[Fawn]

Lionstar

48 Moons || Tom || TreeClan

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        The ceremony was held at moon high, the long curving crescent hung in the sky like a great cat's claw, illuminating the massive tree stump upon which Lionstar conducted ceremonies. It had enough room to fit seven cats comfortably, so he sat at the edge facing the Clan, his voice ringing clear and strong as it echoed into the hollow. "May all cats of TreeClan gather for a Clan Meeting." Having heard the assessments of Sprucefur and Feathercloud personally, the time had come to once again welcome another warrior into Clan life; his only regret, if pressed by the medicine cat or a very close friend, was that that cat had to be Sootpaw. His concerns over the offspring of his moral enemy were unfounded, and Lionstar struggled every day with the notion that he couldn't blame the son for the actions of the father - no matter how little Sootpaw did to actually disprove his own lineage or inclination for darkness. It was best to get this over with quickly.

Lionstar sought out the unpleasantly familiar, eerie face in the crowd and beckoned him closer with a flick of the tail; there were so few apprentices in the Clan right now, and with three out of the four being too young for the ceremony, it wasn't hard to figure out whose special moment it was. Lionstar raised his voice, owing the dispassionate, silent apprentice the ceremony he deserved, though the golden tom thought he caught a flash of Mockingbird's eyes in the moonlight as they fixated on him. "I, Lionstar, leader of TreeClan, call upon our warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. He has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend him to you as a warrior in his turn. Sootpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?"

It wasn't as if he expected the would-be-warrior to say no, or bring up the forbidden topic of his father. The ceremony would go smoothly, and he wouldn't have to draw attention to Sootpaw any further; it was with a sincere sort of hope that Lionstar prayed to StarClan the gray tom wouldn't follow in his sire's footsteps. He had enough to fill up his time that further betrayal from the Clan would be most unwelcome - not that there was ever an appropriate time or place for that. Grayowl had shaken his faith in his Clan, and Lionstar was still trying to shrug away any suspicions he held for them, for the faces staring up at him - wondering, sometimes, just how many of them would leave TreeClan if they thought they could survive on their own. Just how many of them thought ill of him or his leadership.

Casting aside these dark thoughts as much as he could, as if making a grab for some sort of solace, Lionstar's attention rested briefly on Willowfur, and he felt a small wave of calm come to lap against the worried edges of his mind, her presence a much needed balm. Everything was going to be fine.

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Tags: Phoenix, Insidious, nimble

[Insidious]

B L U E P A W
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She didn’t care about the mistrust in the eyes of her Clanmates. She wouldn’t hold Sootpaw hostage under the same cautious scrutinization as it seemed so many others felt obligated to do just because of what his father had done. There was something a little disturbing about his quiet indifference, sure, but thus far she hadn’t witnessed it causing any problems between any other TreeClanner and him. Sootpaw had done nothing to deserve this kind of treatment, nothing worse than being born into an unfortunate litter, anyway, and so she refused to be a part of the crowd of gathering cats, assembling for his warrior ceremony, with anything less than a genuine smile on her face. He didn’t seem like the kind of cat that needed the support of his friends, because truthfully, she wasn’t sure if he had any, but she was willing to be something like that for him. They had only ever had one conversation together, and that was alongside Emberpaw. She wouldn’t say that was necessarily enough to have them on the road to friendship, but everyone in TreeClan was her friend, and she would support those that she had never spoken to with the same certainty and determination as she would Pinkpaw or Lionstar.

She tried to establish eye contact with her leader, seeming anxious as he hunted for Sootpaw’s face in the crowd, but it was something she was sure that few others happened to notice, regarding him as never being anything less than perfectly held together. Bluepaw had a knack for recognizing the discomfort of those around her, and so although she could clearly tell that Lionstar didn’t consider this an ideal ceremony, she did not sympathize with him despite the stutter in her heart telling her that she at least sympathized a little. It was Sootpaw who she felt the most poorly for, becoming a warrior in front of his Clanmates, something that was an honour she looked forward to partaking in herself one day, with tension in the air as thick as a storm cloud. Nobody trusted him, and it was all terribly, terribly wrong.

The apprentice caught herself grimacing at a few nearby Clanmates as they looked at him suspiciously, averting her pretty blue eyes before they could look at her, too, and see the way she scolded them with her unimpressed scowl. She was happy for Sootpaw, happy that he was getting to have this moment despite what his father had attempted to do, and if he happened to catch sight of her in the crowd, then he’d see her smile and know that he at least had one ally left in his own Clan.

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Tags: N/A.
Word Count: 446.