a new dawn approaches (skc apprentice ceremony)

”Of course you can join us.” Tawnygaze relaxed visibly at the welcoming of his tone, the reassuring brush of his tail against her flank further beckoning to the timid medicine cat. She purred and when her shoulder leaned into his for a brief moment while situating her tangled leg in a position that wouldn’t offend the rest of the clan, she wasn’t worried that he would shrug her off with apathetic disinterest.

The ginger fae had just found herself a comfortable seat when Pinestar’s voice rang again across the clearing. ”Deertail, you are ready to take on an apprentice.” Tawnygaze grinned in delight for the tom, though she was only able to imagine the thrill of being named a mentor for the first time. She remembered, in the final moon of her time as a warrior, the breathless anticipation that had coursed through her veins like wild fire at the idea of being named a mentor. Though she had finally received that honor, it hadn’t been in the manner she had expected. Still, she was pleased with the path her life had settled on, and even more so with the young ‘paw that she had grown so fond of. Tawnygaze adored her young Tigerpaw, and she was sure Deertail would share that same affection with Vervainpaw. That is..if he ever got past the shock of being named her mentor!

Deertail had yet to move, his gaze frozen squarely on the grey and white fae sitting so poised and composed beneath the Thorn Branch. What was he waiting for? Pinestar to change his mind? Tawnygaze prodded one of his forelegs gently with a dainty, white paw, her whiskers twitching with worried eagerness. ”Deertail!” She hissed lowly from the side of her mouth, hoping to jolt him from whatever stupor he had fallen under. ”That’s you!”

Something must have pulled him from his trance because the tom then got up and walked through the gathered cats to meet his new apprentice; his first apprentice. Tawnygaze was beside herself with delight, thinking back with much nostalgia on the day when she had been made a mentor to Tigerpaw. She joined in the chanting alongside her clanmates, pleased to be in her present company. ”Dovepaw! Vervainpaw! Silentpaw! Campionpaw!”

Tawnygaze scanned the crowd, searching for her own apprentice, her gaze landing on the young tabby standing near the medicine den. The she-cat stretched upward as much as such a small cat could, waving her tail in an attempt to catch the younger cat’s attention. Perhaps Tigerpaw might deign to sit with her sappy old mentor, and give the marred femme a chance to gush over how proud she was of such a brilliant and energetic young apprentice. Her excitement and happiness growing at the passage of events of the meeting, the previous shyness she had been smothered by slowly began to tick away.