Webkit's Apprentice Ceremony

Due to Batbite's sudden illness Dovefrost had reached a temporary agreement with the deputy. He would take care of apprentice ceremonies were he could until something was worked out between Minkstream and Batbite. He knew it was a complicated situation but it had to be done.

He looked up at the rock for a moment, lamenting on the fact that he had never been up there before but the clan needed to get stuff done. It didn't matter if he felt nervous about doing this. Swiftly the large fluffy tom jumped up on Highrock calling out to the clan. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here for a clan meeting!" He could do this. He had his own apprentice ceremony before, so he knew how.

Webkit's ears pricked when he heard the summonings. He knew approximately how old he was--he had asked his mother once and then kept count of the passing full moons since--and he knew the significance of his age. Any day now, he could be made an apprentice. While he had tried to pretend otherwise, his recent days were had been spent with one ear anxiously awaiting the call of a clan meeting. Admittedly, it had made it hard for Webkit to do anything properly with his attention divided as it was, but what would happen if he were to somehow miss the summons? He had never heard of anyone missing their own apprentice ceremony. While unknowns and the chance to learn something new usually filled the youngster with excitement, this was an unknown that he didn't want to discover by himself.

Suppressing a quiver of his whiskers, Webkit moved towards the Highrock. His heart thudded with the apprehension of not knowing if this was going to be his ceremony. His nerves told him to race over, but he pushed down the urge and instead forced himself to pad over slowly. He felt self-conscious, and he didn't want to make a fool of himself, especially if this ended up not being his ceremony.

With his mind obscured by all of the emotions whirling around within him, it took Webkit a moment to realize something was off. He squinted up at the Highrock in confusion. That wasn't Batbite atop the Highrock, as was the case with the previous apprentice ceremonies he had witnessed before. That was Dovefrost, the medicine cat. As far as he knew, Webkit had never seen Dovefrost call a clan meeting before. What was going on? Was something wrong? His fur bristled as he looked around in a panic, surveying for danger. Had something happened to Minkstream or Batbite? Was there some sort of invisible sickness danger that only a medicine cat could detect and address?

Dovefrost could sense some of the unease that his appearance on the Highrock caused some of the younger cats that had gathered at his call. It was something he had gotten better at with his training as medicine cat. "Due to Batbite's recent sickness, I'm going to be covering some ceremonies in her stead until she gets better." Or some other solution is worked out. But he wasn't going to speak the last part aloud.

"With that being said, a kit has reached the age of six moons and means it is time for them to become an apprentice. Webkit please come forward." The white fluffy tom waited patiently as the kit approached the rock, before he continued speaking. "Webkit, from this moment on, until you earn your warrior name, you will be known as Webpaw. Your mentor will be Waterlily. I hope she passes on her wisdom to you." The white tom hoped he did everything correctly. He had seen it many times, but there was some doubt that he missed something. Though he didn't have time to worry about it now. The white tom jumped down and ended the ceremony.

Waterlily walked with almost everyone else to the clan meeting.  It felt like a normal thing now, even though she still didn't like crowds.  She listened as Webkit was called up to become an apprentice and she smiled at the new apprentice.  Then she heard her name get called to mentor Webpaw.  She was excited to mentor someone and she really hoped that she would be good at it.

The quiet warrior nodded at Dovefrost and then walked up to Webpaw.  "Hi, Webpaw.  We'll begin training tomorrow so you get plenty of rest, if that works for you."

Webkit's panic quickly settled at Dovefrost's words and was soon replaced with a feeling of excitement. He was going to be an apprentice! He stepped forward, his chin held high in pride as he received his apprentice name. Webpaw! His name was Webpaw now!

Eyes shining with excitement, he watched Waterlily as she approached. Webpaw beamed back at her and her words. "Yes, I'm looking forward to it!" He mewed cheerily in response.