A path scattered with thorns will howl greater than the four, and loyalty will be unknown. Thornpaw had been thinking about Snowstar's words for days, wondering what they ment. Tonight she was going to her first gathering. She had heard about clan gatherings, how all four clan leaders talked about what happened in their clans the past moon, how there was a truce, keeping the clans at peace during gatherings, and when broken, StarClan put clouds over the moon, showing their displeasure. She heard that many cats from all the clans would come to fourtrees, fully crowding the area.
Ever since she first heard the gathering stories, Thornpaw had wanted to attend one, and tonight she would, along with her litter-mates. The sun was beginning to set, and Poppystar and Hazelfeather were figuring out who would attend this time.
"Pineleaf, Mellowtail, Snowpuff, Cloudpelt, Voletooth, Larktooth, Robintail, Eagleeye, Ravenclaw, Crowwing, Blackseed, Goldenshine, Yellowpaw, Thornpaw, and Willowpaw. You will attend the gathering," Poppystar decided.
"Why don't I get to come?" Littletail asked, annoyance in her eyes.
"Because I have seen you to be rather... Accusing lately, and that behavior is not accepted at a gathering. Besides, we need warriors to stay behind incase an intruder comes during the gathering."
Littlecloud opened her mouth to protest, but kept it to herself, knowing better than to argue with a clan leader.
Poppystar looked up at the sky and spoke again. "It looks about time to be heading out. Come on. We should get going." The cats headed out toward fourtrees.
"So, isn't this exciting? We'll get to meet cats from other clans!" Willowkit's excited meow made Thornpaw smile.
"I don't know, RiverClan might bring up Creekclaw's death. All the clans will think we're murderers!" Yellowpaw worriedly said.
"Won't that just raise suspicion? There is supposed to be a truce, isn't there?" Thornpaw said, trying to sound reasoning. Yellowpaw shook his head.
The apprentices continued in silence until they began to see fourtrees. That silence was broken by a happy squeal from Willowpaw.
"Look! That's fourtrees! I can see it!" She said.
"It's about time! We've been walking for ages!" Yellowpaw replied, letting out a huge sigh of relief. The cats meows were soon interrupted by Ravenclaw.
"It looks like we're the last ones here. The gathering will start shortly." The three apprentices approached fourtrees together, their eyes widening in amazement. Thornpaw almost tripped over herself, looking the the mass amount of cats gathered in front of her, and all the clan scents filling the air as one while a cat from one clan would chat with a cat from another. This truly was a time of peace among the clans. Once she was in the area, Thornpaw saw one cat, a young WindClan she-cat, and decided to walk over to her.
"Um... Hello? Im er... Thornpaw. Uh.. Whats your name?" Thornpaw staggered on her own words, nervus at talking to a WindClan cat.
The other cat looked at her for a while, then replied. "Im Lightfoot. This is my first gathering since becoming a WindClan warrior." Lightfoot then looked at a WindClan tom sitting next to her. "Over there is Sandtail. He's my brother. He also just became a warrior." Sandtail nodded at Thornpaw.
Thornpaw smiled, then replied. "Well then, it's nice to meet you both! How is it that yo-" her sentence was cut off by one of the clan leaders on the Great Rock.
"I will begin the gathering." Breezestar'a voice rose above the other cats in the area.
"Prey is growing plentiful on the moors and the camp is doing well. We also have two new kits, Leafkit and Amberkit, born of Sparrowleaf." The clans cats purred and cheered the names of the kits.
"I also have two new warriors to announce: Lightfoot and Sandtail." Thornpaw looked at Lightfoot sitting next to her, watching her purr as the cats cheered her name. Breezestar sat down, allowing Lunarstar to stand up, the ShadowClan leader making herself heard among the cats.
"We have two new warriors: Moonwillow and Dapplespot!" Lunarstar said cheerfully.
"Moonwillow! Dapplespot! Moonwillow! Dapplespot!" The clans cheered happily. Thornpaw watched as Poppystar stood up in front of the cats. What would he say?
"We have new apprentices this moon, Thornpaw, Willowpaw, and Yellowpaw." The clan leader said, waiting as the clans yelled their names, though RiverClan seemed reluctant.
"Prey is plentiful like WindClan and the new apprentices are training hard." Poppystar sat down, allowing Floodstar to stand up.
Floodstar took a deep breath, and spoke. "This moon we have mourned the death of Creekclaw."
Thornpaw shrank at the unsettled gasps of ShadowClan and WindClan, knowing Creekclaw's death was caused by a cat of her own clan. Will Floodstar say it was us?
The RiverClan leader looked at Poppystar, then at ThunderClan. "His body was found at the ThunderClan border, with ThunderClan scent on him."
The other clans shot accusing glances at ThunderClan. Poppystar once again stood up.
"Though I hate to say it, I must confirm CreekClaw was killed by one of my clan, but it had nothing to do with me. I do not wish to say the name of the cat who did this horrible deed, but simply say that she did not attend this gathering."
All the non-ThunderClan cat started scanning the clan for she-cats that were not attending. Before the cats got out of hand about the situation, Breezestar spoke again.
"It would appear that is all there is to be said. I believe it would be best if the gathering ended now and we returned to our clans." The WindClan leader jumped off the Great Rock, closely followed by the other clan leaders, thankful expressions showing on them now that the Gathering was over. Thornpaw saw Poppystar beckon for his clan to come, and she said a quick goodbye to Lightfoot, soon leaving Fourtrees.
ThunderClan walked in silence all the way to the camp, bombarded by questions once they returned. Thornpaw escaped the clutter and went to the apprentices den. All she wanted was to sleep and she didn't feel like answering a bunch of questions at the time. And so, she slept.