Rainsong purred with happiness as the sun rose in the sky. She nudged Scarbreath, who was seated beside her. Scarbreath followed her gaze and purred also. Rainsong vaguely wondered if Wildmask had received her nine lives yet. As if in response, Wildmask, Mousesky, and Fuzzypaw stepped into the clearing. Wildmask padded up to them immedietly.

"Your vigil's over," she announced "and you shall sleep soon. First, though, could you wake the others? I have an announcement to make."

Mintwish and Jaywing headed toward the nursery, their tails entwined. Scarbreath padded off to wake Sandstar. With a flick of her tail, Hawkeyes bounded to the elder's den. Flowereyes gave Rainsong a quick lick on the ear, and Rainpaw returned it. Then, Flowereyes bounded off to the warrior's den. Rainsong wondered whether to wake Rainface and Leopardpaw, or the apprentices. Mousesky chose for her, bounding off to the medicine cat's den.

Rainsong pushed her way into the crowded apprentice's den. She padded first to Bramblepaw. His tabby fur rose up and down peacefully. Rainsong nudged him, and pointed with his nose to the entrance, signaling for him to go. Then she turned to Swiftpaw and Mousepaw, whose pelts looked almost the same, with their brother Wildpaw sleeping beside them. Once she had successfully woken all of the apprentices, she followed them out.

"Cats of MoonClan and CloudClan!" Wildmask was announcing "I have received my nine lives and leader's name!" Wildstar paused briefly and listened to the cheering "As you all know, tomorrow is the Gathering, and I intend for MoonClan to attend." Rainsong gasped, along with most of the other cats in the clearing. It was silent for a moment, but then Tanglelegs spoke up bravely,

"But there will be a battle!"

"I do not think so," Wildstar reassured her "It is the full moon, and the Clans would not break the truce. And we will be able to make a stand and get our territory back!" Many cats yowled their agreement on the subject. Rainsong joined in. What she wanted more than anything was to hunt on her own territory again, join a border patrol, and for everything to be normal.

"Sandstar," Wildstar addressed the other leader "what do you think?"

Sandstar hesitated, and then she stepped forward. "I agree," she mewed quietly "leaf-bear will be here soon, and then CloudClan will not have prey to spare. You would have to be in your own territory by then, Wildstar."

Wildstar dipped her head, accepting this. "Then it is settled!" she called out "MoonClan hall attend the Gathering! And the cats to come with us shall be Mintwish, Jaywing, Scarbreath, Hawkeyes, Flowereyes, Rainsong, Sandeyes, Icehead, Thornface, Mousesky, and Tanglelegs."

Rainsong flicked her tail in agreement, and noticed briefly how Wildstar had chosen only warriors and their medicine cat to go. No elders, queens, or apprentices were to attend. Rainsong agreed with this. If there was a battle, they could not afford to lose any cats, and the warriors were the strongest.

"I would like to go, if that's all right," a voice meowed softly. Rainsong turned to see Runningtail, pushing his way to the front of the crowd. Wildstar looked genuinely surprised.

"Runningtail," Sandstar mewed helpfully "maybe you should stay here, where we can look after you."

Runningtail rounded on her. "You think that I can't defend my Clan?" he hissed, his voice sharp with fury. Sandstar met his gaze without flinching. Runningtail relaxed a little. "Besides," he added "if you take a fighting force to a gathering, the Clans will be less reluctant to fight you."

Sandstar looked at Wildstar, indicating that it was her decision. Wildstar closed her eyes, and slowly opened them. "All right, Runningtail," she mewed softly "you may come. But if a battle does break out, you must promise to flee immedietly."

"Yes, of course," Runningtail spoke as if he had been planning to do this all along, but Rainsong saw his eyes flash, as if saying 'I can take care of myself.' Rainsong let out a small purr of amusement. The meeting broke up, and Rainsong spotted her sisters lingering near the warrior's den. She hurried to them.

"Do we rest? Or do we have to hunt first?" Scarbreath was asked worriedly

"I think that because we are attending a Gathering, we are allowed to go," Hawkeyes mewed slowly

"That sounds right," Rainsong meowed helpfully

"What are we waiting for?" grumped Flowereyes

"Sorry, Flowereyes," Hawkeyes meowed quickly, a glimmer of amusement in her eyes "you're so tired, you wouldn't know if a rabbit sat on your paws."

"Well, you're so tired you wouldn't notice if a badger ate you," Flowereyes retorted. Then she let out a jaw-splitting yawn.

Rainsong, purring with amusement, padded into the warrior's den. Drawing the scents over her glands, she found a spot with several clumps of moss. She led her sisters over, and lay down, appreciating the softness of the moss. Then she felt exhaustion flood over her, and was asleep within seconds.

Rainsong awoke with a yawn. Her dreams had been dreamless, and she had gotten a good night's sleep. With a purr of happiness, she saw that the sun was starting to lower in the sky. She padded out of the den, noticing that her sisters were already awake. With a twinge of annoyance, she wondered why they hadn't woken her.

