Chamrosh wrote:xxxxHeronstar had never been a great climber, and she was far past her limber peak, so she had to struggle up to her spot. “Let all cats old enough gather under the wall!”
xxxxSaying “old enough to catch their own prey” felt clumsy at best. Surely every cat with the strength to walk outside should be able to attend? They were hardly going to announce something inappropriate for kits in public anyway. Heronstar waited patiently as the other Gustclan cats gathered around her, her tail just flicking slightly on the other side of the brickwork.
xxxxAnd as she’d expected even if she had specified ages, Boulderdash’s kits were all coming outside anyway. And Boulderdash was struggling to mind all five. Until they were apprentices, she was tasking Barn-owl with helping keep an eye on them, and not just relaxing as being an elder normally implied. He’d been doing a good job but his breaks to relieve himself were already noticeably more common over the last few moons. He’d always come back, Heronstar was sure he wasn’t deliberately slacking off, but she was concerned for his deteriorating state of health.
xxxxHeronstar waited until every cat was sitting in a vaguely orderly fashion (except for Sealkit, who was fidgeting, with just one paw actually, which was rather strange but it seemed to be his habit).
xxxxHeronstar shuffled her paws, straightedned herself up and took a big breath in.
xxxx"Ospreykit!” The molly kit hesitantly walked forwards like Mosquitopaw and Lobsterpaw had told her to, and Heronstar started talking again once she got close enough to the right spot. “You have reached six moons, and it is time for you to become an apprentice. From now until you become a warrior, you will be known as Ospreypaw. Your mentor will be Clarystorm-" Heronstar was interrupted by a collective gasp from many of the cats, so she had to pause a few seconds, glaring down, and seeing that was ineffective-
xxxx"Silence! He’s a capable warrior, who so far has proven trustworthy, and I have had words with him about not rubbing his abrasive nature too thoroughly onto his apprentice.” The murmuring quietened a good deal. Yes, she’d made a controversial choice, but with so many kits around, it seemed important to thoroughly assess who might make a good mentor and whose skills might be useful. Clarystorm seemed keen to teach, so why not let him? Heronstar herself would be checking he wasn’t a bad influence, and Cicelypaw was nearly ready to be a warrior of whatever limited capacity she’d be able to sustain herself, so she could afford to spend the time on it.
xxxxHeronstar cleared her throat and continued. Ospreykit didn’t seem so concerned as many of the others, but if she didn’t seem brave and stubborn, Heronstar wouldn’t have assigned the mentor she was assigning. “Your mentor will be Clarystorm. I hope that Clarystorm will pass down what he knows to you.” Her eyes scouted around her clan for a moment. “Clarystorm!” Clarystorm took only a few steps from where he’d sat at the very edge of the front line. “You are ready to take on an apprentice, and you show plenty of persistence in attempts to teach us all, so I hope you can channel that productively. You will be the apprentice of Ospreypaw, and I expect you to pass on all… everything helpful you know to her.”
xxxxClarystorm and Ospreypaw stood awkwardly, neither of them entirely familiar with the ceremony. Clarystorm unwilling to allow himself to lose track of his surroundings by focusing on such a narrow field of view as just one face, and Ospreypaw wary enough not to let such a potentially dangerous warrior get so close to her throat with his teeth. Heronstar was sure they’d get on. If there was one thing Clarystorm loved it was being cautious.
xxxxThere were similar objections to her next assignment too.
xxxx("How come Vendy gets an apprentice and I don’t? You know I’m going to team up for training, don’t you?” Heronstar rolled her eyes. Yes she did, thank you Langoustinefang. But you couldn’t assign an apprentice to two mentors).
xxxxAt least no one rejected Firepath’s appointment to Saffronpaw. He had a good reputation among the other warriors, although Heronstar was aware his focus on his insecurities would never allow him to be a good leader or deputy after herself and Chubtail.
xxxxAnd lastly…
xxxx"Tabbyfur!” There were only three complaints, and she could predict exactly who they were from without having to look at the new apprentices. Tabbyfur seemed honestly pleased about it. At least she was honest to herself about her ineptitude, otherwise she wouldn’t willingly take being treated as as uneducated as her kits. “Due to your background as a kitty-pet, you have sadly been unable to learn our ways yourself, but you have proven your loyalty in staying here and allowing your kits to be raised here to enough of a degree that I have no doubts in your worthiness to start to become a warrior. You no longer must mind your kits, and so I believe it due time to officially train you. I will not make you be known as Tabbypaw-" for some unfathomable reason, Tabbyfur looked bewildered by that. Heronstar really wasn’t sure what could be confusing there. “-as an apprentice may not have kits. Your mentor will be Chubtail, who aims to make you a true warrior as soon as he can.”
