, as they entered the medicine den. "Thanks, Firestar." Cinderpelt mewed, turning to look up at her former mentore with wide eyes. "Um, Hey, Cinderpelt? Aren't we gonna start my medicine cat training now or what?" Both Cinderpelt and Firestar turned to see Starlingpaw poking her head out of the entrance of the medicine den, with a pile of herbs in her jaws. "Great StarClan, don't scare me like that, little one." The older she-cat admonished the younger dark-furred former ShadowClan apprentice. Starlingpaw blushed and ducked her head, not saying so much as a single word for a few moments before speaking up again as best as one could with a mouthful of herbs clutched between her teeth. "Oh, wow! This is more herbs than I've ever seen back in the ShadowClan medicine den when I trained as a medicine cat apprentice under the mentorship of the Clan's only medicine cat: A very mean and snarky jet-black tomcat who hated my very existence named Nightfur." The sable-furred apprentice spat the name out like a poisonous herb was forcibly shoved down her throat. It was pretty obvious to both Cinderpelt and Firestar that the owner of this now named "Nightfur" cat was a name that appeared to be some sort of sour spot from her kit hood and early apprentice days back in ShadowClan.
"Great StarClan, just how many herbs do you normally store in the medicine cat's den?" The sable-furred medicine cat apprentice mewed quietly from the entrance of said medicine cat's den with a bundle of herbs cluched tightly in her jaws. Even though her voice was muffled by the bundle of herbs, it was still loud enough to be heard, and she unintentionally ended up accidentally startling her new mentor and making Cinderpelt nearly jump out of her own fur in shock at the younger she-cat's sudden appearance.
Cinderpelt blinked in surprise when she saw Starlingpaw in the entrance of the medicine den, with a mouthful of herbs in her jaws. "These herbs are Marigold, Comfrey and Yarrow," Starlingpaw said in between the herbs in her jaws, and Cinderpelt turned to stare at Firestar with wide-eyed surprise. "Wow! Your pretty smart, Starlingpaw." Firestar praised, staring down at Starlingpaw, who blushed at the praise as she lowered her head as far as possible with herbs in her jaws.
It was evening, and by now most of ThunderClan was settled down, sharing freshly caught prey, grooming each other and sharing the latest gossip. Tawnykit and Hollykit were parked directly in front of the elders den, listening to Batbounce, Blizzardsnow, and Shimmerwing talk about the days when they were warriors, young and strong.
"Yes, I do love what Tulipcloud's done with her fur!" Starlingpaw heard Cherrycloud exclaim to Frostwind. Starlingpaw walked over to the fresh-kill pile to choose a fat red robin.
"Hay, Starlingpaw. Come over here!" The sable-furred apprentice turned to see two young apprentices motioning for her to come and join them. "So, Starlingpaw, tell us! How did your training with Cinderpelt go? And what made you decide to become Cinderpelt's apprentice?"
The cat who had spoken was a small auburn she-cat with dark orange accents and bright blue eyes, who was sitting beside three other cats near the Apprentice's Den. The second was a small black-and-white she-cat with dark cat was a bright ginger stripes tabby with dark orange stripes along flank and tail-tip with water-blue eyes that sparkled with misted.
The third cat was a small red-and-brown tortoiseshell she-cat with with a distinctive dappled pelt, a scar above her left eye, curled ears, and sparkling leaf-green eyes. And last but certainly not least: the forth cat was a very pretty silvery-white dappled lynx point tabby she-cat with a plumed tail, curled ears, a scar across her right cheek, and icy shimmering blue eyes.
Starlingpaw replied with a small smile. "It went pretty well, but I still have a lot to learn. It's really fun to learn about herbs and what they do to help a sick or injured cat."
"Oh, pardon me for cutting you off in mid-speech... but, I never did got your name, nor the names of the three she-cats next to you." The sable-furred apprentice mewed with a tilt of her head and an amused smile on her face. The auburn she-cat nodded with a sheepish smile.
"Oh… I'm so sorry… where are my manners?" The fluffy orange-and-white tabby chuckled nervously, lowering her eyes and giving Starlingpaw a sheepish look. "The name's Kestrelpaw, it's a pleasure to meet you officially this time, Starlingpaw." She paused a second time before giggling cheekily, her neon yellow eyes glowing with mirth as she stared at someone of the dark-furred apprentice's left shoulder.
"And the black-and-silver speckled mouse-brain who snuck over next to you is my adopted sister, Silkpaw."
As Kestrelpaw said this, she follows her eyes and waved her fluffy orange-and-white striped tail over at the now named Silkpaw, who Starlingpaw thought was the most beautiful cat she had ever seen in her life. "It's a pleasure to meet you all, too, you all look like you know how to get into trouble... and, lucky for you guys: I'm a literal trouble magnite." Starlingpaw mewed. "Oh, and Kestrelpaw, your pelt is very pretty." Starlingpaw mewed in a friendly tone. The auburn she-cat blushed and lowered her head.