Taking a deep breath, the ebony she-cat pushed past the entrance of the warrior's den and headed towards the Skyboulder. With Grousestar currently ill, there was more responsibility on her paws and she had to make sure that even with a sick leader, SkyClan stayed strong. Clan life had to continue on with life as usual, and that meant that ceremonies still had to be done when it was time. Even though she was deputy, she would have to tend to those ceremonies. Her paws tingled with nervousness. Honestly, it wasn't that big of a deal. The worst she could do was stuff up the words, but Auroraflame had the tendency to overthink things.
Oh well, public speaking is part of being a leader figure. I just have to grow up and deal with it, she told herself. Like she'd seen Grousestar do so many times, she leapt up onto the Skyboulder. As she stood there, staring out across the clearing, she couldn't help but notice that she'd never actually been up here before. And yet here she was, only a deputy. She wanted to laugh. But instead of laughing, she stepped forward and called out the words which were familiar to her ears.
"All cats old enough to catch their own prey, please gather beneath the Skyboulder for a clan meeting!"
It wasn't the words that Grousestar had been speaking recently, but she'd heard him speak them before and it sounded right to her ears. She sat down on the boulder as she waited for the cats to gather. Auroraflame realised how blank she looked, compared to Grousestar who usually held a smile on his face. So, she shoved her nervousness aside and put on a confident smile. Once her clanmates had gathered, she started to speak.
"As most of you should know, Grousestar has fallen ill." She paused, waiting for anyone who didn't know already to process the words.
"But despite this, clan life must carry on and cats still need to be ranked up," she continued. She waited for another few seconds before she spoke the next set of words and searched for the two cats which were being put in the spotlight today.
"Stonefeather [@Megan], Cherry [@Cherryblaze], please step forward."
She turned her icy gaze to land on the two cats which stepped forward, one old and one young. She quickly gave each cat a small smile before focusing her attention on Stonefeather.
"Stonefeather, is it your wish to give up the name of a warrior and go to join the elders?"
"It is."
"SkyClan honours you and all the service you have given to us. I call upon StarClan to give you many moons of rest," she said, her icy blue gaze momentarily flicking up to the sky before she returned them to the tom cat. She gave her clanmates a bit of time to cheer for the elder and patiently waited for silence.
"Cherry, you have been with us for the past moon and today you will be joining our clan."
Her gaze was warm as she gave the young cat a smile.
"Cherry, you have reached the age of six moons and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Cherrypaw. Your mentor will be Turtlebright [@starfall]. I hope Turtlebright will pass down all he knows on to you."
She looked around until her hues landed on the tom.
"Turtlebright, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You will be the mentor of Cherrypaw, and I hope that you will pass on all you know to Cherrypaw."
She gave her clanmates some time to cheer for the young cat before she ended the joyous moment.
"That concludes the meeting!"
Then she hopped down from the Skyboulder and headed back towards the warrior's den. A small smile danced on her lips when she realised that she hadn't messed up.
"That wasn't so bad," she murmured to herself, before disappearing into the warrior's den.