Icepaw fidgeted silently beside his sister as Featherstep and Dandeliontuft dutifully decorated them with flowers of all sorts. The kits had been out collecting as many as they could all morning, and now the ceremony chamber was filled with colors. As a medicine cat apprentice, Icepaw was naturally decorated with mountain pink and purple sage, the symbols of healing and dedication. He glanced at Sandpaw, feeling his heart stir with envy as Featherstep tucked rain lily, heartleaf rosemallow, and even dried purple mountain laurel. Beauty, nobility, and strength. Fitting for Sandpaw, of course, but Icepaw wished he could have shared in her glory.
Dandeliontuft finished up and gave Icepaw a curt nod before striding out of the ceremony chamber, her tail held high. Icepaw expected nothing less – his mentor wasn’t affectionate and never lingered on tasks. Still… his eyes slid to Featherstep, who was showering Sandpaw with praise. She could at least give me a bit of encouragement. Isn’t she the one who said I should be a medicine cat?
It wasn’t that Icepaw resented his position – he had readily accepted it when he joined the Clan – but sometimes he wished he had picked another path. He sighed lightly and, as if by magic, Emberpaw appeared beside him. The big tom was draped in buffalo rose, yellow bells, and dried desert willow. Endurance, hope, and ferocity – perfect for Emberpaw.
“Feeling nervous?” Emberpaw tilted his head to the side, casting a shadow over the red side of his face.
“Something like that. Do you think we’re about ready…?” Icepaw leaned around Emberpaw to see Gracklepaw, who was practically vibrating as she chattered on relentlessly. Spiderwind was trying to affix flowers to the apprentice’s pelt, but she was talking so much that petals drifted off her like snow. Snorting softly, Icepaw answered his own question, “I guess not.”
“You know how she is.” Emberpaw laughed as he sat down, careful not to let one of the yellow flowers slip from his head. “What are you nervous about?”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
“Am not.”
Emberpaw gave Icepaw a wry look. “I’ll just have to ask Sandpaw then. Do you think she’d know?”
Icepaw pinned his ears back in annoyance, then muttered, “I’m not nervous. Just… trepidatious.”
“You’re using big words again. Dumb it down for me.”
After a long sigh, Icepaw said, “I’m getting cold feet. About being a medicine cat I mean.”
“I thought you hated fighting and hunting?”
“I do,” Icepaw sighed again. “But… I don’t know. It looks fun to be a warrior sometimes. I like herbs, and I’m good at healing, but I can never be too far from camp. I can’t go camping with you guys or visit other Clans.” He glanced at the curtain of interwoven stalks of milkweed, the puffball blooms so tightly knitted together that it looked like a singular long flower rather than dozens. “I can’t really be with you guys.”
“You’ll always be with us, you goofball.” Emberpaw laughed lightly and curled his big, fluffy tail around Icepaw. It was warm and soft, and it tickled at Icepaw’s thin pelt. “Once we’ve graduated, that’ll mean there will be two medicine cats. Only one of you will have to stay in camp, so there will definitely be times when you can go camping with us. It’s not like Dandeliontuft leaves very often anyway. Besides, there’s a ton of kits right now. One of them is bound to become a medicine cat, and then you’ll have even more time to go out.”
Icepaw twitched his whiskers. “What if I have to mentor one of the new kits?”
“Have you seen how many there are?” Emberpaw’s eyes gleamed with mischief. “We’re all definitely getting apprentices as soon as we become warriors. Then it’s one step closer to becoming the deputy.”
“Snowbloom is going to retire before you can manage to train any cat,” Icepaw scoffed. “It’ll be Darkmoth or Spiderwind next.”
“I can dream!” Emberpaw dramatically swayed on his paws and looked as if he were about to collapse, but stopped himself when he realized he had flowers on. “… I can’t wait for the ceremony to be over. Everything is so itchy.”
Icepaw laughed, his heart feeling lighter. “Me too. We should go to the beach and swim once tonight’s feast is over.”