As she emerged into the clearing, she felt weight land on her shoulders. The weight was light, and she shook it off. She spun around to face it, fearing an invasion. She relaxed slightly as she recognized Bramblepaw. He jumped at her, paws outstretched. Rainsong darted to the side, and leapt for Bramblepaw , but she missed, and Bramblepaw darted nimbly away.

"Badger-paws!" he taunted her. Rainsong jumped to him, and Bramblepaw started to dart away, but she twisted nimbly in the air and squashed him promptly. Bramblepaw tried to get away from her, but she was too heavy. Rainsong was about to get off of him and declare victory, when a weight smacked her off. Spinning around playfully, Rainisong saw Hawkeyes and Scarbreath crouched down, ready to leap.

"Hey, no fair!" Rainsong complained "you can't team up like that!"

"It's happened before in battle," Bramblepaw hissed excitedly from behind her, jumping onto her shoulders.

"Oh, Bramblepaw," Rainsong sighed sarcastically. "what could you possible know about battles?"

Bramblepaw let out a screech of fury and flung himself at her. But Rainsong lept nimbly out of the way at the last second, and he crashed into Hawkeyes and Scarbreath. They lay for a moment in a tangle of legs and heads. Rainsong started to purr in amusement. When they were finally untangled, Bramblepaw bounded away, muttering to himself. Looking frustrated, Hawkeyes scrambled after him. With one last playful swipe of a paw at Rainsong, Scarbreath followed.

"Bravo!" called a voice from behind. It was Flowereyes.

"I scared off one mighty apprentice with two big, strong warriors to assist him," Rainsong boasted

"So you did," Flowereyes agreed, purring with amusement.

"Want to get something to eat?" Rainsong asked

"What?" Flowereyes pretended to be shocked "big warriors that can fight off three others still need to eat?"

"Of course," Rainsong pretended to be offended "of course." She picked a small but plump fish, and padded over to the middle of the clearing. "Let's eat here," she suggested. Flowereyes muttered agreement, and sat down beside her sister. Rainsong looked at what her sister was eating. And her eyes nearly popped out of her head. "Since when do you eat frogs?"

"Since you left," Flowereyes answered "I tried one soon after, thinking of you, but now I love them."

"Just don't come onto CloudClan territory to steal them once we leave," Rainsong suggested "They might not be too happy about that."

"There are plenty of marshy places by the river where I could find them," Flowereyes objected "I wouldn't need to cross the border lines."

"Hey, if you like them that much . . ." Rainsong teased. The cats fell into silence as Icehead padded up. "Hey guys," she mewed casually, but Rainsong could see the tension in her shoulders.

"What is it?" Flowereyes asked

"Well, I'm not sure I should tell you," Icehead was chosing her words carefully "but I'm expecting kits." Rainsong opened her eyes wide, understanding who the father was at once.

"Oh, Icehead, no!" she cried "half-Clan kits? This is a bad thing! A very bad thing!"

"I know, but Rainsong," Icehead was begging "These kits will bring Ashpaw and me together forever."

"Icehead . . ." Rainsong wished she had words to explain how she felt, but there wasn't. "when do you expect they will come?"

Icehead met her eyes. "Any day now," she stated

Rainsong was genuinely surprised, but when she looked skeptically at Icehead, hse could see that her belly was swollen. She had figured it was from eating so much prey, as it was newleaf. She certainly looked ready to have kits. Rainsong was impressed that she had been able to hide it for so long. The three cats fell into silence, finished their prey, and started to share tongues as they watched the sun slowly sink in the sky. When it was almost gone, Wildstar and Sandstar appeared, calling for their clanmates. Rainsong, Icehead, and Flowereyes joined their Clan, and padded away from the CloudClan camp and towards the Treespot. The CloudClan cats knew the way there, and they arrived quickly. They were the first, in fact. MoonClan and CloudClan burst into the middle of the Treespot as one, and they halted in the clearing, unsure what to do. Slowly, they separated into groups, and waited for the other Clans to arrive.

Rainsong and Flowereyes sat near the other cats, near the base of the Great Oak. They waited for a moment, watching the trees. After a moment, SunClan came, and wove themselves into the MoonClan and CloudClan. With a jolt, Rainsong realized that SunClan had not known about the invasion, so this all seemed normal to them. She could see that some cats were trying to explain right now.

Berrypaw padded up to them, her tail tip twitching. "Is what they're saying true?" she asked "or are they all bird brains?"

"Just smell us," Rainsong suggested "we smell more of the boggy land and not water."

Berrypaw smelled them both thoroughly, and nodded slowly. "That's true," she agreed softly "you do smell of marsh." Then she jerked upright "so that means TreeClan and LightningCLan actually did drive you out?" she looked shocked

"Yes," Flowereyes mewed softly

"I wonder how they will react to see you here," she replied thoughtfully

"Hopefully they will not show up," Flowereyes mewed

"I wouldn't count on it," Rainsong replied