xxxxChubtail followed his part of the ceremony as normal, touching noses as expected.
xxxx"Lionkit!” There were some quiet mutterings, but not many. There was far more scepticism of the Hyenaclan cats being included in normal clan life than about a kitty-pet. The worst danger Tabbyfur could bring was soft-ness. Troutpaw and Lionpaw had been raised in a vicious environment and there was no guarantee that they were not just as vicious, and having two of them would be far more incidious than just one. But Heronstar could hardly leave either to die, as they were both found as kits.
xxxxHeronstar was half way through when yet again an apprentice ceremony was interrupted.
xxxx"OWWW!”
xxxxHeronstar’s eyes were drawn over to Boulderdash’s kits as a dark streak – Dipperkit – jumped away from something moving erratically on the floor. The other kits were moving…
xxxx"Why did you kick me?!” Dipperkit demanded.
xxxxAnd as the cats’ heads turned to get a look-
xxxxSealkit was twitching uncontrollably on his back, one moment turning one way, the next flinging himself over the other way.
xxxx"Sealki' sto'.” Boulderdash tried to reassume motherly responsibility for her kit. But Sealkit didn’t seem able to hear. He didn’t seem to be able to do anything except flail, with his eyes pointing directly forward no matter how his head flung around, stuck wide open, the only part of him that didn’t seem to be moving.
xxxx"Everyone, get away from Sealkit!” Harrierpelt ordered, running over, with a fiercely protective air to his voice. Harrierpelt looked mystified but also horrified, much the same as everyone else, and Heronstar was terrified at the implications if Harrierpelt had no idea what to do.
xxxx"Lionpaw, your mentor’s Osierfang. Apprentices, follow any orders Harrierpelt gives about what to do.” Heronstar directed quickly, before leaping down himself. Harrierpelt had finally managed to get everyone out of the way just as Sealkit slumped to the ground, still.
xxxxThere was deathly silence for a moment, before Sealkit groaned.
xxxxAnd Teaslekit was the first cat to run right up to his brother, nuzzling him, and muttering under his breath. “You should work up to dancing like that, but it’s definitely more than your tail that’s got a talent for it. And… you might be a Sealstep when you grow up; you remember Barn-owl talking about how seals move too, right?”
xxxx"Teasleki’, do’ ya dare joke ‘bou…”
xxxxBut Sealkit was smiling at his brother from a confused daze. So Boulderdash held back completing her rebuke. Harrierpelt looked across at Teaslekit – and now, also, Zinniakit – who was (were) now dealing with comforting and reassuring Sealkit, before focusing on looking after his son’s wellbeing.[center]-----
xxxx"Why? Why did you have to do this to my kit? Sealkit hasn’t done anything wrong!”Dad?And as always, silence.
Dad, I can’t talk to you. I can’t believe you did that! Twice! I’m the only Starclan cat who’d want to. How to deal with you? I’m not killing Sealkit- I want him to have the life I couldn’t! I don’t know what’s wrong, and I promise if I find out, I will try to stop it… but I can’t… I can’t, dad. I don’t know how to talk to you. Just blackness, and the feeling of a single pair of eyes watching him from the darkness, raising the fur on the back of his neck.
-----
xxxx"Ma, did you see how good we were at helping Sealkit?” Zinniakit asked.
xxxxBoulderdash nodded wearily. She had a feeling this was going to continue. She was starting to wonder whether these two really were going to constantly be fighting over who got to be the next medicine cat. Boulderdash couldn’t say she was looking forward to that.
-----
xxxx"What did you do to Sealkit?” Sparrowfoot demanded.
xxxx"I didn’t do anything. None of us did. It’s outside Starclan’s control. If I could stop it, I would.”xxxx"What do you mean it’s out of Starclan’s control? Don’t you control everything?”xxxxIn the dream, Elmfang shook her head just slightly. It was strange, seeing her sister still as a kit.
“We can’t control everything.” And then, done with the questioning, Elmfang took a deep breath that rattled her tiny kit body, and exhaled, and the dream separated away from Sparrowfoot as she stood in Starclan, and then woke to the sound of bird song.
