MoonClan's ambitious story/(1): The First Four Leaders/2/11

Swankit ate a small hare for breakfast, and pretty soon, she might be catching her own. She looked back at the much younger Primrosekit, slowly walking to the prey pile and picking out a mouse.

She looked at Snowstar. She wondered how her voice would sound if she could speak. Melodic? Sweet? Even brash? But she really couldn't speak because of her mute condition. Primrosekit could, but she was much slower than everyone else.

Swankit was relieved at least she could still move her body normally, unlike Primrosekit. But Swankit couldn't really get her meaning out by being mute, while Primrosekit still could.

Swankit admired Birchpaw in a friendly way, ever since they had met. Her admiration had greatly increased when he rescued her from the hole. But her dislike for Stonepaw greatly increased at the same time, too. She wondered if it was possible to hate someone more & like someone more from the same incident. She guessed it was.

Mountainkit picked out a vole and sat next to her. "Swankit, aren't you excited? It's our ceremony!"

Swankit eagerly nodded. Primrosekit sat next to them with a mouse and sighed, saying, "Well, congrats... your ceremony... is today. While... mine is four... moons away! What a... lot of time."

Swankit thought about Primrosekit's condition. It would be better for her to be a medicine cat, but she'd be really unhappy, since her desire is to take a mate & have kits & descendants. She'd rather be a warrior instead, but to be a warrior, you have to be quick in all your duties. Otherwise, the prey could effortlessly get away, the warrior could easily pin her, kill her. Swankit shuddered, and took another bite of her hare.

Swankit waved her hands to communicate, and Primrosekit & Mountainkit both looked at her. Swankit then imitated a medicine putting cobwebs on a wound, then she imitated a warrior fighting & hunting, then shrugged, since it was a question.

They both looked confused for a minute, before Mountainkit figured it out and asked, "Wait, are you asking Primrosekit what she wants to be?" Swankit calmly nodded.

"Oh, well... I don't know. Is... it good to have... four moons of... time to de...cide?" answered Primrosekit. Primrosekit looked at Swankit for an answer, and she simply nodded. Then she touched Primrosekit's nose as a sign of empathy.

"Oh, um... thanks, Swan...kit," replied Primrosekit. Swankit did a thumbs-up. Then she pointed to her mouth and pretended to be sad.

"Oh, we know... you can't speak," mewed Primrosekit. "We both have medi...cal conditions, which... I guess makes... us sisters?" Swankit nodded serenely, and they both hugged. Suddenly they heard biting. They forgot Mountainkit was still there.

"Oh, go on. Your friendship display was very soothing," mewed Mountainkit, still swallowing.

Suddenly, Swankit spotted Icepaw & Zebrapaw touching noses.

*Are they in love?* thought Swankit. She walked up to them (with Primrosekit & Mountainkit following), and started laughing at them. Obviously, she made no noise, otherwise it would have been heard very loudly across the camp.

Icepaw & Zebrapaw abdruptly stopped when they saw Swankit, and Icepaw snapped, "What are *you* doing here? We're having something private!"

Swankit blew her tongue at them, and imitating kissing in a weird fashion.

"Oh, please," said Primrosekit humorously behind her. "If that's... really going to be... private, do it... in some bush... or den."

Mountainkit meowed in good fashion, "Yup. It is Swankit & my apprentice ceremony today. If you think you're *so* much older and get to boss us, think again. Besides, keep loving each other. Nobody's stopping you."

Zebrapaw & Icepaw turned bright red in embarrassment, and walked away from each other.

Then all three kits collapsed in laughter (including Swankit), which attracted Shadowpaw & Rainpaw's attention.

"Hey, guys, what's up? Fox got your tongues?" mewed Rainpaw, feeling joyful.

"Ah, you guys are just excited for the feel of being an apprentice, Swankit & Mountainkit?" Shadowpaw laughed, intending for a joke. "Well, your muscles will sear up from simply your first training. With medicine cats,"—he gestured towards Rainpaw—"their brains will hurt from *their* first training. It's not play, you know."

He turned to Primrosekit and mewed, "Be grateful you have four moons to decide your role, you know, I'm glad I had time to decide what *I* wanted to be. A warrior was the perfect role for me."

The kits were joyful, too.

And he did want to be a warrior. It seemed like the perfect dream. He wasn't *so* interested in having kits, but he did like love. Almost every tom liked that. Most of them also liked fighting & hunting, just regular action.

Shadowpaw also thought about a kit the same age as his sister. Her name was Berrykit, and she wanted to be a warrior. He had noticed Berrykit was quite shy. Mountainkit also knew who she was, since she was his father, Littleclaw's friend's daughter. His friend's name was Orchidmoon, and she was the daughter of Pinetail's brother, Stormlight, who was currently dead right now.

