Swiftpaw's Warrior Ceremony

Once again Lilacstar padded up the tallrock. When she first became leader, she refused to even step foot on the platform, and it threw her back how much her confidence had grown since. She was learning what it truly took to lead. And most important of all, she was starting to become her own cat, instead of simply allowing her warriors or other Clan decide the actions she would take. That in itself was a huge step.

And now it was time for yet another cat to rise the ranks as she had done. Swiftpaw had shown to be a promising addition to the Clan when she had first arrived, and now it was time for her to be a warrior at last.

"All cats old enough to run the moors gather beneath the tallrock for a Clan meeting!"

---

Cloaked in her new fox pelt, Tawnyflare watched the meeting with narrowed eyes. It would be a relief to finally be rid of her apprentice, as it was no secret that neither of them liked each other, even if they tolerated each other's presence. Now nothing would be required of the two, and that was just as she preferred it.

Swiftpaw had just dropped a fat hare onto the fresh-kill pile when Lilacstar's voice rang out over the camp. Giving her chest fur a lick, the lynx-pointed apprentice padded towards the tallrock, ears pricked forward. She spotted Tawnyflare already there, clad in the fox pelt, though Swiftpaw's attention quickly turned back to Lilacstar.

"Today we celebrate an apprentice becoming a warrior. Tawnyflare, is it your belief that Swiftpaw has learned all that you can teach her, and that she is ready to join her Clanmates as a full warrior?"

Did she believe it? No. But she nodded anyway, if only to get Swiftpaw out of her pelt.

"Very well. Swiftpaw, step forward."

A warrior ceremony, Swiftpaw had thought that's what the meeting was for, but a flicker of genuine surprise still crossed her face at her name being called forward. She could have said the surprise was in part that Tawnyflare deemed her ready, but Swiftpaw had little doubt that her doing so was only to get out of mentoring sooner rather than later rather than an actual belief that she was ready.

Still, Lilacstar was the one calling the ceremony, not Tawnyflare, so Swiftpaw thought it fair to believe that Lilacstar thought she was ready. She didn't think that she would have asked Tawnyflare if she would have said no, and she wouldn't have called the ceremony to begin with if she didn't believe Swiftpaw was ready herself. Public embarrassment wasn't something Swiftpaw thought Lilacstar would do on purpose.

Swiftpaw stepped forward, though she suddenly wished she'd had a moment to smooth out her pelt a bit more.

A meeting had been called, and since Nightwind had a few kits that he knew would be apprenticed soon, he answered it. He was a little late to this one, though not by much. He threw the pheasant that he'd caught into the freshkill hole and bolted toward Tallrock... only to nearly leap out of his skin when he saw a fox in the middle of camp. He did a whirling twist in the air meant to be an evasive maneuver, though on his way back to the ground... he realized that it was not a fox at all. Tawnyflare... Raisha was wearing a fox pelt. After all the Asylum had done to the clans... this was allowed? Something about it... actually infuriated him.

Nightwind landed back down instinctively in a defensive fighting crouch, but he made no move to attack Tawnyflare. His heart hammered against his ribs as white hot rage had him seeing red. Too much too fast came at him all at once.

Dawnhawk's One-Eared fox pelt.
Swansong laying there, bloodied and accepting her death at his fangs.
Bloodstrike falling into the sea of whirling claws and teeth.
The disappointed and hurt look from Blossomstep at the start of the takeover.
Dawnhawk's siblings one by one disowning him and the clan calling him a traitor over and over and over.
The Asylum Nightstrikers calling him a Savage, over and over and over.
Eosphoros's face when he gave her his fox pelt to keep warm when they met.
Speaking to Theron about bringing games to the clans to help mend bonds.
The games themselves.
Wolfstar naming Dawnhawk the deputy of Skyclan.
Honeycomb and their kits.
Dawnhawk attacking Shira for attacking Copperfox and no one gave him credit for that.
Then of course... the nursery incident. All of that pain came rushing back, including the guilt of killing Featherkit.
The battle at Fourtrees.
Eos's bloodied and battered form.
The shock of the freezing river when Ashstorm threw him in.