I control dreams, not bodies, big sister. And Starclan is only privy to so much of your future. I so wish I could help you. But until my knowledge is clearer, clear enough to give helpful warnings, sister ... Sweet waking.—Shortly After the Apprentice Ceremony--
xxxxThe apprentice den was getting a bit full now. Although all the dens were big, it was becoming hard to enter without bumping into someone else.
xxxxSaffronpaw was the last of the new apprentices to choose a spot, largely because he’d specifically asked Firepath if he could go along on the regular border patrol today so he’d seen the whole territory already, as soon as he could. Tabitha had moved into the warriors’ den, leaving him in an unfamiliar environment with no warriors or queens.
xxxxHis sisters had already been taken out of the den for training, and a few other had gone out to practice their skills separately from their mentors, leaving him alone with Mosquitopaw and Lionpaw.
xxxxSaffronpaw stepped uncertainly over the threshold into the den, and saw both the eyes looking at him. Lionpaw looked as uncertain as he did about their company, and that was saying something, as Saffronpaw didn’t think he’d seen Lionpaw show weakness before. Mosquitopaw (it felt weird not being able to refer to her as Moskito, having heard that for moons from her mother) sat on the ledge by the vertical ice, looking down, and Lionpaw was at a similar height but from the human nest’s remains. Saffronpaw felt like he was being severely looked down on.
xxxxMosquitopaw looked across at the two of them. The look of her eyes said she already knew she was in charge.
xxxx"So, how are you two looking forward to being apprentices?”xxxxSaffronpaw rolled his eyes slightly. She’d only been an apprentice for a moon, he really wasn’t in a good position to be patronising them like that.
xxxx"Your warriors are softer than Hyenaclan’s.” Lionpaw said, very matter-of-fact.
xxxxMosquitopaw nodded slightly, acknowledging that.
“Do either of you know much of the code yet?” she asked, knowing neither had been exposed properly to the code yet due to being born outside a conventional clan.
xxxxBoth the younger apprentices shook their heads.
xxxxMoquitopaw took a big breath in, and prodceeded to recite the code word-for-word. She'd only heard each rule strung together once.
xxxx"Wow.”/
"Wow.” Lionpaw was amazed at Mosquitopaw’s memory, while Saffronpaw was amazed at what she’d actually said, which gave a rather different tone to both of their responses.
xxxx"Are there really that many holes in the code?”xxxx"Holes? I don’t see any.”xxxx"Well, for instance, the code doesn’t say “don’t kill” it just says you “shouldn’t need to kill”, which is very different. And even if it were more precise, why did they feel the need to specify that honourable cats will choose to act with honour? And that’s one rule!”xxxx"Honour’s a luxury we can’t all afford.” Mosquitopaw
was working off hypotheticals, sure, but she said it so surely that Saffronpaw was sure many would have doubted her apparent level of experience.
“Sometimes the best option is to prioritise something other than honour.”xxxx"Really. You’d rather have a dishonourable warrior-"xxxx"Than one who allows kits to die by not killing a cat that’s attacking them. It’s only for self defence that you can kill with honour, or one who’s broken the code. Nothing saying you can kill someone who’s about to break the code to defend someone else. Nothing saying you can kill to help save any lives by your own while retaining honour. Prioritising honour is inherently selfish.”xxxx"You only defend the code as it is so you can ignore what it’s telling you.” Saffronpaw said. He stepped more fully into the apprentice den, and started looking for a decent nest spot. After a few seconds, Lionpaw spoke.
xxxx"I waited through you two brain-boxes arguing that long, and I don’t even get to see a fight? You guys are so boring.” [Lionkit is apprenticed to Osierfang and becomes Lionpaw; Ospreykit is apprenticed to Clarystorm and becomes Ospreypaw; Noctulekit is apprenticed to Vendacethroat and becomes Noctulepaw; Saffronkit is apprenticed to Firepath and becomes Saffronpaw. Tabitha is apprenticed to Chubtail and receives no name-change.]
[Harrierpelt goes out to look for herbs]
[Argusheart, Pearstone, Sparrowfoot, Nettleflower, Moraine, and Langoustinefang go hunting]
[Martinwhisker and Troutpaw, Bugleclaw and Pheasantpaw, Shellcloud and Mosquitopaw, Lobeliafur and Lobsterpaw, Merlindash and Camberpaw, Osierfang and Lionpaw, Clarystorm and Ospreypaw, Vendacethroat and Noctulepaw, and Firepath and Saffronpaw train]
[Myrtleclaw and Ploverpaw, and Heronstar and Cicelypaw train; tracking]
[Chubtail and Tabitha train; climbing]
[Boulderdash stays in camp to mind the kits; Teaselkit, Ringkit, Zinniakit, Dipperkit, and Sealkit]
[Droseratail and Barnfish stay in camp]
[Advent Items: Mint, Heather Nectar, Hare, Coltsfoot, Frog, Stick, Rabbit, Mouse, Rabbit, Daisy Leaf, Coltsfoot, Oak Leaf, Ragwort, (caught up to day 17). I’m waiting to do cat picks until at least the 1st!]
[Gustclan consumes 1 big fish and 2 rabbits – 7 portions
