borntothewild

[borntothewild]

Apprenticeship 001

If there was one thing I really missed when I was reborn as a cat, it was clocks. We as human’s take clocks for granted, but cats didn’t have clocks, their relationship to time was determined by terms such as sunup, sundown, sunhigh, and moonhigh. There were of course relative terms like close to sun down, just after/before sun high, little mid sun(for the mid point between sun up and sun high), big mid sun (between sun high and sun down), and similar terms for night-time.

I really missed being able to tell time more precisely because it would make it easier to stick to a schedule, easier to tell if I was improving or not.

Of course, it was just one of many things I missed from being human, aside from things like TV, video games, a wider food palate that didn’t include vermin, sleeping with a roof over my head in a soft Tempur-Pedic mattress, and not having to suckle from a cats teat if I was hungry, among other things.

I sighed as I finished my morning meal, and sat up from the soft downy fur of Willowpelt’s belly, before walking over to the entrance of the nursery. It was just after sun up, and the camp was waking up. The dawn patrol, consisting of Tigerclaw, Whitestorm, and Mousefur, was getting ready to leave, while Bluestar stood nearby, talking to them. There was a slight disturbance at the entrance to the camp, which signaled the arrival of Sandpaw and Dustpaw, who had been out hunting during the night.

They appeared to be carrying a lot of fresh kill, and they quickly made their way over to the fresh kill pile, dumping their load before picking some for themselves. They then walked over to the nearby apprentices den, where they started to eat and share tongues.

The was a great rustling as the rest of the camp started to wake up. Warriors started to emerge from the warriors den, receiving their orders and heading off into the forest. For a while, the camp was very busy, as warriors came and went, going about their business, but it didn’t take long for the camp to settle down again.

This was the way it was in ThunderClan camp: brief moments of great upset as the warriors came and went at their scheduled times, before setting down to a long stillness. It would be this way until sun high, and sundown, and moon high as well.

I like these still moments just after sun up the most, as usually there was the least amount of cats in the camp at this time, which meant I was unlikely to disturb anyone with my training.

I was brought back to the present by Bluestar, who was standing just outside of the  nursery entrance.

“Hello, Frogkit,” said Bluestar softly. “is Willowpelt awake?”

“Er, yeah,” I said, backing up to let Bluestar into the den. Bluestar squirmed into the nursery, shifting aside the bramble walls, which made enough noise to wake the younger kits Cinderkit and Brackenkit, who had been born half a moon before today. They started mewling their distress, before their mother Frostfur woke up and tended to them.

“Oops, sorry Frostfur,” said Bluestar apologetically.

“That’s alright, Bluestar,” said Frostfur sleepily. I took that as my cue to leave the nursery.

After slowly making my way out as to not make anymore noise, I walked over to one of the less traveled spots in the camp, on the other side of the Highrock to the entrance. I had chosen this spot in particular because I wanted to avoid causing problems for other cats in the area.

Kits were technically forbidden to leave the camp without an escort, so I had to perform my daily exercise inside the camp. My exercise routine was mainly comprised of jumping. I had two jumping styles that I would practice: the standard jump, where I tried to jump as high as I could, and the pouncing jump, where I jumped and tried to land on a precise spot a few paw-steps away from me.

I had performed this jumping exercise for about two moons by now, and I could now jump up to five feet in the air, which was pretty high for a kit like me, so high that my mother had decided to rename me as Frogkit, instead of Whitekit which was my old name.

Following this jumping routine, I would do a few laps, running around the Highrock, before returning to the nursery. When anybody asked why I did what I did, I would simply reply that it was training for when I was a warrior, but in reality it was so that I would be able to escape if I ever found myself in a bad position.

I just knew, deep down, in my very soul,  that there would be a day where I needed to jump high enough, or run fast enough, or I would dead. I wanted to make sure I was ready for that day, for it could come at any moment, but in particular I was thinking about those crazy dogs in book five: A Dangerous Path. I didn’t want to be caught on the wrong end of that particular disaster.

