•:･ﾟ:✧･ﾟJourney of the Night Chapter 3･ﾟ:✧･ﾟ:•

Instructions

Chapter 3: The Silent Mentor The high sun of leaf-fall beat down on the StarlingClan camp, turning the limestone walls of the ravine into shimmering silver. The entire Clan had gathered at the base of the Highrock, their pelts a sea of muted blacks, grays, and browns. In the center of the clearing stood Nightkit. She felt exposed. The sunlight made the white dots on her deep purple fur sparkle like salt on a dark stone. She could feel the prickle of a hundred stares, none of them kind. Even her own mother, Petalfur, stood a tail-length away, her eyes clouded with a mix of love and a lingering, superstitious dread. Oakstar stepped onto the jagged ledge of the Highrock, his amber eyes settling on the small, violet she-cat below. "Nightkit," his voice boomed, echoing off the terrain. "You have reached your sixth moon. It is time for you to learn the ways of a warrior. From this day forward, until you have earned your warrior name, you shall be known as Nightpaw." A faint, uncertain murmur rippled through the crowd. No one cheered. Nightpaw looked at her paws, where a new cluster of dots had appeared that morning, pulsing with the nervous energy of the Clan. "Who will mentor this apprentice?" Oakstar asked, his gaze sweeping over the senior warriors. Silence followed. It was a heavy, suffocating thing. One by one, the warriors looked away. Whitestripe suddenly found a leaf on his paw intensely interesting; Blackclaw began to groom a shoulder that didn't need cleaning. They didn't want the "Ghost-Cat." They didn't want to be responsible for a cat who carried the stars on her skin and saw deaths before they happened. Nightpaw felt the "Tug" on her chest—a cold, hollow ache. She felt the rejection like a physical blow. "I will take her." The voice was like the rasp of a stone against a cave floor. A tall, muscular tom stepped out from the shadows of the nursery wall. He was charcoal-gray, his fur so dark it seemed to absorb the light around him. His eyes were a piercing, steady amber, and a long scar ran from his ear to his jaw. It was Duskwatcher. The Clan’s most lethal and silent hunter. A cat who spoke so rarely that some apprentices thought he was mute. Oakstar blinked in surprise. "Duskwatcher? You already have the respect of the Clan. You do not need to take on... such a challenge." Duskwatcher didn't look at the leader. He looked straight at Nightpaw. For the first time in her life, she didn't feel a "Tug" of fear or judgment from a cat. From him, she felt only a vast, cool stillness, like a deep pool of water. "A warrior who cannot be seen in the shadows is a good warrior," Duskwatcher grunted. "But a warrior who is the shadow is better. I will teach her to hide that glow, or I will teach her how to make it blind our enemies." He padded forward and touched his nose to Nightpaw’s ear. Unlike the "fire" of her visions, his touch was grounding. It was solid. It was real. "Come," he said, turning toward the camp exit without waiting for the ceremony to officially end. Nightpaw scrambled to follow him, her purple tail twitching. They left the camp and entered the Ancient Grove, where the trees grew so thick that the sun only reached the forest floor in thin, golden needles. Duskwatcher stopped in a clearing carpeted with rotting leaves and damp moss. (continue in notes and credits! sry this is such a long chapter XD)