Burrkit's Apprentice Ceremony

"Let all cats old enough to run the moors gather beneath the Tallrock for a clan meeting."

Smallbean tried his hardest to make his words sound unfaltered, stong. The talk he had with Brackenwing was all he could think about, and although he didn't know exactly how to fix all of his problems yet, he supposed the first step he could take was sounding respectable. Or, as respectable as he could manage, anyways.

He'd called the clan together for an apprentice ceremony, and although he hadn't said that yet, most of the cats below him probably already knew it. The kit becoming an apprentice was Burrkit, a small, brown tom. Smallbean had already thought of the kit's mentor, so while he was waiting for his clanmates to gather, his mismatched gaze searched for the both of them, making sure they were both still in camp.

When every cat had gathered, and Smallbean had located both kit and mentor, he looked down on the kit, who was already waiting for him in the crowd. "Burrkit, step forward." He offered the young kit a small smile as he waited for him to do so. "You have now reached the age of six moons and are ready to become an apprentice. From now until you become a warrior, you will be known as Burrpaw. Your mentor will be Fuzzface." Smallbean still held some disdain for the warrior, but he was competent... enough. Leaping from the tallrock, concluding the ceremony, he joined the crowd of cats below in celebration of the new apprentice.

Hearing his name suddenly called out sent a jolt of shock through his plump body. He'd attended more apprentice ceremonies than he could count and had never been assigned to any-cat, for good reasons, so why now? Looking up at Smallbean with wide amber eyes, he couldn't believe his ears. An apprentice? No... there must have been some mistake. Smallbean wouldn't give him of all cats an apprentice... he didn't want one!

And of course, who better to be his apprentice than Burrpaw. The tom who talked faster than a hare ran across the moor. Part of him prayed that this was all a dream, but as the cream-pelted apprentice approached him, blabbering on about something or other, he knew it was all too real.

"Slow your whiskers," Fuzzface mewed plainly, unable to keep up with the questions that he'd been bombarded with. He knew the apprentice wouldn't take no for an answer or really except any other sort of reply, so the warrior thought fast on what to say in order to satisfy Burrpaw's curiosity, at least for now. "We'll go out tomorrow, today get some rest," he added, ending with a sigh. Hopefully he would at least be able to sleep in a little before they began their training...