December Gathering 2016

Shimmerheart was waiting for the elder's response when a familiar scent hit her nose. She stood up as a lithe shape made its way over to her. Leopardfang's eyes... her nose.... It was her son! "Webtail?" she gasped, hazel eyes widening. She rushed over to him and pressed her tired, scrawny body against his. A strange scent was on his fur.... SkyClan scent? Joyful tears stream down her face. "Webtail! It is you! Oh, my beloved son!" she exclaimed, happier than she'd been in moons. She paused slightly at his concerned query. "I... I haven't been well since you left. My grief almost consumed my will to live, especially now that your father" she spat the word put scathingly- "finds his chances of becoming leader more important than family." She glared up at the deputy, but quickly turned back to her son with teary eyes. "How are you? How have you lived this past moon?"

Turning his head at a unfamiliar voice, Cedarfur was soon looking at a she-cat who looked around the same age as him. Well, at least he wasn't the only elder here now. "Nice to meet you, I'm Cedar-" before he was able to say any more, someone else came over and before he knew it, the she-cat and this other cat were conversing in conversation. Letting out a sigh, the tall tom laid down where he was, tucking his front paws under his chest. He would've gone to chat with someone else but after that mini journey to Fourtrees, all he wanted to do was sleep and forget about the pain in his back.

Smokepaw could only nod in agreement with Shadepaw. He would hate to be apart of that when most of WindClan seemed worn out - not just Ashstar. He didn't have much to say until an apprentice walked up to them. A quick taste of the air told him that the she-cat was of WindClan as he dipped his head in welcome but didn't say anything to her.



"It is," Larkpaw sighed with a shake of her head. It was so very strange as she couldn't even name the two unknown leaders that sat next to Thrushstar. She could only hope she would recognize the last two leaders when RiverClan and ThunderClan arrived but she was left unsure of that. She blinked when a new voice spoke up, glancing over at the WindClan apprentice that had walked up to them. She opened her mouth, debating how to answer the question. "Long enough," she finally sighed, realizing that it was hard to count how many moons she had been missing. "But it doesn't matter now that I am back with ShadowClan."


Mottlepaw had kept his eyes trained on the High Rock, wondering when ThunderClan and RiverClan were going to arrive. Oh how he wished he had a long coat instead of his short fur, shivering slightly as cats weaved around him to talk to others. He figured he would sit this gathering alone until Brindlepaw appeared next to him. He simply nodded his when she asked if it was alright if she sat with him, not really caring much but was welcoming of the company. His gaze flashed around the clearing as she went on. He could understand why she wanted RiverClan to arrive but he couldn't stomach the idea of seeing the cats that had attacked their camp so coldly. "I would prefer RiverClan doesn't show up," he muttered under his breath. "But I agree," he admitted with a sigh. The sooner they were here, the sooner the Gathering would be over and he wouldn't have to see their faces for another moon hopefully.

Littlebrook was staring off into the forest, thinking, when she was brought back by a familiar voice. She turned toward the voice, blue eyes wide with shock and happiness. Her solemn look turned into one of joy as her eyes searched her mates body, her first instinct to make sure he was alright. "Lightningstrike..! How.." She stammered, still in shock. "I've missed you too.." She purred softly, nuzzling him and taking in his familiar, comforting scent. She pulled back when she suddenly remembered her, no, their son was right there probably confused. She glanced towards Silentpaw and then back at her mate. "I.. have something tell both of you." She meowed, looking between the two as she spoke. "Lightningstrike, after you left, I.. found out that I was have kits.." She meowed softly, searching his green eyes for his reaction. "And this is one of them, Silentpaw, your son." She continued, gesturing with her tail to Silentpaw. "And Silentpaw, this is your father." She meowed, looking at her son.

Silentpaw's ear flicked as he heard an unfamiliar voice behind him and he saw his mother turn. He turned with her to face a grey tabby tom, who his mother greeted very warmly. He continued to watch, green eyes confused, before his mother's warm voice reached his ears. My father? But.. I thought he was gone? he thought, mind racing. He shook his head slightly, eyes widened with disbelief and confusion. "You're.. my dad.." He meowed quietly, almost to himself, before looking up and meeting his identical green eyes with his.

"StarClan! It's cold out here!"

For the umpteenth time that evening, Ravenpaw felt a harsh shiver course straight through her. Cold as it was, it did nothing to damper her excitement. It was her first gathering! There were so many different cats here... and they smelled so funny. WindClan and SkyClan, she'd caught scents of them left behind on the border, but to see them up close was something else entirely. She made her way through the crowd, green eyes wide as she explored around the clearing. Maybe she should talk to one of them?

