Ok I'm so sorry I haven't been updating this. I'll try to do it more often; I've actually written a lot since! Ok, please R&R! :
Chapter 6
Sunpaw purred to herself. She just couldn't believe that Meadowleaf actually loved Blacksky, even though he's an elder, even though he used to be a medicine cat, and medicine cats can't have mates or kits. There was a stab of sadness that Sunpaw felt for the tortoiseshell; she must've been feeling so much pain while she was telling that story. Sunpaw could tell.
"I wonder what'll happen now," she muttered to herself before landing in darkness . . . .
"Sunpaw," someone mewed softly. A paw prodded Sunpaw, who grumbled and moaned before she finally opened her eyes. When she did look up, she realized it was Quailfeather.
"Time to go," the mottled she-cat whispered.
Sunpaw's mouth opened in excitement. It was finally time to go to the Gathering! She could forget what had happened recently and just focus on having fun with her friends. A crowd of cats were already standing at the camp entrance, and Sunpaw then realized that she must've been the last to come out.
Ripplestar looked around at the group, nodded once, and then turned around to lead the cats out. Out of the corner of her eye, Sunpaw saw Blackpaw staring at her with such intensity that it made her fur stand on end. But she pushed the image out of her mind and focused on the Gathering. With a quick glance at Acornpaw, who was speedily talking to Eagleflight, she knew he was just as excited. Most of the other cats, though, were quiet and calm, as if going to the Gathering was no big deal. The two elders who had come, Nightshade and Blacksky, were casually talking to Thrushwing, while the other warriors, Deersprint, Seastone, and Ashwhisker, were all talking with Quailfeather, surrounding her like a bubble. Stormhawk and Ripplestar continued forward without stopping. Sunpaw purred at her Clan, and how funny they were.
Suddenly, their leader stopped. She glanced back at her Clan, saying, "When we go in there, no one is to speak of the battle unless you are asked about it. And when you answer, only tell them that we are no weaker than we were before." When everyone nodded their heads, mewing things in agreement, Ripplestar said, "Then let's go."
Dashing through the rest of the forest, Ripplestar led Sunpaw and the others to the Four Great Oaks. When they reached it, scents of two Clans filled her nostrils. She thought she smelled SkyClan and . . . MoonClan. Her eyes narrowed as she prepared to spring, but Thrushwing quickly put the tip of her tail on Sunpaw's shoulder.
"There is a truce at every Gathering," her mother told her softly. "StarClan will get angry if cats fight or even argue here and send clouds to block the moon. That means they want the Gathering to be over." Then she bounced off to join some other warriors from separate Clans.
Then Sunpaw realized that she was the last cat not in the large group. Embarrassed, she hurried into there, anxiousness and nervousness surrounding her thoughts. All the cats around her were so big and intimidating, talking so loudly. Sunpaw was about to go settle in spot near the trees when someone mewed, "Hey."
Sunpaw whirled around, and immediately her claws unsheathed. It was the silver cat that had pounced on her during the battle! She expected the she-cat to be full of hostility, but surprisingly she looked sweet and kind. Sunpaw still had to be wary, though. Truce or no truce, she had heard stories of battles that had broken out during Gatherings. Now she realized how bad that was.
"What do you want?" she asked.
The silvery she-cat replied, "Just saying hi. There is a truce here; I can be nice if I want."
Sunpaw cocked her head. "But you just battled us. Shouldn't you be angry at us or something?"
The she-cat shrugged. "I don't have to be . . . Anyway, my name is Moonpaw."
"I'm Sunpaw," Sunpaw mewed nervously.
Moonpaw nodded. "You want me to show you some other apprentices? They're over there." Cautiously, Sunpaw agreed, so the silvery-white apprentice took her over to a spot near the Great Rocks. There, four small cats sat, talking. Two of them purred Moonpaw a greeting.
"Guys, this is Sunpaw; she's a SunClan apprentice."
A small brown she-cat with eyes the color of lily pads said softly, "Hi, Sunpaw, I'm Lilypaw."
Another cat, this time a large brown tabby with amber eyes, said gruffly, "I'm Rockpaw."
Moonpaw purred, whispering, "He's just upset that he lost to SunClan cats," but then adding quickly, "no offense."
Next to the two MoonClan apprentices was Minnowpaw, who purred a greeting to her. Sunpaw looked over and then saw the last apprentice, a lean, dark brown tabby tom with green eyes. He narrowed them slightly.
"My name is Moorpaw," he said, narrowing his eyes even more.
