Crookedstar's Promise/Chapter 5

Chapter Summary

 * Oakkit asks Rainflower if Crookedkit could sleep in their nest tonight, because it would be Oakkit's last night in the nursery. Rainflower tells him no, saying Crookedkit was used to sleeping alone, and that sleeping with them would prevent him from getting a good sleep. Crookedkit notes that Rainflower would have still loved him if he hadn't broken his jaw, and that, in spite of his attempts to make up for the accident, Rainflower acted as if his ugliness was contagious. He remembers how hard eating is for him, and wonders how he'll ever grow big enough to become an apprentice if he can't eat.


 * The next morning, when Crookedkit wakes, Shellheart and the dawn patrol bring back prey. He gives Crookedkit a trout, but Crookedkit offers it to Volepaw because he doesn't want to eat it in front of the apprentice due to his drooling. He then asks Volepaw whether Oakkit had been apprenticed yet, but Volepaw says that Rainflower was talking to Hailstar before the ceremony. Crookedkit hopes that she might be asking Hailstar to make him an apprentice as well, but Volepaw says that she is requesting a mentor for Oakkit.


 * Hailstar pads from his den, summoning the cats of RiverClan to the Clan Meeting. The cats gather, and Oakkit mouths the word "Crookedpaw" to him, and Crookedkit realizes Oakkit wishes that he was becoming an apprentice, too. Crookedkit silently vows that he would not be far behind. Hailstar makes Oakpaw an apprentice and assigns his mentor as Shellheart. Crookedkit is surprised, as fathers do not mentor their own kits, and feels cold when he realizes Rainflower had set it up. The Clan calls Oakpaw's new name, and Crookedkit looks for the StarClan cat, wondering if she will come to remind him of his destiny, but she does not, and at Brambleberry's urging, he joins in the cheering.