"There's no point in trying to tiptoe around the situation- we might as well get it over with as quickly as possible, no matter how painful it might be. Then we can all go back to our warm nests." Brindlepaw grunted, fluffing out her fur and shifting her paws as she stood beside Mottlepaw, her eyes lifting to watch the rapidly fading, billowing clouds of breath that rose from all the cats. "Hopefully no cat does anything to disrupt the Gathering, with everyone being so cold and hungry, it definitely wouldn't take much to upset anyone." She fretted eyeing how all the rather scrawny cats stuck with their Clanmates for the most part. A shiver crept down Brindlepaw's spine as she pressed against her rapidly-growing denmate, whiskers twitching as she scanned for others.

~

"I think I speak for all of us whenever I say that it's been enjoyable having you back, Larkpaw. One more cat to help clean out the elders den." Shadepaw snorted in amusement, watching with curious eyes as Greenpaw began to speak with them. Shifting on his paws, he redirected his attention to the leaders upon the Great Rock, continuing to observe the tension between Crowstar and Ashstar with interest- exactly what had happened to ruffle their fur even more? "I wonder if the other leaders will start without Fishstar?" Shadepaw finally questioned, scanning the mass of bodies with gleaming eyes. A sneeze burst its way through his form as Shadepaw huddled closer to the other apprentices before shaking his head in an attempt to clear away whatever had caused him to sneeze.

Icepaw spotted an ShadowClan apprentice in the clearing. She was pretty and had sleek dark fur, well groomed and sleek. He decided to meet this cat, bounding over to her. "Hi, I'm Icepaw! What about you?" He asked. He was pretty sure it was Amberpaw because he had met her somewhere before, although he forgot.

"We've been faring well. Recently there was a terrible storm that caused a few problems, but we're alright now." Magpieclaw replied, putting on a friendly denamour. "How's WindClan been going?" she asked, as if she had no idea of the tension in the forest. Time for the real good stuff.

The dark sleek furred apprentice looked up with her light Amber eyes as she looked at who spoke to her. Her cream and white furred sleek pelted sister sitting next to her. She looked at the Tom"hi I'm Amberpaw"she mewed licking a paw and dragging it across her ginger striped nose.

Hazelpaw sat next to her sister silent.

Jaypaw sat quietly by herself with the rest of thunderclan.

Batpaw flicked her black tail looking around.

Webtail curled his tail around the small frame of his mother. He purred loudly and pressed his head to her own. "Lightningstrike and I will be in SkyClan for the next few moons while the weather is like this, so, we can still see each other at gatherings. I've been going on every possible patrol to repay Crowstar. A WindClan apprentice fled to SkyClan as well. Ashstar is supposedly doing something that was completely against their values. Some warriors give us trouble in SkyClan but,most of them were happy to meet us. I only hope it lasts."

Lightningstrike felt his heart swell, he looked at the apprentice, his kit. "You're my only son, hm? I..." he paused, looking at the tom. Would he inherit his broad shoulders or large paws? What of his hieght? Tall like Webtail? Shorter like him? He felt as if he wouldn't get his answer. "I wish I had been there." his ears perked up as he realized something bl "Littlebrook, you said kits... there are others as well?" he asked looking to her.

When Honeypaw told her in confidence about Shadowclan's concerns, Rabbitpaw immediately felt guilty and it showed. Her ears instinctively went flat against her head as her tail tucked itself between her legs. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to tell her. They were medicine cats, after all. They were for Starclan, not for their own clans. "Y-Yeah..." she murmured. "Actually... I can tell you that they're fine." It was funny actually. It wasn't like it was too much of a secret anymore. Crowstar had allowed them to come to the gathering. Everyone would have found out sooner or later. "Crowstar actually let both of them into Skyclan. So they're with us... now." The longer she talked, the more confident she got but she still couldn't stand to look at Honeypaw. Rabbitpaw had hidden something from her. Friends weren't supposed to to do that, right?

Not seeing Magpieclaw's eagerness he blurted out. "We've recently had a battle with RiverClan, we lost and they took Smokepelt as hostage." he whispered in her ear not wanting to be overheard by his clanmates. His amber eyes glinted with worry, "Ashstar is willing to put her son above our clan."

Shimmerheart smiled at Crowstar up on the rock. It was nice to hear that at least one leader had compassion. "I'll go for more walks by the border- perhaps I'll see you more there. I'm so glad he had the kindness to take you in for leaf-bare," she purred. She tilted her head at Webtail's mention of Ashstar and some runaway apprentice. "Apprentices overreact all the time- what do you mean, exactly, against their values? Did she break the code, or just masje a decision they didn't like?"

Honeypaw winced at Rabbitpaw's obvious guilt. So the SkyClan cat had been keeping something from her? Did she not trust her friend? The golden she-cat shook her head slightly. No, she wouldn't be mad! She probably was just worried that the ShadowClan medicine cat apprentice wouldn't like it. "Don't worry, Rabbitpaw, that's okay. It's nice to hear that they're doing well. I'm very glad you told me." She sat up a little straighter. "By the way, does SkyClan have any spare catmint? I have a couple cats with greencough and I'm all out."