MoonClan's ambitious story/(1): The First Four Leaders/2/15

### Chapter 15: Another Ceremony

Primrosekit shifted uncomfortably while thinking about everything in the past three moons. She remembered what Quailpaw had taught her about speed & swiftness & agility since they all meant how fast she could go. She thought she was able to move as quickly as everyone else, but at some point, while running, she suddenly froze uncontrollably and had to wait for half a second to be free again. It was almost like what happened to her while talking. Talk too much too fast, and she freezes very painfully.

That freezing feeling was as painful as her talking too much, and it would hinder her to perfectly catch prey & fight enemies. But Quailpaw said she was doing fine.

He also taught Primrosekit how to pounce. But one time, her muscles froze up in the air and she landed badly. She didn't get hurt, but she had to rest.

Her sister, Dandelionkit, on the other hand, didn't have to do stuff like these, so she got time to play, like all other completely normal kits.

After three moons of training as a kit, Primrosekit thought she would have the agility covered. She did become faster than usual but wondered if the freezing feeling would go away someday. Primrosekit didn't want it to happen while she was about to catch a mouse, and she suddenly freezes. Or when she is fighting a strong enemy and is about to dodge a death blow until she suddenly freezes and gets killed.

Sometimes, Primrosekit thought she was wiser than the others around her age because of her condition; she usually spent a lot of time thinking rather than playing.

And Primrosekit never forgot about her falling off a mountain that day where she was so bored and her condition & shyness wouldn't allow her to have fun with anyone, and she wandered off and fell off the edge. Luckily, Quailpaw & his mentor, Blazesky were there, otherwise, she wouldn't have had any way to get back up.

She had liked Quailpaw as a role model ever since, and also when he told his own story about falling off.

The day of her ceremony had come. Primrosekit was scared of it instead of excited, since she had adamantly stuck to the path of a warrior and refused to leave it, so she didn't know what her Clan was going to think of her decision. MoonClan was still nice (with perhaps the exception of Stonepaw), but she still thought she might get weird looks like when she came back to camp after being rescued from that fall off the cliff. She especially didn't like to have many eyes on her as it made her self-conscious.

*Maybe in another time of this Clan, another cat born with slow reflexes can be a medicine cat,* she thought. *But I'm going to be a warrior, I'm going to show the Mountains my skills!*

She spotted Snowstar jumping onto Highrock and announcing, "All cats come under Highrock and the moon!"

The cats crowded around him. "Primrosekit, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, under the moon, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Primrosepaw. Your mentor will be Hailstream. I hope Hailstream will pass down all she knows on to you.

"Dandelionkit, you have also reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, under the moon, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Dandelionpaw. Your mentor will be Sealbranch. I hope Sealbranch will pass down all she knows on to you."

*"Dandelionpaw! Primrosepaw! Dandelionpaw! Primrosepaw!"* the Clan chanted.

Primrosepaw thought she heard more enthusiasm in the chants of Dandelionpaw's name than her name. She wasn't very happy to be an apprentice, but she was a little comforted that it was Quailpaw's sister. So she went up to Hailstream very slowly and touched her nose, which took her a few seconds after Dandelionpaw touched noses with *her* mentor. She felt the entire Clan's eyes on her and she didn't really like the feeling. She wondered how leaders or deputies could have everyone's eyes on them without even feeling hot.

Rosepetal and Maplestripe, her parents were very proud of them, of course. And Sandleap looked very happy at her sisters and Primrosepaw and *her* sister. Primrosepaw looked around for Quailpaw and saw he was next to Shadowpaw and Zebrapaw in the far corner of the crowd. They were standing next to Birchpaw, Swanpaw, Rainpaw and Mountainpaw. They all looked happy for her, too, especially Quailpaw. Spottedpaw was there, too. She gave a small smile back and nodded.

Dandelionpaw announced, "I will be the best warrior! And so will my sister!" Which made everyone's spirits better and a few people laugh. Primrosepaw was glad that she had a bubbly and bright sister.

Hailstream said excitedly, "I am proud to be your mentor, Primrosepaw. Like my father said, I will pass onto you everything I know. Especially my skills." Then she whispered so that no one can hear, "And oh, by the way, you don't need to go fast for everything. Such as sneaking up on something or someone, or pouncing. So I think you will still be a perfect warrior."

For the first time since Quailpaw telling her the same thing, Primrosepaw felt better with her mentor's words.

Most of the cats dispersed, but Primrosepaw's friends and family came up to her and congratulated her and Dandelionpaw, especially Quailpaw. Wisdomheart also congratulated his granddaughters, and he was smiling at them, too. All the apprentices that were there were all encouraging her, too, including Dandelionpaw.

"You will be a better warrior than all of us," said Quailpaw generously. "Yeah, you will be the best!" Dandelionpaw exclaimed excitedly. "Hopefully, you can beat those enemy warriors up!" Mountainpaw added generously as well. "And I will help you, too, being a medicine cat and you can protect me! We will be a great team together!" Rainpaw cheered, also enthusastically. Swanpaw, Shadowpaw, Spottedpaw and Zebrapaw all nodded eagerly, too.

"Thank you... all," Primrosepaw said gratefully. Then she looked over to Birchpaw because he didn't respond yet. Finally he said very thoughtfully, "May StarClan light your path and bless you with a good life." All of the cats there agreed with him, including Primrosepaw. She thought Birchpaw was also very wise like her, too. *That makes two of us,* she thought, which was good.

She looked over at Stonepaw and Icepaw and saw they were both just with their mentors training. They apparently didn't have that much interest in Primrosepaw. She remembered Stonepaw pushed Swanpaw into a steep hole when Swanpaw was only a kit, and Primrosepaw never liked Stonepaw since. Icepaw was worried for Swankit at the time, but definitely not Stonepaw. Icepaw did notice Primrosepaw training but she focused on her own mentor. *That is fine, since you can't be distracted,* Primrosepaw reasoned.

