A paw prodded Lavenderpaw in the side. She groaned, and tried to settle more comfortably in the moss. The paw prodded her again, sharper this time. She peeked an eye at Sleetfur, who was standing near the entryway. He had a tired and annoyed look about him. His fur was ruffled as if he hadn't had time to wash. Lavenderpaw looked past him, at the sky. It was growing pale with pre-dawn light. Lavenderpaw groaned at what this meant:

"Dawn patrol," Sleetfur huffed. Lavenderpaw stretched, careful not to wake her sleeping brother. He stiffened in his dream as if he was trying to flee. Lavenderpaw laid a soft tail over his shoulder, but he did not relax. Lavenderpaw got up, too tired to try anything else with him.

She padded out of the den to see three other cats waiting for her: Sleetfur, Pecanfur, and her father, Redclaw. She greeted him with a touch of their noses before the patrol headed out of the prickly gorse barrier. They plodded along in silence, broken occasionally by the bark of a far-off fox or a rabbit squealing away when they came too close. But none of them seemed to have the energy to try and catch one of the confused rabbits.

The patrol grew wary as they approached the stepping-stones that allowed cats to cross into either territory. MapleClan scents had been picked up on this side of the river—frequently too. Old smells mingled with those only made yesterday as the patrol walked warily over this ground. It was littered with large rocks to small boulders.

When the two Clans first settled here, they were constantly at war. Then, during a fight, a rockfall had killed some cats, as well as tossing stones and boulders over and across the river like pebbles. Legend had it that the ancient ancestors had come down and scolded the cats—as well as made peace.

Lavenderpaw shook her head out from the elder's tales and paid closer attention to their surroundings. But the patrol passed the area without any dispute.

After they got back to camp, Sleetfur took Lavenderpaw out to teach her some battle moves.

"Now, attack my paws and I'll show you what to do," he said. Lavenderpaw crouched low to the ground, and sprang low, aiming for his paws. He sprang strait into the air and landed on her heftily. Lavenderpaw gasped in surprise. He scrambled off f her as she got to her paws. "That was brilliant! Can I try?" she asked. Sleetfur nodded and sprang at her paws. Lavenderpaw leaped strait into the air as he had done moments ago and landed on him, trying to put all her weight into the landing on his furry back.

He rolled over, carrying the apprentice with him. She wiggled out from under him and sprang onto his now-exposed belly, running a paw over his fluffy white belly fur with claws sheathed. She sprang off again before he had time to do anything else. He sat up and shook out his dusty fur. "Well done," he praised her. Lavenderpaw purred in delight.

Before Sleetfur was ready for another bout, Amberpaw and her mentor, Dusknose, walked into the training arena. Dusknose blinked a few times. "I didn't realize someone else was here. Mind if we train with you?" he asked coolly.

"You are very welcome to join us! Lavenderpaw has been having trouble with the leap-and-twist move. Do you think Amberpaw could show her how?" Sleetfur said. Dusknose nodded and faced his apprentice. He hissed ferociously, but Amberpaw wasn't fazed. She leaped towards the larger cat, but he dodged out of the way. Amberpaw twisted in midair and struck in two blows with her paws before landing. It happened so quickly, Lavenderpaw almost didn't register what was happening.

Sleetfur asked if Lavenderpaw wanted another demonstration, but she refused. Dusknose and Amberpaw retreated to the far side of the arena to practice. So Sleetfur and Lavenderpaw faced each other with mock-battle poses. Lavenderpaw leaped at him, but it was a little too short. Sleetfur cuffed her lightly over the ears before springing away. She scrambled to her feet, and Sleetfur was looking thoughtful. "You can't leap as far as Amberpaw, because you're not as big. But try to mimic this, so you can leap father." He was crouching down with front paws close to his chest, while his hind paws were slightly farther from his tail. He looked tense, as if he were about to pounce of a piece of prey. When he leaped, he sailed across the arena, landing on a dandelion, which he flattened immediately.

Lavenderpaw stared in awe as he straitened up, with a pleased expression. "Now you try to leap like that. We'll try the move again when you can leap pretty far," he instructed. Lavenderpaw crouched down, aiming for the dandelion that Sleetfur had crushed. She sprang forward, but landed short of it. She sat up and looked at Sleetfur for advice. "Put the power into your hind legs. Your front legs are there to be your landing, but you have the most leaping power in your hind legs."

Lavenderpaw tried again, but she wasn't concentrating on where she was landing. She was concentrating on the leap. This time she came up a tail-length farther than where she needed to go.

She didn't need advice to tell her how to look. This time, when she crouched, she looked at the dandelion, made sure she was using her hind legs, and pounced. She flattened even further to the ground. She looked at Sleetfur, who was glowing with approval.

"Let's try the leap-and twist now," he said.

They got back into their battle positions. Lavenderpaw snarled and leaped at him. Sleetfur dodged aside, and Lavenderpaw tried to twist and slash. But she couldn't twist fully around, and only managed to rake a paw down the side of his face. When she hit the ground, pain exploded in one of her front paws. She yelped and crumpled to the ground. Amberpaw and Dusknose stopped their session to look at what happened on the other side.

Sleetfur rushed to her side. "Lavenderpaw, are you okay? What happened?" he asked urgently. She held up her hurting paw and said, "I—I think I landed funny." Her paw quivered just to prove her point.

He helped her to her paws and said, "Let's get you to Oatwhisker."

She limped along beside him while he helped her when she stumbled. She winced with every pawstep. They got back to camp a few minutes afterwards, and Lavenderpaw limped off to Oatwhisker's den. He turned around as he heard her approach, immediately examining her posture and where it may hurt the most for her.

