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Rainheart crouched outside the hollow with the rest of his Clanmates, waiting for Maizestar's go ahead to proceed to the Gathering. It was cold, but not bitterly so, a sign of the changing seasons.
"He's gotta be almost ready now!" Blossomfrost said. Her excitement at her first Gathering as a warrior was almost tangible.
"Calm down," Beetlewing chastised. "We're not gonna be late."
The brown warrior was right. They were actually pretty early. It wasn't unlike WindClan to be early to Gatherings anymore. The last leaf-bare had been less challenging for WindClan than for the other Clans. Rabbits burrowed underground, straight into where the tunnelers were waiting to chase them out into the ready claws of the moor-runners. Working together the last eight moons had brought the Clan closer together than ever. Plump and unified, the Clan was ready to show off to the other Clans all leaf-bare. It was a habit they'd kept up, even after newleaf and then greenleaf had begun.
Right then, Maizestar gave the call, and WindClan surged forward together, entering the clearing with the other Clans, heads and tails high.
Rainheart looked around for his RiverClan friend, but Gravelstone did not appear to be there. He did see his SkyClan friend Strongbreeze sitting beside the strange she-cat Chillsnow. Strongbreeze was quiet, and usually kept to himself, although he was friendly enough. Chillsnow was…Rainheart rather liked Chillsnow. She was very strange as far as cats go. She wouldn't talk to him directly, but would look at the ground by his feet. Sometimes he caught her looking at him out of the corner of his eye, not like usual where her eyes wouldn't quite meet his, but full on staring. Whenever he would go to speak to her or gesture, she would look away hurriedly.
He raced over to join them. "Hey guys," he said in a friendly way. "How's prey running in SkyClan?"
"Fine," Strongbreeze answered shortly. Chillsnow only ducked her head in what Rainheart assumed was a polite nod gone wrong.
Rainheart sat and faced the Great Rock, waiting for the meeting to start. The other Clans were lingering, trading stories and sharing tongues. It was customary to do such things, and in the relaxed late greenleaf air, the Clan cats were content and relaxed in their manor.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, there was a call from the Great Rock. Only Runningstar was there, apparently ready to get the Gathering moving. For once, Rainheart felt in tune with the ThunderClan leader, wanting to get things going.
Maizestar jumped up next. His muscles gleamed in the moonlight, showing his strength next to the other leader, despite his age. Next up was Lynxstar, the young ShadowClan leader fitting easily beside the other leaders thanks to her small stature. Then Falconblaze jumped up, his eyes gleaming in the moonlight, visible even from this distance away. There were murmurs from the gathered cats below.
"Falconblaze," Runningstar said coolly, before Ripplestar had even joined them. "What are you doing here? Where is Tanglestar?"
"Tanglestar has joined our warrior ancestors in Silverpelt," Falconblaze answered as the elderly RiverClan leader scrabbled to join them onto the rock.
"What a shame," Maizestar said, voice subdued. "He was a wise and compassionate leader for your Clan. We shall all mourn him." Runningstar murmured agreement, for once his haughty expression replaced by one slightly more humbled.
"Yes," Ripplestar wheezed, having caught his breath enough to speak. "I am sorry to see him go, but I'm certain you will make an excellent leader."
"Thank you," Falconblaze said, giving the RiverClan leader a stern look. "I have already traveled to the Moonstone and received my nine lives. I am known now as Falconstar. My deputy is Scorchgaze."
Rainheart was slightly disturbed that the new SkyClan leader and his medicine cat had made it through WindClan territory both ways without being noticed. He noticed that Maizestar did not seem at all bothered by this news, only warmly congratulating the new SkyClan leader with a nod. Bearing that in mind, Rainheart decided to let it go.
"SkyClan is strong as ever, despite our loss," Falconstar continued. "Our borders are patrolled regularly," he said, emphasizing the word and giving a sharp glare between Runningstar and Ripplestar. "And we are ready to defend our land against all intruders."
There was no denying the glint in his eye as he looked at Ripplestar steadily. All of the leaders looked on with interest as the old alliance between RiverClan and SkyClan was obviously dissolving under this new leadership.
Although the tension around the Great Rock was tangible, Ripplestar merely nodded. "Of course," he meowed. Then proceeded on with RiverClan's announcements without any further comment towards SkyClan. He announced the birth of a new litter of kits in the nursery, but ended on a sad note. "Recently a dog invaded our territory. One of our warriors, Gravelstone, was killed fighting off the dog."
Grief pierced Rainheart's heart. Gravelstone, despite being an obnoxious RiverClan cat, had genuinely been good to all cats he met. Of course he'd had unquestioning loyalty to his own Clan, but that had not stopped him from extending kindness to all cats from the other Clans too. Rainheart still remembered how the calm RiverClan warrior had grieved with him over the loss of Gorsebreeze and his kits. He bowed his head sadly.
