Thymekit's Apprentice Ceremony

Assigning mentors had never been easy for Thrushnose; her Clanmates were more allies to her than friends, and she avoided the nursery unless someone roped her into storytelling. Thymekit, especially, had stumped her. They were quiet and calm, a breath of fresh air after ThunderClan’s last few litters… They were also Burdockkit’s sibling. A young cat might live or die on what their mentor taught them, and Kestrel and Wolfblaze didn’t deserve more heartbreak. Thrushnose considered and reconsidered as she paced behind the Highrock—but there just wasn’t time for the sort of certainty she wanted. With a huff, she leaped onto the stone. “Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Highrock for a Clan meeting!”

At Thrushnose’s yowl warriors began to gather in the clearing. Among them was a fluffy grey kit who stared up at the highrock with wide eyes. Thymekit had heard the call to a clan meeting before of course, but this time they heard their own name whispered through the crowd as cats traded guesses as to what the announcement could be or which young cat would rank up today. Thymekit was too nervous to even dodge Wolfblaze or offer more than a weak protest as she groomed their already neat fur. I’m six moons old, but could it really be my apprentice ceremony already?

Wolfblaze caught Thrushnose’s gaze first and led her right to the lighter-furred kit nearby. Thymekit looked more apprehensive than anything as they eyed the Highrock. Maybe they were worried about standing in front of the entire Clan, the pressures of their upcoming apprenticeship…or Thrushnose was projecting. Though they were family, she didn’t know them well enough to guess. After a quiet moment, she brushed that realization aside. “One of our kits has reached the age of six moons,” she called. “Today, they will become an apprentice. Thymekit, step forward.

“From this moment on, until the day you earn your warrior name, you will be known as Thymepaw.” Now, for the mentor she’d spent so much time thinking about. That cat had a good head on her shoulders—most of ThunderClan’s warriors did—and she’d trained an apprentice before Thymepaw. Thrushnose had no real reason to worry. She searched the crowd until she found the cat in question. “Waterlily will be your mentor. I trust she’ll pass everything she knows on to you.” With that, it was set in stone. Thrushnose stepped back from the Highrock's edge, turned, and made her way down.

Thymekit’s tail twitched with apprehension as they watched the deputy’s gaze shift to them. “Thymekit, step forward.” They did as instructed and breathed in slowly in an attempt to still the butterflies flitting about in their stomach. Despite the young cat’s usual quiet patience the seconds seemed to pass at a snail’s pace as Thrushnose slowly wound through the speech to announce their mentor. Finally they heard a warrior's name called. Waterlilly. With a relieved exhale the new apprentice turned to greet the cat who would train them. Thyme couldn’t remember ever actually speaking to Waterlily, but at least she seemed nice from what they'd seen of her around camp.

OOC: I'm so sorry, I thought I posted in this already :(

Waterlily padded over to the ceremony.  She wondered who was going to become an apprentice today.  She assumed that it was an apprentice ceremony because Thrushnose called the meeting.  She waited for a minute, not exceptionally paying attention until she heard her name.  Her head snapped up when she realized that she was getting another apprentice.

She didn't know Thymepaw all that well, but she was excited to get to meet them.  She loved training apprentices and was happy to have another one.  She walked up and touched noses with the new apprentice.  "We'll start training tomorrow, if that's okay with you," she informed them.

The apprentice lifted their head to touch noses with Waterily before nodding. “Okay.” They stepped back a bit to smile at their kin but as the clan chanted their new name they were hit by a pang of sadness. One family member was missing from the crowd, their sister Burdockkit. The spiky furred kit had disappeared over two moons ago yet everytime Thymepaw thought of their littermate the sorrow returned. They wouldn’t let it stand in the way of their apprenticeship though. I’ll become a warrior and make mom, dad, and even Burdockkit proud. The young cat told theirself silently as they blinked back tears and allowed the smile to return. I promise.