Hailstream and Sealbranch were still there and they were smiling. "Do you want to train?" exclaimed Hailstream eagerly. Sealbranch nodded, since it was their first time being mentors. Primrosepaw nodded slowly while Dandelionpaw nodded very quickly, even bouncing up and down. "Can we do double training?" Dandelionpaw exclaimed. Primrosepaw nodded again. Their mentors said yes.

They did some pouncing training first, and they both had to pounce on a rock at the same time. Primrosepaw was very wary of this part because she remembered her few bad landings due to her freezing. But she made sure to rest every muscle before pouncing. The Clan was watching them, including Snowstar, especially at Primrosepaw, since they wanted to see how she would do. Quailpaw looked hopeful for her, since he trained her unofficially for three moons. Primrosepaw still felt a little uncomfortable being the center of attention, even if it was good attention, but she focused on herself and the rock a few feet in front of her.

Primrosepaw and Dandelionpaw finally leaped at Sealbranch's flick of her tail, and they leaped onto the rock. To her surprise, Primrosepaw landed perfectly. While Dandelionpaw had slightly off aim. Primrosepaw realized that her training with Quailpaw made her way ahead of other kits, including her own sister. Dandelionpaw seemed to realize this too and said, "Wow, good job, Primrosepaw! Looks like your training with Quailpaw paid off!"

Everyone looked between the three of them and looked very proud of Primrosepaw and thankful to Quailpaw. They were happy along with Dandelionpaw. Primrosepaw was eternally grateful to Quailpaw and showed appreciation to him by smiling. *He could be a really good mentor someday, when he becomes a warrior,* Primrosepaw thought positively.

Hailstream echoed Dandelionpaw's compliment in her own words and told them to try and pounce on one another. Dandelionpaw was first to pounce, then Primrosepaw would do it next almost immediately.

"So Primrosepaw, try to dodge," Hailstream told her. Primrosepaw nodded and watched for Dandelionpaw's moves intently. It was something she remembered from Quailpaw's excellent training. Then Dandelionpaw leaped on her. Primrosepaw saw it coming, of course, and dodged. There was no freezing feeling, to Primrosepaw's gratification.

Then Primrosepaw tried to wait for a half-second to rest, then pounced on Dandelionpaw, who also dodged, but still within Primrosepaw's reach. Then Dandelionpaw whispered to her sister amusingly, "Don't go too hard, though! *I* wasn't trained by Quailpaw." Primrosepaw just nodded, since she knew this fact already.

*Maybe my condition is a blessing in some cases?* Primrosepaw figured, which made her feel better. *I am way advanced other kits due to my special training.* She also wondered if StarClan was testing her with this condition, in a good way, to see if she would be a selfless good warrior only willing to do good for the Clan even at the price of herself. She hoped it was true.

Then Dandelionpaw jumped out of Primrosepaw's reach and turned around. Then she braced herself for a pounce, which took her a moment to do, so Primrosepaw was able to brace herself for a dodge and rest her muscles. Then Dandelionpaw jumped and Primrosepaw managed to dodge. Then she jumped out of the way again so that she wouldn't be attacked by Dandelionpaw.

*In real battles, the enemy cat or... cats... wouldn't take this long. Especially since they would be fully trained warriors, and not an apprentice on their first day like my sister,* Primrosepaw thought a little discouragingly, but she shook that thought off. Once she became a warrior, she would probably have it covered. Especially since she would have three moons more training than other apprentices did.

She focused on Dandelionpaw's whereabouts and saw Dandelionpaw about to pounce on her again but Primrosepaw dodged again. Then Primrosepaw braced herself and rested her muscles for about half a second before pouncing on Dandelionpaw. Dandelionpaw had also braced herself, however, and also pounced towards her.

The two sisters crashed into each other in the air and fell down, which made most of the cats worry about Primrosepaw, especially her parents, but neither got hurt. Instead Dandelionpaw remarked, "I wonder if two cats can crash into each other in the air in real battle?" Primrosepaw nodded in agreement, since she was glad to have an ever optimistic sister. And she didn't get hurt because there was nothing wrong with her bones or pelt. And her nerves weren't really that sensitive to shock, either.

Sealbranch and Hailstream exchanged looks for about a second before they both laughed in relief. Quailpaw and Rainpaw also looked relieved, too, and most of the other cats did, too.

"Oh, yep, but it is probably not going to be as harmless as this," Sealbranch mewed in amused reply. "They might scratch each other in the air, topple over one another and have a huge claw fest after falling down! Of course, that won't happen here."

Hailstream nodded. "Although if that happens, you need to try to have enough speed to counter your opponent in the air so you can be on top of them and have a better advantage," she added confidently. "Otherwise, it will be vice versa! And that could be bad."

Then she flicked her tail as a sign for the two sisters to continue. Primrosepaw and Dandelionpaw were training very well indeed and the entire Clan cheered them on. And they were fast learners, too, even if Dandelionpaw didn't get the special training like Primrosepaw did.

*Maybe... being a warrior isn't going to be bad at all,* Primrosepaw reassured herself. *Maybe... I can be the first cat with my condition to become a full-blown warrior. And I will be a special proud warrior to the Clans, too, as StarClan intended me to be!*

**This is a chapter subpage of MoonClan's ambitious story (1): The First Four Leaders.**

*← Previous Chapter: Chapter 14: SwiftclawNext Chapter: Chapter 16: Peaceful talk... Stonepaw & Icepaw's competition →*

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