I was just finishing up my jumping routine when Graykit arrived.

“Hey Frogkit,” he said, watching me do a jump. “Mom wants you to come back to the nursery.”

“Why?” I asked curiously when I landed. It was rare for Willowpelt to interrupt my training. She was normally quite proud.

“She wants to groom us for the Naming Ceremony,” Graykit said with joy. “We’re finally gonna be apprentices finally!”

I blinked. “Wow, so soon?”

“Yeah, we’re six moons, remember?” Graykit replied, cocking his head curiously. “you didn’t remember? I don’t think I could have forgot even if I wanted to!”

“I had other things on my mind,” I said simply, walking over to nuzzle him on the nose. “Well, lets get going, I want to get this over with.”

I hated getting groomed by Willowpelt. Don’t get me wrong, she was careful and her tongue was soft, but it was another reminder that I wasn’t human anymore. People didn’t lick each other all over unless they were in an intimate relationship, but as a cat it was common place. I was still having a hard time getting used to it.

OO

“Let all those cats old enough to catch their own pray join here beneath the Highrock for a Clan meeting.”

The sound of Bluestar’s great caterwaul rippled like a shock-wave through out the camp, signaling for cats to arrive into the clearing in front of the Highrock. Willowpelt ushered me and my siblings( Graykit and Ravenkit) to the front of the Highrock, where we sat, looking at the three Warriors we would be apprenticed to.

Tigerclaw and Lionheart were there, along with a dark haired, striped tabby tom I recognized as Darkstripe. Once I spotted the sleek-haired tom, a slight chill ran down my back. Was I to be apprenticed to Darkstripe? That... wasn’t ideal, really wasn’t ideal, but I could put up with it.

Darkstripe had just finished training Longtail a moon ago, and had once been Tigerclaw’s apprentice. In the books Darkstripe had been like the Dragon to Tigerclaw’s big bad, and he was bound to hold some conservative views like not allowing kittypets into the clan, or not helping Windclan return to the forest, and would undoubtedly hope to pass on those views to me.

Bluestar gazed around at the assembly of cats, before looking at me and my brothers each in turn. “This sunhigh, we gather together to name three new apprentices. Come forward, you three.”

My brothers and I walked forward, Graykit more excitedly, while Ravenkit and I took more measured steps.

Bluestar looked at Graykit first. “From this day forward, until he had earned his Warrior name, this apprentice will be called Graypaw. Lionheart will be his mentor.”

“Graypaw! Graypaw!” chorused the rest of the clan.

“Lionheart, you were trained by Swiftbreeze. I hope you pass along her skill and courage as you train Graypaw. ”

“Thank you, Bluestar,” Lionheart mewed as he nuzzled Graypaw.

Bluestar looked at Ravenkit now. “This apprentice shall be known as Ravenpaw. Tigerclaw will be his mentor.”

“Ravenpaw! Ravenpaw!” chorused the clan.

“Tigerclaw, I hope you pass along some of Thistleclaw’s ferocity and prowess as you train this apprentice.”

Tigerclaw was silent as he walked forward to nuzzle Ravenpaw’s nose. He looked very proud.

Then Bluestar looked at me. “And this apprentice will be known as Frogpaw. Darkstripe will be his mentor.”

“Frogpaw! Frogpaw!” Then the clan was chorusing my name.

“Darkstripe, Tigerclaw was your mentor. I expect you to pass along some of Tigerclaw’s cunning and intellect as you train this apprentice.”

Darkstripe walked forward, and we touched noses. The cat in front of me seemed to be proud, with no hint of his dark future in his eyes.

I could only hope that when Firepaw arrived, my mentor wouldn’t try to stop me being friends with him.

OO

Index

#warrior cats #fanfic

[borntothewild]

Chapter Index

Apprenticeship

001