Hopekit/Paw! Base by Louixie!

Excitement sparked through Hopekit, as she stood at the edge of the cliff, Bluekit and Screechkit by her side. Adderstar loomed tall in front of her, and the first hints of Snowmelt season were apparent in the soft green of the moors and forests behind them, and in the melting lake in the distance. High-altitude flowers and lichens grew from cracks in the rocks further down the mountain, or so she had been told. 

She glanced at Screechkit, who looked overjoyed, and Bluekit who kept looking at Emeraldpaw. She'd received her name a moon prior and was always boasting about it. 

Hopekit was jerked out of her thoughts as the last cat sat down, and Adderstar commenced the ceremony. "Bluekit, step forward, please." He did, and Adderstar placed his large, black paw on his shoulder. Bluekit wobbled slightly under the weight of his paw but then stayed standing and steady. She saw satisfaction light in Adderstar's ice-blue eyes. "Until you are worthy of your warrior name, you shall be known as Bluepaw. The cat I believe will train you best is Pinestalk." Pinestalk padded up beside his apprentice, towering above the younger cat. He was heavyset and muscular, a great fighter. Lucky Bluepaw. I would have liked Pinestalk as a mentor. 

"Screechkit, step forward please." Screechkit exchanged a nervous glance with Hopekit, before slowly stepping toward the huge tom. He only lightly laid a paw on his willowy shoulder, obviously aware that full weight would knock over the small tom. "Until you are worthy of your warrior name, you shall be known as Screechpaw. I believe that-" Screechpaw raised his tail, and almost shaking with nerves, he  squeaked out: "Adderstar, I would like to become a medicine cat if that's okay with you and Frostedmoss." 

Adderstar blinked with surprise. "Why didn't you say something earlier? Of course. Frostedmoss?" The skinny gray-and-white patched tom looked ecstatic. "This is great! I've been needing an apprentice for moons. I'd be glad to train Screechpaw." Screechpaw grinned stepping up beside his new mentor. "Screechpaw, you have chosen the path of a medicine cat, a healer and messenger for our holy ancestors in The Land of Shining Stars. Your mentor and guide will be Frostedmoss." 

Screechpaw leaped down beside Hopekit, his golden eyes glowing. "I'm a medicine cat apprentice!" 

"That's amazing! You'll be a great medicine cat."

"I hope so! Now I don't have to train with Emeraldpaw." He shot a look at Bluepaw and Emeraldpaw, who were chatting a bit too close together near the mouth of the cave. "Yeah, I-" Before she could finish her sentence, Adderstar called her up.

"Hopekit, step forward please." Stomach feeling as if it had a hawk flapping around it, she hurried up to Adderstar, heart hammering. He placed a paw on her shoulder, and she nearly fell over but tried as hard as she possibly could to remain upright. "Until you are worthy of your warrior name, you shall be known as Hopepaw. The cat I believe will train you best is..." He hesitated for a moment, eyes flitting between two cats. A small, short-furred, skittish young warrior named Tumblesoar, and a strong, highly respected she-cat named Darkdaisy. Please, please give me Darkdaisy...

"...Is Tumblesoar." Hopepaw's heart dropped. She knew why Adderstar had chosen the cli warrior, barely twenty moons old. He was her father, Ashenfall's, half-brother. They even looked a bit similar, with a blue tint to their pelts. But except for being not-so-distantly related, they had nothing in common. He was not good mentor material, and Hopepaw was sure she would end up teaching herself. There are even rumours that he's part MeadowClan! 

He excitedly bounded up to the edge of the cliff, barely looking at Hopepaw. Cats began to call out the new apprentices' names, and they rang, echoing and clear over the mountains. But the cat calling the loudest was Gentlebreeze, eyes shimmering with a film of tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks. 

Disappointed, but excited at the same time, she went to congratulate Screechkit- no, Screechpaw, and Bluepaw. But she was quickly intercepted by Tumblesoar. "Hi! I'm your mentor now. It's a pleasure to meet- er train you. Well, I've met you, so-" He nervously scrambled for words, and Hopepaw sighed inwardly. Amazing. This is off to a great start. "...Anyways! Time for the tour of the territory."

"Wait, can I go talk to my mother first?"

"Sure. Just don't be long." She turned and slipped through the thick crowd of gathered, chatting cats, bumping into several Clanmates, including an intimidating young warrior named Beartooth, uttering a rushed apology before finding her way to Gentlebreeze's side. "Hello, mother-" She was cut off as Gentlebreeze wrapped her paws around her daughter. "I'm proud of you, Hopepaw. You looked so grown up on that cliff, so much like Ashenwater," Her voice broke slightly, and she paused, dabbing her eyes with a fluffy gray-and-cream paw. "Defiant, strong, capable. He'd be so proud." She smiled through the tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm being too emotional. Run along, and go take your tour! I want to hear all about it later." 

