Through the Dark

Chapter Four

Six moons later...

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here beneath the Highstones for a Clan meeting," Darkstar called atop the pile of stones that made up his den.

Gradually, the Clan cats gathered in the clearing. Warriors, apprentices, and the elders all padded out of their dens, yawning and blinking in the morning sun. Brightlight emerged from her den with Redpaw - now Redclaw, having gotten appointed to a full-time medicine cat a moon ago - at her side.

Silverlight pushed out of the nursery with her two kits scrambling around her paws excitedly.

"Stop it, you're going to trip me!" Silverlight softly chided. She was striving to stay calm, but her shining blue eyes betrayed her immense enthusiasm. After all, today was the day when her kits would finally become apprentices. If only their father could just see them here, standing tall, fur sleek, ready to accept their apprentice names.

"Go on, now," Emberleaf, who was crouching next to Brightlight and Redclaw a little way behind Silverlight, snapped at the kits. "We don't have all moon."

"No need to be harsh," Silverlight snarled back. She could feel the tension crackling between them, much like the air before a storm.

The kits looked at them with huge eyes, the she-cat's green ones filled with fright at two bigger cats arguing with each other and the tom's amber ones like, Just shut up and get on with the ceremony already!

Silverlight turned away from Emberleaf and nudged her two kits forward so they stood just at the foot of the Highstones.

Once all the cats in the clearing quieted down, Darkstar finally began the ceremony. His eyes slowly scorched the brown she-kit's pelt as he mewed, "Leafkit, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you received your warrior name, you will be known as Leafpaw. Your mentor will be..." His gaze ran over the cats in the clearing, landing on a familiar light brown pelt with natural dark red streaks. "...Emberleaf.

"Emberleaf, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You had received excellent training from your former mentor, Gorsepelt, and you have shown yourself to be clever and quick-minded. You will be the mentor of Leafpaw, and I expect you to pass on all you know to her."

Emberleaf and Leafpaw briefly touched noses, following the tradition that had been passed down from generation to generation, which showed that the mentor accepted their new apprentice. However, Emberleaf's eyes were as cold as ice, her fur bristled, and her ears were flattened with disgust in the moments that she stood in front of Leafpaw.

But why doesn't she like me? Leafpaw wondered. What have I ever done to her? Then she recalled the time right before the ceremony when her mother and Emberleaf had had a moment of utter tension. Emberleaf's disliking to me has something to do with that, Leafpaw realized.

"Graykit," Darkstar called, jerking Leafpaw out of her thoughts, "you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Graypaw. Your mentor will be Hazelfur. I hope she will pass down all she knows on to you.

"Hazelfur, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You had received excellent training from Jayflight, and you have shown yourself to be levelheaded and logical. You will be the mentor of Graypaw, and I expect you to pass on all you know to him."

Graypaw stood up and walked over to his new mentor. As they touched noses, he could already feel the mentor-apprentice friendship connection between them.

"Leafpaw! Graypaw! Leafpaw! Graypaw!" the Clan cheered the new apprentices.

Graypaw straightened up proudly while Leafpaw looked around at her Clanmates, smiling shyly.

When the cheering died down, Graypaw enthusiastically bounded towards Hazelfur. "So what are we going to do now?" he asked, his eyes gleaming.

Hazelfur smiled, remembering her own good days as an apprentice. "I'll show you around the territory first." She looked at the sky to see that the light pink of dawn was slowly disappearing. "Do you want to start now?"

"Yes!" Graypaw squealed. He shot through the thorn tunnel that made up the entrance of camp, his tail twitching with delight. Hazelfur slowly followed, amusement glittering in her green eyes.

Meanwhile, Leafpaw was at Silverlight's side, watching as Emberleaf was whispering something to Brightlight. The light brown tabby's sharp gaze flitted towards Leafpaw, but, seeing that her apprentice was staring at her, she quickly turned away.

What is she saying about me? Leafpaw wondered, inwardly sighing with exasperation. It's bad enough that she's my mentor...does she have to go around spreading rumors about me, too!?

"Silverlight, I need to talk to you." Darkstar's deep voice snapped Leafpaw back to reality. "In the training area. Now."

"Sure," Silverlight responded, looking somewhat uneasy. She turned to Leafpaw. "You go train with Emberleaf, all right?"

"But-" Leafpaw started, but Silverlight was already gone.

Leafpaw looked over her shoulder to again see Emberleaf and Brightlight chattering away. Taking a deep breath, closing her eyes briefly, she set off towards her mentor.