Spottedkit's Apprentice Ceremony

His head still hurt.

It had been a couple of days, the weeping wounds on his neck that had throbbed with warmth and pain gradually fading under Daisybloom and Dovefrost's ministrations. Sometimes he'd felt a little more like a test subject for the new apprentice, but hey, if they happened to be around as training dummies then it helped the Clan. Something he hadn't felt like he'd been able to do in a long time.

He shook the musings out of his head, padding forward towards the High Rock, the fading aches in his body still twinging slightly at the movements. ...I'm going to have to scramble up like an elder, aren't I. Wincing at the thought of leaping up, he had to admit to himself that he couldn't do much more if he wanted to do this apprentice ceremony like the medicine cats had grudgingly okayed him for. With a grunt, he set his haunches and gave himself a little boost, claws scratching the gritty surface as he hauled himself up, the aches turning into faintly burning sensations and pricks of pain as he strained. He winced as he finally stood at the top, panting slightly and closing his eyes for a moment against the pressure pounding in his head. I think I know what Oakstar felt like, now. A smile twitched at the corner of his maw as the memory of the old tom flashed into his mind, and he took a deep breath, stepping up to the edge of the rock.

The ground almost lurched beneath him as a brief moment of vertigo whirled at his head, and he settled for standing carefully back a couple of whiskers. ...And now I know why they took so long to let me up here. Shaking his head slightly, he firmly took his eyes off the distance to the ground and looked out over the camp, the walls of the ravine seeming to stretch up above higher than usual to his vaguely woozy view. He flicked his gaze briefly to the nursery, and then opened his mouth.

And hesitated.

What... what do I call, again?

For some reason the only thing that came to mind was swimming and hunting. Cats in ThunderClan didn't swim. He should know - he'd only been living here for what, how many seasons now? Gritting his teeth and forcing his mind to swim through the buzzing distractions floating through it, he made himself focus. All cats old enough....

Oh, right.

Blowing a quiet breath out into the still-chilly air, he called - his voice still not quite back to normal with a vaguely rusty edge to it, "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here beneath the... uh... High Rock, for a Clan meeting!"

Spottedkit had nearly given up on her hope of ever becoming an apprentice. After all, every one of her littermates had already been made an apprentice nearly a moon ago. Surely if she was to be made an apprentice it would have happened by now. So it was without much enthusiasm that she trudged out of the nursery at Minkstream's call, ready to see some other kit be handed the bright future she'd never have.

Still though, as she walked to the middle of the clearing, there was a tiny part of her that still believed there was a chance she would get a mentor one day. The same part that got her to continue practicing running and jumping with her twisted paw, desperately wishing for Nettlestar to notice and realize that she was just as cut out to be an apprentice as her littermates. Maybe today would be the day that finally happened?

Cats began to gather at his summons, ears pricked and a kind of buzzing anticipation that he hadn't seen since... ever, pretty much. Except when it came to the kits, anyway. A smile twitched at the corner of his maw, the aches plaguing his body almost fading to the background. It's been a while since there weren't shadows hanging around watching the whole thing, huh? For just a moment he reveled in it, breathing deep and drawing in the scents of his Clanmates and the hints of Newleaf wafting into the ravine; it seemed cleaner with the stench of Asylum fading.

Mentally, he shook himself and locked his attention onto the nursery, watching the kits and their mothers pad out. Uhh, who was it again? His gaze locked on a calico and white spotted pelt... and went blank. Again.

Stars. Maybe I should have waited a little longer....

His head throbbed, and he squinted for a moment, trying to force the name to squeeze from his mind. Come on... Calico and white... Robinloft's kit... Trying-hard little molly who wants to do her best.... You know her name! He opened his mouth, willing the name to come to mind as his paw pads started to sweat, the slick feeling coating the rock underneath them. S... S- something. Speckle...? No. STARS I NEED A NAME FOXDUNG! The sea of unblinking eyes looking up at him really wasn't helping.

Spottedkit!

He didn't waste time breathing a sigh of relief. "Spottedkit, step forward!"

At least that part was over. Unless he somehow forgot her name again. Forcing his mind firmly on track and putting that disturbing thought to the back of it, he continued when her bright, wide eyes had locked on him. "You're now old enough to join ThunderClan's ranks as an apprentice. From this moment on until you become a warrior, you'll be known as... uh, Spottedpaw. Your mentor will be..." His mind blanked, completely and utterly, the name flitting away like a bird hearing the faintest rustle before he could even extend his claws. For a moment all he could hear was the pounding of his heart and feel the sweat on his paws. Oh stars, I can't just leave the ceremony here to find him and ask him what his name is! Thinking as fast as the mud puddle his mind had inadvertently become would allow, he quickly ended it with, "...me."

As soon as it was done he let out a breath, gingerly leaping back down from the rock and wincing as the movement sent a painful jolt through his body, and the now-throbbing space of his head. He wasn't quite done yet, though. Stepping forward and doing his best to ignore the headache still pounding away, he gently touched his nose to the new apprentice's. "I'll do my best to teach you." A hint of a smile pulled at the corner of his maw as he added, "Though you might have to wait for me to catch up."

When that was done, he stepped back to let her family congratulate her, and let a quiet breath puff from his maw as he briefly closed his eyes. That wasn't terrible at all. With a light snort at himself, he opened them again and joined in calling her new name with the rest of the Clan. At least with the rest of them saying it for him he couldn't inadvertently lose it again.

The medicine cats would probably still kill him for this, though.