All right, so this is my first Warrior Cat's story, but I've had the idea and characters in my head for a very long time now. The point of views might switch from cat to cat, but the main character is Reedfire. There will also be flashbacks, and those will be in italics, as will thoughts and dream sequences.

I don't own Warrior Cats or it's universe.

Chapter 1

Reedfire awoke to the rustling of the den around her. Ears twitching, she stretched and pushed herself up to her paws. Blinking her still tired eyes, she padded out of the wide and low juniper bush the warrior's den was made out of.

The Riverclan camp was in the dip between hills on a island, with bubbly and noisy rivers surrounding them. The leader's den, where Reedfire's mother Moss-star slept, was in the thick trunk of a willow tree with an entrance hidden by boulders and she spoke from the wide and thin branches. The medicine cat den was a crevice in the higher part of the hills that had numerous ledges leading up to it. The apprentices slept in an old badgers den that was right next to the elders den. The elder's den was half of an old log that had thick bushes creating a roof over it to block out the harsh sun and cold rain. The queens slept in a thick bramble thicket that had an opening to crawl out of. The edge of the hills that sheltered the camp had numerous bushes, brambles and willow tree's surrounding it, but there was nothing to shield the camp itself things like sunlight, rain, snow, or predatory birds.

Reedfire looked around, her blue eyes searching for any of her friends. She sighed in relief as she set her eyes on Blackfeather. She bounded over to the black she-cat. "Blackfeather, you on for any patrols today?" Reedfire asked she got over to the she-cat. Blackfeather shook her head.

"Not that I know of," she elaborated. "Crowtalon hasn't set up the patrols yet."

"The warrior's are just waking up," Reedfire pointed out. "How about you and I do the dawn hunting patrol?" She suggested. Blackfeather nodded, rising to her feet.

"I would like that," she answered, smiling. Reedfire glanced around, looking for more cats to join them. A hunting patrol usually had five cats, and she wanted five cats whose company she enjoyed. She found two of those cats as they padded out of the warrior's den, chattering to each other. "Hey, Flamestep, Maplesplash! Wanna go on a hunting patrol with Blackfeather and I?" The two considered her offer, and nodded, changing course to move over to them.

"Who else will we ask?" Maplesplash questioned. "Beetlewhisker?"

Reedfire shook her head. "I was actually thinking Falconwing." She saw the silent giggle in Blackfeather's amber eyes. The she-cat knew how much Reedfire liked Falconwing, in a more-than-friends way. Thankfully, Blackfeather was nothing if not trustworthy. She would never let the secret slip.

Flamestep jumped up, heading back to the warrior's den. "I'll go get him!" He called. He soon came back with Falconwing in tow, though the pale brown tabby tom didn't look too happy to be woken up. Reedfire nodded and began to walk towards Crowtalon, who was standing by the edge of camp with Shadeclaw.

"Crowtalon," she yelled over to her brother. "I've set up a hunting patrol, is it alright if we go out?"

"Usually I set the patrols," Crowtalon reminded her. Reedfire smirked.

"True, but I decided to set up my own."

"Mousebrain."

"Can we go or not?"

Crowtalon smiled. "Go, go. Oh, and are you going to the Gathering tonight?"

Reedfire stared back at him. "You and Moss-star decide who goes," she stated.

"Do you want to go, I mean."

Reedfire nodded eagerly. "Definitely."

Crowtalon nodded to Shadeclaw as he stood up. "I'll go talk to Moss-star now. Can you lead the dawn patrol?" He asked his brother.

"Of course. I'll take Darkwind and Bluepaw with me," he told the deputy.

Crowtalon nodded as he walked away. "Good idea. Make sure to be safe around the Forestclan border. I'm worried that Honeystar will be jumpy since their leader just died a moon ago. Don't cause any trouble with them."

"Alright."

Crowtalon turned back to Reedfire. "You need anything else?"

"Nope."

"Then you can go," he prompted.

Reedfire rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll go."

After a bit of arguing, the patrol decided to go to the Willow Pond. It was a small pond that had plenty of fish, and was almost hidden by willow tree's that had leaves reaching the ground. The area was very serene and a great place to hunt.

The cats had situated themselves on the edge of the water, fur pricking up when the still chilly waters lapped at their paws. Even though it was newleaf, the air still held the cold, and the warm weather had yet to appear for more than a day at a time. They had been hunting for a while, each having amassed a few fish, when the calm air was torn.