*Berrykit's nice,* Shadowpaw thought. Then he realized it was her ceremony, too.

Swankit & Shadowpaw noticed Snowstar climb onto Highrock.

Snowstar said, "All cats come under Highrock and the moon!"

The cats crowded around him. He contnued, "Swankit, 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 Swanpaw. Your mentor will be Nutclaw. I hope Nutclaw will pass down all he knows on to you.

"Mountainkit, you also 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 Mountainpaw. Your mentor will be Petuniaheart. I hope Petuniaheart will pass down all she knows on to you.

"Berrykit, you too 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 Berrypaw. Your mentor will be Maplestripe. I hope he will pass down all he knows on to you."

Then he addressed the mentors. "Nutclaw, Petuniaheart & Maplestripe, you are all ready to take on an apprentice. You will be the mentors of Swanpaw, Mountainpaw & Berrypaw. I expect you all to pass down all you know onto them, under the moon."

*"Swanpaw! Mountainpaw! Berrypaw!"*the Clan cheered.

Swanpaw felt a happy rush of excitement go through her as she met her mentor, Nutclaw. Mountainpaw & Berrypaw also met their mentors, Petuniaheart & Maplestripe.

Then a old golden-pelted cat went up to Mountainpaw and touched his nose.

"Honeyflight, grandma, I'm Petuniaheart's apprentice, now!" said Mountainpaw happily to her.

"Grandma?" asked Berrypaw. "How?"

"My dad's mom, Honeyflight," he explained.

Honeyflight nodded and congratulated all of them. Shadowpaw also felt happy for them. Now they can *all*be apprentices together.

*Except for Primrosekit,*he thought.

Nutclaw looked stern all the time, but he was really just joyful most of the time. He asked Swanpaw, "Do you want to hunt?"

Swanpaw nodded, and she imitated rabbits hopping, and shrugged, as she was trying to ask, "Can we catch rabbits?"

Nutclaw seemed to misunderstand her and say, "Yes, we have to pounce on mice first."

Swanpaw nodded sadly. She wanted to catch rabbits, surely they couldn't be hard to catch.

Their hunting training went swiftly, but Swanpaw only caught one mouse, and it was tiny. She was grateful for her compassion when Primrosekit ate it and said it was juicy to Swanpaw.

Shadowpaw asked his mentor, Snowstar if they could hunt, too, but he simply replied, "I have to talk to Peonyclaw about something. You should go and hunt for the medicine cats."

*Hunting for Rainpaw & Lilypool?* Shadowpaw thought. He had hunted for Lilypool before, but never for Rainpaw, too.

He decided to catch a snow hare. It was going into leaf-bare, but they'd still be around. But harder to find & catch. They were also turning white, so he had to look for white hares instead of the usual brown.

Shadowpaw ventured out into the Rabbit Residence area, and looked at his grey fur. He thought it'd be obvious against the snow (there was only little), but he hid behind a little snow mound. A hare trotted into the open.

Without thinking, he leaped onto it, but it suddenly darted out of his reach, and was nowhere.

Shadowpaw was downtrodden, but he hid somewhere else again. Another rabbit came out into the open, and Shadowpaw waited. It went closer to him. Then a much smaller rabbit was following the first one.

Shadowpaw immediately leaped on the first one, and he bit into its neck so it couldn't get away. The rabbit struggled, but then stopped. It was dead. The smaller one was already gone.

Pleased with his catch, he hid it in the snow and decided to catch one more. The much smaller rabbit came again, and Shadowpaw immediately sliced its back. That rabbit died, too.

Shadowpaw brought back both the rabbits and put it in front of the medicine cats' den. Rainpaw took the much smaller rabbit and ate it in three bites.

"This one's awfully small, but I guess its fine," said Rainpaw. She took a bite of the bigger one but then Lilypool came and finished the bigger one.

"Oh, thank you Shadowpaw, we've been working for a while now," she said.

Shadowpaw felt proud of himself & met with Zebrapaw & Quailpaw. They were currently eating. Shadowpaw started eating a mouse. Swanpaw was eating a small hare.

"So, how much did you like your ceremony?" Shadowpaw asked Swanpaw.

Swanpaw put a paw very high into the air, indicating, "Very much."

Shadowpaw seemed to understand.

Swanpaw then tried to ask Shadowpaw, "Do you like Primrosekit?" by pointing to her and shrugging.

Shadowpaw answered, "Primrosekit? Oh, I guess she's fine."

She nodded and went to the apprentices' den after that.

So did Shadowpaw.

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

*← Previous Chapter: Chapter 10: SnowClan?Next Chapter: Chapter 12: Love & Kits →*

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