Chapter Text
Golden sunlight shone through the window in the nursery. Slowly, it crept its way across the room and over the colorful beds.
The sleeping children began to move under their blankets, attempting to sleep comfortably in a way that the Sun wouldn’t hit their faces. Their efforts were futile, however, as they drifted back into the waking world. Grumbling, most of the children began to climb out of bed, deciding to get ready for the day.
Most.
A little boy shuffled slowly towards the bed of a little girl, yawning and rubbing his eyes. He climbed up the bed and began to nudge the little girl. “Ruffledkit, wake up,” he mumbled, trying to shake off the sleepiness that still clung to his consciousness.
Ruffledkit mumbled something in her sleep, her arm moving to cover her face. She yawned, finally cracking an eye open. An ear flicked as she slowly sat up, yawning once again.
“Okay, I’m going.” Ruffledkit began to lazily remove the covers and slide off the bed. The boy followed suit, moving to get dressed for the day.
As they both finished getting ready, they gathered with the other children near the door. “Is Tigerkit awake, Ashkit?” Ruffledkit looked around for the other child, holding onto the skirt of her dress. “He’s still getting ready,” Ashkit replied, fixing his gray hair so that his bangs didn’t cover his eyes. Ruffledkit nodded quietly, still keeping a look out for the brown hair and ears that were similar to her own.
She quickly found Tigerkit’s brother, Blackkit, his black hair unmistakable with the flecks of gray that were present. It seemed like his was waiting for his brother rather impatiently if the way his tail lashed was any indication. She walked over, Ashkit trailing behind. “Is Tigerkit almost ready? Snowpelt will be coming to get us soon,” she stated as she drew closer to Blackkit. Blackkit nodded. “If only he were faster.” At that moment, Tigerkit finally appeared with a yawn. “Sorry for being tired, jeez,” he grumbled, his ears pinned back. “You’re just a slowpoke,” Ashkit chuckled with a shrug. Tigerkit rolled his amber eyes, glancing up at the door as they all heard the knob turn.
Ruffledkit’s ears perked as she began frantically looking around. “Wait, where’s Lightkit?” Ruffledkit angled her ears to see if she could hear her sister in the small room. Luckily, Lightkit was walking over. She was wearing a pretty blue dress with frills at the edges. It matched her blue eyes well and happened to compliment Ruffledkit’s own pastel purple dress. Ruffledkit smiled as her sister joined them. Together, they all made their way towards the door where Snowpelt was waiting for them.
Snowpelt smiled at them as they came over. “Alright, time for breakfast, follow along little ones.” She turned and slowly made her way down the hall towards the dining room. There weren’t many children in the nursery, meaning that they didn’t have to be watched constantly when switching between rooms. There were around 15 kids in the nursery currently.
Ruffledkit sped up so that she was walking next to Snowpelt. “Mom! What are we having for breakfast?” Ruffledkit whispered. Snowpelt smiled kindly down at Ruffledkit and gently pushed her hair back, “You’ll find out with the other children.” Ruffledkit pouted, her ears lowering, but said no more. She slowed down and walked next to her friends. “When we get there I’m running to the seat closest to the food!” Ashkit whispered conspiratorially. Ruffledkit giggled. “They don’t give greedy little boys like you food!” Ashkit humphed, but there was a playful glint in his eyes.
Everyone found their seats as they entered the dining room. Ruffledkit and her friends all sat together as they usually did. No later had they sat down was the food brought out. The breakfast was quite simple today. Just scrambled eggs with strawberries and toast. Ruffledkit had no complaints and dug in gladly.
She noticed Snowpelt moving to be at the center of the room from the corner of her eye. Her mother cleared her throat so that all the children would give her their attention. She waited patiently for the room to be fully quiet before she began to speak.
“There will be a meeting today in the square. We will gather on the balcony as we always do and we shall be?” Snowpelt paused, awaiting the children to finish the sentence for her. “Patient and silent,” they said in unison. “Very well!” She praised. With that, she allowed the children to continue eating.
“What do you think the meeting is about?” Ruffledkit asked her friends. Ashkit quickly swallowed what was in his mouth before speaking excitedly. “I bet Froststar is going to make me an apprentice!” He exclaimed. Tigerkit elbowed him in the chest. “Don’t be mousebrained, you aren’t ready to be an apprentice. If anyone’s going to be made an apprentice then it’ll be me!” He snickered. Ashkit growled playfully, “Ha! We’ll see about that!”
