Toadpaw's Warrior Ceremony

Blizzardstar smiled as she hoped onto the Highrock, finally another apprentice was ready to become a warrior “All cats old enough to catch their own prey gather under the Highrock for a clan meeting!”.

Toadpaw heard the call from where he had sat near the entrance of the apprentice den, uncharacteristically lost in his thoughts. Wondering what the occasion was, the swirled tabby shook his head to clear his mind of his musings, hopped to his paws, and padded over to the clan's usual gathering area.

Although usually an extroverted cat, Toadpaw had spent some time by himself to mull over the recent developments. Only a short time had passed since he had returned from his Moonstone journey and Blizzardstar's earlier declaration of war against RiverClan. He had been thinking to himself that the war was the real danger that Ryestep, the StarClan warrior whom he had met, had mentioned. Additionally, he had been trying to come to terms with the possibility that he would have to treat his RiverClan father Otterleap as an enemy. Although he had been shaken and shocked by the announcement at first, he was now more at ease with the idea of representing ThunderClan in battle, even against RiverClan, as Ryestep would have wanted. This newfound calmness was due to his willful belief that perhaps he would somehow not see his father in battle. Deep down, he was aware that this was a case of denial or wishful thinking, but he convinced himself that there was little reason to believe that they would come face to face on the battleground since they had missed each other during his Gathering.

Now free of most conscious doubts, the apprentice settled down to await the leader's latest announcement. Noticing that Blizzardstar was smiling, he gave a grin himself. Whatever this is for, it must be good news. What a relief.

Once enough cats were gathered beneath the Highrock, the white leader finally decided to go on "Toadpaw, please, step forward” Finally, some good news between this storm of bad news...while this happines wasn't going to last long she wanted to make the most of it...StarClan knew they needed it “I, Blizzardstar, leader of ThunderClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. He has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend him to you as a warrior in his turn” Her gentle eyes soon landed on the the tom “Toadpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?”

The light brown swirled tabby blinked his green-blue eyes wide open as he realized that Blizzardstar was announcing his own warrior ceremony! Even though he knew he was due to be a warrior, he hadn't expected his ceremony to come so soon after the war announcement.

His heart strumming faster, the soon-to-be-warrior licked his tongue across a front paw and swiped it over his head fur to smooth it down before padding forward in front of the leader. Nodding deeply before raising his gaze to meet the leader's eyes again, he meowed with enthusiasm, "I do!"

Blizzardstar smiled and nodded approvingly before she continued speaking “Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Toadpaw, from this moment you will be known as Toadleap. StarClan honors your openness and jumping skills, and we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan” With that, she leaped off the Highrock and rested her muzzle on the newly named warrior’s head to conclude the ceremony.

The swirled tabby was awestruck by the realization that he had earned the same ending as his father, despite being in a different clan and having never spoken about his forbidden heritage outside of his close family members. He was impressed that Blizzardstar knew him so well, as he thought his new name and his descriptors suited him well. Birdflight and Leopardclaw must have told Blizzardstar what I'm like. Grinning to himself, he thought, All of that jumping practice paid off, after all. Forgetting temporarily about the RiverClan and ThunderClan war looming over the near future, the newly named Toadleap happily closed his eyes as Blizzardstar rested her muzzle on his head before reopening them, licking the white leader's shoulder according to custom, and then proudly lifting his own head when Blizzardstar stepped away.

Standing tall with pride, he drank in the sight of his clanmates chanting his name and was glad to have made it this far. I'm finally a warrior now, and with the same ending as Dad's! Dad would be so proud.

Smiling to himself, he thought, I couldn't have made it without Birdflight beside me. I should look for her when I can, to thank her... And maybe to get to know her even better. Ryestep's and Leopardclaw's conversations with him about Birdflight came to mind, and he felt a flare of giddy affection inside. He was beginning to realize that what he thought about Birdflight wasn't mere apprentice to mentor admiration, but something much stronger.

OOC: Thank you so much, Ink! I'm glad Toad got promoted in time for the battle!

Leopardclaw, who had been watching from the crowd, cheered the new warrior's name along with the rest of the clan.  On their journey to the Moonstone he had begun to grow quite fond of the exuberant young tom, and he knew that Toadleap would be a very worthy edition to the warrior's den.  "Toadleap! Toadleap! Toadleap!"

Birdflight ran up to her former apprentice. "Toadleap, Toadleap! I'm so happy for you!" she purred. The she-cat softly flicked his ear with her tail and a gentle smile adorned her pretty face. Her heart raced quickly. She was slowly starting to fall in love with this tom. He was very special to her. She hoped he felt the same way.

Toadleap noticed Leopardclaw chanting for him and beamed at him. He had learned much about ThunderClan's past through the deputy and was thankful for his guidance through his journey.

The newly-named warrior almost broke his silence when Birdflight came up to him, opening his mouth but then closing it when he remembered that he would have to keep a silent vigil that night. Instead of responding, although he desperately wanted to talk to her, he settled for wearing a toothy grin. When the pretty she-cat flicked his ear and smiled at him, he felt his fur heat. Ah, I almost talked! Oh, StarClan, this is torture! I'm so used to just saying what I feel. I can't wait to be able to talk to her! Maybe it'll have to wait until even after the battle, but this is driving me crazy!

As cats went to turn in for the night, Toadleap padded over to the camp entrance to keep watch with a spring in his step, overjoyed by the warrior ceremony and the reception thereafter.