Stag's Apprentice Ceremony

For the first time in her life, Batbite stood upon the Highrock. She was sure it would lose its luster eventually, when the monotony of calling ThunderClan to attention settled in, but for now it was new and exciting, and she was happy to chase that feeling as far as it would take her. For a moment, she wondered if the cat she planned on addressing was as filled with anticipation as she was. "ThunderClan! May all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Highrock for a Clan meeting!"

She noted with intrigue how her voice carried from this point, to be heard throughout the camp. It wasn't like she didn't know how to catch someone's attention, but this was definitely a new way to go about it.

It had taken Stag a few days to contemplate it, but in the end he had decided that it would be better to stay in Thunderclan. After the fall of Asylum he had felt lost and confused, given the decision to stay in Thunderclan or to go find his family. After realizing that it would be much easier to find his family if he was with the clans, he decided to become an apprentice in Thunderclan. They were the only clan he knew, after all.

Raising his amber gaze to the Highrock, he watched Batbite summon the clan for what he knew was his apprentice ceremony. Although he would never admit it, he was a bit nervous. He was beyond grateful that Thunderclan had accepted him, but he still felt uncomfortable around some of the cats. What if his, what was it called- mentor, was mean to him? Stepping forward from where he stood, he joined the rest of the clan in the center of camp, waiting for the moment he's called to emerge from the crowd.

Batbite had thought long and hard about how to handle the matter of ThunderClan's resident Asylum straggler. He wished to stay, so he would need to train, and he would need a mentor - observing and sometimes partaking in another lifestyle was different from living it, she knew as much from personal experiences. It was less about training, formally, and more about helping him understand and connect with the rest of the Clan a little better. She didn't want to risk any cat she assigned to mentor him to taking out any lingering resentment toward the Asylum on someone who'd chosen to stay, and that had made choosing a potential mentor more difficult than most.

"Stag," she called, her voice calm and clear. The sound of a name that strayed from the norm, spoken as ceremony - it was strange, but not unpleasant. "Though you came to the forest with Asylum, you have chosen to remain in ThunderClan, and to learn our ways of life. From now until the day you can be called a warrior in your own right, I will be your mentor."

When he heard his name called, he stepped forward, looking up toward the deputy. This was it, he was finally being accepted into a group where he could actually trust the cats who were in it, whether or not they were his family. Batbite continued speaking, and as the final words left her mouth, he gazed up at her with eyes full of hope. He didn't know much about how clans worked, but he knew enough to know that the deputy was an honorable cat, and the fact that she wanted to mentor him made him feel happy. Dashing forward to meet her, he touched his nose to hers and stepped back, a wide smile on his face. "I don't know what to say- thank you."