November's Gathering 2017

"I think i've been a warrior for about three moons now," Blazingwing answered, "Perhaps a bit older. My apprentice ceremony was a little late, but it was probably because of my first mentor disappearing. Don't know if she died or ran away." His gaze drifted over to his former mentor, and his eyes glinted as he thought of telling her that the one who took Morningshine's place was Thunderclan deputy, but decided not to brag. At least not too much. It might get her angry. He tapped his paw lightly on the ground as he thought about what to say next. "Have you had any apprentices?" He asked her. "I just got appointed my second only a few days before this gathering." He was about to mention Ravenpaw, but hesitated. He had gone through enough shame for that, and he didn't need Windclan cats gossiping about it.

Violetpaw looked up as a pale she-cat greeted her. "I'm Violetpaw, and this is my sister Flowerpaw. We're ThunderClan," she mewed. "It's nice to meet you. Er... what's your name? Are you from RiverClan?" The she-cat smelled like RiverClan, but all scents mixing together were confusing.

The Shadowclan warrior didn't pay much attention to Reedheart's hostility and just kept a friendly smile. "Oh, I didn't mean to bother you at all. I was just hoping we could just chat and get along better. I'm always talking with my clanmates so I think is more interesting talking with you." He said referring to both Reedheart and Heatherpaw.

Firestone then looked at the she-cat that was still hiding and smiled at him warmly. "Hey, you don't have to be scared of me. I'm not going to hurt you. The purpose of this gatherings is to talk and befriend cats from other clans. I'm not your enemy. I just wanna talk with for a bit before the gathering is over." He purred gently as he lowered his head so his eyes could meet hers.

Heatherpaw hesitated for several moments before slowly rising back up to a stand, still standing behind Reedheart. "U-Um... Okay, I suppose... B-But don't expect me to tell you anything about ThunderClan!..." She tried to sound threatening and sure of herself, but the frightened squeaks in her voice made her sound otherwise.

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Scorchpaw hadn't sat still and listened to the leaders speak as many of the other warriors had. He padded through the sea of cats, refraining from pushing rudely against the she-cats he passed for once. However, he did end up stepping on a RiverClan apprentice's tail that was sticking straight out like a furry brown stick.

Sweetpaw yowled in alarm and tugged her tail out from under the ShadowClan apprentice's paw, then faced him with hackles raised. "Do you mind? That was my tail you just stepped on!"

"Well, maybe I wouldn't have stepped on it if you didn't have it sticking out like that!" Scorchpaw hissed back. Great, he just had to step on the tail of a she-cat. ...Well, maybe she deserved it anyway.

"You're lucky this is the Gathering, otherwise I'd have ripped out your throat by now." The RiverClan apprentice snorted and lifted her head and tail rudely in the air before padding off.

Scorchpaw grunted as he watched her leave. Stupid she-cat. ...Well, she's feisty, I'll give her that.

"Yeah, I'm from RiverClan. It's nice to meet you too," Fawnpaw mewed. The cold breeze made her shiver. She much preferred the warmth on New-leaf and Green-leaf. New-leaf was definitely her favorite time.
She was very curious in what the other leaders were about to say. How would they react to Fishstar's death?

Emberpaw was mostly hanging around not too far from Heatherpaw, just in case her friend needed emotional support.
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Lilacfall was still watching, patient, and listening to each leader give their news. Gatherings were practically routine by now.
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Swanpaw had scanned the Gathering, once more, for Cloverpaw, but her WindClan friend was nowhere to be found as far as she could tell, so she kept close to her Clanmates.
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Featherpaw remained nervous, though a little less so as the Gathering went on. The other medicine cats seemed nice, at least.

Laurelsong nodded, slightly surprised to hear that they had both had mentors who had gone missing during their training; after her father had vanished she had been passed around from warrior to warrior, tagging onto other cat's training sessions and hunting patrols.  It hadn't been super easy, and was probably why she had been promoted very late, but it was all in the past.  She was a warrior now, loyal to the best clan in the whole land!  With a slightly haughty purr, she replied; "Ah...who finished your training then?  When Silentstrike went missing, I tagged along with and learned from the best of the best!  Or...are you still untrained?" A mischievous smirk taking the edge off her taunting remark, Laurelsong gazed up at the Great Rock as she contemplated his next question; apprentices.  Mistpaw.  With a sigh, she meowed back, her voice ringing with annoyance.  "Yes, I received my first one a little while ago, Brindlewhisker's daughter Mistpaw."  She didn't elaborate on her reluctant attitude towards the young she-cat; from Mistpaw falling into the Gorge, her apprentice's lackluster skills, and getting sick from the cold water in the aforementioned fall, proper training had been rare to come by for the two.  Laurelsong was...concerned, to say the least.

