Juniperpaw's Warrior Ceremony

The heat was more dangerous than Spottedstar had realized. Not too many days before, he'd had a nasty problem with dizziness and dehydration that prevented him from carrying out his duties of naming Mistrain a warrior. He regretted not being there for her, but he was also grateful that Sagelight intervened and prevented him from passing out from on top of the Tallbranch. The Clan would understand. But recently he'd been more careful, avoided pushing himself too far, and found that this day would be much better for a warrior ceremony. Juniperpaw's warrior ceremony. He almost thought he'd never see the day, truthfully, and he didn't know whether his youngest son was really ready. But he always saw the worst in Juniperpaw and he knew it. "Let all cats old enough to climb a tree gather beneath the Tallbranch for a Clan meeting!" There would be no going back.

At the sound of his father's voice, Wolfcall's head lifted from where he'd been napping in the shade, stretched out to nearly his full length to try and absorb some sort of coolness from the sun-bare ground. It had been a long morning of training with Beechpaw before the sun got high, and now he was resting before he headed out to hunt once the sun went down. Or, trying to, rather. Wolfcall flicked his tail, an annoyed gesture that escaped him involuntarily, as he glanced up at Spottedstar. Immediately, he shook his head, chastising himself and resuming a neutral expression. This heat truly was bringing out the worst in everyone.

With a long sigh, he rose and shook debris from his fur, padding over to sit beneath the Tallbranch. He hadn't been consulted about any important matters, so it made sense that this was probably a warrior ceremony - but who's?

Juniperpaw found a seat directly next to Wolfcall, close but not touching. He thoroughly enjoyed the affectionate rubs and nudges of his family, but neither of the black toms were doing particularly well in the Greenleaf temperatures and likewise neither of them would have enjoyed the extra heat brought on by contact. He had missed his brother. Wolfcall had gone and made a new family for himself while Juniperpaw was stuck in the apprentices den. He should have worked harder to become a warrior. It was just so difficult to keep his attention on his training and too boring to wait all day for prey to fall into his jaws. The loss of his mentor, Firflower, had struck a heavy blow as well. On top of it all, the black apprentice wasn't naturally ambitious. He was perfectly happy in the apprentices' den with 'paw in his name and doing whatever others told him, even younger cats. So all together, he was a perfectly content tom with little direction in life and not much motivation to move forward. That likely wouldn't change soon.

"We gather here today to give one of our apprentices his warrior name and rank."

'Oh, another warrior ceremony. Another of my nieces?'

"Juniperpaw will be climbing the ranks of SkyClan and receiving his warrior name."

'M-me?!'

"Step forward, Juniperpaw."

'So I wasn't daydreaming! Oh, featherdown, I didn't think it would ever happen...'

"I, Spottedstar, SkyClan's leader, call upon our 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. Juniperpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your clan, even at the cost of your life?"

"I do." Was I loud enough? Will he believe me? What if I did it wrong?

Spottedstar peered down at his youngest kit. Juniperpaw had always seemed like a newborn to him, small and defenseless, but it wasn't fair to keep projecting his fears and worries onto him. Juniperpaw had completed his training and taken his Moonstone journey with Sagelight. To hold him back any longer would be unfair, and Murkpelt would no doubt have a thing or two to say about it. And Sagelight had done an excellent job of keeping the young tom cheerful and energetic even after Firflower's death. He'd been there for his son in a way that Spottedstar had not. Shame budded in his chest. Juniperpaw's failures were the leader's fault.

"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Juniperpaw, from this day on you will be named Juniperlight. SkyClan is honored to have your boundless energy." He completed the naming and then jumped down to the ground. The leader rested his muzzle on the new warrior's head and then spoke to him. "Congratulations." What else was there to say? Probably a lot, but neither father nor son knew how to get it out in the moment. The leader turned away to let the rest of the Clan say their congratulations and returned to the shade of his den.

Sagelight paused in his duties when he heard his brother's voice ring out, stepping out of the medicine den to witness the new ceremony. Must be a warrior ceremony, as Spottedstar was doing it. He sat just outside his den with his tail curled around his paws, breaking into a grin when it was revealed that Juniperpaw would be receiving his warrior name.

In spite of himself, the older tom teared up when his nephew was named after him. What an honor...Pride filled his chest as he got to his paws, cheering and celebrating the new warrior louder than anyone else. "Juniperlight, Juniperlight, Juniperlight!!" He trotted over to the newly-named warrior, headbutting his shoulder affectionately as he sniffled back happy tears. "Congrats, kiddo," Sagelight whispered for only Juniperlight's ears to hear. "I'm so proud of you."

Out of the corner of his eye, he watched a blurry, spotted figure slip into the leader's den. Frowning now, the medicine cat broke off from the new warrior and followed Spottedstar into his den. "I'd expect you to be more excited about this ceremony," he meowed, peering into the den. "Anything you'd like to talk about?"

Wrenspring padded over the moment that Spottedstar called the meeting, something he had grown in the habit of doing over the moons. For a moment, he considered that this might be an announcement regarding the dried creek and increasing heat. Instead, this turned out to be something far more pleasant. As Juniperpaw stepped forward, his eyes widened in surprise. This was a moment that he never thought he would see. As the leader declared his new name, the warrior yowled out joyously, "Juniperlight! Juniperlight!" The tom padded over to his friend, butting his head into his shoulder, "I knew you could do it."