Willowstar's Tears

Chapter 2

Three moons had passed since Snowwing's kits had been born. Willowkit and Twilightkit were finally six moons old, meaning they could finally be apprentices! Who will be my mentor?  Willowkit thought nervously as she groomed herself for the ceremony. Will they like me? Will they be too strict with me? Will they allow me to be a warrior? Oh StarClan! Please don't let them do that!

"Willowkit, snap out of it! We're gonna be late!" Willowkit jerked her head up and realized that her sister and mother were waiting for her at the entrance of the nursery." "Sorry!" She replied as she stood up and went outside to join the Clan.

Gingerstar was sitting on the rock that was on top of the Flower Hill, the little hill in the middle of the dark VoidClan camp was the only place where the sunlight fell, not to mention, the rays fell perfectly on it, giving it a majestic aura. The deputy of the Clan, Rustwind, was right beside her. Someday, I want to be the one standing in the rock, calling the Clan for its meetings... Willowkit tried to shut her thoughts, but, no avail, her mind was non-stop.

Bluetail, Twilightkit and Willowkit sat on the back besides Snowwing and her kits. Willowkit sat besides her friend, Dandelionkit. "Wow, you're soooo lucky to be made an apprentice already!" the smaller she-cat whispered in her ear.
"Yeah, but who will be my mentor? What will happen if they don't like me? What would-"
"Willowkit, Dandelionkit, shush!" Bluetail and Snowwing scolded them with perfect sync.
"Sorry..." The she-kits said, and remained quiet afterwards.

Gingerstar stood up, studied her Clan with a proud gaze and spoke: "Cats of VoidClan. Today, two very important members of our Clan are ready to become apprentices, ready to learn the ways of the Clan and the Warrior Code, ready to face life."  She studied her clan once more, then settled her hazel gaze on Willowkit and continued: "Willowkit, come forward, please."

Willowkit rose up nervously and walked over in front of Gingerstar, the rays of the sun lighting up her dark gray fur. Gingerstar looked at her with proudness, but her gaze had something else... it was as if the leader was studying Willowkit and blaming her for whatever sin.
Or, she might just be freaked out because of my eyes, Willowkit thought bitterly to herself. Like most of the Clan already is. Everyone often looked at the she-kit with a mixture of awe and pity because of her mismatched blue and purple eyes. Specially the apprentices, on top of that, they loved to tease her about it. Great, now I have to share a den with them... Willowkit realized her sister had also been called forward and she was settling down right beside her. She remembered where she was and tried to concentrate when Gingerstar looked back at her.

"Willowkit, 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 Willowpaw. Your mentor will be Hailfrost. I hope Hailfrost will pass down all she knows on to you." The gray she-cat went up beside Willowpaw and dipped her head respectfully to Gingerstar. The ginger leader carried on: "Hailfrost, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You have received excellent training from Blazecry, and you have shown yourself to be extremely intelligent and strong. You will be the mentor of Willowpaw, and I expect you to pass on all you know to her."
"Of course, it will be an honor, Gingerstar," Hailfrost turned to Willowpaw and touched noses with her. Then she sat down right beside her.

Gingerstar said the same thing to Twilightkit, who became Twilightpaw and received Swallowflame as her mentor. They touched noses, and after that, Gingerstar dismissed everyone.

Willowpaw and Twilightpaw went to see Bluetail and their father, Nightstripe. Bluetail's gaze was filled with pride, but Nightstripe's remained exressionless as he dipped his head respectfully to his daughters and then went back to speak with Rustwind about patrols. Willowpaw saw her mother glare at him and let out a sigh. Why is he always like this? She thought to herself and she kind of ignored her mother's non-stopping praises and remembered how during her kit-hood, she rarely saw her father and how she was always so cold towards them. It's almost as if we weren't his kits...

"Willowpaw? Are you coming to your first training session? Or are you going to stay all day staring out into nothingness and trying to figure out how to make hedgehogs fly?" Hailfrost was waiting for her at the entrance of the camp with an amused expression on her face. Willowpaw immediately forgot everything else and ran over to her mentor, exited to finally get out of camp for the first time. Hailfrost let out a mrrow of amusement. "I knew it," she said, "I felt just like you do now when it was my first time out of camp.  Anyways, today we are exploring the territory, and I will probably teach you some basic hunting moves."

"Wow!" Willowpaw couldn't help but to bounce up and down as she followed Hailfrost through the bramble barrier and out of the camp. She forgot all of her worries about her father. She forgot all of her worries about being teased by the other apprentices because of her unusual eyes.

She forgot all of that because she wasn't that cat anymore.
She wasn't Willowkit anymore.
She was Willowpaw.
I'm ready for this... VoidClan, brace yourself!

A/N: Man! 944 words, in 1 day! I think I improved a little bit... but I still don't know if it's good. Tell me what you think I should improve! Again, today I was lucky, I didn't have any homework or stuff, but I usually won't have a lot of time to write, so don't expect a stable schedule from me. As always, make sure to please point out any mistakes!

Peace out,
-V >:]