Oakkit's Apprentice Ceremony

As Batbite made her way up to the Highrock to call the Clan together, this time there was a little more spring in her step. She was excited about today, not just because it was an apprentice ceremony, but because of who it would center on - her son, the one she'd found amidst twoleg wreckage, the one that she and Minkstream had taken in as one of their own. He had made it this far, and she believed he would go so much farther. The words were familiar, both spoken and heard before, but they were somehow a little more special. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Highrock for a Clan meeting!"

She wondered if this was how Leopardstar had felt once upon a time, when she and her siblings had reached six moons of age. Either way, she was already so proud of her youngest son.

Minkstream's ears twitched as his mate's summons rang through the camp, an odd sense of anticipation pulling at him as he glanced around to see her up on the rock. Stars, she looks good there. A smile pulled at his maw, and he got up from where he'd been sitting, wincing as his head reeled slightly at the movement. Better than I ever did. Though he'd never actually seen himself on the rock, since it was a little hard to view yourself when you were already standing somewhere....

She was settling in well, though - the apprentice ceremonies rolling with regularity as they always had. He had to admit it felt a little strange to look at it from this angle, a little strange not to have to organize everything and pick the mentors to match each kit. Not that... he could really... remember their names all that well....

Speaking of remembering... His paws slowed as he approached the group gathering before the High Rock, carefully keeping the frown off his face as he fought to chase down that stray thought. Wasn't there something important about this one? A fuzzy memory of him and Bat talking about something came to mind, swimming against the current for a brief moment before getting swept away again. I swear there was....

...Oakstar?

A brown pelt with white patches, amber eyes gazing up at the rock expectantly, vague curiosity in his expression.

He paused, or more accurately, froze for a brief second. I- wha- That throbbing whirl in his head grew, and he blinked hard, quickly raising a paw and licking it, drawing it back over his ear as casually as he could, suddenly thrown hard into the past. He could feel his heart thumping in his ears as he pretended to get out a sudden itch, his paw pads sweating. Oakstar's dead you idiot, that's... that's Treun.

Treun! Oakkit! He yelled at his own mind. Your son, you mousebrained addle-head!

Subtly taking a deep breath, he lowered his paw, feeling his heartbeat start to slow as the sudden confusion like thick mud started to wash away. That's right... It's his apprentice ceremony. They'd... they'd just been talking about that, hadn't they?

Firmly putting the question of his own sanity out of his mind for now, he padded forward more confidently, sincerely hoping that Bat hadn't noticed any of that. This was supposed to be a day of celebration - a good day - not one where everyone worried about him yet again. ...I should probably talk to Daisybloom, or... anyone. But it hasn't been that long - I should be getting better. Any day now. As if he'd just wake up one day perfectly fine. That would definitely happen after however many weeks it had been that he couldn't even remember anymore.

Letting out a quiet breath, he padded up beside his youngest son as the other blinked around and nudged his shoulder, ignoring the throb in his own head as he gave the young tom a smile. "Something on your mind?"

The disquiet faded further as a sense of anticipation slowly rose to the surface, his ears alert for the familiar call that would bring his son into apprenticeship. It was almost like being a kit himself all over again, waiting eagerly for the day he'd be called forward. Except now it was directed at his son.

I never grow tired of this part....

Her gaze settled on Minkstream and their son, lingering there for a few moments - savoring a perfectly ordinary moment, for once in her life - before she finally spoke again, the words coming easily after a lifetime of hearing them and days of being the one to speak. "Oakkit. Please step forward." It was strange, calling him by that name, when she tended towards her kits' second names - those of her mate's choice - rather than the ones she'd given them. "At last, you've grown old enough to become an apprentice. From now until the day you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Oakpaw, and Cedarheart will be your mentor. I trust that she will teach you everything she knows."