December's Gathering 2017

Duckpaw's claws quickly slipped back into their sheaths, and she shook her head, quickly. Stormpaw must've heard what she had said. The RiverClan she-cat mentally began to scold herself. She silently called herself as many insults as she could think of. Her expression turned into a sad, downcast one, buts he quickly realized that she was displaying emotion and she covered it up with another neutral facial expression. She covered up her mistake with an apology.
"No, no, I wasn't calling you a mousebrain. I was just-" She broke off, not wanting to share that she had been calling herself one. A chill went through Duckpaw from the tip of her ears to the tip of her tail. She wanted the ground to open up and swallow her at that very moment, then and there.
"Sorry... just, it wasn't you."

Stormpaw noticed the downcast emotion in the RiverClan she-cat's face and realised what she meant. Her hasty, paused apology made his ears press flat against his head in shame. Why did he always jump to conclusions? Stormpaw looked back up at the RiverClan apprentice, flicking his tail. "Uh, thanks for the apology..." he muttered in shame. He flicked his ears back up. Oh well. This wasn't a cat he would see often, anyways. He comforted himself, knowing that they would only meet again at Gatherings, and he resolved never to speak of the incident. Without a clue what to say next, Stormpaw kept his gaze on the floor, suddenly embarrassed.

Nightpaw, Mallowpaw, and Owlpaw got there! I will edit once out of class!

Duckpaw noticed how Stormpaw's mood suddenly changed after her apology.
Nice going, flea-brain. Just because you decided to open your mouth you just ruined everything.
Why did she always blame herself? Duckpaw continued to put the blame on herself repeatedly even though a tiny part of her that was trying to put some reason into her from the back of her head was telling her that it wasn't all her fault. The RiverClan apprentice swept her tail across the ground in a swift yet jerky motion.
"O-oh, you're welcome." She stuttered, looking down at the ground.
Why was she so worried about what she was saying to this cat? Friendships with cats from different Clans were not to interfere with loyalties to your own Clan. Duckpaw would probably only end up seeing Stormpaw at Gatherings, and if she ever saw him in a battle, or at a border, then she'd have to ignore everything else and worry about protecting her Clan.
So why was she so occupied with something useless right now?

With a deep breath Blizzardstar stepped forward, it was time to get this gathering started “ThunderClan is faring well. Even in this leafbare we still stand strong and we have some new apprentices and warriors in our ranks” Her eyes looked at the cats beneath the Great Rock before she discreetly looked at the other leaders that were with her “Hopefully peace will reign at least until these harsh times pass, and any differences can be solved without the need of unnecessary battles” Her words were mostly directed towards Ivystar, knowing that soon she would need to try and take Sunningrocks back and hoping she could avoid a war over them, but she made sure to not make it too obvious and avoid raising suspicion from the other three clans.

"RiverClan is also well. Though the river has frozen in sections, we've still managed to catch prey on our lands. Our clan is healthy, and our queens have shown this by bearing many kits. We also have many new warriors to fill our ranks, Batfang, Nutfur, Silverfang, Lilyheart and Vixenstep." The silver leader spoke in a rather clipped manner, just saying the necessary barebones of a usual gathering speech. There wasn't much to say, and to give away too many details was not only unnecessary but dangerous. "That is all."

After Blizzardstar and Ivystar spoke, Ashstar stepped up to talk. She didn't have very much to say- that was a good thing. Sometimes, no news was good news. However, she couldn't help but wonder how long this tenuous peace would last...? "WindClan has plenty of prey, and we are as strong as always. The nursery is full of kits, and we have been blessed with new apprentices this moon- Fallowpaw, Badgerpaw, Elmpaw, Harepaw, Stormpaw, and Kestrelpaw- as well as a new warrior, Fernfeather. We also hope that the Clans will remain at peace." The WindClan leader stepped back, ready for Crowstar or the ShadowClan deputy to take their turns. She had noticed the absence of Rippedsky yet again, and couldn't help but hope that it would be permanent.

Heatherpetal looked over at Fernfeather, who was sitting excitedly while staring up at her leader. She remembered how friendly the WindClan cat was to her during her first Gathering, so it only seemed polite to congratulate her on earning her warrior name. "Congratulations, Fernfeather."

Fernfeather looked over at Heatherpetal and arched her eyes happily. "Aww, thanks,
Heatherpaw!"

"Actually, I'm Heatherpetal now."

"No kidding! That's amazing! Congratulations to you, too! You and I are gonna be the best warriors our Clans have ever seen!"

Heatherpetal purred in amusement. They may be from different Clans, but she really liked this cat. She could easily see the two of them being friends -- not loyalty-risking friends, though.

