July's Gathering 2017

The full moon hung heavily in the warm, dark sky; bathing the entire lush clearing in its soft, silvery light. Aside from the occasional breeze rustling the trees, the only sound that filled the hollow was the bright, cheery chirping of crickets.

With head and tail held high, Blizzardstar walked in front of ThunderClan. Though this wasn’t her first time leading the clan to Fourtrees, it was indeed her first time leading them as a leader.

In her head, a thousand thoughts buzzed constantly, it felt like if her head had become home for a family of bees. She had always thought that the first time she did this would be exciting and she would be as excited as a newly named apprentice, but instead of this nervousness and worry were the only things she could feel.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t even noticed that they were the first clan to arrive to the gathering, climbing onto the Great Rock as she thought on what she was going to say. First how to properly explain that Darkflight had decided to retire and she had taken her position as leader of ThunderClan, then about the mist.

That awful mist.

At first she had decided to give it the benefit of the doubt, since according to Ashstar and Rippedsky it had protected their camps from the fire. However, now she felt uneasy and had a strong feeling that this mist wasn’t the force of good that she had assumed it to be, the reason was way too simple. It had killed Poppypaw infront of Lionspark and then it took away both Honeypaw and Reedpaw right in front of their parents. She was just glad that the witnesses were alive and well Was this an isolated case or the other clans are suffering too? Is this mist responsible for more than just Poppypaw’s death? Could it be also the reason cats are going missing? Even if those were questions without answer at the current time she was well aware that the other clans also had missing warriors within their ranks, so she felt it was her duty to tell them about this threat and the possibility that this also had happened to their own clanmates.

Daypaw followed after his adopted mother and sat down with his clan.

Lionspark followed after Blizzardstar, a small hesitation in her step. So many things had happened in the last moon. Poppypaw's death to the strange...Mist or fog...Or...Or whatever it was and then her daughter's disappearance and then return. It was almost to much to take but yet the she-cat found herself carrying on, trying to live life as she could. It was hard but at least she had her Clan with her. Her gaze flickered up to Blizzardstar as the new leader jumped onto the rock, wondering how the other Clans would take the change in leadership. She settled down by her lonesome, keeping her head high in an effort to keep up the appearance of being alright.

Second to stride into the Gathering was Ashstar, WindClan flooding in behind her. The familiar scents of Fourtrees filled her nose as the wiry gray she-cat leapt onto the Great Rick, giving a respectful nod to Blizzardshine on the rock. The deputy of ThunderClan was one of the only leader figures in the forest she could truly say she liked. The fluffy white she-cat looked worried, however. And the WindClan leader was worried, as well. Just when it seemed things had finally cooled down for her Clan, Raccoonfang had gone missing. Her spring green eyes narrowed imperceptibly as they recalled the day that Mottleheart had rushed into her den, distraught and shaking, reporting that a strange mist had stolen away his daughter. But if she remembered correctly, this couldn't have only happened to WindClan. Didn't ThunderClan, ShadowClan and RiverClan all report missing cats the last Gathering? No, this was every Clan's issue. And Ashstar was determined to get to the bottom of it.

Quailfeather followed her leader into the clearing, bright blue eyes falling on scenery she had seen so many times before. The only Clan here besides themselves was ThunderClan- a decent bunch, not code-breakers or fox-hearts to her knowledge. But there was some random tom in the deputy spot. Wait, did that mean Darkstar was dead?! But... the leader wasn't even that old! StarClan, this forest went through leaders fast! The gray speckled warrior sat down by her mate and waited for the Gathering to begin.

Mottleheart was slow as he followed after Ashstar, barely having wanted to come to the Gathering but had forced himself. Fresh air was needed...His mind still struggled to understand what had happened to his daughter. There was no trace of her left, no scent to follow ...She was just simply gone. It didn't make any sense, not a logical one at any rate. But now he simply found that his heart ached, longing for any information on what had happened to his daughter...His last piece of family. He sat down by his lonesome, not expecting people to join him. After all, his only true friend was Brindlewhisker and she was to sit at the deputy spot beneath the rock...Leaving him all alone.

Goldenpaw bounced after Mottleheart and gazed at the gathering with wonder. "Hey Mottleheart? Has there ever been any fighting at a gathering " He meowed gazing around at everything with wide amber eyes.

Hollowpaw followed a few tail lengths behind Quailfeather, flicking his ears around his head from sound to sound.

Shrewpaw padded into the gathering calmly. It was weird having Blizzardstar lead them instead of his mother, but the apprentice knew that he should better get used to it.
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Nectarleap padded into fourtrees, trying not to be an excited wreck. It was his first gathering as a warrior, and as a mentor too. Ashstar would probably announce his accomplishments to all of the clans.

