Sweetkit's Apprentice Ceremony

After leaping onto the Willow Branch, Ivystar gazed down at camp below her, and the slight hustle and bustle that came along with it. Everything was back to normal now, and if you hadn't known that anything had happened, it would appear that nothing had ever changed at all. She supposed this was good... But she didn't want anyone to forget about Asylum. With a shake of her head, she called out across the clearing, "All cats old enough to catch their own fish, gather beneath the Willow Branch for a Clan meeting!"

Sweetkit blinked tiredly as the morning light beamed through the cracks in the branches of the Queen's den. She sat up, stretching tiredly. Next to her, her mother stirred once, twice, before turning over to face her, green eyes clouded with sleep.

It took a moment for Sweetkit to understand what had woken her up, her mother much faster to understand. Lilysnow stood, lazily and padded away towards the exit, flicking her tail in an invitation for Sweetkit to follow.

Sweetkit stared at her mothers' disappearing back for a moment, before quickly standing up, confusion and interest being the ones to push her forward. Her mothers' cloudy and uninterested eyes stayed the same, but she had beckoned Sweetkit forward, so what could she do but follow.

She followed after her, out into the clearing where Ivystar stood on the willow branch, proud and powerful as ever. Sweetkit shivered, unable to take her eyes off of the she-cat. This felt important, for some reason. Then again, Sweetkit had never been invited out to the clan meetings before. Did this mean....?

Once Sweetkit had made her way into the middle of camp, Ivystar gave herself a quick, firm nod before officially beginning the ceremony. "Sweetkit, please step forward." She mewed, giving a quick glance of approval as she did so. "You have reached the age of six moons and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day onward until you receive your warrior name, you will be known to all as Sweetpaw. Loonwhisper will be your mentor." Leaping off of the branch, she gave the newly appointed apprentice a gentle smile and moved out of the way in order for the rest of the Clan to celebrate.

Sweetpaw stood in surprise and silence for a moment. Loonwhisper...? As in, the deputy of Riverclan? She had seen the tom around a few times before, but he had never really seemed to acknowledge her existence.

Not to mention the fact that she was an apprentice now. Sweetpaw turned to where her mother had been standing a few moments before, eyes full of excitement, only to see the tip of her tail swishing as her mother returned to the Queens' den. Sweetpaw blinked, then looked away, feeling foolish. Of course. She shouldn't have expected anything else from the reticent queen.

Loonwhisper rose to his paws, drifting like a ghost to greet his apprentice. He had to admit, he was not as familiar with the former-kit as he would have liked to be. He did not know much about her at all.

As he approached her, their difference in size was apparent. His sage eyes were full-moon-wide as he regarded her within whiskers of her face, tail twitching oddly. Loonwhisper cocked his head at her, fixated, expression barely changing from the inquisitive blankness that he often wore as a strange kind of mask.

Loonwhisper blinked. "You are downy, like a robin chick," he murmured. "Outside... but inside as well. I do hope you can swim. Not like a duckling or loon-ling or gosling at all, no no. You seem like a flying bird to me. But you will learn. Hoo... hoo."

Without another word, the tom floated off in another direction, without even a slight explanation for what his words or odd way of looking at Sweetpaw meant.

Loonwhisper was... odd.

Sweetpaw had always tried to be as optimistic and accepting about things as possible. Yet, her first impression of the elder tom was confusing, to say the least.

Brackenlark had always chided her on being kind and considerate, making others around her as comfortable as possible, and respecting her elders. She had never had a problem with being polite. But she had to forcibly bite her tongue as a hundred questions crowded her mind.

It was true, she had never been the best swimmer. Passable, at most. But his words, paired with those large, mostly-pupil eyes, fluffed her fur up, just a bit. It wasn't from annoyance, nor fear, just... wariness.

Flying bird? she thought. What does that mean? She watched as the tom padded away from her, seemingly lost in thought, as if the conversation was nothing more than a passing dream.

Yes, he was strange, she decided. But he was still her mentor and the deputy of the clan. Ivystar wouldn't trust such a huge responsibility to just anyone. Perhaps there was more to the tom than what he seemed?

She would have to wait to find out. He didn't seem in a very talkative mood, and even though she had many questions, she didn't want to annoy him. The time to talk with him would come, she decided.

The rest of the clan was starting to disperse, so she made her way to the apprentices' den. In it, a few other cats waited. A nest, on the outskirts, caught her attention. It smells like Mikael, she thought. Staking out a spot next to it, she hurried back to her old den to grab some moss. She was an apprentice now, and the thought made her puff up with pride.