❦ story ❦

learning to be comfortable with attention was not in ashenpaw's nature.

whenever she said something, she got praised- which was fine, but it also meant that she had to keep meeting the others' expectations. the attention itself also put extra pressure on ashenpaw, which didn't help.

when she reached the age of twelve moons, cloudstar had christened her ashenfurl, for the cat who would rather furl up than have others pressure her and look to her for answers.

but ashenfurl wasn't done.

ashenfurl had more to experience.

she spoke a lot with her brother and their friends. speaking with them, and then speaking with their friends' other friends, made talking to others a whole lot easier. being able to have her own voice gave her confidence, and that confidence in turn gave her a new strength. gaining this new inner strength gave her the ability to believe more in herself, and led her to be able to not worry about giving others a wrong answer- she was smart, sure, but she was only a cat like them.

it took a while, but eventually, ashenfurl had built herself up to be able to draw attention to herself, to be able to meet other cat's expectations doubtlessly.

by the time she reached twenty moons, ashenfurl's newfound confidence had made her personality a far cry from the quiet and mild-mannered one she had once possessed.

cloudstar recognized how much she'd grown, and decided to grant her a new name to reflect her new character and show that she'd left her old one behind.

***

"let all warriors old enough to climb and swim gather beneath the shaded snowbell for a clan meeting!"

cloudstar let out a yowl from underneath the droopy-branched tree, her white pelt shadowed by the dense leaves.

her warriors crowded around her, wondering what was going on. but ashenfurl knew, and she could barely contain her excitement.

cloudstar beckoned ashfurl with her wiry tail, and ashfurl stepped forward. behind her, the warriors murmured among themselves, wondering what was about to happen.

to her far left, fishriver watched, his eyes glowing with pride, and hornetmoon gazed on, her face carefully not giving anything away. vixenspring and rootcrow whispered to each other. seemed fishriver had told those three after all. good.

"spirits of starclan, you know every cat by name," cloudstar started. "i ask you now to take away the name from the cat you see before you, for it no longer stands for what she is."

the pale gray tabby she-cat gave a shiver of anticipation as cloudstar rested her muzzle on her head, her amber gaze fixated on the nameless she-cat in from of her.

"by my authority as clan leader, and with the approval of our warrior ancestors, i give this cat a new name. from this moment on, she will be known as ashenspirit, for her bravery and boldness has finally shown and let her show her strong spirit to others. she may have a quiet side, but she is far from shy."

cloudstar stepped back and raised her face to the sky, where the sun was just starting to set and the first stars were beginning to reveal themselves. "let starclan approve of my choice," she added, "and let this cat show herself for who she truly is."

"ashenspirit! ashenspirit!" the clan chanted. they stared at ashenspirit in bewilderment; few to none of the clan had seen this kind of ceremony before. pride and awe shone in their eyes.

ashenspirit held her head high. her clanmates were happy for her. she smiled at them proudly, and they cheered louder.

i'm happy with this, she thought. i've earned it.

❦ winners ❦

first place: oqlivion- with ashenspirit

second place: Dewywrites with ashensnow

third place: Varulven15 with ashenfurl