Lightkit's Apprentice Ceremony

From her perch atop the Tallbranch, Mistyrain called out, "Let all cats old enough to climb a tree gather beneath the Tallbranch for a Clan meeting!" The first kit from Firflower's litter was ready to be apprenticed. He was a fine young tom, and she was certain that he would rise to the challenge of apprenticeship. She searched the crowd of approaching cats for his light tabby pelt as she waited to continue the ceremony.

Apprenticeship set cats on the road toward a lifetime of serving one’s Clan. Because of that alone, Lightkit had been looking forward to receiving his -paw suffix as much as any of his littermates. The dogs and the Sharptooth changed that. Several sunups had come and gone since the threat had passed; what he’d learned during the battle remained. He was useless. Full-grown warriors had struggled against the dogs, and they’d all fled from the Sharptooth—but those warriors had fought, while Lightkit had been unable to do anything other than cower with his sister. Helplessness, he decided, was something he hated. If he got his way, he would never feel it again. Becoming an apprentice would be the first step toward that goal.

It was all he could do to keep his pace slow as he padded from the nursery to the designated meeting spot below the Tallbranch. Whether today was his ceremony he didn’t know (though it had to be soon, he was one of the bigger kits in the nursery); he wasn’t going to miss it either way. Lightkit seated himself, tail twitching with barely-disguised anticipation as his gaze settled on Mistyrain.

Mistyrain's eyes found Lightkit, seated among his Clanmates and waiting expectantly for the ceremony to continue. "Today, a kit shall receive his apprentice name," she began. "Lightkit, please step forward. You have reached the age of 6 moons, and it is time for you to become an apprentice." She gave the young tom a chance to weave his way through the gathering towards her before picking up the ceremony. "From now on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Lightpaw. I will be your mentor, and I pledge to teach you to the best of my abilities all that I can," the she-cat finished.

She descended from the Tallbranch and made her way over to Lightpaw. "Congratulations, Lightpaw. We will start training tomorrow. I'm expecting a lot from you, but I know you'll excel," she mewed reassuringly, bending to brush her nose to his.

Lightkit’s ears, already pointed forward, stood straight at the mention of his name. So it was his ceremony! Carefully getting to his paws (he was not going to risk tripping in front of the whole Clan), he padded forward, maneuvering around his Clanmates until he found his new place in front of them. Even in the face of death-by-Sharptooth, he hadn’t stood so still. This wasn’t the most important moment of his life—that position, he imagined, was reserved for his warrior ceremony—but it wasn't far behind.

He couldn’t help the way his eyes went wide, nor how they shone when Mistyrain named herself as his mentor. Apprentice to SkyClan’s deputy! That was some kind of pressure. Still, he reminded himself, any cat who could become deputy had to be a good warrior. What better teacher could he have? ”I’ll do my best,” Lightpaw mewed, half to himself, half to Mistyrain as he leaned up to bump his nose against hers. Tomorrow. Between his nerves and his eagerness to learn, this was going to be a long, long wait.