An Important Question
“Let all cats who are able to catch their own prey gather beneath the sturdy stump for a clan meeting!” The white leader’s authoritative voice boomed through the thick brambles of BrookClan’s camp. Catching the ears of clan mates, one by one the many cats of BrookClan appeared below the sturdy stump looking expectantly up at Galestar.
A particular bunch of young cats sat in front of the crowds of cats, their pelts well groomed and fur fluffed. Clearly their mothers had spent plenty of time to make sure they looked absolutely perfect for this moment. The two russet kits whispered to each other, whilst the two black and white kits gave each other happy and excited glances. The lone white cat perched in the middle gazed off into the distance, flicking his ears listening to the hushed voices around him.. Never had he been in one place with all his clan members at once, and hearing all of them at one time was quite strenuous. He scratched at an itch behind his ear with his hind foot as Galestar spoke once more.
“Thank you all for taking the time out of your day to gather here for this very moment. Gathered here below me are five young cats who are ready to become apprentices.” In turn she looked at each of the young kits sitting eagerly, all of them looked directly at her besides Fogkit. Who was then directed by his mother placed besides the stump to listen for the leader voice solely.
“Leafkit, Beetlekit, please step forwards.” The two siblings smiled towards each other and gave some mischievous glares towards the two jealous younger siblings beside Fogkit.
“Buzzardkit, Jaggedkit, please step forwards.” The two stepped forwards, and Jaggedkit gave a sly look towards the two russet kits.
The white leader stood tall in her post and in that moment jumped down and stood before the four cats, raising her chin. “I, Galestar, leader of BrookClan call upon my warrior ancestors to look upon these young cats, for they have come of age and are ready to become apprentices under your code. From now on, Leafkit and Beetlekit shall be known as Leafpaw and Beetlepaw. Jaggedkit and Buzzardkit, from now on shall be known as Jaggedpaw and Buzzardpaw. These four apprentices shall be known as these names until they receive their warrior names. With a previous discussion with my deputy, we have come up with who each apprentice will be signed to. Cedarflame, Wolfheart, Lostvoice, please step forwards.”
The two warriors and deputy took their places besides Galestar and gazed towards the newly named apprentices.
“Leafpaw, you shall be the fourth apprentice of Wolfheart. He has told me personally that he’s willing to take on the challenge not only to have you as his apprentice, but is willing to take the toll of mentoring four apprentices at once. As previously mentioned, we are a bit low on warriors currently so for now doubled up, to quadrupled up on apprentices.” Galestar switched her gaze towards the fluffy russet tom besides the more fragile russet she-cat.
“Beetlepaw, I will take you on as my third apprentice, and I expect you to work hard, my lessons are not easy and will test every inch of you and your body.” Beetlepaw’s eyes lit up and he nodded towards his leader and now mentor happily.
“Jaggedpaw, your mentor shall be Cedarflame, you will be mentored along side Badgerpaw and Crowpaw. I expect you to listen to what you’re mentor and clan mates say.” Jaggedpaw nodded politely, and then gazed towards her brother.
“.. Buzzardpaw.” She mewed, knowing that he was the last apprentice she could speak for. The young cat gazed towards his mother with his one good eye looking for the answer he was waiting for as if it was written on her face. “Lostvoice will be your mentor alongside of Reedpaw and Harepaw. I expect the same out of you as your sister.”
To the young faded white tom, it seemed like she had been completely ignoring him. Either that or he had been placed in the crowd to where she had not seen him and skipped over him.
“U-uhm… G=galestar…?” A small squeak murmured over the excited whispers of the new apprentices. The white she-cat glanced towards the faded white tom and smiled. Of course, she soon realized soon after… he could not see her smile.
“... And lastly, Fogkit.” She mewed, before looking over her shoulder at Ambernose.
“Would you like to do the honors?” Who was the leader speaking too, he could hear that she was talking to someone else, but he had no idea who. Everyone was far to close together to differentiate smells other than Beetlepaw and Jaggedpaw were on either side of him, but he couldn’t tell which side.