“The beach?” Gracklepaw’s head perked up and she sprinted over, her violet eyes gleaming. “I was just thinking about the beach!” As she began her endless rambling, Spiderwind resolutely approached with the mostly crumpled flowers in order to try and reattach them to the chatty apprentice. “Darkmoth was saying that he was in the coral reef when there was a shark – which actually isn’t the biggest fish in the sea if you can believe it, Peachpaw told me about an even bigger one called a whale – but anyway Darkmoth said that all you have to do is go for the gills so I want to try and fight one because-”
Sandpaw’s thick tail curled around Gracklepaw and covered her mouth. “Your flowers.” As always, Sandpaw’s voice was stern and her face frosty, but Icepaw could tell she was practically bursting with excitement. She simply didn’t show it very well. Featherstep must have already finished with her.
Spiderwind sighed in relief as Gracklepaw finally went silent and quickly finished the flower arrangement as Emberpaw picked up the conversation. “We should head to the beach at sunrise so we can have a good night’s sleep beforehand. We’re going to be too stuffed tonight to get far without passing out.”
“You are going to stuff yourself,” Icepaw said dryly as he reached up and helped Spiderwind fix one of the snowy orchids sliding off of Gracklepaw. “The rest of us have some common sense.”
“I’m, like, twice your size.”
“Sandpaw is too but she’s not stuffing her face.” Icepaw shot back. His sister laughed softly – she must have found his comment hilarious.
Emberpaw stuck out his tongue, then perked up as Spiderwind finally stepped away from Gracklepaw and looked her over before leaving. “Is that… yeah! That’s everyone!”
Icepaw felt his stomach twist nervously as cheering began outside of the milkweed curtain. After a few moments of the apprentices staring at each other breathlessly, Emberpaw took the first step and moved the curtain aside, allowing the others to step out.
Outside, the entirety of RavenClan, as well as visitors from the other Clans, were arranged in a crowd below the leader’s ledge. Bunnystar was perched high above with Snowbloom beside her, both of them watching the apprentices exit the chamber with warm eyes. The cheering grew more intense as Bunnystar stood, then abruptly cut off as she raised a paw. Icepaw’s heart fluttered as the leader’s gaze swept across the four of them.
“Cats and friends of RavenClan,” Bunnystar began, “today we honor four cats as they take the next step in life. They have trained tirelessly in these moons to hone their skills, and have shed blood in the name of RavenClan. It is my honor today to present them now to you as fully recognized members of RavenClan. Gracklepaw, step forward.”
Icepaw watched as the black apprentice bounded over to a particularly sharp shard of black obsidian below the leader’s ledge, feeling relief prickle at his pelt that he wasn’t the first one to go.
“Gracklepaw, today you will become a warrior of RavenClan. You will spill your blood and bind yourself forever to us as brothers and sisters in battle. Do you accept your role in RavenClan?”
“I do!” Gracklepaw bounced on her paws as she said it, causing laughter to ripple across the waiting crowd. Without further prompting, the she-cat gingerly pressed her paw to the obsidian and slashed a small but bloody wound across the paw pad. The blood dripped down the black stone before pooling on the rock beneath it.
“RavenClan,” Bunnystar turned her gaze to the gathered cats, “she is ready to accept her name. What shall we call her?”
“Grackleflight!”
“Gracklechirp!”
“Grackleheart!”
Every cat seemed to call out a different name, each offering their proposed names to Bunnystar. Icepaw threw out his own idea – Gracklechatter – but he saw the way Bunnystar turned to Spiderwind and knew that she would take the warrior’s suggestion. The leader raised her paw and the cavern fell silent again.
“Gracklepaw, I have heard the calls of your Clanmates. From this day forward, you will be known as Gracklewind. RavenClan honors your enthusiasm and spirit, and we welcome you as a full warrior.”
The crowd erupted in cheers loud enough to make Icepaw’s ears ring as a cascade of flowers was thrown from the watching cats. Though most were the typical well-wishing flowers – windflowers for encouragement and bluehearts for happiness – there were a hefty amount of snowy orchids mixed in. How fitting indeed, Icepaw watched the white flowers – which symbolized energy – drift down and coat Gracklewind.
