Sparks of a Fire

Chapter 54

Lightningpaw was awoken one morning by the feeling of a random cat's paw gently shaking her shoulder.

"Pssst. Hey, Lightningpaw wake up! Dovestar is calling a Clan meeting."

It was Foxpaw who'd woken her from her sleep.

Lightningpaw groaned and stood to her paws with a wide yawn. Why in the name of StarClan is Kestrelstar calling a Clan meeting so early? Lightningpaw grumbled silently to herself as she followed her friend out of the apprentice's den.

As the two she-cats joined the rest of their clanmates at the base of the Highrock, Lightningpaw gazed around the camp.

But then a flash of white caught her eye and Lightningpaw's eyes popped wide open in realization.

How could she forget? It was time for Firebreeze's kits to become apprentices.

"Noble cats of SkyClan! We gather here today for one of our most important announcements. The making of new apprentices!" Kestrelstar yowled. "Windkit, Riverkit, please step up to Highrock." She meowed. Riverkit dashed up to the top, trying to be in the front, but Windkit was faster than her and beat her to the top. Kestrelstar glanced down at the impatient Windkit. She smiled at her large sapphire blue eyes, which were widened in both nervousness and excitement.

"Windkit, do you promise to listen to your mentor and uphold the warrior code?" Kestrelstar's loud yowl echoed across the entire length of the SkyClan camp.

"Yes," she meowed, her fur fluffed up in excitement. Kestrelstar smiled.

"Then, until you receive your warrior name, you shall be known as Windpaw. Redcloud," she pointed to the russet-colored she-cat, "will be your mentor." Redcloud happily padded up to Windpaw and touched her nose.

"I promise to train Windpaw to my best abilities," she meowed seriously.

Suddenly, a wave of nervousness shivered over Riverkit. She was next in line! Please don't let me mess up! she thought, both praying and pleading to StarClan. As she looked up at Kestrelstar's fluffy orange-and-white face, she thought she saw a flicker of something in Kestrelstar's light yellow eyes, but it flickered away far too quickly for her to judge.

"Riverkit, do you promise to listen to your mentor and uphold the warrior code?" she repeated. Riverkit nodded.

"Yes," she meowed confidently, her sapphire blue eyes gleaming with excitement.

"Then, until you receive your warrior name, you shall be known as Riverpaw. Smokestripe will be your mentor." Kestrelstar mewed proudly.

Riverpaw expected to see hostility in the black-and-grey cat's eyes, but she just saw kindness in their blue depths. She tapped her little soft kitten-petal-pink nose lightly with his rough pink-gray one. She looked up and nodded to Kestrelstar.

"I promise to teach Riverpaw everything I know," she mewed. Riverpaw felt she might burst with happiness. I'm finally an apprentice! she thought with an excited skip in her step as she patted back over to join Firebreeze and Windpaw.

"Windpaw! Riverpaw! Windpaw! Riverpaw!" the two young cats lifted their heads in pride, the amber sun behind them making the two young cats look like brands of flame in the new morning light.

The cheering died down.

"Clan meeting dismissed!" Kestrelstar meowed before leaping off of the Highrock and heading inside her den with Ebonystorm.

Riverpaw and Windpaw ran towards Starlingpaw, Foxpaw, Lightningpaw, and Badgerpaw, who were all chatting happily with one another.

As the two newly made apprentices approached the small group of older cats, Starlingpaw was the first to glance over her shoulder and take notice of the two littermates standing there.