“Of course I do,” Rootkit replied. “Needlekit and I are six moons old. Leafstar is going to make us apprentices.”
Excitement rose inside Rootkit as he spoke, but he thrust it down determinedly. Every kit became an apprentice, but he knew that if he wanted to become a warrior, he would have to focus on his training and learn everything his mentor had to teach him.
And I’m going to be the best warrior I can be!
“That’s right,” Violetshine responded to him. “And just look at you!” she added with a sigh. “Any cat would think you’d been dragged backward through a thorn thicket!”
Rootkit hunched his shoulders while his mother covered him with fierce licks, smoothing down his pelt. Meanwhile Needlekit gave herself a quick grooming and sat with her tail curled neatly around her forepaws.
“Cats of SkyClan,” Leafstar began when the whole Clan had assembled in a ragged half circle in front of the Tallrock. “This is an important day in the life of a Clan, when we make new apprentices.” She leaped down from the Tallrock and beckoned Rootkit with a swish of her tail. “Rootkit, come here, please.”
Suddenly feeling that his legs were wobbly and wouldn’t support him, Rootkit tottered forward until he stood in front of his Clan leader. Leafstar rested her tail on his shoulder.
“From this day forward,” she announced, “this apprentice will be known as Rootpaw. Dewspring, you are an efficient and loyal cat. You will be Rootpaw’s mentor, and I know you will pass your excellent qualities on to him.”
Rootpaw ducked his head respectfully to Leafstar and bounded across the circle of cats to join the sturdy gray tom, who waited for him with a pleased expression on his broad face. Stretching up to touch noses with him, Rootpaw mewed, “I’ll work really hard, I promise!”
“I’m sure you will,” Dewspring responded.
“Rootpaw! Rootpaw!”
Embarrassment flooded through Rootpaw as he heard the Clan acclaim him with his new name, but he felt strangely pleased, too. This is the real beginning of my life in the Clan.
He stood beside his mentor while Leafstar called Needlekit to her and gave her the name Needlepaw, apprenticing her to Reedclaw.
“Needlepaw! Needlepaw!” he yowled with the rest of his Clan.
Gazing around at the cats cheering for his sister, Rootpaw saw excitement in their shining eyes and waving tails, and encouragement for both of them as they stood at the beginning of their warrior training. This Clan is the best! It’s great to belong here!
Rootpaw’s happiness faded as he spotted his father, Tree, sitting at the edge of the circle with his paws tucked under him and an expression of curious, almost amused, detachment.
Isn’t he proud of me? Doesn’t he care that I’ve just been made an apprentice?
But Rootpaw reflected that the detached air was just typical of his father. Tree always seemed bemused by Clan life, as though, even after living among them for so many moons, he still didn’t really understand them.
“Hey, congratulations!” Kitepaw bounded over to Rootpaw and gave him a friendly shove. “You’re one of us now.”
Rootpaw ducked his head. “Thanks.”
“Yeah, your mother looks really proud,” Turtlepaw added, coming to join them with Needlepaw beside her. “Not so much your father, though.”
Her tone was teasing, but the comment pierced Rootpaw like a thorn, all the sharper because he had just been thinking the exact same thing. His fur bristled with indignation.
“Tree is proud of us,” he insisted. “He just has a funny way of showing it.”
Needlepaw’s fur was bushing up, too, and she narrowed her eyes as she glared at Turtlepaw. “Not every cat has to be the same,” she hissed.
“Keep your fur on,” Kitepaw meowed. “Turtlepaw was only joking. You have to admit, your father is weird.”
“Weird is good!” Needlepaw flashed back at him. “Tree’s the best cat in the forest at settling quarrels.” Tree had been designated the Clans’ mediator, the only one in all five Clans.
“He hasn’t done that lately, though, has he?” Kitepaw asked.
“That’s because there haven’t been any quarrels,” Rootpaw retorted. “We’re at peace with the other Clans. And we have Tree to thank for a lot of that.”
“If you say so,” Kitepaw mewed good-humoredly. “Come on, let’s go to our den and we’ll help you make nests.”
Rootpaw relaxed a little, letting his fur lie flat. He was about to follow Kitepaw and Turtlepaw when he remembered that he ought to ask his mentor for permission first. He turned to Dewspring, but before he could speak, the gray tom gave him a brisk nod.
“When you’ve done that,” he instructed, “help yourself to a piece of fresh-kill, and then come and find me. We’ll do your first tour of the territory.”
“You too,” Reedclaw, who was standing close by, added to Needlepaw. “We’ll all go together.”
“Great!” Needlepaw squealed, then ducked her head, clearly embarrassed at behaving like a kit.
She bounded across the camp, hard on the paws of Turtlepaw and Kitepaw, and Rootpaw headed after them.
When they had made nests for themselves in their new den, Rootpaw and Needlepaw sat crouched beside the fresh-kill pile. Rootpaw spotted Tree, who finally rose to his paws and strolled toward them. He had to pass the entrance to the nursery, where Bellaleaf and Wrenkit were drowsing in the pale leaf-bare sunlight. Rootpaw noticed that as Tree passed, Wrenkit jumped up, shivering, and pressed herself closer to her mother’s side. Bellaleaf wrapped her tail around her kit’s shoulders and followed Tree with a hostile green glare as he padded past.
I know what that’s about! Rootpaw thought, stifling a groan.
He couldn’t blame Bellaleaf for not liking Tree and keeping her kit away from him. Wrenkit was the only one of Bellaleaf’s litter who’d survived. The sadness had been felt across the whole Clan, and it had only been made worse when Tree insisted that the two unnamed kits who had died were still close to Wrenkit, watching over her. Wrenkit had been terrified, and the rest of the Clan had been annoyed with Tree.
And I’d never been so embarrassed in my life!
“So, apprentices now,” Tree remarked as he joined Rootpaw and Needlepaw and began scanning the fresh-kill pile for a juicy piece of prey.
“Yes, it’s great!” Needlepaw, who hadn’t spotted Wrenkit’s reaction, looked up from the blackbird she was devouring. “We’re going to tour the territory when we’ve eaten.”
“Good,” Tree mewed. “Remember what I’ve told you about fighting foxes.”
“Yes!” Needlepaw let out a little mrrow of laughter. “Don’t!”
Rootpaw kept his gaze firmly fixed on his mouse. Why can’t Tree give us some useful advice, like other fathers?
A moment later he felt a paw prodding him in the side. “What’s the matter with you?” Tree asked.
“Nothing,” Rootpaw mumbled, taking another bite of fresh-kill.
“And hedgehogs fly,” his father retorted. “Come on, tell me.”
Rootpaw let out a sigh, knowing that Tree wouldn’t give up until he explained himself. “It’s just . . . the way Wrenkit acts around you,” he muttered. “You shouldn’t have told her about seeing her dead littermates. She’s so little; it just freaked her out.”
“I thought it would help,” Tree responded, shaking his head in exasperation. “I thought she’d like to know that they were still close to her, watching over her, until they left to go to StarClan.”
“She didn’t understand!” Rootpaw snapped. Unable to stop himself, he added, “Other cats don’t say weird stuff like that!”
He glanced up at his father and saw a hurt look in Tree’s eyes. “I raised you to think for yourself,” Tree meowed. “I don’t want you just going along blindly with the ways of the Clan. They’re good ways, but they’re not the answer to everything.”