I sat down, panting, Firestar had decided that I was fit enough to go to my first gathering even though my leg wasn't fully healed. It was harder than I had thought, hopping along on three legs around a lake.
"You okay?" Blossompaw asked, concern was showing in her eyes. I was surprised, I had always pictured her as kind of heartless but since I had come, she was all but nice.
"Yeah, I just need to catch my breath." I answered before I stood up again, proving that I was fine. Blossompaw nodded and ran ahead to catch up to Thornclaw and Graystripe who were discussing how Firestar would handle Riverclan.
Soon enough, we were at the fallen tree leading to the gathering. I went last with the help of Lionblaze so I wouldn't hold up the rest of Thunderclan. The tree was slippery and I had to dig my claws in to stable myself so I wouldn't fall into the lake below.
Once I was over the log, I limped to the clearing, it looked like we were waiting for Windclan for the gathering to begin.
Thunderclan and Riverclan mostly stayed apart, except for a few cats who weren't present during the battle.
"Hey, how's the leg?" I turned around to see Rippletail standing behind me.
"You know, broken." I joked as I moved to stand beside him. "How are you?"
"Great, so I thought only warriors came to gatherings? Aren't you just a visitor?"
"Not anymore, since the battle I earned my warrior name as Dewfur!"
Rippletail answered by purring "congratulations! So I was wondering-"
"Cats of the clans!" Blackstars voice interupted what Rippletail was about to say. "I'll begin now that Windclan is finally here. Shadowclan has been doing well despite the heat, We chased a fox off of our territory and I'm confident it won't be returning. Firestar you may go next."
Firestar nodded "Thunderclan is also doing well despite some...unwanted visitors." Firestar eyed Leopardstar but didn't mention anything about Riverclan "we would like to warn all the clans, especially Riverclan, that twolegs have set fishing traps that are proven to be harmful to cats, and even fatal. I would also like to announce that we have a new warrior, Dewfur, who has proven herself loyal to Thunderclan."
"Another loner Firestar? You don't even have any warrior blood left in the clan." Grasspelt hissed, I was really starting to get annoyed by this cat.
"Thunderclan has better warriors than you. Do you really consider kit stealers to be warriors?" I snapped, I could see Grasspelt bristle but didn't say anything.
"How dare you accuse Riverclan to be kit stealers!" Leopardstar snarled.
"Sorry to tell you but when you catch someone sneaking into your nursery, taking a kit and sneaking out, that is considered kit stealing." I responded, Leopardstar just lashed her tail and didn't say anything.
"As I was saying, Dewfur has proven herself to be a loyal warrior and fought off two cats while having a broken leg. That's all Thunderclan has to say." Firestar ended.
"Dewfur! Dewfur!" The clans cheered other than Riverclan.
The gathering ended peacefully without anymore mentions of the previous battle.
"Meet me at midnight at the edge of the lake, I'll swim over." Rippletail whispered in my ear and ran off before I could say anything.
I was so shocked, I didn't even talk to anyone on the walk back to Thunderclan. It was almost midnight when we reached Thunderclan camp and everyone was already so tired that they fell asleep as soon as they got back. Me, on the other hand, I was bursting with energy, I told Jayfeather that I was going to go for a walk to burn some energy and thought of random things like baby toys and pajamas as much as possible so if he ever tried to read my mind he would come on something random but couldn't bring it up because no one is susposed to know about his powers.
I practically ran out of the thorn barrier, but my leg started hurting so I walked more slowly. The only thing I could think about was Rippletail and what he would want. It wasn't often that a Riverclan cat swims across the lake to practice battle training so that only left one option...he wanted to be mates! Or I was dead wrong and he really does want to train.
If he does want to be mates, I don't know how I would react. I'm a human, not a cat for crying out loud. It would be if I like randomly started dating my cat, Muffin.
Finally, I reached the lake edge, he wasn't exactly descriptive of where along the edge he wanted to meet so I just chose somewhere in the middle. I didn't see or smell Riverclan so far so I began to doubt whether he was coming at all when I saw a dark shape bobbing on the lake surface. At first I thought it was a duck but when it got closer, I could see clearly that it was Rippletail.
Soaking wet, he climbed out of the lake. I was surprised he could even swim that far, even if he was a Riverclan cat. I can barely walk that far.
"You came." His voice was so quiet, it was almost a whisper.
"You asked." I replied simply as we touched noses.
"Listen, I don't know how to tell you this, but since I swam across the lake to tell you, I may as well." His breathing was fast, like he was nervous "I love you, I know we haven't known eachother for that long but I feel like I'm going to explode whenever I think of you. If you don't love me back, then well, I don't think I'll make it swimming back."
He was panting now, as if that had all taken a lot of work saying. I knew he didn't want to battle train.
"Dewfur, do you have an answer?" He stuttered.
I nodded slowly as I stepped forward. As if on instinct, I pressed my muzzle against his and purred deeply, I could feel him exhale as our tails intwined. I was now almost as wet as he was but I didn't care, I'd just have to bring him a towel next time we met.
"Dewfur, I-" Rippletail began but was shushed when I put my tail over his mouth.
"Shh. I don't want to talk." I said as he wrapped his body around mine and we lay down. Even though I was once a human, this all felt natural, as if I had been a cat my whole life.
Finally, we broke apart.
"Meet me in two days, same time, same place." I whispered before I limped off and he slid back into the water. It had only taken about an hour but I knew Jayfeather would either be asleep or worrying.
I realized that I must smell like Riverclan, most of it could be explained by the gathering but I still didn't want to arouse suspician so I rolled in some leaves until the scent wore off.
Finally, I hobbled back into Thunderclan, as if nothing had ever happened.
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