Nightwind visibly shivered. Suddenly brought back to the here and now, he took breaths to calm himself down, but his fur bristled to the point he was three times his normal size. There was undoubtedly an awkwardly long pause as he took in Tawnyflare's form under the fox pelt. If anything else was being said around him, he didn't hear it. Once the ringing in his ears had gone, he was able to see things besides a cat in a fox suit.

It was a Warrior's Ceremony... not for his kits. His eyes finally, though reluctantly, left Tawnyflare and settled on Swiftpaw. This was her warrior ceremony... After a few more awkward heartbeats, Dawnhawk managed to pull himself together. He couldn't make sense of it... but he couldn't go off the deep end right now. He was suddenly regretting being so lax lately. He brought more birds than he did hares now... now that it was a major clue in his real identity... but it was still one thing that could be used against him if combined with other things. You absolute Stars-Cursed fool! You have forgotten who you were... He scolded himself. He'd been Nightwind for too long... but how could he reveal himself now? No... he wouldn't. He liked Swiftpaw and this was a big day for her.

"Sorry... I really don't like foxes." He lied, before walking stiffly to the back of the crowd and sitting down. He shivered every now and then. At least this was a wake-up call that he needed. He'd become too comfortable in Windclan, and he was going to pay the price one day. At least it had been Tawnyflare in a fox pelt to remind him of that and not Bloodstrike's teeth in the back of his skull one morning. Things needed to change... and they needed to change soon.

She gave a quick, sympathetic glance at Nightwind as he was startled by the fox pelt. It was certainly something to get used to, but if it made Tawnyflare comfortable....

Instead of focusing on that, however, she returned her attention to the meeting as she continued the ceremony. "I call upon my warrior ancestors to look down upon this apprentice. Despite not being Clan born, she has worked hard to learn the ways of your noble code, and I commend her to you a warrior in return. Swiftpaw, from this day forward, you will be known as Swiftspirit. Like the spirits that watch over us even now, we honor your resilience and determination, and welcome you as a full warrior of WindClan"

Stepping down to touch her nose to the new warrior's head, she could not help but notice, out of the corner of her eye, Tawnyflare leaving the ceremony before a cheer could even be made. She sighed as she began the chant, wondering what it would take to pull Tawnyflare out of the habits of Asylum that she clearly still demonstrated, and begin acting as a real WindClan warrior.

"Swiftspirit! Swiftspirit!"

Softbreeze shot Nightwind a sympathetic glance. "At least we don't get very many foxes on the moors. We're more used to geese, actually. Hmm, actually, we find a lot of geese..." She frowned slightly musing. How... How many geese lived on the moors? Shaking her head, she cleared her thoughts. She noticed with a bit of shock that Lilacstar actually climbed onto the Tallrock. Had she... Had she finally moved on and given up on Olivestar...?

Of course she had. Every cat but her seemed to move on so quickly. When had the tabby leader started doing that? It made her upset, in a way. That she'd given up on her mother. Had Zinnia moved on so fast? Downtuft? Spotlake? How many of her Clanmates were still... Stuck? Tears flickered in her vision and she felt the soft comfort of Whisperthistle beside her. "Swiftspirit." She whispered.

Oh, right. It was the little kitten she'd found's warrior Ceremony. Except she wasn't very little anymore. Swiftspirit was older now, and she didn't need Softbreeze anymore. Still, she called out with clear pride in her voice, "Swiftspirit! Swiftspirit! Swiftspirit!" Dipping her head to Nightwind, and muttering some sort of a farewell, she retreated back into the nursery, curling into a tight ball.

Swiftpaw glanced briefly at Nightwind, noting the intensity of his reaction to seeing the fox pelt across Tawnyflare's shoulders. She hadn't been a fan of it either, though she had no idea what had made him react to strongly to it. Something from his past, probably... But it wasn't her business and she wouldn't pry. She simply offered him a sympathetic smile before turning her attention back to Lilacstar in time for her to start speaking again.

Like the spirits that watched over them... She was sure Murkpaw would have laughed in Lilacstar's face if he was watching this from above. They honored her resilience and determination... Swiftspirit. She nearly laughed at the irony of it.

