MoonClan's ambitious story/(1): The First Four Leaders/1/9

Birchkit thought about Rainkit being a medicine cat. He looked back at his mother sleeping.

*This will be her last night here as a queen,* he thought solemnly.

He was sitting at the mouth of the nursery (which was facing the right direction of the sun), watching the sun rise into the sky. It was still dark, but almost light, so it was dawn. Birchkit had slept mostly while it was light the day before, so he had no worries about getting tired now.

*Is Snowstar going to do my ceremony now?* he wondered curiously.

Since Birchkit got hungry, he went to the fresh-kill pile, picked out a small hare and took it back to the nursery.

When he started eating, Mountainkit woke up. It was now sunrise. There was some light in the sky.

"Hey, Birchkit, what are ya doing?" mewed Mountainkit. Birchkit remembered his mother, Flipsnow, who was expecting Littleclaw's kits. Littleclaw was Mountainkit's father.

"I'm just eating," replied Birchkit, taking another bite of the rabbit.

"Okay. You're going to be an apprentice now, right?" Mountainkit asked enthusiastically.

"Yup, it's great."

"I wish I didn't have to wait a quarter-moon." Birchkit remembered that Mountainkit, Swankit and Berrykit were born a quarter-moon after him Rainkit and him. *I guess Snowstar is following the exact birth order,* he thought contemplatively.

"Well, every time you wait, you get closer to anything. So wait," he tried to cheer up.

"Alright, I guess," Mountainkit replied, seeming to understand.

"By the way, when I leave, you'll still have Swankit & Primrosekit. And I'll be just as active with you when we were kits until you become apprentices, too. Then we can *all* do apprentice things!"

"Yeah, great. Oh, wait, I just remembered Primrosekit & Rainkit. What about them?"

*"What* about them?"

"Rainkit's going to be a medicine cat apprentice in two days, and Primrosekit is much younger, and has a disability. You can literally feel her struggle having a disability as she *speaks.* But it's on her whole body."

"Rainkit, I know is going to be fine. When it comes to Primrosekit... well, I don't know. Having a nerve problem is causing her to be slower. At least she's fine in every other way possible, let's appreciate that. Maybe Quailpaw can take care of her, because she's much younger than *us,* since he seems to like her so much, because of their similarity."

"Falling off a cliff? That's a similarity that I'd feel very, very, *very* ashamed of. But I guess that's fine for them if they're okay with it. I wouldn't."

"Of course not"—Birchkit did a chuckle—"you'd rather clean ticks off of elders' backs."

Mountainkit laughed, too. "Oh, yeah. But Rainkit is happy with her role, isn't she?"

"Yup," replied Birchkit. "That really *is* the proper role for her. She's so into it, she doesn't even have time for playing!"

"Yeah, I guess so. I heard medicine cat apprentices have a million different things to learn, like about StarClan, herbs, bundles, helping queens, and all that stuff. That's why the training takes much longer than eight moons, and they still never have spare time. I could never be a medicine cat, even if that is what I was meant to be, if I couldn't be a warrior, which I can, really."

"Well, I guess *I* could be one, but that's not what I want to be in life, really. Rainkit chose it, so I hope she is happy with it, having to learn so much," responded Birchkit, finishing the last of his hare.

Mountainkit sat down next to Birchkit and looked at the sunrise. He had to squint to see it though, because the sun was going to blaze directly in his eyes.

"Wow, it's really bright out now. Warriors and other cats should start to awaken," he mewed in amazement.

"Ah, yes, I've been watching this ever since dark," Birchkit mewed back.

"Whoa, cool! Ever since midnight?"

"No, just a few hours after that. Probably quarter an hour before I saw the first of the sun."

"Uh huh. Pretty great experience, huh?"

"Yup. Amazing."

They stared at the sun (while still squinting) for a while longer, until Mountainkit got up and said, "I'm going to get a snow mouse now. See you at your ceremony!"

"Ok, see ya, I guess."

Birchkit also left a few moments after Mountainkit, to check up on Snowstar. There were tons of cats awake now, and most of them were grabbing some prey. The prey pile looked plentiful, but a third of it got consumed.

He saw his father pad out of the leader's den and jump up on Highrock. He spotted Birchkit and winked at him. He waited a moment longer until he called out, "All cats awake come under Highrock & the moon!"

The cats started gathering, and they looked content. They anticipated Birchkit's ceremony.

Snowstar looked around, then continued, "Birchkit, 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 Birchpaw. Your mentor will be Peonyclaw. I hope she will pass down all she knows on to you."

*"BIRCHPAW! BIRCHPAW! BIRCHPAW!"* the Clan cheered. He noticed Swankit making the movements of his name, as if she was chanting, too. Mountainkit was chanting his name at the top of his voice. So were his five siblings and mother. Even Primrosekit was doing so, too.

Birchpaw felt very, very proud of himself. Then he went down to greet his new mentor when the chanting died down, who was also his mother's brother's mate, Peonyclaw.

"Hey, Peonyclaw," Birchpaw said ecstatically; he was now an apprentice.

He looked at his four kit friends, Rainkit, Mountainkit, Swankit & Primrosekit. They were still kits, but very, very soon, three of them were going to become apprentices.

Now he was the same rank as his apprentice friends, Shadowpaw, Icepaw, Quailpaw and Zebrapaw, and he could train together with them.

The other cats congratulated him for being an apprentice, and he saw Flipsnow and Blazesky congratulating Peonyclaw for becoming a mentor.

"Birchpaw, do you want to train now?" asked Peonyclaw eagerly.

"Yes!" he meowed delightfully. Like every other apprentice, he wanted to train immediately.

"Alright, hunting first, since the Clan needs fresh-kill!" said Peonyclaw happily. It was the first time she had mentored, so it was understandable that she was eager about her first apprentice.

They went into the forest. Birchpaw knew he was going to love his apprenticeship.
**This is a chapter subpage of MoonClan's ambitious story (1): The First Four Leaders.**

***This is the last chapter of Part 1: Little Birchkit's Life.***

*← Previous Chapter: Chapter 8: Medicine CatNext Chapter: Chapter 10: SnowClan? →*

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