"You've just slightly sprained your paw," he determined after a moment. "Just rest it for a day. That means no battle training or hunting." Lavenderpaw nodded sullenly and turned away. "Maybe you shouldn't go to the Gathering tonight," Oatwhisker began cautiously. Lavenderpaw whipped her head around and exclaimed, "But I have to go to this Gathering! I missed the last one and I don't want to miss another! Please let me go!" she begged.

Oatwhisker sighed and replied, "If I think you are better by tonight, then you can go. Actually, you can go if Talonstar and I say so."

"Thanks Oatwhisker," Lavenderpaw called, limping out of his den. She settled down in the apprentice's den with a gusty sigh, and curled up to sleep off her injury.

"…..And for the apprentices, Amberpaw, Creekpaw, Lavenderpaw, and Nettlepaw will be going," finished Talonstar, jumping down from the High Stone to gather the patrol going to the Gathering.

Lavenderpaw almost leaped up into the air in triumph, but remembered at the last moment that she couldn't re-injure her paw. She instead quivered with anticipation at the entrance, waiting for Talonstar to give the signal.

When finally the patrol headed out, Lavenderpaw found with horror that she could hardly keep up. She tried to run fast without putting too much strain on her paw, but it was difficult to catch up to her small, sleek Clanmates. Nettlepaw noticed and fell behind with her.

"I'll be okay, honestly," puffed Lavenderpaw to her littermate. "I'm not going to leave you behind, no matter how good you think you are," he shot right back, keeping pace stride for stride. Lavenderpaw growled, but saved her breath for running.

They finally caught up to the patrol as they were hopping across the Crossing-Stones. The Crossing-Stones is a bunch of rocks poking out of the river leading over to the other side, which was were the Gathering was held.

When it was Lavenderpaw's turn, she studied the gap she had to jump over carefully before leaping over to the first rock. She repeated this a couple times before getting bold. When she landed on the fourth or so rock, she landed on her bad paw.

She yelped as she scrambled to get away from the swirling current. Her hind paw slid in, but not a moment later, jaws grabbed her scruff and hauled her back onto the large rock. Lavenderpaw turned to see her brother Nettlepaw grinning at her. "Maybe you should be careful," he chided jokingly. A rush of affection swept through Lavenderpaw, but she covered it by replying coolly, "I could have handled it. You don't have to worry about me,"

Nettlepaw snorted in amusement, and leaped away to the next rock. Lavenderpaw followed closely and carefully, not wanting another encounter with the river.

She made it safely across, and only just realized that MapleClan was already there. She stared in shock at the sheer number of pelts on the rocky terrain. She was only used to the amount of cats in her own Clan, not that times two. She was ushered forward by eager Clanmates, and was pushed right into the middle of the crowd of cats. She was frozen in confusion and fear.

A sturdy figure bumped into her and snapped her out of her shock. "Oh, uh, sorry. Didn't see you there," says an unfamiliar tom's voice. Lavenderpaw turns to see a dark grey tom with black toes and ear tips. He was looking at her through friendly blue eyes. He had an apologetic air about him, though she wasn't sure if that was all the time or just because he bumped into her.

"Sorry," he said again. "I'm usually so clumsy I wouldn't be able to catch a mouse if it came up and begged me."

So Lavenderpaw guessed it was normal for him to be apologetic.

"Oh, I'm Lavenderpaw, by the way," said Lavenderpaw after moment of awkward silence.

"Cedarpaw," replied the stocky grey tom. He hesitated before asking, "Do you want to sit by me?" Lavenderpaw nodded and replied, "I would like to very much,"

After a while of scrambling to find a good place to sit on the crowded rocky shore, we decided upon a rock which was slightly elevated, but nowhere near as high as the Great Boulder.

The Great Boulder was as tall as about two fox-lengths, and just as wide. Flystar and Talonstar were already up there, talking with their heads close together. Lavenderpaw was wondering about what they were speaking about, when Cedarpaw nudged her. "Is this your first Gathering?" he asked curiously. Lavenderpaw nodded, and he said, "I remember my first Gathering. It was so noisy and I didn't like it much, so I stuck with my sister, Raspberrypaw. She's a bit bolder than I was at that time, and so I got to meet a couple other apprentices from your Clan. Has Amberpaw gotten her warrior name yet?"

Lavenderpaw shook her head, and replied, "Nope, Amberpaw is still a good old 'paw! But she says that her warrior assessment will be coming up any day now, so I don't think she'll be an apprentice come next full moon." Cedarpaw nodded agreeably, but didn't ask where Amberpaw was, which Lavenderpaw was oddly relieved for. It was probably just that she didn't want to go back out into the mass of cats… Right?

Lavenderpaw shook the thoughts away, and heard the summons for the Gathering to begin. She could hardly pay attention to what the two leaders said, and could only focus on Cedarpaw, shifting beside her.

When the Gathering was over and Lavenderpaw had said farewell to Cedarpaw, she walked back in silence with Nettlepaw. He was telling her about Amberpaw and Creekpaw competing with Beetlepaw and Whitepaw, who was the highest jumper. Beetlepaw won, the arrogant mouse-fodder.

Lavenderpaw lay in her nest that night, but sleep was a long time coming.

Hey readers that actually like this stuff! :D I'm glad you're still with me.

A few things to remember about this chapter:

#1. Nettlepaw was tense in his sleep. I CAN'T TELL YOU WHY THAT'S IMPORTANT SORRYYYYY.

#2. That area where MapleClan scent had been picked up. SPOOKY THINGS GONNA HAPPEN NEXT CHAPTER.

#3 Cedarpaw. I think you get it already.

Other than that, await the next chapter and enjoy!