Sorry I havent updated in a long while. Im kinda busy. :P

Hazelpaw: Yeah.. glad you noticed. X3

The moon rose high in the dark sky. Gingerpaw darted around, sniffing everything in excitement.

Lightstripe rested her tail on his shoulder. "Hey, careful there," she teased. "You don't want to use up all your energy before you even meet the other Clans. It's your first Gathering."

Gingerpaw shook himself. "I just want to check out this place, that's all."

Lightstripe's whiskers twitched with amusement. "Go join your littermates. You're far behind."

Putting up a short sprint, Gingerpaw bounded ahead.

Daisypaw spun around. "Gingerpaw! You scared us. And..."

Daisypaw broke off as Froststar raised her tail. "That means you have to stop," whispered Moonlight, also at the head of the patrol.

All the apprentices stopped moving about.

Froststar looked back at her Clan, and then leaped down onto the slope, running along like the wind. Her patrol of cats followed her close behind.

Gingerpaw was feeling out of breath by the time they arrived in the place where the Clans gathered every full moon: the Eternal Garden. (Lol ive always wanted to call something that)

Legends said that the flowers in this place were extremely beautiful to look at and gave off a sweet scent. It served as a perfect place where cats could gather under the one-night truce. Since it was the coldest season now, the branches were bare. Gingerpaw thought about how these branches would look like when whatever the cats called summer came.

Gingerpaw sniffed the air. Instantly he scrunched up his face in disgust. "What's that yucky smell?"

Moonlight tasted the air. "That's NightClan," the deputy told Gingerpaw. "Looks like they're the first. Why don't you go talk to some of the warriors? But don't give too much away," she warned.

Gingerpaw nodded meekly and looked around for his siblings. He spotted Hazelpaw, Daisypaw and Lionpaw talking to two NightClan apprentices. They looked small and skinny; the effects of the harsh winter-slash-leaf-bare were showing.

"Hi, guys," he mewed as he joined his siblings.

Lionpaw flicked one ear. "Hey, bro. We were just telling Stormpaw and Ravenpaw here why Ivypaw wasn't with us."

Gingerpaw thought about all the sick cats in the medicine den Ivypaw was currently taking care of. Duskwatcher had trusted her to the job alone.

"LightningClan's lucky to have at least some healthy apprentices," piped up the pure-black tom. "I'm Ravenpaw, and this is my brother Stormpaw."

"What has LightningClan been feeding you? How come you look so much plumper than the warriors?" asked Stormpaw suspiciously.

"What goes on within LightningClan is none of your business," retorted Hazelpaw, speaking like she had been Clanborn.

"Don't mind Hazelpaw," Daisypaw added hastily. "She loves to be rude to everyone."

There was a sudden yowl and soon more cats streamed into the snowy garden.

"RainClan's here," Ravenpaw informed the apprentices.

A ginger cat bounded over to them. "Hi, Ravenpaw and Stormpaw!" she mewed. Turning to Gingerpaw and his siblings, she added, "I haven't seen you four before. Is this your first Gathering? I'm Rushpaw!"

Bones jutted out of her pelt and Gingerpaw could see her ribs. But her gaze was friendly and curious.

"Hello. Yes, it's our first Gathering. Name's Daisypaw. Here are my littermates, Gingerpaw, Lionpaw and Hazelpaw," meowed Daisypaw, pointing with her tail to each cat as they were named. Looks like even Daisypaw has accepted the 'littermate' story, thought Gingerpaw.

"IceClan and BreezeClan aren't here yet," observed Stormpaw quietly.

As if on cue, a new patrol of cats rushed into the snow-covered garden. Gingerpaw tasted the air. "Their scent's like snow and grass combined," he told them.

Rushpaw twitched her whiskers. "And that's BreezeClan. Speak of a warrior and he comes."

Gingerpaw watched as yet another fresh wave of cats streamed in. "That's IceClan, I guess."

The gray cat at the head of the patrol veered away to join Froststar and three other cats up on some sort of fence. It certainly wasn't like any kind of fence Gingerpaw had ever seen. The fence had multiple layers with gaps in between.

When the gray cat reached the fence and hoisted himself up, a brown cat gave a commanding yowl. A hush fell over the cats listening.

"Brownstar wants to talk," whispered Rushpaw.

Gingerpaw noticed Moonlight among the four cats sitting at the bottom of the fence. She made eye contact with him, and then blinked, as if telling him not to be afraid of Brownstar.

Brownstar's voice rang out among the leafless trees. "NightClan is well. We have two new apprentices: Stormpaw and Ravenpaw!"

