Act 3 - Wind, Courage and Wings
Clearpaw was sat next to Smallpaw in the centre of the crowd of cats. Dawnpaw had left them a few moments ago to join a group of other apprentices, so the two apprentices sat alone, waiting anxiously for their naming ceremonies.
Suddenly, there was a yowl from the bushes and a ginger and white tom charged through, followed by a group of cats. BirchClan was here. And the ceremony was about to start. Clearpaw turned to lick every part of her she could reach, since she wanted to look her best in front of the three clans.
Smallpaw turned to her, kneading the paws with his paws. "It's so exciting!" He said excitedly yet quietly. Clearpaw was too frozen with fear to answer, so she just nodded.
There was a yowl overhead from Cedarstar and the entire hollow went silent. Clearpaw wanted to cry from anxiety, but held it back. Then his voice rang out across the clearing.
"Tonight, we introduce a new rule to the warrior code. From now on, we will do ceremonies in the Gatherings, so all clans can celebrate the new name of a cat. And we shall initiate that rule with the warrior ceremonies of two ForestClan cats." Cedarstar looked down at Smallpaw and Clearpaw, who gulped.
"Smallpaw, step forward." Clearpaw shuddered as the small grey tom left her side and the cold air of the night hit her. She looked across the clearing at the surrounding cats and locked eyes with a beige and white tom, who was glaring aggressively at her, fear striking her like lightning, she looked away and instead looked at Smallpaw, who was looking up at Cedarstar with excited eyes.
"Smallpaw, do you swear to uphold the warrior code, for good or for worse?" Cedarstar asked, looking down at the apprentice.
"I do." He said eagerly.
"Do you swear to use what you've learnt to protect ForestClan with your life?"
"I do."
"Then from this day forward, your new name is Smallfur. Protect your clan with loyalty and respect." Cedarstar finished to yowls of approval from the cats in the clearing.
Smallfur sauntered over to Clearpaw and nudged her encouragingly, and with another gulp, Clearpaw steppped forward, shivering.
She locked eyes with Cedarstar, trying not to feel conscious of the amount of cats around her. To her relief, he started the next naming ceremony quickly.
"Clearpaw, do you swear to uphold the warrior code, for good or for worse?" A glimpse of Dragonpaw's face flashed across Clearpaw's vision and it hit her what exactly she was giving up, but, with her insides constricting, she responded "I do."
"Do you swear to use what you've learned to heal ForestClan with generosity?" Cedarstar asked again.
Clearpaw swallowed once more. "I do."
"Then, from this day forward, your new name is Clearink. Help your clan with loyalty and respect." Clearink bowed her head, the anxiety evaporating quickly from her insides.
She trotted over to Ghosttail, who was beaming widely at her. Sitting down next to her, she looked into the crowd for Dawnpaw, and found her sat next to the MountainClan Medicine Cat apprentice Spottedpaw. Her heart dropped when she saw that Dawnpaw looked like she wanted to cry.
And Clearink did too.
Because Dragonpaw was gone from her life. Swallowing down the melancholy feeling, she said to herself:
New name, new life.
And forced herself to forget about her feelings for Dragonpaw.
He was gone.
The night of Silkpaw's kidnapping was a hard one. Dragonpaw couldn't sleep without her face popping up in his head, and sorrow filling his insides.
Earlier, the apprentices has stopped under a patch of trees to sleep for the night, but it was quiet and silent without Silkpaw's loud mouth.
He woke up earlier than he ever did the next morning, feeling heavy and empty. For a second he mistook Deerpaw's brown fur for Silkpaw. He missed her ridiculously, and with a jolt he realised that he might never see her again.
"Ah, you're awake too." Said a raspy voice from behind him. Dragonpaw looked around to see Lagoonpaw walking toward him carrying a stringy squirrel. She dropped it as his paws and said. "We're passing twoleg territory today and there might be dogs, so we need to eat quick and get past before they wake up."
"Wait, no." Dragonpaw said, something clicking inside him. "We need to go back. Silkpaw. She could be dead now, we need to find her! We can't let down EclipseClan!"
Lagoonpaw sighed. "If it wasn't the will of EclipseClan, she wouldn't have been captured! I am sure we will find her on the way back."
"Why would they even elect her to come, then?!" Dragonpaw hissed, his voice growing louder. Behind them, Ratpaw pushed himself up and mewed drowsily "Guys, let's not fight."
"Shut up, you're not a part of this!" Lagoonpaw growled, the calm demeanour evaporating like water on a hot day. Ratpaw recoiled.
"You're wasting time!" Lagoonpaw snarled at Dragonpaw. "The dogs are probably awake now, thanks to your mousebrained yowling!"
"Hey, you're yowling, too! Maybe even louder than me!" Dragonpaw hissed, whisking his tail around in agitation. "We really SHOULD go back and find Silkpaw and get her! If EclipseClan wanted her on this mission, she would still be with us now!"
By now, the other three apprentices were up and awake. Deerpaw was looking back and forth between the two arguing apprentices, with her expression confused. Bumblepaw was cowering behind Ratpaw, who was looking rough.
Dragonpaw yowled in pain as an unsheathed claw raked over his head. That's when Ratpaw howled "Stop it, both of you! If you two keep arguing and fighting like little kits, we'll never get ANYTHING done."
Lagoonpaw looked from Ratpaw to Dragonpaw, let out a "Tch." and stormed away from the hollow, in the direction of the farmland. Ratpaw looked around at everyone and said "No more fighting. We can't let our grief get a hold of us, now, let's follow."
Dragonpaw raised a paw to his head and wiped off the blood that had amassed there. He winced in pain as he realised that a wound acquired from the collapsed cavern had reopened. But not wanting to tell Bumblepaw this, he begrudgingly followed everybody else, toward the farm.