Blackkit sent the two an annoyed glare. He usually enjoyed his peace and quiet, the same way Lightkit did. However, Lightkit wasn’t snappy when it was interrupted. Blackkit usually kept to himself, from what Ruffledkit had seen of him. If he ever hung out with any of them, it was only to be with his brother.
“I doubt any of us are going to be apprenticed,” Ruffledkit said, “however.. if anyone was more likely it’d be me!” Ruffledkit grinned as the two boys immediately began to argue with her. Ruffledkit argued back, of course.
Snowpelt walked over and put a hand on Ruffledkit’s shoulder, “Keep eating, sweetheart.” She then moved over to Lightkit and gently tapped her shoulder. “Straighten up a little, honey,” she said, reminding Lightkit about her posture.
Ruffledkit went back to eating her food, her friends doing the same. She smirked as an idea popped into her head. “Whoever finishes their food last is a mouse!” She said and quickly went back to eating her food. Her friends began to eat equally as fast.
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All of the children were now gathered at the balcony that overlooked the square where all the important announcements were made by the leader. The balcony wasn’t too high, only three small stories tall, it was only high enough that they could see most of the square and still hear the leader from where they were. Speakers were present to make sure the leader’s voice was truly heard, of course, but still.
The children settled down as the meeting was about to commence. Froststar moved towards the podium at the center of the square, taking the time to collect herself.
The square seemed to still be missing a few people, mostly due to them having to partake in the patrols around the territory with the TCPD to ensure there were no unwanted visitors.
Froststar cleared her throat before she called for the clan to gather, “Let all those old enough to patrol the border gather here for a clan meeting.”
Although they technically weren’t old enough to patrol the border, the kids still enjoyed listening in to the meetings.
More people arrived, filling the square a little more. Froststar finally started the meeting. “Today, we welcome two new warriors,” she announced, looking down into the crowd below. Ruffledkit’s eyes sparkled at the thought of being in her own warrior ceremony some day.
A heavy wind blew past, making her own hair hit her in the face. Ruffledkit huffed and moved her brittle hair away from her face. Her hair and tail appeared to be incredibly unhealthy, her tail looking extremely matted. This problem has stuck with her since birth. Her parents had tried to find several solutions, such as brushing her hair and tail daily or giving her medications, but nothing seemed to work. Ruffledkit was fine with that though. She had already gotten accustomed to the fact that there was no way to fix it.
She was just glad that her sister hadn’t gotten it as well. Her hair and tail were gorgeously long and flowy, it would have been a shame if she had been struck by the same condition.
Ruffledkit drew her focus back to the meeting as she was finally able to fix her hair so it wouldn’t be blown into her face again. Froststar had called up two apprentices. They looked familiar to Ruffledkit but she hadn’t paid attention when Froststar first called them up. Their names should be mentioned again, so this time she’ll listen carefully.
“I, Froststar, leader of ThunderClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these apprentices. They have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as warriors in their turn.” Froststar looked towards the sky, Ruffledkit did the same as many of the other children did too. The Sun shone brightly, not a single cloud in sight. Ruffledkit smiled, looked at her mother who was standing next to her, and back down to the meeting.
The two apprentices below stood proudly, a smile on both their faces. Froststar began to speak once again.
“Timberpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?”
The apprentice on the right nodded, “I do.”
“Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Timberpaw, from this moment on you will be known as Timbercry. StarClan honors your dedication and honesty, and we honor you as a full warrior of ThunderClan.”
Immediately after Froststar finished speaking, the entire Clan began to chant the new warrior’s name. The brand new warrior’s smile grew. Ruffledkit smiled along with him.
Once the chanting ended, Froststar turned to grant the second apprentice their warrior name. “Fallpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your clan, even at the cost of your life?” Fallpaw glanced at Timbercry, a giant smile on her face. “I do.”
“Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Fallpaw, from this moment on you will be known as Falltail. StarClan honors your vigilance and speed, and we honor you as a full warrior of ThunderClan.” Once again, the Clan chanted the new name. Froststar nodded in approval, waiting for the chanting to finish before speaking once more. “With the gift of new warriors, comes celebration. A celebratory party will be held in your honor. Once it has ended, you both will be assigned with the task of guarding the posts at the front of the city,” she declared. The new warriors nodded happily.