The garden was filled with yowls of congratulation. Most of the cats had jumped to their paws and were calling out the apprentices' names. Beside Gingerpaw, Ravenpaw ducked his head, while Stormpaw puffed out his chest. Rushpaw gave Ravenpaw an encouraging lick.

Brownstar waved his tail, and the cats were quiet again. "We had a bout of greencough, but our medicine cat, Spottedshade, was able to stop it before it spread too far." Even so, he still had a troubled look on his face. Gingerpaw guessed that a couple of cats were still sick. One of the medicine cat's, who he presumed to be Spottedshade, uncomfortable expression backed up his theory.

Gingerpaw glanced at the NightClan apprentices, who kept their gazes willingly on the ground.

Rushpaw leaned in closer to him. "I hate to say it, but Silverwhisker, NightClan's deputy, isn't here," she muttered. "He's probably sick."

Brownstar ended his speech, and the cat who spoke up was the gray tom from before. "Graystar," Stormpaw informed Gingerpaw.

Graystar's voice rang out confidently. "IceClan is doing well. Only a few of our warriors and queens are sick."

Well, seeing as they had brought the largest patrol, Gingerpaw wasn't surprised.

Graystar went on. "We have two new apprentices, Dawnpaw and Badgerpaw."

Again with the yowls of congratulations. When they died down, Graystar continued. "We also have three new warriors: Brightpath, Snowspirit and Rosestem."

Once again, the garden erupted with the calls of the listening cats: "Brightpath! Snowspirit! Rosestem!"

The three mentioned warriors licked their fur in embarrassment. Graystar stopped talking, replaced by Froststar.

"We have five new apprentices, Gingerpaw, Hazelpaw, Daisypaw, Ivypaw and Lionpaw," she yowled authoritatively.

The warriors erupted into cheers yet again, the warriors of LightningClan yowling the loudest. Froststar waved her tail and went on. "Unfortunately, Ivypaw is not here with us. Her duty kept her from coming to the Gathering."

Some cat yowled, "Does this mean Ivypaw is a medicine cat apprentice?"

Froststar flicked her tail-tip. "Well, yes, she is. Now, I have nothing more to say."

Froststar flicked her tail towards another gray tom, and he spoke up. "BreezeClan is doing fine, overall. But I am very sad to report the death of an elder. Darksky is dead."

Wails of grief rose from the listening cats. Gingerpaw had never met Darksky, but he still felt forlorn at the loss of a life.

"That was Stormstar meowing," Ravenpaw told him, his voice anguished. "I heard Darksky was a good friend of my mother."

Stormstar closed his jaws, and this time a white cat replaced him. What was peculiar about the white cat's pelt was that it had gray patches.

"We will grieve along with BreezeClan, Stormstar," the white cat told the gray cat.

Rushpaw was about to speak again, but then Stormstar's eyes narrowed and he mewed, "The thanks of BreezeClan go to you, Whitestar."

"I was about to tell you who he was," murmured Rushpaw.

One of the BreezeClan warriors turned around. "Rushpaw, I expect the apprentices would appreciate it if you'd stop talking for once!"

"Sorry, Redfire," muttered Rushpaw mutinously.

Whitestar's eyes glittered. "I am sorry to say that our previous deputy, Newtfur, has stepped down. Our new deputy is Willowheart."

The watching cats yowled out both of the cats' names: "Willowheart! Newtfur!" Some cat whispered, "I was wondering why Willowheart was sitting at the bottom of the Skyfence instead of Newtfur."

Whitestar's commanding yowl rose above the trees. "Now, the Gathering is at an end."

He jumped off the Skyfence first, closely followed by Brownstar. Froststar and Stormstar followed more slowly, and Graystar was the last.

Tailwind thrust her way through the crowd of cats towards Gingerpaw. "Gingerpaw, Daisypaw, Hazelpaw, Lionpaw!" she called. "Time to go! Froststar's waiting for us."

Saying a quick goodbye over his shoulder towards Rushpaw, Ravenpaw and Stormpaw, he dashed away to join Froststar's patrol.

"So, how was your first Gathering?" Grasspelt asked Gingerpaw as soon as he reached.

Gingerpaw waved his tail excitedly. "It was fun!"

"Good, good," he purred.

Froststar raised her tail, signaling her patrol to follow her. Instantly, she bounded up the slope and away with the rest of the patrol following close behind, tails streaming out behind them. Gingerpaw took one last look at the Eternal Garden, and chased after the rest of the patrol.