Two round, bright blue eyes looked at the moon, a splash of color among the dull coats of the sleeping apprentices curled up around her. The eyes belonged to Moonpaw, who, instead of sleeping, was gazing at the stars, her mind focused on a memory. She let herself get swept away into her thoughts. Remembering. She remembered the first time she saw him. It was her first Gathering...
Moonpaw's light grey coat was groomed until it shone. Instead of thick, bunches of fur sticking up all over the place, it flowed over her lithe body in a way that got some cats to give her a second glance, not exactly recognizing her. Usually she didn't care about looks. But today was her first Gathering.
Since she was in RiverClan, the trip to the island was short, and she was barely out of breath when the tree-bridge came into sight. Slowing down with the rest of her Clan, she opened her mouth slightly, and inhaled through her nostrils deeply. Scents came flooding into her. She recognized WindClan, and ThunderClan. That meant that only ShadowClan was left, and when she looked across the lake to check, she thought she could see a dark smudge moving among the trees.
She waited her turn patiently to cross the tree-bridge, although inside she was freaking out with excitement. Soon the cats in front of her all disappeared, and all that was left was the small tip of a tree that led over the lake water, to the Gathering. She hopped nimbly on it, and wove her way through the branches, not very concerned about the deep, black water rippling below her. Soon she landed upon light, springy grass, and again, many scents of cats flooded her nose. She picked her way through the undergrowth, and gasped when it opened up into a clearing. She had had it described to her before, but had obviously never been there. It's always a bit different than what you picture inside your head.
Sniffing curiously, her blue gaze found a group of apprentices, two toms and a she-cat. She realized that one tom was from WindClan, and the other apprentices were from Thunderclan. Shyly, she padded over and sat down beside a dark brown tabby tom, the one from WindClan. Three pairs of eyes turned to her, and she felt herself suddenly overwhelmed with all of this.
"Hi," she mewed quietly, looking at her paws. But when she looked up again, the cats' gazes seemed more friendly, and the tom beside her even touched her shoulder with his tail.
"First Gathering?" Without waiting for her to answer, he went on.
"I'm Rootpaw." He had bright, intelligent, green eyes, and she looked at him with apprectiation.
"I'm Moonpaw."
For a few moons after that, Moonpaw only thought of Rootpaw as a close friend from another Clan. But as newleaf turned to greenleaf, she saw him differently. All of a sudden, every cat with a brown tabby pelt reminded her of him, and she was constantly going on border patrols to WindClan, trying to scent him, hoping that she'll see him every time. Moonpaw knew it couldn't go on like that.