"So, who thinks Honeystar and Antstar will fight tonight?" Reedfire asked suddenly, itching to break the silence that had fallen upon the group.

"I don't know," Blackfeather murmured. "I don't want anyone to fight."

"Nobody want's a fight," Reedfire pointed out, " but that doesn't mean there won't be one."

"Maybe they'll just kill each other on the FourTrunks," Falconwing joked. FourTrunks was four stumps of a group of pine trees, which the leaders jumped onto to deliver the news of the clans at the Gatherings.

"Falconwing!" Reedfire reprimanded. "That would be terrible!"

"But funny."

"Not funny," Reedfire responded.

"Does anyone else wanna go back?" Flamestep questioned, rising to her paws. "We've got a lot of prey, and then the next hunting patrol can come out."

"I'm good with it, just wait a second," Reedfire stated. She peered into the water, seeing a small silver fish dart to and fro. She raised her paw, unsheathing her claws and readying herself to strike. She waited until the fish was directly beneath her chin, and then splash! She brought the fish up into the air and it landed on the ground. It wiggled around until Reedfire bit the back of its neck, killing the prey. "Alright, we can go." She picked up the fish she had caught, and waited until the others did the same. They walked back to camp, silent as they made sure to not drop any of the prey.

The camp was thriving when they got back to it, and they saw the next hunting patrol, consisting of Beetlewhisker, Mistybrook, Palefang, Duskthorn and Brightfrost. They saw them off as they dropped their prey onto the pile. Reedfire looked around for Crowtalon, and saw him heading into Moss-star's den. "I'll be right back," she told her friends, as she walked over to her mother's den.

She walked in just, as Crowtalon was about to say something. She ducked her head in apology as she padded to sit next to her brother. "So, who's going to the Gathering?" She asked, hope gleaming in her eyes.

"Why, you wanna go?" Crowtalon asked.

"Yeah," she answered."

Moss-star interrupted before either could say anymore. "Actually, I know who I want to go. This will be a strange Gathering. It always is after a leader has died, or there has been a battle. Things will be tense. Because of that, I want cats I think won't cause a fight."

"Those being?" Crowtalon prompted.

Moss-star answered slowly, obviously going over the answer in her head as she spoke. "Everybody except Shadeclaw, Palefang, Graystream, and Willowblaze,"

"Some of our more argumentative cats," Crowtalon added.

"Exactly."

"I'll tell Willowblaze," Reedfire offered. "I'll see her soon anyway."

Reedfire padded out as she spoke, back to her waiting group of friends. She sighed internally as she noticed that Willowblaze had joined them. The small she-cat would be mad that she would not be going to the Gathering.

"Well?" Flamestep questioned before she even had a chance to sit herself down.

Sitting down and curling her tail around her paws, she answered. "All of us except Willowblaze and a few others. Sorry," she added, with a nod to her friend.

Willowblaze shook her had, flicking her ears. "It's fine," she responded. "Just tell me how everything goes. And if Foxfang gives you any trouble, cut his ear off."

Beetlewhisker gasped jokingly. "Dear Starclan, Willowblaze! You really hate him."

"I really do."

Falconwing smirked. "Good thing you're not going then," he pointed out.

"Good point," Reedfire laughed. She then noticed Beetlewhisker, who had begun to stare intently towards the medicine den. Sandflight was standing out front of it, her eyes coursing over the cats in the camp, concern filling them to the brim. "What's up with Sandflight?" Reedfire asked.

"She's usually really relaxed," Maplesplash added, her own blue eyes fixing on the golden medicine cat.

"Probably worried about the Gathering tonight. Maybe she thinks there'll be a fight, like last time." Beetlewhisker's voice was dark as she remembered the last Gathering. A fight had broken out, though no claws had been used, between the Forestclan and Grassclan warriors. Reedfire nodded, feeling unsatisfied.

"Yeah, that might be it," she murmured. She shook herself, trying to change the topic. "Anyway, did I tell you about Sparrowpaw's first hunting mission?" The others shook their heads, as she knew they would, now curious as to how the young apprentice had done on her first real hunt. Reedfire smiled as she relayed the tale, the sun high in the sky and warming their pelts as the clouds that had been out since dawn passed away. Even Sandflight, who Reedfire was keeping an eye on, had seemed to calm down at the sight of the peaceful, content camp.