Froststar's Destiny

Chapter Eight

Much time passed as Frostpaw trained. She had many mentors as no cat wanted to train her for very long, and no cat could keep up with the speed at which she learnt battle techniques. Skyfeather became her permanent hunting teacher, during which Frostpaw found she enjoyed his sessions. Skyfeather was fun and though quite a bit older than Frostpaw, he was still jovial and childish, making him a great friend for Frostpaw. Frostpaw was starting to wonder if Skyfeather was that tom Amberfrost had spoken about. He certainly mooned over her enough!

It didn't take very long for Frostpaw to be asked to take her warrior assessment. She had barely been training for three moons when Amberfrost approached her and simply stated that it was time.

"I'm ready? So, when is the assessment?" Frostpaw asked, confused. Assessment! Already?! She was so new. And what about her siblings? It wasn't like she cared about Cloudpaw or Windpaw, but ... Really?

"Even Hawkfeather has noticed you, and he doesn't see much. He wants you a warrior early," Amberfrost meowed.

It was Hawkfeather's idea? Frostpaw wondered, frowning slightly. The medicine cat requested for new warriors? Why did that seem off, and why did Amberfrost look as uncomfortable as Frostpaw felt?

"If you say so," Frostpaw meowed, unconvinced.

"Great. Stonestar will hold your ceremony now," Amberfrost meowed.

"Now?" Frostpaw gawked.

"Frostpaw, manners. And yes, now. When else?" Amberfrost asked coolly.

Frostpaw stared back flatly. Amberfrost was acting weird. Like, really weird. She wasn't usually this... mean. Well, sort of. "Stonestar is actually gonna do it?" Frostpaw asked.

A flicker of annoyance passed across Amberfrost's muzzle. "Of course he is. He's Clan leader. I mean, he is a nincompoop at times, but he won't deny an apprentice her warrior name. After all, he kind of named you his bodyguard publicly?"

"I'm not becoming his bodyguard! That's trashy!" Frostpaw protested.

"You may not have a choice," Amberfrost responded grimly.

Frostpaw hurried out underneath the High Rock and waited patiently. Amberfrost had definitely called her Clan leader a nincompoop, and yet, for some reason, she couldn't find the heart to disagree with the deputy. He was being a nincompoop - rumor had it that he'd turned away all the other Clans. The three medicine cats who had visited two moons ago hadn't been seen since, and even though they had talked about transferring their prophecy cats to other Clans, there had been no sign of any of them.

Stonestar jumped onto the High Rock and Frostpaw felt a flicker of apprehension. Was she actually ready for this? Cloudpaw and Windpaw were watching her with obvious envy, and for some reason, Frostpaw felt bad about it. They weren't her siblings - Stormwind was. And again, a flicker of apprehension crossed her stomach. She'd awaited this day excitedly since her first day as an apprentice, but she'd always imagined that Stormwind would be there with her, cheering her on. She wasn't there.

"Your new name is Frostheart. And stuff. Yeah bye." Stonestar jumped off the High Rock and went back into his den.

Frostheart stared after his fat form in disbelief. Those weren't even the proper words of the ceremony! And how could he call her Frostheart? She hadn't thought she'd ever get a name like that! That was like calling her coldhearted, and obviously, she wasn't that. But seeing that dazed, uncaring look in her leader's eyes... it was like he'd used the first name that crossed his head for her warrior name. And that first name was the lousy one called Frostheart. And that was her name now?

Frostheart stared around, looking to who, she didn't know. That was when she remembered - she didn't have friends or family. She technically had family, but Cloudpaw and Windpaw were so far gone from her, gone even during kithood, that she knew they weren't ones she could turn to. But who else, then? She'd pretty much set an invisible border between her and the entire Clan, turning only to Stormwind for everything. Recently, she'd busied herself in her training, trying to make herself forget that her sworn sister was already dead, and had collapsed, exhausted, into her nest each night, too tired to bother interacting with the other apprentices, which happened to only be her not-siblings. She'd basically turned everyone away, so that now in this kind of situation, she had no one to turn to. I guess I'll never trust anyone but myself, Frostheart thought grimly, looking away from where she'd been staring - the leader's den. SeasonClan's hopeless leader was probably moping in there, maybe thinking of other awful names for Cloudpaw and Windpaw. Frostheart shouldn't care, but she did. Cloudpaw really hadn't done anything wrong except to fall for Windpaw's tricks. He was still her brother, like it or not. He'd never really renounced her ties to him.