Crowstar stepped up to speak, there wasn't much to say on his part. "We have named a new warrior, Elmcloud. We have also named many new apprentices. We aren't short on apprentices at all these moons." The gray leader said. The black tom spoke again, "Also we are fairing well even with leaf bare being around. Prey is short but starclan has blessed us with some good luck." The leader said before stepping back to let the Shadowclan deputy speak.

---

Bonestrike didn't mean to scare the little apprentice. "I'm Bonestrike. I'm a shadowclan warrior." The pure white tom said. "And who are you little Skyclanner?" The tom asked, his tone positive and friendly.

Crowstar's words went unheard as Mumblepaw felt his mother pad away to sit near cats from another clan. Every inch of his tiny body went stiff. He was all alone, surrounding by tens of non-Skyclan cats. His claws kneaded the ground anxiously as he squeezed his eyes shut for a brief moment. The apprentice almost forgot he had been speaking to another cat, all conversation was forgotten. All that mattered was how terrible of an idea this all was. Running back to camp was sounding more and more appealing with each passing moment. With a deep breath, he tried to calm the fears that seemed to rise endlessly in his mind.

While the commanding voices of the speaking leaders hadn't manage to break though to him, a soft and kind voice caused him to just barely open his eyes. Slowly craning his head upwards, near as far as it could go, his gaze finally settled on Bonestrike's face. There was a certain kindness there, one that a cat could easily miss. The Shadowclan warrior, both by profession and appearance, came off as an formidable force. But, there was something far different in the way he spoke and the body language he now showed. It reminded him of his night talking to Crowstar. The leader, who he had only seen as massive and stern, had proven to be something remarkably different. Could it be Bonestrike was the same? He was certainly kinder than many of the black and white tom's clanmate.

His tail-less rump and tiny paws shuffled a bit uneasily against the ground as he struggled to hold the other cat's gaze, "I'm Mumblepaw, R-" He stopped himself short. Would the Skyclan deputy want other clans to know that this sad excuse for an apprentice was his son? Probably not. He bit his tongue for a brief second before adding, "It's my first gathering." The short sentence felt awkward as it rolled off his tongue, but he wasn't quite sure what else to say to a cat that was supposed to be his enemy, especially when now, it did not really feel like he was speaking with an opponent.

Littlebrook sat back patiently, but nervously, as she let the other leaders speak. Her turn was coming up fast, and her heart beat faster after each leader finished. On the inside she was freaking out, but on the outside, she seemed calm and poised. Nothing seemed to be going on in each of the clans this past moon, and she was slightly thankful for the small peace. After barely getting through a gathering without something bad happening, this was a nice change of pace. She already knew what she was going to say. She had gone over it millions and millions of times in her head already, and she was definitely not saying anything about Magpiestar's absence. There was no need to make them look weak, especially in Leafbare.

As soon as Crowstar had finished his short speech, Littlebrook rose to her paws and stepped forward, taking a deep breath. "ShadowClan is faring well this Leafbare. Prey is obviously scarcer than before, but we are still as strong as ever." She meowed clearly, her blue gaze flicking across the clearing slowly. "StarClan has granted us with many kits, and plenty more apprentices this moon, including, Newtpaw, Nightpaw, Minnowpaw, Scorchpaw, Sootpaw, Hailpaw, and Darkpaw. We also have named a new warrior, Curlyfeather. StarClan has treated us well this Leafbare and we are thankful for that. Now, it's cold and late, let's go home." She finished, laughing softly, glad that it was over. She was sure she had included everything she needed to and she was proud of herself. It wasn't a disaster. She had done okay for her first addressing of the clans, and with that, the gathering was over. She wasn't quite sure if she should go ahead and lead her clanmates out, but she figured she was just overthinking it. After giving a polite nod to the other leaders, she leaped off the Great Rock gracefully and flicked her tail to signal for her clan to leave.

Bonestrike perked up once Littlebrook spoke up and then jumped down to leave. "Oh whoops, looks like I have to go. I will be seeing you around Mumblepaw." The pure white tom nodded to the apprentice before standing up and bounding after his clan. He couldn't get left behind, he didn't want them thinking he was unloyal.

Crowstar jumped down from the rock, and also called to his clan to go home. He didn't want to be out in this cold any longer.

"Oh, uh, okay. Bye..." Mumblepaw said quietly, flicking his ear. It had ended as soon as it had begun. The friendly warrior turned to leave with a promise to be seeing him around. Will you? His head cocked, but he said nothing more and turned to leave with Skyclan.

Scorchpaw padded after his gradually leaving Clan and stopped next to Sweetpaw for a few moments, looking her in her beautiful amber eyes. "See you tomorrow night," he whispered, loud enough only for her to hear.

"Stay warm." Sweetpaw gently purred as she stared into Scorchpaw's magnificent orange eyes. It felt like an eternity staring into them, but then it felt like only a second had passed when the dark tabby finally broke his gaze and followed his Clan.