Tornpaw's Warrior Ceremony

There had been no shortage of ceremonies to do of late. The kits born in the reign of Asylum's grip were mostly, by now, apprentices, and as the days passed, more and more grew into capable, strong cats. Tornpaw, despite her parentage, was no exception, and today, Wolfstar found himself standing at the entrance of his den, wishing that the young she-cat had been born under more favorable circumstances, if for nothing but her own sake. Tornpaw's resemblance to Dawnhawk was not easy to overlook, and the fact that she made no effort to disguise her love for him made it difficult to sympathize with her sorrow at his banishment... but, still... she was SkyClan - his own blood, even - and she had proven herself deserving.

"Let all cats old enough to climb a tree gather before me for a clan meeting!"

At Wolfstar's call, Tornpaw poked her head out of the apprentice den. A small scowl on her face at her rest being disturbed. What did he want now? Was it another ceremony? She pulled herself from the den, shaking out her fur before joining the others gathering below their leader.

Not long after his call, he spotted Tornpaw slinking out of the apprentice den, and he met her with a gaze that he hoped she saw was soft and understanding. Wolfstar shifted his weight from one paw to the other, waiting until most of the clan that was present in camp had gathered before him.

"We gather here today to give one of our clanmates their warrior name and rank. Tornpaw, please step forward."

When she had, he went on.

"I, Wolfstar, leader of SkyClan, call upon our warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has trained hard to learn the ways of your noble code, and I commend her to you as a warrior in her turn. Tornpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code, and to protect and defend your clan, even at the cost of your life?"

A heartbeat passed. Another. Wolfstar could feel his pulse. Please say yes, please don't let his memories corrupt you.

Birdsong lifted her head at Wolfstar calling the clan together for a meeting, and padded towards the gathering cats. She sat next to Tornpaw, and it didn't take long for the meeting to get underway. Birdsong shot her friend a grin as she was called forward, though otherwise kept quiet.

Beechface sat near the entrance to the medicine den, ears pricked at the sound of Wolfstar's voice. She would've sat near Tornpaw had Birdsong not beaten her to it.

Eyes flicking to her face to try and get a hint of what was going through her mind, Beechface offered the attentive an encouraging smile as she was called forward.

Tornpaw pushed herself forward at Wolfstar's call. Honestly a little surprised they were allowing her to become a warrior despite everything that was happening. She could see his want for her to do well for her to agree to his statement. He showed her a side of him she had never seen before with his look of understanding.

As the question was presented to her, her mind froze. Did she want to really protect Skyclan with her life? Did she want to defend these cats? Some of them maybe.. like Beechface and Birdsong.. but the others.. She wasn't sure. She opened her mouth to speak. She wanted to be a warrior, she was going to be a warrior to help her dad. That was her end goal. So to his question the answer was No. "Yes. I do." It was a lie, but she wasn't going to tell any of them that. They didn't need to know.

Wolfstar let out a brief, almost imperceptible sigh of relief, and dipped his head to her for just a second. "Then by the power of Starclan, I give you your warrior name: Tornshadow. Skyclan honors your determination and willpower." He leaped down from the den, moving forward to touch his nose with hers.