Sunpaw looked around. The cats were beginning to wake up as the Moon rose high overhead, shining it's brilliant gray light down. She immediately thought of Luna. A pang of sharp longing appeared in her heart. Will I ever really find you again, Luna? Just then, Bramblestar called out, "These are the cats going to the Gathering: Darkheart, Frostwing, Graypaw, Scalefang, and Sunpaw."
Sunpaw grinned brightly. She was going to the Gathering! Soon, then moon reached its spot. "All the cats going to the Gathering, follow me!" Bramblestar yowled, and leapt down from the highrock. Sunpaw walked behind him, beside Graypaw. "Can you believe it?" She whispered to him.
"We're going to the Gathering!" Graypaw finished. "I can't! Our first gathering!" He smiled. Sunpaw giggled. "Yeah. I wonder who we'll see there!" She smiled again. Graypaw shrugged.
"I'll bet the Riverclan cats smell even fishier." Sunpaw burst into a fit of the giggles, and Graypaw laughed. "Well, it's true!" But Darkheart heard and leaned back to them. "Shut up. We are there already. We don't need another war right after Firestar's death." They both quieted, and the black warrior looked ahead again.
Graypaw and Sunpaw looked at each other. "Well he certainly is a downer." She whispered into Graypaw's ear. He nodded. Bramblestar yowled, "One at a time, crossing the log! Don't slip!" The warriors leapt nimbly across. Graypaw slipped, but didn't fall into the lake. He made it across. "Come on, Sunpaw!" He shouted encouragingly. "It's not that hard!" Sunpaw looked at the log. "Okay. Just put my paw here..." She continued across, and almost made it to the end, when she slipped and fell in. "Ack!" She tried swimming, but she didn't know how. As she grew tired and began to give up, she closed her eyes and let herself sink. Suddenly, a black head burst under and tugged her up. She opened her eyes as her head broke above the water. "Don't worry. I got ya." The cat meowed, and swam strongly to shore. She fell upon the shore, coughing up water. She looked up, and saw both Graypaw and the apprentice that saved her. "Ugh... I hate water." She croaked, and Graypaw burst out laughing. She got up and chuckled.
Sunpaw turned to that Black apprentice. "Thank you, I owe my life to you. What is your name?" She asked. "Lunarpaw." The riverclan cat answered. "And yours?"
"Sunpaw." Then a look of remembrance flashed through Lunarpaw's eyes. "Sun... Moon..." She murmured. "Luna?" Sunpaw blurted out softly.
"Celestia!" She exclaimed. "Shh! We can't let anyone hear you." Lunarpaw nodded. "7 moons, Sister! 7 moons."
Sunpaw nodded. "I know. But we must act normal." The black apprentice nodded, and walked away. "You're welcome, Sunpaw." She raced to this ginger colored 'paw. They started talking.
Sunpaw turned to Graypaw, who was walking to her. "Ehh... I hate water... Good one, Sunpaw." He laughed.
Sunpaw giggled. "Yep. Want to see who else we can find?" She asked. "Sure." Graypaw replied. She walked up to the group of elders, talking. "Yes, I remember the old forest. But those foxheart two legs destroyed it." One of them said. It was a Shadowclan elder. They chatted, and Sunpaw Sat beside her grandmother, Barkleaf. Graypaw followed. "Well, look at those young'uns." One of them said. Sunpaw looked down, embarrassed. "Erm... Can we listen to you talk, please?"
The shadowclan elder spoke once more. "Of course, little one. Why don't we tell you about the old forest?" Sunpaw glanced at Graypaw, who shrugged. She looked at the elder again. "Sure."
They started off.
"Well, there wasn't a lake, and we had nice prey, maybe a few Fox traps, but, you know, the average forest."
"The clans were somewhat peaceful. There were different leaders, not your Mistystar, Bramblestar, One star, Blackstar now. They were Crookedstar, Bluestar, Tallstar and- keep in mind, This last one was evil -Brokenstar. We were fine, and had no trouble until Brokenstar, well, he drove us Windclan cats off of our territory..." Sunpaw wasn't listening anymore. She watched Lunarpaw play with her clanmates. Then the leaders called. She looked up at them. "Attention! The Gathering begins now!" Mistystar yowled. "Bramblestar?" He nodded.
"Thunderclan is well, the prey runs smoothly. We have had no problems since Firestar's death." He stepped back, and Mistystar stepped up. "I have to say, the fish is faster than ever, and we have had a bit troubled in catching them. Nevertheless, we have improved and can now catch them without any trouble."
Blackstar looked down. "Shadowclan is as sneaky as ever, and I am proud to announce 2 New warriors: Haresprout and Flyingleaf." The clans below cheered for the two cats. "Haresprout, Flyingleaf! Haresprout, Flyingleaf!" He stepped back, and One star walked up.
"We have noticed, there is a bit of Thunderclan scent on our side of the territory." He hissed. "We shall put extra patrols there, to make sure no cats steal out prey." Yowls of indignation rose from the Thunderclan cats. "Silence!" Bramblestar thundered. "Onestar, I assure you, none of our cats steal your prey." He replied coolly. Onestar snorted. "We will post extra patrols. The Gathering is over!" He leapt down and called windclan. "Windclan, home." They raced back to their camp, tails lashing. Sunpaw ran to Lunarpaw. "Luna, meet me by the border tomorrow night at moonhigh." She raced away, and followed Bramblestar back home, smiling. She would meet her sister again, tomorrow! "I will find a way to get us home."