CotS #1: The Dark Path (currently being rewritten)

Chapter Fifteen

"Stormdawn! Stormdawn!" The former SeasonClan cats and CountryClan cats chanted my name animatedly.

I wasn't going to pretend I wasn't shocked. New Zealand had promised he'd make a SeasonClan cat deputy, but I hadn't realized he meant me. I mean, why me? There were better cats out there. Such as Heathermist, the most experienced cat who'd joined him. And yet, he'd chosen the newest warrior, minus Duskypelt, for deputy. Why me? I kept asking myself that. But really, I was happy. Truly happy. He thought I was ready, though I didn't have a clue why, but he thought I was ready to be deputy. He trusted me. For some wild, probably extremely stupid reason, New Zealand trusted me.

Why did that mean so much?

"Thank you for the honor." I dipped my head politely to New Zealand, trying to hide my wide grin.

"No problem!" he responded brightly. I almost told him a leader shouldn't respond in such an informal way, but New Zealand was so easygoing by nature it didn't seem right to tell him that. It just ... seemed his style to speak in such a nature. After all, he was a youngster. Coming from another youngster like me, technically I shouldn't be saying he was a youngster, but still.

I met in his den after that, because, apparently, Iceland and Singapore were worried about Pennsylvania. Well, not because of that, because he was wondering about mentors for them.

"I think they should get two mentors," New Zealand was saying. "One from CountryClan, one former SeasonClan cat."

I nodded. "Brownfur, Woodfur, Shadowheart, Sunnyheart and Duskypelt are available from former SeasonClan cats. The rest are training apprentices already."

"Columbia, Ethiopia, Lithuania, Romania and Virginia from my Clan," he said. How did he remember all of their weird names? Some country thing? What were countries, anyway? I was hardly interested, but it was so weird! Did all their names except Italy's, Iceland's, Singapore's and New Zealand's end with the letter 'a'? Wasn't that weird?

"Depends on how many kits Pennsylvania has," I mused, almost to myself. New Zealand laughed at me, for some reason. I mean, nothing was funny.

"Pen," he said, still half laughing at me. "Seriously, no one calls her that. So long! Who would call her Pennsylvania? Even her mate doesn't call her that!"

"Pen," I repeated. He nodded approvingly.

"Okay, fine," I muttered. I felt like they should have warrior names, but they were all about this CountryClan thing. Naming them after these so-called countries, whatever they were. It was so stupid! What about warrior names? They should have 'paw after their name, not some weird city name that completely changed!

"So, what do I do when your apprentices become warriors?" he asked.

"I can perform the ceremony," I said.

New Zealand nodded. "How about it! I'll do it for my cats, and you can do it for yours!"

I frowned suddenly. "What if a SeasonClan cat mates with a CountryClan cat?"

New Zealand frowned. "Well, they'd obviously have to decide on cities or your funny warrior names."

"They're not funny," I muttered. "Yours are funny. What is this country thing anyway?"

He frowned, again, not answering my question at all, and I found the expression funny on him. Frowning almost seemed not to suit him, not when he was grinning like a maniac most of the time I knew him nowadays. Then, he stopped frowning at me, and he smiled.