Moonpaw sighed. "Moorpaw is a SkyClan apprentice, and a grumpy one at that, just like all the SkyClan cats!"
Moorpaw sprung up. "Hey!"
Sunpaw was about to say something when a large crowd of cats came rushing into the area. Two cats jumped up to the Great Rocks, joining the other leaders and deputies. That must be CloudClan, Sunpaw thought, and then scowled. She'd heard tons of stories about CloudClan, about how cold-hearted they could be, and how quiet and self-contained they were.
"Minnowpaw, Sunpaw, the Gathering's about to start. Come on." Thrushwing called the two apprentices over, who said good-bye to their new friends and joined their own Clan. They each sat next to Acornpaw, who was already sitting there, waiting.
After waiting for the cats to quiet down, the four leaders all yowled in unison. Sunpaw shut her mouth so the leaders could speak.
First, a slender, milky-brown she-cat with amber eyes stepped forward. She quickly glanced down at a white she-cat with gray stripes, who stood on one of the deputy rocks before speaking.
"We have some bad news," the brown she-cat started. "Unfortunately, our old deputy Rabbitbreeze died one quarter moon ago from a bout of greencough. However, Windyfur has replaced him, and she has already been doing a great job." She let the cats out in the crowd call Windyfur's name before beginning again. "We also have a new apprentice, Skypaw. Unfortunately, he couldn't make it to this Gathering, but he will next time."
Ripplestar went up next. "Congratulations, Willowstar," she said before continuing. "We also have new apprentices, Sunpaw and Acornpaw, and they are both here tonight."
Sunpaw felt every cat's gaze on her as she lowered her head to the ground. But next to her, Acornpaw raised his gaze proudly, staring at every one of the cats with a slight purr. Ripplestar couldn't help but look proud, too. But then, her gaze hardened. She stared at one of the cats on the rock before continuing.
"However, their lives were endangered because you, Stonestar, led an ambush into our territory. We drove you guys out, but it wasn't soon enough. One of our cats is on the verge of dying because of MoonClan."
Gasps arose out of the crowd, even some from MoonClan. She saw that Moonpaw and Lilypaw both looked guilty, and so did a blue-gray she-cat from MoonClan. However, Stonestar didn't react. He merely glanced around at the four Clans with his stony face.
Maybe that's how he got his name, Sunpaw thought with a purr, almost missing what he said next.
"That attack was to show your cats that if MoonClan wants something, we get it, no questions asked," Stonestar shouted, flexing his muscles underneath his gray tabby fur. His piercing blue eyes stared at Ripplestar, and normally that look would silence any cat, but Ripplestar wasn't fazed.
"Oh yes? Even if it means dishonoring your Clan, even if it means angering StarClan?!" Ripplestar paused to catch her breath. She swept her gaze over one of the deputies. It was a pale gray tabby she-cat with rippling darker gray stripes and surprisingly calm green eyes. "Leafripple, I suppose I should save my breath since you are this cat's deputy, but how could you even think of doing this?"
Sunpaw, along with many others, gasped at what the SunClan leader was saying. She was a leader; she should know that deputies and all of the cats in a Clan must listen to the leader, being a part of the warrior code. What was Ripplestar saying?
"Ripplestar, stop talking to my deputy," Stonestar said calmly. "Or else that battle will be the least of your worries."
"Are you threatening me?!" she exclaimed, in as much shock as everyone else.
It looked like it was about to get ugly, and Sunpaw braced herself for an upcoming attack. But then . . .
"STOP!" Everyone turned their attention to the last of the leaders, a black tom with gray specks. The last deputy, a very dark brown tom with dark green eyes, joined in.
"Darkpine and I would like to say that StarClan is very upset at you!" the black tom shouted, looking up into the sky. And he was right. Sunpaw saw that thick, dark clouds were forming in front of the moon. The CloudClan leader shook his head. "And I thought we were hard-headed," Sunpaw heard him murmur.
Ripplestar took a deep breath before continuing. "Shadowstar is right," she said, sounding very reluctant. "We should not be fighting at a Gathering, and we, or at least I will stop, but we will not forget this, Stonestar. SunClan has nothing more to say."
"Neither does MoonClan," Stonestar huffed.
When Shadowstar looked at Willowstar, she gave a curt nod towards him, so he began to speak. "We have a new warrior, Deadleaf, who is here today." Deadleaf was a small tortoiseshell she-cat, who, unlike all the other CloudClan cats, seemed very humble. "We also have two new apprentices, Cloudpaw and Smoothpaw. Cloudpaw is not here, but Smoothpaw is, and she has decided to take up the work of a medicine cat."
