Hollykit couldn't sleep. She was too excited. The time she had been waiting for since she had been kitted was just about to happen. She was going to become an apprentice!
She wondered who her mentor might be. She wished Brackenfur wasn't Smokepaw's mentor. Something about him seemed... familiar. Something that made her wish he was her mentor. Hollykit thought about who else could mentor her. There were many younger warriors than Brackenfur, like Berrynose or Birchfall. Hollykit wouldn't want to have Berrynose as her mentor. If she could choose between the two she would choose Birchfall. Though she'd rather not have him either.
Maybe Sorreltail or Poppyfrost would would be good mentors. Hollykit thought a little longer before Cinderheart appeared in the entrance. She was talking with Firestar about something. Then she came in. "Hi, Hollykit. Are you excited?" Hollykit nodded her head energetically and her mother laughed. "How about Snowkit?"
"She's excited too, she came in here just to tell me."
"Have you spoken to Firekit?" Cinderheart asked hopefully.
"We managed to convince him," Hollykit reassured her. Ten she crawled next to where her mother curled up and slept peacefully.
Hollykit woke up when she felt a paw in her side. Her mother's eyes gleamed proudly above her. "It's almost time, Hollykit. Let me make you look nice."
Hollykit stood up and let Cinderheart lick her fur. Snowkit and Firekit were sitting next to each other looking at her. She didn't know why they didn't look so happy. When Cinderheart finished, she turned to Snowkit, who stood up. Hollykit peeked outside and saw the clan was beginning to gather, waiting. "Come on!" she whispered happily.
Firekit quickly got cleaned right before Lionblaze came in. "Come on, Firestar called us. It's time to go." Hollykit noticed that Snowkit and Firekit lined up behind her. Then the five cats padded out of the nursery.
"The time has come for one of our favorite and most useful ceremonies. Snowkit, Hollykit, and Firekit have reached their sixth moon. They are welcome into our world of warriors and apprentices."
Hollykit saw Jayfeather farther off. I guess he doesn't need to be close. He can't see us and he has stronger hearing than us.
"Just like their father and his litter, these three kits have had an adventurous kithood." Hollykit noticed Lionblaze stiffen beside her and glance at Jayfeather for a second. Firekit looked down. "Snowkit!"
Hollykit could tell she was trying her hardest to keep calm and she padded forward.
"From this day until you receive your warrior name, you will be Snowpaw."
"Snowpaw!" the clan yelled her name.
"Poppyfrost," Firestar called calmly. Poppyfrost stood up, her eyes full of pride. "Your mentor Thornclaw trained you well and you are a credit to Thunderclan. Now the Clan asks you to prove yourself a good mentor with your first apprentice."
Poppyfrost dipped her head while Firestar continued. "I trust you to pass on all you have learned to Snowpaw and help her become a warrior the Clan can be proud of."
"I won't let you or the Clan down," Poppyfrost said and bent down to touch noses with Snowpaw."
"Hollykit," Firestar called.
Forgetting that she was nervous, she bounded forward, waiting eagerly for her apprentice name. "From this day until you receive your warrior name, you will be Hollypaw."
"Hollypaw! Hollypaw!" She could see her sister leading the chant. She felt guilty when she realized she hadn't done the same for Snowpaw.
"Spiderleg!" Firestar waited for him to step forward. "You mentored Mousewhisker, and he turned out to be a great warrior. Now we expect you to pass on all you know to Hollypaw and help her become a warrior that every clan will fear."
Hollypaw looked up at her mentor. His eyes were kind, but she was kind of scared of him. She had heard stories about him before. "I will teach her all I have learned." Then Hollypaw reached up and touched her nose to his.
"Firekit!" her leader called. Hollypaw watched her brother step forward slowly, uncertainty showing in his eyes. "Every cat has noticed that you don't come out of the nursery. Today every cat congratulates you for making it this far," Firestar said, amused. He waited until the mews of approval died down. "From this day until you receive your warrior name, you will be Firepaw."
"Firepaw!" Hollypaw cried and listened as the other cats joined in.
