"What do you mean? Like conduct a warrior ceremony... on our own?" Tinypaw mewed, sounding appalled.

"Well, yeah." Cheetah looked up the dark sloping ridge, where thick barberry bushes were sprouting high above the nearby bracken.

"You could complete your assesment by catching one piece of prey on this new terrain after nightfall." She flicked a fallen oak leaf out of her way. "If you succeed in the time that's left before Moonhigh, then we could have the ceremony."

They were silent for a moment.

"I haven't scented any prey since we set paw outside of Windclan. So it would be difficult to find some..." Tinypaw began skeptically.

"When?" Crescentpaw impulsively asked.

Tinypaw's eyes widened. "We can't, Crescentpaw! Warriors have to hold a vigil."

"Right before we visit the Moonpool." Cheetah looked at them diligently.

"After all, Starclan can see that you've waited long enough. They know you're past warrior-age. And you could hold your warrior vigils tomorrow, when we get back to camp."

"...This is a crazy idea. We don't have the authority." Tinypaw sounded baffled. She had one ear flattened, and her tail flicked as she fought to explain herself.

"I mean... for one, picking our own warrior names? No cat does that. In fact, it might be better to wait and see if Starclan will pick them for us-"

"We've been waiting and seeing, Tinypaw." Crescentpaw cut her off before she could fully disperse from the idea.

In a way, it was beginning to warm on her. The thought of having her warrior name by tonight was enthralling. The dark tabby she-cat's eyes glimmered at the prospect of it.

What if I don't do this now, and Riverclan never gets new leadership?

"You could pick warrior names for each other, that way it's more acceptable." Cheetah straightened, advocacy in her tone. "If I understand it right, it's more customary for other cats to give you parts of your name because that's what mother-cats do for the word preceding 'kit', isn't it?"

"Yes."

Well... I think it's a worthwhile idea. Tinypaw?"

"Wait! I'm thinking!" Tinypaw growled at her.

"What if Starclan or our clanmates don't accept our names?" She looked up over at them, worried.

"You don't have to tell them-" Cheetah began, but Crescentpaw wanted to put her sister's mind at ease.

"If they keep calling us 'paws after we've visited Starclan for them, then they're fish-brained!" She declared, lifting a white forepaw indignantly.

Tinypaw still looked doubtful. "It might be more complicated than that. I mean, it's not like they asked us to come... and we disobeyed orders by up and leaving."

Crescentpaw waved her paw and sat it back down. "I know, I know! But you get my point." The dark shadows behind her nearly camouflaged the tabby parts of her pelt.

"Cheetah is right. We deserve this, and no cat should be able to keep it from us any longer." She was beginning to act stubborn.

I don't want to do it by myself, but either way I'm doing it.

Crescentpaw was being impulsive, and she didn't care.

Tinypaw held her frown for a little while longer. Then she gave an angry shrug, her eyes gleaming.

"You know what? Let's do it. It only works if we catch some prey anyways, and I'm starving. So why not?" Tinypaw winked at her, their disagreement dissipating.

"You'd better not give me a stupid warrior name, Crescentpaw!" The black-pelted apprentice warned affectionately.

Relieved, Crescentpaw felt her fur fluff out. She could hardly hide her delight.

I could be a warrior before the sun rises!

🐈‍⬛

The two she-cats had to work together to find prey along the way. They couldn't risk splitting up in case a wolf crossed their path.

Every now and then a whisk of their musky scent would flow toward the she-cats, then be gone again in a breath. It whisked away on the wind, each time untraceable.

Cheetah stayed far behind, unheard in order to avoid disturbing their prey. Not a blade of grass twitched under her pawsteps. She had already learned Riverclan's stalking techniques well.

Crescentpaw caught a glimpse of her golden-spotted pelt between some shrubbery a few fox-lengths behind them. The apprentice opened her jaws to scent for prey, but all she could smell was the earthy night wind.

"Have you had a mock-assesment yet, Crescentpaw?" Tinypaw whispered as they padded along shoulder-to-shoulder.

"No. Aquasplash never got around to giving me one." She sighed.

Tinypaw nodded, her gaze dark in the meager moonlight.

"Houndspots hasn't given me one yet either. He talked about it before we got captured in that twoleg trap, but now that my skills are... less capable- I don't see it happening anytime soon."

It was hard to see the she-cat's figure. She blended in with the dark spindly undergrowth.

"So I hope we pass this," Tinypaw went on after a sigh.

"Does it upset you? That we don't have claws anymore. And what that entails," Crescentpaw studied her sister as they walked. She slowed her pace a bit.

Deep down, she thought she already knew the answer.

"Well, yeah. Of course it does! I just wanted to become a warrior the normal way." Tinypaw's exasperated meows turned to a fearful tremor.

"And it's terrifying knowing that we could die at any moment." The she-cat's solid black fur was fluffed along her spine. Her tail flicked to and fro, as if she were unsettled.

"Me and you have less of a chance than other cats do.

And look at us. Out here by the Moonpool, with only a former kittypet for help!"

"Yeah." Crescentpaw let her gaze rest on the shorter she-cat.