A cat out of the crowd cleared his throat. He had a black-and-white colored pelt, and he had an unusually short tail. "Smoothpaw and I have already begun to work, and I can tell she will be an excellent medicine cat."
Shadowstar nodded his head. "Thank you, Smalltail. Other than that, we have nothing else to say."
When no one spoke, Stonestar took the opportunity to leave. He and Leafripple hopped down to the cold earth and began to lead their cats home. Moonpaw glanced back and gave a friendly flick of her tail at Sunpaw, who in turn mewed a quiet good-bye. After that, Willowstar and Windyfur led their cats away, followed by Shadowstar and Darkpine. Now only SunClan was left, and Sunpaw found the place eerily quiet.
"Let's go," Ripplestar said. She rushed to the front of her Clan before swiftly leading the cats out, not even waiting for Stormhawk, who was trying to push his way to the front.
Sunpaw stayed in one place for a moment before realizing that Thrushwing was beside her.
"What just happened?" she asked her mother.
The tortoiseshell sighed. "I don't know, Sunpaw, but I think Ripplestar just needs to be left alone for a bit. I think she's under a bit of stress, after the attack and everything. Plus, leafbare should be here in only a quarter moon." But then Thrushwing added, "Sunpaw, there's no reason why you should be worrying about this. You're only an apprentice; apprentices are meant to have fun, not carry the burdens of a Clan leader. Now go be with your friends." And with that, she bounded off to join Deersprint, who welcomed her with a few licks.
Sunpaw was about to listen to her mom and join Minnowpaw and Acornpaw, but suddenly her eyes landed on Blacksky, who was looking up into the sky. The black tom looked like he had something on his mind (even though he was blind), and Sunpaw knew she should try to help, even though she was nervous about doing it.
"Blacksky, are you okay?" she asked him, coming up on his left.
The blind tom jumped at the sound of her voice. "Oh, it's only you, Sunpaw . . . I'm fine."
Sunpaw sighed. "No, you're not. You haven't been fine ever since I talked with you that one time. Now it seems like you've been avoiding me, even when I pick those nasty ticks off of your back!"
Blacksky
faced her. "Okay, maybe I'm not fine, but I don't have to tell
you why! You wouldn't understand . . . you just
wouldn't."
Suddenly Sunpaw wished she hadn't yelled at him.
The only thing she could think of was to tell him the truth . . .
even about Meadowleaf. He should be able to understand; after all, he
used to be a medicine cat. But then again, the reason he became blind
was because he couldn't handle being a medicine cat . . . maybe she
was wrong.
Nevertheless, she knew she had to tell him. "Blacksky, I- I do understand." When Blacksky stared at her in curiousness, she continued. "I've had StarClan cats . . . come to me in my dreams. Their names are Meadowleaf and . . . Flamefeather." Sunpaw had to stop and think about the red tom when she said his name. But she quickly tried to get back on track. "Anyway, I think Meadowleaf was the same cat that came to you back when you had that one dream. She- she told me the whole story about you, Blacksky, and why . . . why you became blind. I know everything, Blacksky, and believe me, I understand. And there's something else you should know . . . Meadowleaf . . . I think she loves you."
Blacksky's eyes widened in confusion. "What do you mean? A StarClan cat loves me?! And two StarClan cats visited you? That usually only happens to medicine cats and Clan leaders . . ."
As Blacksky pondered this, Sunpaw began to speak again. "Blacksky, I know I'm only an apprentice, but I just want to let you know that I . . . I'll be there for you, whenever you need me."
Blacksky looked at Sunpaw, blinking his now blind, blue eyes. "Thank you."
They approached camp faster than usual, due mostly to Ripplestar's fast pace. Immediately, Sunpaw rushed over to the medicine den along with Quailfeather to see how Snowfur was. But on the way, she was pounced on by Cinderkit, who was almost as big was she was.
"Cinderkit!" she exclaimed. "I haven't talked to you in such a long time!"
Cinderkit purred. "I know. I thought you forgot about me. I've been stuck in here with my mom and five other annoying kits."
Sunpaw sent out a mew of laughter. "Come on, they're not that bad . . . well, actually, I think you might be right." Still purring, she added, "How's Snowfur?"
But before he had a chance to speak, Whitemist let out a soft wail, nuzzling Stormhawk, in need of someone, and Quailfeather just looked horrible. Sunpaw gasped in shock. What had just happened?!
