Darkpaw's Warrior Ceremony

Making his way up to the Tallbranch with a slight limp to his leap, Tinystar sat down, and called out to the clan, "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Tallbranch for a clan meeting!"

Darkpaw's ear flickered upwards at the call of her leader. Her eyes, gazed up to the Tallbranch, where Tinystar stood, as she joined the other cats. The she-cat prepared herself more bad news. I was all she seemed to hear these days.

"We gather here today to give one of our apprentices their Warrior name and rank," he began, looking out upon the gathering clan bellow, a smile on his muzzle. "Shrikepaw has proven herself worthy to climb the ranks of SkyClan and receive her Warrior name," Tinystar spoke and then paused for another brief moment before continuing.

"Darkpaw, please step forward."

Once the apprentice stepped forward, the short tom continued. "I, Tinystar, leader of SkyClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend her to you as a warrior in her turn. Darkpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?"

Darkpaw felt almost a wave of relief, when Tinystar told them of the occasion. Her eyes glanced around wondering who the apprentice might be, could it be one of her siblings? However, tinystar said a name she didn't expect. Her name. Darkpaw hadn't expected her ceremony to be so soon, so she remained still and silent through the initial shock. It wasn't until her leader spoke up again, that the white faced apprentice that realised she had to move. Hot with embarrassment, she stepped forward from the crowd, and met the tom's gaze. "I promise." mewed Darkpaw with pride.

Once the apprentice replied, he went on with the ceremony. "Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Darkpaw, from this day forward you shall be known as Darkflower. SkyClan honors your loyalty and pride towards your clan. Congratulations," he finished. With that, Tinystar leaped down from Tallbranch, and making his way over to the newly named warrior, offered a soft bump of his muzzle to Darkflower in a quiet form of congratulations as the rest of the clan flocked forwards as well.

Darkpaw looked up at Tinystar as he spoke, pride surging through her. They were words she'd heard before, but when they were about her it was so different. Darkpaw's looked out over the crowd, feeling a slight pang of sadness. Her father wasn't here amongst the crowd, but nor was he conducting it. ow she missed hm. Feeling slightly more solemn, she turned back to face Tinystar as he gave her her new name. A smile broke out across her face as her new name was chanted.