Username: CloudedDiamond
Cat Name: Heatherbreeze
Gender: Female
Rank: Warrior
Clan: Tribe of Endless TravellingAge: 25 Moons
Prompt: PetalHeatherkit and Petalkit circled each other. Heatherkit was a moon older than Petalkit, yet the younger she-cat still matched her skill level. Heatherkit pounced at Petalkit, knocking the she-cat over. She stood next to Petalkit with one paw on her shoulder. "I win!" She backed off from Petalkit and let her stand up before trotting back to the nursery together, laughing.
"From this day until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Petalpaw. Your mentor is Kestrelfoot. He is a strong and loyal warrior, and I trust him to train you well."
"Petalpaw! Petalpaw! Petalpaw!"
Heatherpaw raced up to the new apprentice. "You're finally an apprentice! Now maybe we can hunt together!"
Kestrelfoot chuckled, "Give it a few moons, Heatherpaw. Let Petalpaw learn the hunter's crouch first at least."
Heatherpaw walked into camp, her fur damp. She sat down beneath the clan's meeting place. Petalpaw ran up, licking her fur in attempt to dry it. "How'd you do?"
"Good, I hope."
Ravenstar leapt onto a boulder. "All cats gather beneath me for a clan meeting." The call rang out through the camp, cats slowly coming out of their dens. Heatherpaw's mentor came and sat next to her apprentice, while Petalpaw stayed on the other side. "Heatherpaw, you have practiced and perfected many hunting and fighting moves. You have returned from the swimming test before moonhigh. StarClan honors your courage and strength. I, Ravenstar, leader of SparrowClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down upon this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code. Heatherpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?"
The gray she-cat stood up and looked at her leader. "I do," she spoke clearly.
"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Heatherpaw, from this moment on you will be known as Heatherbreeze. Serve your clan well."
"Heatherbreeze! It's so pretty! Congratulations!" Petalpaw jumped around Heatherbreeze in excitement.
Petalpaw walked into camp, tired. The moon was visible high in the sky, but surely it couldn't have been moonhigh yet, right? The she-cat walked into camp, some of her clanmates such as her mentor, Kestrelfoot, and Heatherbreeze, as well as her parents, waited in the clearing for her. Some warriors and apprentices emerged from the den as she returned. Heatherbreezze and Kestrelfoot walked either side of the soon-to-be warrior as she walked up to the boulder where Heatherbreeze had received her warrior name a moon prior. Ravenstar walked out of his den and leaped onto the boulder. "All cats gather beneath me for a clan meeting." Many of the cats were already out, but a few others walked out of their dens sleepily and sat down.
Ravenstar looked at Petalpaw. "Petalpaw, you have practiced and perfected many hunting and fighting moves. You have returned from the swimming test before moonhigh. StarClan honors your kindness and determination. I, Ravenstar, leader of SparrowClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down upon this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code. Petalpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?"
Petalpaw looked at Heatherbreeze for a moment before looking back to Ravenstar. "I do."
"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Petalpaw, from this moment on you will be known as Petalskip."
"Petalskip! You did it! We're both warriors!" Heatherbreeze nudged Petalskip with her muzzle.
Heatherbreeze followed Petalskip. "I hate leaving our clan, especially our family, but winters hitting too hard, and it'll be less mouths for them to feed. We can always cross the river and drop off prey secretly if we want. But it's just better if we leave. Maybe one day we'll return, maybe we won't." Heatherbreeze silently agreed with Petalskip as they carefully crossed the frozen river. The forest did not have enough prey to feed the whole clan as it had grown large since the last leafbare, so the two she-cats had left in the middle of the night in hopes for their former clan to prosper. They traveled across the river in which both had each completed their warrior assessments not too many moons prior.
"I'm going to miss everyone," Heatherbreeze spoke up after a few moments of silence. "My mentor, my parents. And they'll be concerned too and will have to waste energy on search parties. Maybe it's better if we go back and announce in the morning we're leaving."
"No, Heatherbreeze. We can't go back now. Look, we're nearly on the other side. And if we go back, we'd have to see the sadness on their faces, and that'd make this hurt worse. It's better this way, I promise. Plus, once they realize we both left, maybe they'll be less concerned. They know we're both strong and are close to each other and will look out for each other."
Heatherbreeze looked at Petalskip as they walked. She knew the she-cat was right, but it still felt wrong to leave without saying goodbye.
"And also," Petalskip began again. "Maybe we'll find a kit or two to raise together. That would be fun wouldn't it?"
Heatherbreeze looked at her mate and smiled. Maybe there were benefits to being loners.
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