The tom smiled glad to see that he could finally convince her to talk with him. That was enough for today because his main purpose was to know if she was doing okay in Thunderclan after they took her away from her mother."Oh, don't worry! I'm not interested in knowing the secrets of your clan. I wanna know more about the brave she-cat that dared to fight Crowfur without running scared. Is the life of the clan treating you well? I guess so since you seem well-fed and strong." Firestone sat down with a friendly smile at her, completely ignoring the other two cats around him. All his focus was on the sandy-furred she-cat.

Heatherpaw twitched an ear in discomfort and shifted her gaze downward. "Um... Y-Yes, it is... I'm learning a lot from Reedheart, and I have a best friend named Emberpaw, too." Why in StarClan's name was the cat who had attacked her mentor trying to make friendly conversation with her?!

Noticing that her friend seemed uncomfortable, Emberpaw moved a little bit closer just in case, and narrowed her eyes at the warrior speaking to Heatherpaw. If he made one wrong move... Well, she couldn't fight him at a Gathering, but she could defend her friend with words if she needed to. Still, she wouldn't act unless Heatherpaw asked her to. For now she was content to watch - no cat here had caught her interest, anyway.

"That's great! Is good to have a lot of friends that will be there for you. And you?" His green eyes gazed at the orange tabby apprentice with interest. Another Thunderclan she-cat was joining them. He smiled happily. He could understand that maybe Reedheart and Heatherpaw could be angry at him but that was just because of a misunderstood. And it wasn't even his fault! The golden tom was the one who started the fight in the first place. "You must be Emberpaw, right? Is nice to meet you! I'm Firestone."

Fishstar was dead? Crowstar's ear flattened at the news. She was leader for as long as he could remember. "Skyclan honors Fishstar's passing, and wishes her a long rest among Starclan." Even if some cats didn't care for the Riverclan leader there was no doubt that she was a good leader. He could never thank her enough for her support of Skyclan in the past even if that may have changed.

"I hope Riverclan finds a period of prosperity under your rule Ivystar, and I wish you the best." Crowstar said before taking his turn to speak to the clans. He wasn't going to mention Rippedsky's sickness, he didn't want to seem weak.

"Skyclan is fairing well these moons, we have named many new warriors including Russetpelt, Willowflight, and Foxhunter. We have also named many new apprentice. With Leafbare being here we wish everyone has luck finding prey and sustaining their clans." Crowstar said. He didn't think he had anything else to say. So he stepped back to let another leader speak.

Emberpaw looked at the warrior with suspicion. "I'm Emberpaw," she confirmed, but didn't offer anything else.

Blizzardstar lowered her ears with the news of Fishstar’s passing. Not only she had been leader of RiverClan even before she was born, but the white leader trusted that there was a chance she could share the wishes her ancestors had regarding Sunningrocks and talk things out with a leader as experienced as her and avoid unnecessary bloodshed. Ivystar’s personality was mostly unknown to the white leader, as the very few times they had crossed paths few words had been shared between the two, but of the few things she could had managed to pick up about the newest leader she could easily identify her pride and willingness to fight, which made her feel quite uneasy.

However, she wasn’t going to discuss anything at the gathering, in public, as the pressure from the crowd of cats around her would easily destroy the chances she had of a pacific solution, if these existed at all.

After Crowstar, she finally stepped forward to take her turn to speak “I’m sorry to hear about Fishstar’s loss and I wish you and your clan the best, Ivystar” She turned to face the cats gathered beneath the High Rock “ThunderClan is doing fine, we had been blessed with many new apprentices and some warriors even in these colder times. We hope this Leafbare passes swiftly and doesn’t brings too many hardships to any of the clans” The white leader stepped back, her posture calm even if in her eyes a great worry could be easily detected, she just hoped none would notice, and if they did they would just let it slide.

Blazingwing's eyes glinted as she made a remark about his mentor. "Why, he's sitting right there, of course!" he purred, gesturing over to Leopardclaw, "Finished my apprenticeship right when he was made deputy. In fact, I hope to be the clan leader one day, or at least a deputy. Imagine sitting upon the High Rock, your clan looking on with pride.." He trailed off, looking at the she-cat with interest and rolling his tongue over his broken jaw. It still felt funny, even after a few moons. "You don't seem very happy about your apprentice. Are you not ready, or is she a hassle training?" He scanned her face to see if she was giving away anything, but he couldn't catch any hints.