"Okay-" Without so much as another word, she was jostled back toward where Tumblesoar was standing. "Okay, I'm ready. Are we going to take it with Bluepaw and Screechpaw?" He shook his head. "Nope. Screechpaw is a medicine cat apprentice, so he gets a slightly different tour. And Pinestalk already took Bluepaw out, he wanted to show him the highest peak." 

He turned and started to pad down the side path that lead further down the mountain, stumbling on rocks all the way. Forcing a smile onto her muzzle, she followed her new mentor down into the lower parts of BleakClan territory.

                                                                             ~❆~

"... And this is the creek! It runs through part of our territory, EmberClan's territory, and out to the lake. We don't usually fish here, we use the Frosted Pool, a short walk away from the camp. It's super deep, and there's fish there for the warmer parts of the seasons!" Tumblesoar rambled on and on about small landmarks, everything from creeks to specific bushes.

 "This is an Antlerberry bush. We don't ever touch Antlerberries, they're incredibly toxic. Like, they can kill a full-grown warrior in minutes." Despite her better judgment, Hopepaw craned her neck forward to sniff the tiny, pale yellow blooms on the spiky branches. Their scent was sickly sweet and intoxicating. With a gasp, Tumblesoar grabbed her ginger-tipped tail in his jaws, tugging her backward. "Careful!"

"They're flowers. Are the flowers poisonous too?" 

"Yes! Well... Uh, ask Frostedmoss, okay? I'm not totally sure."

"Then, why'd you freak out? I was just seeing what they smelled like."

"It's your first day as an apprentice! I don't want to have to drag you, foaming at the mouth, up the mountain. Come on, let's go." He briskly lead her away from the bush, and she grumpily followed, the scent of Antlerberry blossoms still stuck like honey in her nose, coating the back of her throat, making her head feel slightly thick.

She bent to drink from a puddle, squishing her paw pads into the soft cover of grass that grew below them. She liked it down near the base of the mountains. It was so different from the stark grays and whites of the high peaks, and it seemed alive with prey and life, flowers and light. It was a lot warmer too, so warm in fact, that she was almost too hot, in her thick cream-and-ginger fur. The only thing she didn't like was EmberClan's sootlike, acrid scent that drifted from their border through a copse of tall, pale silvery trees. "Hurry up, Hopepaw! We're going to go visit the Rock Tumble." Licking a droplet of water from below her nose, she bounded toward her mentor's voice. 

                                                                             ~❆~

Exhausted, Hopepaw limped down the tunnel into the cave. She was plunged into darkness, too far away from the glowing lichen of the cave to see its ghostly glow, and too far away from the light of the sinking sun to have it illuminate her path.

 All day had been spent outdoors, and she'd had a run-in with some shard shards of slate at the Rock Tumble that tore up her pads, leaving them bruised and bloodied. I'm pretty sure I still have a piece of that dumb rock in my left paw. Most BleakClan cats had thick, nearly impenetrable paw pads, but hers were soft and smooth. Gentlebreeze and Frostedmoss assured her that some cats' just took time to thicken, but she wasn't so sure. 

As she finally entered the comforting warmth of the cave, Screechpaw bounced over to his sister. "I learned so much!  Frostedmoss is such a great mentor. How was your day, Hopepaw?" She smiled through gritted teeth. "It was great! I got to see everything." 

Screechpaw's ears suddenly pricked up. "Wait here!" She waited, watching cats pick from the fresh-kill hole, belly rumbling. He raced back, holding a collection of small, battered leaves. "Look!" Hopepaw stared at them, trying to decipher what they were. "Nice leaves!" He purred with laughter. "Not just leaves. They're dock, nettle and comfrey!" He looked so excited, that she just smiled, although she had no clue what they did. "Awesome, Screechpaw. I'm going to go eat." He nodded, and she picked out a large mouse, settling down to eat it, not before getting Frostedmoss to put some soothing herbs on her paw pads. 

Tired enough to fall asleep with food in her mouth, she quickly ate and found a nest in the Apprentice cave, likely made by Emeraldpaw, or warriors or elders that had nothing else to do. The nest was a bit large and kind of prickly, and she shifted to get comfortable. I'll get some feathers and my own rabbit pelt tomorrow. Mind hazy with exhaustion, she slipped into a dreamless sleep.

Fun Fact: Each cat has a rabbit pelt, usually a white rabbit pelt, in their nest for warmth and comfort. Cats also often share nests in the Snowfall season.