"And assessments are supposed to be done separately," she admitted, frowning and looking at her paws. The tabby apprentice was beginning to second-guess this entire ordeal. She had a regrettable feeling in her gut.

This is all wrong... naming each other as warriors only felt like a good idea earlier, in the face of Cheetah's encouraging round eyes. Cheetah always wanted other cats to use her ideas.

Now it feels like a reckless kit decision. They shouldn't have came here without a warrior, and she shouldn't have advocated for Cheetah's impetuous idea.

It was just a "solve-it-now-and-deal-with-it-later" kind of choice, wasn't it? It didn't feel honorable.

"You're right. We don't have our claws.... We won't be normal warriors if we do it this way. We might not be accepted." Crescentpaw didn't particularly care about that last part, but she knew her sister did.

"So maybe we just call this whole warrior thing off. Maybe hope for the best, instead?" The Riverclan she-cat flattened her ears. They were outlined by the faintest shine of moonlight.

Riverclan probably won't honor our warrior names anyway. Something painful pricked in her chest.

I just wanted to be a Riverclan warrior.

"Well..." Tinypaw looked apprehensive. As if she didn't want the choice taken away from her.

Surprised, Crescentpaw took a step closer and waited for her reply.

She doesn't want to stay an apprentice either.

"If this works, only Starclan can judge whether we deserve to call ourselves warriors." Her littermate took a breath.

"It might be a broken assessment. But I think we still deserve our names. Even if we're the only ones calling each other it."

Crescentpaw's eyes glowed as she nodded over at her kin. Tinypaw began stalking again, her jaws parted to taste the air.

Cheetah didn't assist when Tinypaw spotted a Cuckoo bird beneath a low-spreading blackberry bush just ahead of them. The prey-animal pecked at shiny purple berries, its beak stained magenta and reflecting the sliverly moon above.

The Riverclan apprentices knew it was forbidden for other cats to help new warriors in their assessments. But Tinypaw had mentioned that she seriously needed help hunting without the use of her claws. Crescentpaw leaned closer to her whisper in her littermate's ear.

"Remember, curl your forepaws into your chest when you grab the bird. And deal the killing blow with your jaws. Use your back paws, even- if you have to. It doesn't matter if it's a messy kill," she advised.

Tinypaw gave the smallest, most inconceivable nod. Then she stalked forward with her tail lowered. She avoiding brushing some ferns between her and the Cuckoo bird.

Her littermate dispatched the bird with a well-timed paw-slam, drawing it into herself and sinking her fangs into its neck. Crescentpaw saw her eyes shimmer with relief.

She thought she wouldn't get it.

"Great job, Tinypaw! See? I told you that you could do it." She licked her littermate's forehead, and Tinypaw's tail waved appreciatively.

Cheetah took the bird from them as they moved off again. They were getting closer to the Moonpool, ambling along one of its adjacent overgrown paths. Crescentpaw heard an owl hoot from somewhere close-by.

A moment afterward she smelled mice. There was at least two or three, and Crescentpaw tracked them to the foot of a low-branched hawthorn shrub. Its olive leaves were thick and lucious, providing a comforting cover of shadow for the prey beneath the tree.

"Keep watch on the sky," the tabby-and-white apprentice murmured. "Make sure that owl doesn't come back."

The mice were scuttling beside some twisting brambles. Its spindly stems emerged from the bush mound and extended partway across the earth.

A tricky position. I'll have to leap over that mess of bramble, or go around and risk alerting them.

She could sense at least two or three mice on the other side of it. She could hear their heartbeats.

Land prey has never been Riverclan's specialty, so Starclan's luck be with me.

Her sister left her to it. When Crescentpaw ambushed the mouse nest, she made sure to draw up short so she didn't over-step. One of the mice hurled towards the hawthorn's center trunk and disappeared into a root tangle.

Crescentpaw crouched and swiped, stunning one of the last two with frantic batting. She pulled it towards herself and bit down on the mouse's spine, dispatching it.

"Thank you, Starclan, for this prey."

She hadn't been skilled enough to catch the other one, though. It was so dark beneath the brush, with dappled patches of inky shadow from the thick leaf-coverage above her. She licked her lips and searched in vain for more, but they had obviously already gone.

"It's just one lousy mouse," she sighed and sat down to groom her paws on the spot.

"Hey, you caught something without claws! That's really difficult." Tinypaw meowed stubbornly.

"And you passed your assessment just in time," Crescentpaw." Cheetah approached just behind them. Dark leaves trembled and fluttered onto her back as she pushed through the branches of an elderberry bush.

It was true. They were only a few minutes walk from the Moonpool.

"Not catching the other mouse was just bad luck. It's so dark out here that a cat can barely see their own paws." Tinypaw encouraged her, and Crescentpaw felt her bitterness fade.

You know what? For a clawless cat, I know I can do better. But that wasn't too bad.

Crescentpaw nodded, agreeing. Then she looked up at the moon, realizing its position.

"It's nearly Moonhigh!" The tabby-and-white apprentice meowed, leaping to her paws.

"We can carry the prey to the Moonpool's edge and eat there. We have to be on time, though. Let's go!"