I yawned, steching, and blinked my eyes before hopping out of my nest.
My fur pricked, my heart beat, I was the only one left in the den...
It had been two more moons since Birdkit showed me her special place and it was time for my apprentice ceremony.
I raced out of the den and into the warm morning. Immediately I spotted Leafkit and Birdkit jumping around outside, with my father and mother purring in happiness. I ran harder until I crashed into them, and we rolled around laughing in a bundle or pale gray, white, brown, ginger, and gray fur.
"You got your fur messed up!" Icefall exclaimed, and pulled me away from my littermates and close to her belly, covering me with long strokes of her tongue. I sighed.
"Wish I wasn't you!" Birdkit chimed.
"Your next!" Leafkit retorts, as she was struggling from Thorntail.
Finally, my mother let me go to groom Birdkit, and Leafkit led me to where the other kits and Cloudpaw were.
"Morning!" Cloudpaw mews as we come closer.
"Morning," I squeak.
"We can hardly stand still, sorry," Willowkit apologizes.
"It's fine, I remember what mine was like," He says.
"No more being Sparkkit!" Sparkkit exclaims.
"Sparkkit Sparkkit Sparkkit Sparkkit," Honeykit teases, and he retorts by repeating her name. I flatten my ears, their volume is rising.
"Stop," Leafkit whines.
"All the cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Meeting Rock for a Clan meeting!" Bristlestar's loud voice carries across the camp. Without another word we race away, and I stop besides my mother.
"Do we need to groom them more?" She asks Thorntail, who shakes his head.
"There fine," he tells her, and I turn my attention to Bristlestar.
"Step forward, please," He mews. "Gingerpelt and Grasshaze's kits," He quickly adds. Glancing at each other excitedly and nervously, tail twitching, the four step up.
"Willowkit," Bristlestar says calmly, staring down at her. "You have reached the age of six moons old, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Willowpaw. Your mentor will be Mintbreeze. Mintbreeze, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You have received excellent training from your former mentor, and you have shown yourself to be smart and skilled. You will be the mentor of Willowpaw, and I expect you to pass on all you know to her."
My best friend steps up the black-and-white she-cat, and touches noses with her. Mintbreeze murmurs something to Willowpaw I can't catch.
Bristlestar continues. "Honeykit, you have reached the age of six moons old, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Honeypaw. Your mentor will be Tansyleaf. Tansyleaf, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You have received excellent training from your former mentor, and you have shown yourself to be loyal and reliable. You will be the mentor of Honeypaw, and I expect you to pass on all you know to her." Honeypaw, bouncing up and down, touches noses with her new mentor.
Sparkkit and Quailkit became Sparkpaw and Quailpaw, with Patchfur and Lynxfur as their mentors. Then, the brown leader called me and my littermates up, giving Leafpaw and Birdpaw to Stormtail and Hollyheart. Finally, he calls me forward.
"Featherkit, you have reached the age of six moons old, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Featherpaw. I have heard you want to be a medicine cat apprentice, is this true?
I nod. I have never been surer in all my life.
"Then your mentor will be Lilycloud. Lilycloud, you will take Featherpaw to the Moonstone and StarClan will choose if she is right for this or not."
"They'll accept you," Lilycloud murmurs as I touch noses with her
(wip)