Dovepaw walked into the Gathering, tightly flanked by her friends and following her mentor. The apprentice landed an excited glance back toward her mother, her cerulean eyes opened wide. There were different scents she'd never known before—one that stank of leaves and the forest. Thunderclan or Skyclan…? She tried to remember her training, but with so much excitement here, it was difficult to recall.

Dovepaw frowned, racing down the clearing, breathing in the warm air of Green-Leaf in short gasps. By the looks of it—only one other leader on the Great Rock, a white and grey spotted she-cat beside Ashstar—they had come relatively early, one of the first clans to arrive. 

Dovepaw suddenly felt shy as she gazed around at the gathering cats, sticking close beside the two toms, keeping Slatethroat in her range of vision. She didn't want to bother him as he was meeting old friends but…she was also afraid he might find some other pretty she-cat. Just that thought sent a painful twinge throughout her body, and she dug her claws into the soil below angrily. He won't, she told herself fervently. She tried to brush it off, but it kept nagging her in the back of her head.

Oakpaw followed closely behind Dovepaw. He was shocked at the number of cats in the clearing, and looking at the rock, it seemed there were only two leaders here yet, counting his. The aromas hit his nose fast and hard, he recognized his clanmate's scent, but there was another... Wanting to know who they were, he stepped up to one of Windclan's warriors and whispered, "Who are those cats?" They smelled of forest, so he was certain they weren't fishy Riverclan or stinky Shadowclan but between Skyclan and Thunderclan, he had no idea.

Cedarpaw followed the new leader of Thunderclan, he hadn't known Darkstar very much, but the leader was the cat that had named him an apprentice. It didn't matter though. He was so surprised at how many cats there were, as well as the scent. He thought he wouldn't recognize it, but a stench hit him hard, rabbit. He knew these must be the Windclan rabbit chasers. He was proud of himself for knowing it, despite not learning a lot from his mentor yet. He sat down with his clan and waited for the other clans to arrive.

Driftcloud gingerly approached the gathering behind her new leader. The dusty she-cat had gained a lot more confidence, but she still preferred to stay away from the other clans. The large cat settled down with her own clan.

Stoneheart followed his clan down the slope with bittersweet emotions in his heart. It was his first gathering as a warrior for Windclan, but he walked alone. Things were tense between him and his best friend, and the times he found himself without Nectarleap's company became more and more frequent. 'Maybe he's busy,' he thought helplessly, but his heart knew better. His best friend was taking a rain check on their friendship, and it was all his fault.

The large, light-gray tom padded over to a spot and sat down, yellow eyes looking wistfully around at the other cats. He wanted to talk to them, but a flash of insecurity held him back.

Pigeonpaw trailed closely behind Mottleheart as he stepped into the clearing. Despite being fully grown this was the gray tom's first gathering, and having no idea of the clan customs didn't help. 'Okay, myself. Just... copy what everyone else is doing' he thought as he looked around. Cats were talking, playing, sitting by themselves. Though he wanted to crawl in a hole, he forced himself to talk to someone. it would be nice to get to know a cat outside of Windclan. He saw one she-cat, a golden tabby with blue eyes that looked a little lonely (Lionspark). Sitting down next to her he stammered, "Uh, hi there. I'm Sto- er, Pigeonpaw. What's yours?"

Lionspark blinked as she spotted movement in the corner of her gaze, turning her attention to see a young gray tom taking a seat next to her. As he introduced himself, the she-cat couldn't help but linger on the scar that ran down the side of his face...And found her mothery insticts kicking in as she leaned down, giving him a warm look. "My name is Lionspark," she purred softly, dipping her head to him. It wasn't hard to figure out what Clan he was from - after all WindClan was the only other Clan that had arrived so far. "Its wonderful to meet you Pidgeonpaw."


The WindClan tom wasn't expecting anybody to talk to him, he spent most Gatherings alone since Brindlewhisker had become deputy. So when a voice spoke up next to him, he jumped in surprise as he turned to see Goldenpaw looking up at him. He flashed the young apprentice with a weak smile, allowing his gaze to flicker around the gathered cats as he thought about the answer. "Fighting? Once or twice but its against the rules of the Gathering - this is a time of peace and fighting ruins that. Gatherings tend to end when a fight breaks out as..." he almost hesitated but quickly continued on. "StarClan will send clouds in front of the moon to show their displeasure. But there hasn't been any real fights, just small ones between two cats as far as I am aware."