"Dustpelt," Firestar said. "You have mentored many cats since the time you became a warrior. Both of your mentors trained you well. I trust you, with your experience, to pass on all your knowledge, without leaving any behind, to Firepaw."
"Of course, Firestar, I will share all I have learned." Hollypaw could sense the friendship between her leader and Dustpelt, and she remembered that they were both apprentices together.
Firestar looked at the sky. "I ask StarClan to watch over all three young apprentices and guide them until they find in their paws the strength and courage of a warrior."
Hollypaw noticed the cats leaving the clearing to go do their duties. She turned to Spiderleg, wondering what to do next.
"Do you want to clean the elder's bedding and check for ticks or explore the territory?"
"Can we explore the territory first?" Hollypaw asked.
"Sure," he said, then bounded away without warning. Hollypaw quickly followed.
The two cats ran soundlessly. Hollypaw was getting tired, but she didn't want to show that she was weak. Spiderleg slowed down. "What can you smell?" he asked.
"Er, leaves?" Hollypaw asked.
Hollypaw received a friendly flick on her ear. "Of course you smell leaves. You'll always smell leaves no matter where you go," her mentor responded.
"Even Windclan?" she dared to ask.
Spiderleg flicked his tail impatiently. "Do we have to go discussing where leaves are? Just tell me what else you smell here."
Hollypaw tasted the air and realized there was something unusual. It tasted bad. "I don't know what it is," she told her mentor sadly.
"Don't feel bad. You wouldn't know what it is. That is the Shadowclan border. What you are smelling is Shadowclan."
"Oh," she said. Would there be any around there now?
Spiderleg must have seen her worried expression because he said, "You want to wait here for a patrol so you can tell them that you're an apprentice now?" he asked with an amused glint in his voice.
"No!"
Hollypaw followed her mentor as he padded along the border to the lake. While she was walking, she noticed Shadowclan scent beginning to mix with water. Eventually, she came to a place where there was a wide area of water. "Wow," she breathed.
Hollypaw's thoughts were interrupted bu a loud yowl. She and Spiderleg raced towards the sound. Behind a bush, they saw Dustpelt and Thornclaw battling five cats that smelled different.
"Get more warriors!" Spiderleg hissed to her.
Hollypaw ran as fast as she could in the direction where she thought the camp was. She was thankful as she began to hear the sounds that go on in the camp. Hollypaw burst through the entrance. "Dustpelt and Thornclaw are being attacked by the lake!" she yowled.
Sorreltail, Brackenfur, and Squirrelflight rushed to her. "Take us there!" Squirrelflight demanded. Hollypaw nodded and hoped she would find her scent trail so she could follow it back. She opened her mouth and started following the trail.
When they got to the place, Hollypaw could still hear yowls of fury. She watched as Sorreltail, Brackenfur, and Squirrelflight darted past her to help. She went after them, but not daring to join the fight because she knew she hadn't been taught any battle training.
Suddenly Hollypaw heard a noise behind her. She wheeled around and her mouth gaped open when she saw Jayfeather standing behind her with some sort of stick in his mouth. "Jayfeather?"
He dropped the stick. His ears were pricked toward the fight and he sighed. "I'd go help them out, but it would do no good except get the Thunderclan medicine cat killed." Hollypaw watched while Jayfeather sat down and licked his fur.
Suddenly Hollypaw realized how much importance medicine cats get. Hollypaw had always wanted importance, but she never really got it. "Jayfeather, I was, uh, wondering..."
"Yeah?" he asked not paying much attention.
"Can I become a medicine cat apprentice?"
Jayfeather looked more shocked than he ever had before for a moment, but he got back to his normal calm as quickly. "W-why do you want to be a medicine cat?"
"Well, I want to be able to serve my clan the best that I can. As a warrior I would be limited to fighting with tooth and claw, but as a medicine cat, I could do so much more."
Hollypaw's words seemed to shock the medicine cat much more. He hadn't manage to regain his composure by the time Squirrelflight, Sorreltail, Thornclaw, Spiderleg, and Brackenfur came up dragging Dustpelt's body behind. "Are you okay?" she gasped.