As the cheering died down and the last flower was thrown, Bunnystar called for Sandpaw and the process began again. Sandpaw was honored for her strength and confidence, and given the name Sandflower. Icepaw cheered as loud as he could for his sister, his heart feeling as if it was going to burst as he saw how overwhelmed his sister looked. As she took her place beside him again, Icepaw took one of the small camas he had brought and tucked it behind her ear.
Then, it was Icepaw’s turn. His mouth felt as if it were full of sand as Bunnystar called his name. However, Sandflower gently nudged him, her eyes full of encouragement, and he felt he had the strength to approach the black obsidian. The stone was slick with the blood of Gracklewind and Sandflower, and Icepaw barely heard Bunnystar read out his vows. There was a moment of silence in the cave as Icepaw processed the words Bunnystar was saying – bind myself forever to RavenClan, huh? He thought of Sandflower and his uncles, Darkmoth and Rabbitspring, who were watching from the crowd, and then he caught the gaze of Emberpaw, who nodded once.
“… I do!” Icepaw swallowed down his anxiety and pressed his paw to the sharp obsidian, pressing the sensitive paw pad against the claw-sharp edge. It hurt more than he expected, and he let out a slight gasp as he felt the hot blood drip off his paw and mingle with Gracklewind and Sandflower’s.
“RavenClan,” Bunnystar’s voice sounded distant to Icepaw as he gently licked the welling blood on his paw, “he is ready to accept his name. What shall we call him?”
“Iceleaf!”
“Icestripe!”
Icepaw’s ear twitched as he heard more suggestions; nothing sounded right. Even Sandflower’s name – Icefeather – didn’t capture his attention. As the cries died down, Icepaw felt his heart stutter as he lifted his head to meet Bunnystar’s gaze.
Bunnystar held Icepaw’s eyes for a while before finally speaking. “Icepaw, I have heard the calls of your Clanmates, but I will be giving you a name I have picked myself. You may be a medicine cat, but you are as fierce and dedicated as any warrior, and you should never let anyone forget it. From this day forward, you will be known as Icethorn. RavenClan honors your skill and forethought, and we welcome you as a full medicine cat.”
Icepaw – Icethorn – felt the ground sway beneath him as the crowd erupted in cheers once more. That’s… that’s for me! His heart pounded as flowers of all colors rained down on him – lobelia for curiosity, gloriosa daisy for pride, and even coreopsis for new beginnings. He practically staggered back to Sandflower, who gifted him with bindweed – resilience.
Pressing against his sister, Icethorn watched as the crowd’s eyes turned to Emberpaw, who was nervously waiting his turn. Icethorn was so caught up in his own thoughts that he hadn’t even listened to any of Emberpaw’s vows before the crowd exploded into suggestions – Emberflame, Emberwing, Embermoon. The visitors from ScorchedClan even joined in with their own. However, Bunnystar raised her paw to cut everyone off.
“RavenClan, I hope you forgive my selfishness. I will not be accepting any suggestions. Emberpaw,” Bunnystar said, her voice brimming with warmth, “you told me once that your birth Clan names their cats after their parents.”
Icethorn’s eyes slid to the visiting ScorchedClan cats – notably, only Emberpaw’s sister and foster mother were there, as well as the ever-present Duskblaze. The three of them looked rather uncomfortable, but they said nothing as Bunnystar continued.
“I will honor that tradition tonight. Emberpaw, you were raised lovingly by Nightlight as a kit, and then by Snowbloom as an apprentice.” Bunnystar dipped her head. “As such, I have deliberated on your name and come to this – from this day forward, you will be known as Ravenfrost, to honor your parents. RavenClan honors your resilience and dedication, and we welcome you as a full warrior.”
After a moment of stunned silence, the crowd exploded into cheers as the cats threw their final flowers to the newly-named Ravenfrost, who was staring up at Bunnystar with wide eyes. Icethorn wondered what was going on behind those violet eyes of his, but he quickly found himself separated from Ravenfrost as the crowd surged forward to surround the new warriors.