cedarthorn, windclan deputy.

[/i] visit her, her father would always nitpick at her mannerisms, tell her what she was doing wrong and why she would fix it. Her mother would just, more often than not, remain eerily silent. Rookstorm and Shrewtail barely treated their remaining kit as their child, but rather a responsibility that they had to fulfill. When Cedarkit was finally named Cedarpaw, the young she-cat walked herself up to Morningstar and the high rock on her own.

Young Cedarpaw was given to an older, grizzled senior warrior named Martenstep for training. He didn't care much for Cedarpaw's concerns in her personal life, rather focusing solely on training the young she-cat and prepare her for warriorhood. Over the course of her apprenticeship, the brown and white tabby seemed to only grow quieter and quieter, and more closed off, as it seemed that hardly anyone cared enough to pay attention to her. The only cat, it seemed, who gave her constant attention was her father, but Rookstorm could frequently be found criticizing and ordering her around. It... wasn't all that pleasant.

Martenstep wasn't a bad mentor, however. Cedarpaw learned a great deal from him, as she'll still attest to anyone who asks. He taught Cedarpaw everything that she needed to know, albeit in a matter-of-factly, paws-off kind of way. No matter how distraught Cedarpaw seemed to be, whether it was over the way her parents had treated her one morning or something else entirely, his response was always the same: Buck up, and learn. There was no room for weakness amongst the warrior ranks.

The young tabby took those words to heart. She trained hard and eventually, after a successful assessment, earned her warrior name under Morningstar. Cedarthorn she was dubbed, for her dedicated and fierce service and probably a little bit of her thorny attitude.[/ul]
chapter three. thorns in sides

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Rookstorm had only looked at her as coldly as her mother always did, a sneer on his mWhuzzle as he said back, "Do you expect praise and adoration, like a spoiled kit? You should just be proud to have your name, not that you deserve it."

"Excuse me? I-"

"Should not have been alone on that rock," came the harsh and swift response. Rookstorm's gaze was unforgiving, as were his next words. "Or, better yet, it should have been you, and not your brother, that died in the snow that night. So it would be Snakekit receiving his name, and not the failure of a daughter I got in return."

When the young warrior fled to her mother for comfort after the harsh confrontation, she was met with no reassurance, no guidance or the comfort she was seeking. Instead, Shrewtail only affirmed what her mate had said. Snakekit was gravely missed - enough so that Cedarthorn's own existence paled in comparison to what her brother might have been. So focused, the young molly had been, that she hadn't realized just how closed off her parents had become over the course of her training. Cedarthorn quickly resorted herself to simply being a warrior. She had no family, as far as she was concerned, and it was a blow far more crushing to her spirit than she'll ever let on. Whatever friends she might have had slowly (or quickly) fell off the radar.

Several moons into her warriorship, Morningstar granted Cedarthorn her first apprentice: a mousy she-cat named ironically, perhaps Mousepaw. From the first day of trianing, Mousepaw seemed to quiver at everything she did, and when Cedarthorn demanded why she was being so skittish when she had training to do, the tiny she-cat simply said: "Everyone says you're a deadly rogue-wannabe! You're not going to eat me, are you?" The exclamation brought surprise to those frosty green eyes, as Cedarthorn eyed her apprentice in shock and awe, only to respond eventually, "No. Whatever idiots think that I'm a cannibal are entirely wrong. You have a lot to learn, so I suggest you stop listening to rumors and start listening to me."

From that moment onward, mentor and apprentice seemed to get along. Under Cedarthorn's tutelage, Mousepaw slowly became a much less frightened young cat and seemed to come into her own - an accomplishment that Cedarthorn is still proud of to this day. Mousepaw developed quickly, and was the first of her own litter to be named a warrior, given the name Mouseblaze in honor of her newly found courage and attitude. Cedarthorn actually gave her apprentice a nuzzle that day, and while she's never really opened up, her own temperament has seemingly improved drastically.[/ul]
chapter four. a further ascent

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