Swiftspirit... Well, that was certainly going to take some getting used to. It felt like she had only just gotten used to being called Swiftpaw, and already things were changing. She had never expected that the clan would accept her when she had first decided to stay. That she had somehow made friends... It almost felt too good to be real, in a way.

Was mom watching her, wherever her own spirit now rested?

Lilacstar jumped down from the tallrock, padding forward to press her nose to the top of Swiftspirit's head. The newly-named warrior couldn't help her grin. "Thank you, Lilacstar... For everything." She hadn't failed to note that Tawnyflare had already disappeared, and that was just fine by Swiftspirit. Tawnyflare had expected little of her, but now her job as mentor was done. Her animosity and refusal to participate wasn't Swiftspirit's problem anymore. Softbreeze was chanting her name, though disappeared into the nursery before the newly-named warrior could approach. At least she had joined in celebrating, if however brief. Nightwind was in the crowd, and Swiftspirit shot the dark tom a cheery grin.

He'd been buzzing with glee the moment a meeting had been called, traitorous tail trembling as per usual. He instantly dropped what he'd been doing and quickly picked a spot to settle and watch. At first, he thought it would be an apprentice ceremony. There were quite a few kits ready to be assigned a mentor, after all. However, as soon as he spotted his mother atop the Tallrock, that assessment quickly changed. Warrior ceremonies always hyped him up even more than apprentice ceremonies, mostly for the obvious reason. His training was going well but he still felt like he had a long way to go. Despite that, he still had a lot of confidence that he'd be given his warrior name in the near future.

His excitement blossomed tenfold when his friend Swiftpaw was called to step forward. It was her time to shine! Pride flooded his chest as he sat up straighter to give his full attention to the she-cat's big day. That, however, changed when Nightwind came into view. Silverpaw had noticed that something wasn't right with the normally composed warrior. He nearly said something but bit his tongue at the last minute when he heard the older tom himself reassure them that he was alright. The apprentice wanted to brush it off, like he saw the rest of them do, but he still had a bit of worry nagging his head. He eyed the dark-furred tom a bit longer before turning his attention back to the ceremony. Maybe he'd ask later. For now, it was best to not ruin Swift's big day.

As soon as the ceremony had ended and the newly-made warrior's name had started to be chanted by the clan, Silverpaw eagerly joined in as he made his way over to her. "Swiftspirit! Swiftspirit! Congrats on getting your warrior name! It's an awesome one too! I hope mine's just as cool." The apprentice offered her a grin and a friendly nudge. Gosh. This was giving him major déjà vu. It felt like only yesterday he was congratulating her on becoming an apprentice. Despite his cheery mood, the tom was starting to feel a bit... melancholy. Now that she was a warrior, did this mean she'd start to drift away? He sure hoped not. She was his first officially named 'friend'. He really didn't want to lose that... No! He had to stop thinking like that. It wasn't fair of him to think she wouldn't hang out with him. It would all be alright.

The gray-furred tom shook himself from his daze and focused back on Swiftspirit. "Well, now that you're a warrior, maybe we could go patrolling together? That would be fun! I hope ta join ya soon with my warrior name!" The apprentice nudged her one more time before turning and walking away to allow others a chance to say their congrats. However, he couldn't help but glance over to Nightwind for a few moments. Hopefully Tawnyflare's fox pelt didn't spook him too much. He couldn't imagine what Nightwind must've been through to have a reaction like that to a dead fox's pelt.

As the warrior ceremony came to a close, and the clan chanted Swiftspirit's name, Shrikestorm sat near the back. He cheered as well, as was custom, but his heart wasn't in it. To let all these non-clan cats in... The loners, rogues, and Asylum alike. It felt like a slap in the face to everything StarClan had given them. He couldn't even look at Tawnyflare due to the fox pelt on her back. It was just... wrong. His eyes then moved over to Nightwind, whom he knew didn't belong as well. Unlike the other cats, however, he at least seemed to understand what being a clan cat actually meant. It made him think of the offer again, and... well, it seemed more appealing than it had before, that was for sure.