Ambernose smiled nervously, and padded in between the warriors and her leader taking her place before her son.
“Fogkit.” She said quietly, drawing his attention away from what was around him to flick his head subconsciously towards the sounds he heard. He knew her voice all too well, the way she spoke towards him was soft and kind hearted, he could pick it out of any crowd.
“I have been wanting to ask you, and someone else a question.” The Russet she-cat looked up and towards the back of the crowd where a particular bengal she-cat sat besides the larger savannah she-cat, who in turn looked surprised at the fact that the medicine cat was looking at her out of all cats.
“Since as you may know, making a warrior out of you is going to be a real challenge. I’m going to give you a choice. I can take you on as my apprentice, but the choice is yours whether or not that is towards being a warrior, or a medicine cat. You do not have to make your choice now, but you will be training either way as my apprentice whichever path you choose.” A look of confusion crossed the faded white tom as he looked in the direction he thought she was.
“... You want me to be your… apprentice?... “ He mewed softly, looking to the side, or at least he thought he was looking to the side.
“Yes. Out of all the wonderful cats in our clan, we believed that I was best suited to train you. But like I said, the choice is yours to whichever path you take.” The tom nodded and gave a small anxious smile. Ambernose smiled, and took a step back, letting Galestar step forwards.
“Fogkit, from this day forwards, you shall be known as Fogpaw. And since you have agreed, you will be mentored by none other than Ambernose herself.” With that the white leader touched the top of the blind cat’s head with her nose, signifying her blessing.
The meeting continued on as Galestar announced once again that Leaf-bare would soon be upon them Sagepaw couldn’t help but cast her mint green gaze towards the medicine cat as she touched noses with her apprentice alongside the other mentors and apprentices. She still couldn’t shake the feeling that Ambernose had looked directly at her when she asked Fogpaw that question. Was she trying to hint at something? … What had those two talked about? Wildpaw had been too noisy “whispering” to her about something that slipped her mind that she hadn’t heard what was said. Was Fogpaw now Ambernose’s apprentice, or what?... Perhaps she should ask..
“Sagepaw.” A cat meowed, snapping the she-cat from her thoughts. It appears that the meeting was closed, and she had been subconsciously making her way towards the fresh kill pile… She was hungry after all. Standing before her was Ambernose with a small smile plastered to her maw.
“Yeah Ambernose? Is there something you needed? Another trip to the circle rocks?” Ambernose shook her head averting her eyes for a moment then intently looked back towards the young cat.
“No, no, not this time.. I wanted to ask you a question.”
“Uh… suuuure? What is it?” Is she going to ask what I think she’s going to ask? Sagepaw sat back on her haunches and flicker her thin tail over her paws, looking into the amber eyes of the medicine cat.
“.. I wanted to ask you, if you wanted to become an apprentice of mine. We’ve been out a lot and i’ve noticed that out of everyone you in particular seem the most intrested in herbs and what they are about.”
“... But isn’t Fogpaw yur apprentice now?..”
“... Yes, he is. But he’s not my apprentice.”
“... Aye...I am a bit confused..” Sagepaw looked around at the passing cats before looking back at the medicine cat.
“.. I want you to become the medicine cat apprentice of BrookClan. But only if you want to.”
“Aye.. but then there’d be two medicine apprentices, or whate’r?...” Ambernose chuckled, confusing the bengal even more.
“Fogpaw was given a choice, whether or not to become a medicine cat apprentice or a warrior’s apprentice, either choice he’d be mentored by me. I have a strong feeling he’ll want to try the warrior route, and … I have been thinking that I should take on an apprentice of my own for a while now.”
“... Have ya run this by Galestar yet…?”
“Yes, and she would be happy to see you become a medicine cat, but you do not have to if you do not want to.” Sagepaw looked towards her paws, serching the leaves for an answer.
“... So what do you say? Do you want to become the next medicine cat?”