Brambleclaw glared at Ashfur, who was, once again, snuggled up against Squirrelflight in the warriors' den. He twitched his ears angrily as he stormed out of the den for a late- night hunting trip.

"Can't sleep?" Rainwish mewed hesitantly as he swept by. He could see the genuine concern in her eyes as she moved aside from the barrier, but he wasn't in any fit mood to appreciate it.

"Kind of," was all she got as a reply from the dark tom. Shaking her head, she resumed her position as sentry.

The cool night air of leaf- fall cleared up some of the moodiness from the tom's head. He stopped near a tree and stared up at the almost- full moon, knowing the Gathering was tomorrow. Trying to calm himself, he worked his claws into a nearby tree trunk, frustrated with himself.

Why Squirrelflight? Why Ashfur?

He hated himself for letting her go, hated himself for being so cold and cruel to her. As the Clan leader's daughter-

No.

As Squirrelflight. Hot- headed, short- tempered, defensive, bouncy...

Loyal, loving, and amazing cat that she was…

What… what did I do?

Horrified with himself.

Too late to change things?

Was it?

He was too confused inside to answer.

Suppressing a yawn as she padded back to the warriors' den to catch up on sleep, she narrowly avoided crashing into Ashfur and Squirrelflight as they exited. Shooting an apologetic glance up at the she- cat, not just for today, she was gratified with the same look as they passed each other.

Happy that their little spat was over, Rainwish had only just settled into her nest when Brackenfur called her name and assigned her to a border patrol. Her paws dragging, she joined Spiderleg and Brightheart at the tunnel entrance.

"Sorry," meowed Spiderleg. "We're short of warriors today; Cloudtail and Dustpelt caught some sort of sickness yesterday while they were out hunting."

"Isokay," Rainwish mumbled, suddenly noting the worry in Brightheart's eyes for her mate.

"Well, let's get started." Flicking her tail, Brightheart plunged through the gorse tunnel and the rest of the patrol followed.

For the past two days, Leafpool had been avoiding Cinderpelt.

And with good reason, too. Her mentor hadn't said anything about catching her with Crowfeather, but instead, every time Leafpool turned around, she could feel the gray medicine cat's blue gaze piercing through her fur.

But tonight's the Gathering.

Leaping the rocks that led to Firestar's den, she poked her head through the entrance. "Firestar, may I speak to you?"

Looking up from a sparrow, he nodded at the sight of his daughter. "Of course, come in, Leafpool."

Shifting her paws, she blurted, "I got a thorn in my pad yesterday… may I be excused from going to the Gathering tonight?"

"Oh, alright. Be sure to take care of yourself, though," Firestar meowed briskly as he finished off the last scraps of his morning meal and padded out of the den. With a sigh of relief, Leafpool followed.

What she had told Firestar was true; she had a thorn in her pad. Although she was pretty sure he didn't know that she'd purposefully stepped one one until it worked its way into her flesh.

He probably would still make her go to the Gathering if he knew that.

Anticipation and fear clashed in her belly as she headed to the nursery to take care of Ferncloud, vaguely noticing Dustpelt sitting near the entrance.

Anticipation.

And fear.

But mostly anticipation.

Because the Gathering was tonight. Tonight was when she would say good- bye to everybody; her father, her sister, her mother, her mentor, her friends, her Clan…

And run away with the cat she loved...