Brackenfur let the body down. "Dustpelt isn't doing okay. And Thornclaw doesn't look that great." Hollypaw looked over at Thornclaw. He was panting and barely managing to sit up.
"Why were you fighting? Who were they?"
"That was Riverclan. They wanted to claim the lake as their own and they were trying to mark their territory onto Thunderclan land." Hollpaw looked at her mentor as he spoke. He looked almost as bad as Thornclaw.
"Why were they doing that?" Hollypaw asked, bewildered.
"Riverclan is just weird. They've always wanted the lake." Jayfeather decided to speak then. "Even before I was born. I don't get why we shouldn't just give it to them. We don't fish!"
"Jayfeather, you know why we don't give it to them I'd expect you to not twist an apprentices mind like that!" Squirrelflight sounded like a mother scolding her kit. Hollypaw wondered why she was like that.
Jayfeather just snarled and stalked away with his stick.
Poppyfrost and Snowpaw appeared behind the group of cats. Snowpaw looked shocked and scared. Poppyfrost asked, "What happened here?" Sorreltail told them what happened and Snowpaw looked frightened out of her fur. "Spiderleg, you better go back to and rest instead of keeping Hollypaw. The rest of you should go rest, too."
"But it's Hollypaw's first day out. I'm sure she won't want to go back already," Spiderleg insisted. "Really, I can take her."
"Look at yourself, Spiderleg. You can hardly catch your breath. I can take Hollypaw for the day."
Spiderleg knew there was no arguing with Poppyfrost. "Fine, you take her." Then he got up and stretched and took Dustpelt's scruff in his mouth and began dragging him back to camp. The other cats followed him.
Soon Hollypaw was alone with her sister and her mentor. "So what were you doing?"
"I was showing Snowpaw the territory but we were going the other way. Snowpaw, we could show you the rest of the territory tomorrow, right? Today we'll show Hollypaw the rest."
Snowpaw didn't seem to mind, she still looked as scared. She just nodded.
She wondered who her mentor might be. She wished Brackenfur wasn't Smokepaw's mentor. Something about him seemed... familiar. Something that made her wish he was her mentor. Hollykit thought about who else could mentor her. There were many younger warriors than Brackenfur, like Berrynose or Birchfall. Hollykit wouldn't want to have Berrynose as her mentor. If she could choose between the two she would choose Birchfall. Though she'd rather not have him either.
Maybe Sorreltail or Poppyfrost would would be good mentors. Hollykit thought a little longer before Cinderheart appeared in the entrance. She was talking with Firestar about something. Then she came in. "Hi, Hollykit. Are you excited?" Hollykit nodded her head energetically and her mother laughed. "How about Snowkit?"
"She's excited too, she came in here just to tell me."
"Have you spoken to Firekit?" Cinderheart asked hopefully.
"We managed to convince him," Hollykit reassured her. Ten she crawled next to where her mother curled up and slept peacefully.
Hollykit woke up when she felt a paw in her side. Her mother's eyes gleamed proudly above her. "It's almost time, Hollykit. Let me make you look nice."
Hollykit stood up and let Cinderheart lick her fur. Snowkit and Firekit were sitting next to each other looking at her. She didn't know why they didn't look so happy. When Cinderheart finished, she turned to Snowkit, who stood up. Hollykit peeked outside and saw the clan was beginning to gather, waiting. "Come on!" she whispered happily.
Firekit quickly got cleaned right before Lionblaze came in. "Come on, Firestar called us. It's time to go." Hollykit noticed that Snowkit and Firekit lined up behind her. Then the five cats padded out of the nursery.
"The time has come for one of our favorite and most useful ceremonies. Snowkit, Hollykit, and Firekit have reached their sixth moon. They are welcome into our world of warriors and apprentices."
Hollykit saw Jayfeather farther off. I guess he doesn't need to be close. He can't see us and he has stronger hearing than us.