With a smile, Froststar ended the meeting, “Clan dismissed.”
The families of the new warriors immediately crowded around them, praising and congratulating them.
With the meeting over, Snowpelt began to herd the children back inside. Ruffledkit reluctantly let go of the railing and turned to go back inside and down the stairs. She began to imagine her own warrior ceremony. She even made a list of possible names, however none appealed to her due to her prefix. That was alright though! Whatever name she’d be given in the future, she’d make sure to appreciate wholeheartedly.
Ashkit caught up to Ruffledkit and clamped a hand on her shoulder. Ruffledkit raised a questioning brow as she waited for Ashkit to catch his breath from chasing after her. “I- Imagine if that was my warrior ceremony,” he said proudly, panting a little, “I bet I’d have an awesome warrior name, one that strikes fear into ShadowClan warriors!” Ruffledkit chuckled, “oh please, we all know that won’t happen, nothing scares a ShadowClan warrior, have you not heard the stories?” Ashkit rolled his eyes playfully.
The elders always told the best stories, filling them with so much action and detail that you could almost imagine yourself there! There was one story they told of ShadowClan that had happened two years ago. They had invaded the city, looking to gain more territory for themselves. ThunderClan fought hard and strong, and were able to drive them out. This was why everyone was taught how to train in the ways of the warrior code, to keep the clan safe. During the ShadowClan invasion, however, both of Tigerkit and Blackkit’s parents had been killed. Snowpelt decided to raise them herself after their deaths, making them Ruffledkit’s adoptive siblings in a way.
Ruffledkit flicked an ear before she turned back to Ashkit. “When we get to the playroom, let’s play ball!” she suggested excitedly. Ashkit’s eyes lit up, a challenging look in his eyes. “Oh, I’ll so win!” Tigerkit snuck up behind them and roughly put his arms around both their shoulder. “Not if I win first,” he said smugly.
All three children giggled at the prospect of competing against each other. The game was more so done for fun than for competition, but where was the fun in having no winner?
Ruffledkit glanced behind her to look for Lightkit, finding that she was trailing behind them with Blackkit next to her.
“You two wanna play with us?” Ruffledkit asked, a hopeful look in her eyes. Blackkit shook his head silently.
“Um, I wouldn’t mind playing a round or two?” Lightkit offered, wringing her hands out of habit. Ruffledkit smiled at Lightkit. “Great! Ashkit, do you know where the ball is?” Ashkit shook his head.
Ruffledkit pursed her lips in contemplation. “Tigerkit?” Tigerkit shook his head also. Ruffledkit’s ears fell back slightly in a bit of annoyance, a frown on her face. She glanced over at her sister questioningly, but Lightkit shrugged.
Ruffledkit groaned in frustration. “Ok, how about this, whoever finds it first gets the first throw!” Everyone agreed as they went inside the playroom.
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They had ended up playing ball for about 2 hours before it was time for lunch. They had ended up getting a visit from the elders that day too, getting the chance to listen to stories about the clans way back when.
After the elders left, they had done a few more activities before having dinner. Now, everyone was getting ready for bed.
Ruffledkit didn’t feel tired as she lay on her bed. Her ears flicked as she listened to the other children shuffle around the room.
While everyone else was asleep, Ruffledkit was still awake, staring up at the ceiling. Her part of the ceiling had glow-in-the-dark stars on it. She liked watching them. You couldn’t see the stars most times in the city, but she had heard that warriors on the dusk patrol could see a few on their way back.
She couldn’t wait to be a warrior, having the ability to go outside and leave the city when she wanted. At that moment, she remembered the two newest warriors. They were having a party right now, weren’t they? They would have to guard the posts in front of the city after.
Ruffledkit shook her head. She had to go to sleep, else she’d wake up tired in the morning. She wouldn’t have the energy to play tomorrow if she didn’t get some shut eye.
Ruffledkit slowly closed her eyes, trying to think sleepy thoughts. She could’ve sworn that she saw starry figures on the ceiling staring down at her before she closed her eyes, but brushed it off as her mind mistaking the plastic stars for real star-covered people.
As Ruffledkit drifted off to sleep, her dreams were filled with cheering, battle, and starry individuals.