Elmkit's Apprentice Ceremony

Rippedsky's claws scored the tallbranch again. It was becoming second nature to handle ceremonies in place of Crowstar while the leader recovered. His tail tip twitched slightly as he hesitated while staring down at the clearing. This was the final one of Poppysong's kits to be named as an apprentice. He wondered how Stoneteller felt about this- watching his kits grow into Skyclan life. It finally occurred to him that he had no idea how he even felt about the tribe cats right now. There was no genuine hate, only a mild sense of betrayal, and an overwhelming amount of confusion. Not every cat was a responsible for the actions of Swoop. In fact, most seemed appauled with her actions. He could not bring himself to blame them. But, he was no longer as comfortable around Stoneteller as he had once been. He had respected the tribe leader, although that had been washed away with the mountain cat's inability to disclose all he knew of the strange events happening.

It was a lot to think through and he had to stop himself to zero in on the impending ceremony. Elmkit needed to start his training. The young tom was not at all responsible for his parentage, or the mistakes of his father. However, Rippedsky still felt a sense of responsibility to help do all he could to help the situation. He looked down at the camp, preparing himself for this ceremony briefly, before yowling out, "Let all cats old enough to climb a tree gather underneath the tallbranch for a clan meeting!"

Shortly after Rippedsky's summons came Elmkit; his chest puffed, shoulders squared, and his little head lifted proudly as he strode into the clearing with a surprising amount of grace. He had grown into his awkwardly long legs now and hardly stumbling whenever he tottered and raced around the clearing around his brothers. He had lost the majority of his downy kit fur and in its place grew the luscious and exotic red-brown fur of his father. Elmkit truly looked the part of an apprentice now so it was fitting that his ceremony was taking place now.

Halting just below the tree that the Tallbranch resided in, Elmkit paused for a moment to cheekily throw a mischievous grin at the small crowd that surrounded him before finally sitting down.

The black and white tom could not help but smile as he caught sight of the spirited young cat. He would certainly make a good apprentice and later on warrior. Without hesitation, the deputy began, "Another young cat has reached six moons of age and is now ready to begin his warrior training. Elmkit, please step forwards." He allowed a brief paused for the kit come forwards and for the crowd to settle. There was no doubt everyone knew what was happening now. It was another ceremony. Rippedsky could only hope that Elmkit would be well received into the clan, despite his mixed origins. There was a prickle of discomfort at the thought of everything, but he pushed it away. Former events would not be allowed to cloud his judgement of Elmkit.

"Elmkit, from this day until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Elmpaw... I will be your mentor." He tried to keep the slight hesitation from his words, but there was no doubting it had crept in. Rippedsky thought back to the last apprentices he had. Kestrelpaw had not managed to complete much training before falling victim to a badger attack. His second, Gorsepaw, had been well on the way to being a fine warrior before he disappeared. Not only was there the complex feelings about Elmpaw's birth, but also at the thought of the possibility of losing another apprentice. He took a deep breath before leaping down from the tree branch. Within moments, he was standing over his new apprentice. Again, there was a beat before he bent to touch noses with the newly named Elmpaw. The tone of his words was void of much emotion as he meowed, "Congratulations. We will begin tomorrow."