"Just like their father and his litter, these three kits have had an adventurous kithood." Hollykit noticed Lionblaze stiffen beside her and glance at Jayfeather for a second. Firekit looked down. "Snowkit!"
Hollykit could tell she was trying her hardest to keep calm and she padded forward.
"From this day until you receive your warrior name, you will be Snowpaw."
"Snowpaw!" the clan yelled her name.
"Poppyfrost," Firestar called calmly. Poppyfrost stood up, her eyes full of pride. "Your mentor Thornclaw trained you well and you are a credit to Thunderclan. Now the Clan asks you to prove yourself a good mentor with your first apprentice."
Poppyfrost dipped her head while Firestar continued. "I trust you to pass on all you have learned to Snowpaw and help her become a warrior the Clan can be proud of."
"I won't let you or the Clan down," Poppyfrost said and bent down to touch noses with Snowpaw."
"Hollykit," Firestar called.
Forgetting that she was nervous, she bounded forward, waiting eagerly for her apprentice name. "From this day until you receive your warrior name, you will be Hollypaw."
"Hollypaw! Hollypaw!" She could see her sister leading the chant. She felt guilty when she realized she hadn't done the same for Snowpaw.
"Spiderleg!" Firestar waited for him to step forward. "You mentored Mousewhisker, and he turned out to be a great warrior. Now we expect you to pass on all you know to Hollypaw and help her become a warrior that every clan will fear."
Hollypaw looked up at her mentor. His eyes were kind, but she was kind of scared of him. She had heard stories about him before. "I will teach her all I have learned." Then Hollypaw reached up and touched her nose to his.
"Firekit!" her leader called. Hollypaw watched her brother step forward slowly, uncertainty showing in his eyes. "Every cat has noticed that you don't come out of the nursery. Today every cat congratulates you for making it this far," Firestar said, amused. He waited until the mews of approval died down. "From this day until you receive your warrior name, you will be Firepaw."
"Firepaw!" Hollypaw cried and listened as the other cats joined in.
"Dustpelt," Firestar said. "You have mentored many cats since the time you became a warrior. Both of your mentors trained you well. I trust you, with your experience, to pass on all your knowledge, without leaving any behind, to Firepaw."
"Of course, Firestar, I will share all I have learned." Hollypaw could sense the friendship between her leader and Dustpelt, and she remembered that they were both apprentices together.
Firestar looked at the sky. "I ask StarClan to watch over all three young apprentices and guide them until they find in their paws the strength and courage of a warrior."
Hollypaw noticed the cats leaving the clearing to go do their duties. She turned to Spiderleg, wondering what to do next.
"Do you want to clean the elder's bedding and check for ticks or explore the territory?"
"Can we explore the territory first?" Hollypaw asked.
"Sure," he said, then bounded away without warning. Hollypaw quickly followed.
The two cats ran soundlessly. Hollypaw was getting tired, but she didn't want to show that she was weak. Spiderleg slowed down. "What can you smell?" he asked.
"Er, leaves?" Hollypaw asked.
Hollypaw received a friendly flick on her ear. "Of course you smell leaves. You'll always smell leaves no matter where you go," her mentor responded.
"Even Windclan?" she dared to ask.
Spiderleg flicked his tail impatiently. "Do we have to go discussing where leaves are? Just tell me what else you smell here."
Hollypaw tasted the air and realized there was something unusual. It tasted bad. "I don't know what it is," she told her mentor sadly.
"Don't feel bad. You wouldn't know what it is. That is the Shadowclan border. What you are smelling is Shadowclan."
"Oh," she said. Would there be any around there now?
Spiderleg must have seen her worried expression because he said, "You want to wait here for a patrol so you can tell them that you're an apprentice now?" he asked with an amused glint in his voice.
"No!"
Hollypaw followed her mentor as he padded along the border to the lake. While she was walking, she noticed Shadowclan scent beginning to mix with water. Eventually, she came to a place where there was a wide area of water. "Wow," she breathed.
Hollypaw's thoughts were interrupted bu a loud yowl. She and Spiderleg raced towards the sound. Behind a bush, they saw Dustpelt and Thornclaw battling five cats that smelled different.
"Get more warriors!" Spiderleg hissed to her.
Hollypaw ran as fast as she could in the direction where she thought the camp was. She was thankful as she began to hear the sounds that go on in the camp. Hollypaw burst through the entrance. "Dustpelt and Thornclaw are being attacked by the lake!" she yowled.
Sorreltail, Brackenfur, and Squirrelflight rushed to her. "Take us there!" Squirrelflight demanded. Hollypaw nodded and hoped she would find her scent trail so she could follow it back. She opened her mouth and started following the trail.
When they got to the place, Hollypaw could still hear yowls of fury. She watched as Sorreltail, Brackenfur, and Squirrelflight darted past her to help. She went after them, but not daring to join the fight because she knew she hadn't been taught any battle training.
Suddenly Hollypaw heard a noise behind her. She wheeled around and her mouth gaped open when she saw Jayfeather standing behind her with some sort of stick in his mouth. "Jayfeather?"
He dropped the stick. His ears were pricked toward the fight and he sighed. "I'd go help them out, but it would do no good except get the Thunderclan medicine cat killed." Hollypaw watched while Jayfeather sat down and licked his fur.
Suddenly Hollypaw realized how much importance medicine cats get. Hollypaw had always wanted importance, but she never really got it. "Jayfeather, I was, uh, wondering..."
"Yeah?" he asked not paying much attention.
"Can I become a medicine cat apprentice?"
Jayfeather looked more shocked than he ever had before for a moment, but he got back to his normal calm as quickly. "W-why do you want to be a medicine cat?"
"Well, I want to be able to serve my clan the best that I can. As a warrior I would be limited to fighting with tooth and claw, but as a medicine cat, I could do so much more."
Hollypaw's words seemed to shock the medicine cat much more. He hadn't manage to regain his composure by the time Squirrelflight, Sorreltail, Thornclaw, Spiderleg, and Brackenfur came up dragging Dustpelt's body behind. "Are you okay?" she gasped.
Brackenfur let the body down. "Dustpelt isn't doing okay. And Thornclaw doesn't look that great." Hollypaw looked over at Thornclaw. He was panting and barely managing to sit up.
"Why were you fighting? Who were they?"
"That was Riverclan. They wanted to claim the lake as their own and they were trying to mark their territory onto Thunderclan land." Hollpaw looked at her mentor as he spoke. He looked almost as bad as Thornclaw.
"Why were they doing that?" Hollypaw asked, bewildered.
"Riverclan is just weird. They've always wanted the lake." Jayfeather decided to speak then. "Even before I was born. I don't get why we shouldn't just give it to them. We don't fish!"
"Jayfeather, you know why we don't give it to them I'd expect you to not twist an apprentices mind like that!" Squirrelflight sounded like a mother scolding her kit. Hollypaw wondered why she was like that.
Jayfeather just snarled and stalked away with his stick.
Poppyfrost and Snowpaw appeared behind the group of cats. Snowpaw looked shocked and scared. Poppyfrost asked, "What happened here?" Sorreltail told them what happened and Snowpaw looked frightened out of her fur. "Spiderleg, you better go back to and rest instead of keeping Hollypaw. The rest of you should go rest, too."
"But it's Hollypaw's first day out. I'm sure she won't want to go back already," Spiderleg insisted. "Really, I can take her."
"Look at yourself, Spiderleg. You can hardly catch your breath. I can take Hollypaw for the day."
Spiderleg knew there was no arguing with Poppyfrost. "Fine, you take her." Then he got up and stretched and took Dustpelt's scruff in his mouth and began dragging him back to camp. The other cats followed him.
Soon Hollypaw was alone with her sister and her mentor. "So what were you doing?"
"I was showing Snowpaw the territory but we were going the other way. Snowpaw, we could show you the rest of the territory tomorrow, right? Today we'll show Hollypaw the rest."
Snowpaw didn't seem to mind, she still looked as scared. She just nodded.
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