Next, Maizestar announced the birth of Leopardstripe's two new kits, Peonykit and Lilackit. Next he announced the newest warrior additions to the Clan, six in total, although only two of them were there that night. Blossomfrost and Flutterwing sat side by side, heads raised proudly. Although she wasn't presently there, Rainheart felt a rush of pride for his sister's apprentice. Cherryheart had passed her final assessment with flying colors, and the trait that Maizestar had chosen to acknowledge in her, above all others, was her honor. It was a tribute to his sister's fine work training her.
"We also have a new apprentice, Walnutpaw," he finished up. The brown tabby apprentice, son of Smilecloud had Houndwhisker, was not there that night.
"Wow," Lynxstar praised warmly. "It sounds as if WindClan is quite strong! I'm glad to see you have recovered from the fire."
"Yes," Runningstar said, eyes gleaming. "And the illness that took so many in your Clan."
Rainheart stiffened. After his birth, his Clan had been plagued by an illness that had killed many of the warriors. So many, in fact, that for a while it had been nearly impossible to keep up with all the duties the Clan needed to perform. However it was true, after the birth of all the recent kits and with plenty of strong, young warriors now making up most of WindClan's warrior fleet, they were stronger than ever.
"WindClan has fully recovered," Maizestar agreed, stepping back to let another cat take his place.
Runningstar announced next that ThunderClan was strong, with new warriors, but one of their elders had died. Then Lynxstar announced that ShadowClan had a new medicine cat, Berrypatch. Rainheart briefly wondered what happened to the old medicine cat, but didn't have time to wonder as the Gathering was clearly breaking up.
He nodded a farewell to Chillsnow and Strongbreeze before padding over to join his Clanmates. On his way to join Mouseleap he passed Gougeclaw talking to a ThunderClan warrior. He nodded as he passed.
Mouseleap was sitting at the edge of the hollow, her eyes gleaming as Rainheart sat next to her.
"Congratulations on your apprentice," he said warmly. "Cherryheart turned out fine."
"Thank you," she replied, her eyes shining. "She was a sharp learner. I'm only sorry she couldn't come tonight."
"Maizestar couldn't bring every warrior," Rainheart pointed out with a flick of his ears. "Besides, what with the thorn in her pad earlier today, she might have appreciated resting it."
His sister shot him an amused look. "I'm certain she would much rather be here than stuck in camp. But you have a point about the amount of warriors Maizestar can send. And I have to admit it, I really didn't want to miss this Gathering."
"Me neither," Rainheart muttered. "It's just a shame that Gravelstone will never be here to meet me again."
Mouseleap eyed him sadly. "I'm sorry about your friend, Rainheart. Have you talked to his brother yet?"
"His brother?" Rainheart asked, whirling around. "I didn't know he was here…"
There the dark orange tabby was, sitting next his father, Heronflight. It pierced his heart to see the RiverClan deputy now knowing that his other son, who had been his spitting image, was no longer alive. Ignoring the pang in his heart, Rainheart padded over to the pair.
They stopped talking as Rainheart sat beside them. He dipped his head respectfully to the RiverClan deputy and nodded in welcome to Newtsplash. The warrior was staring incredulously at Rainheart, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"Rainheart," Heronflight said in welcome, his voice also carrying the surprise. "How may we help you?"
Once he was facing the RiverClan cats, Rainheart's confidence deserted him. What was he supposed to say to these cats? Nothing he could say would make up for their loss.
"Well?" Newtsplash prompted rudely. Heronflight just continued to stare.
"I'm sorry about Gravelstone," he murmured, wishing he sounded less like a nervous kit. "He was a good cat."
"What did you know of him?" Newtsplash hissed. "You're just some WindClan cat he talked to at Gatherings. You weren't really his friend."
"Newtsplash," Heronflight said warningly. Rainheart knew better than to be drawn into an argument with this tom, but he was surprised by the hostility there, and his fur bristled instinctively.
Before he could comment though, the orange warrior jumped to his feet and padded off, throwing his parting growl of "Stay away from me." over his shoulder.
Rainheart watched him go, angered by his response. It wasn't uncommon for cats to have friends in other Clans. He turned to look at Heronflight, nervous by the sharp gleam in the deputy's eyes.
But then Heronflight's eyes softened. "Thank you, Rainheart," he said. "It is good to know that Gravelstone will be missed by all Clan cats." He nodded as Rainheart dipped his head again, then padded off to join his Clanmates.
By now the Gathering was really breaking up. SkyClan had already disappeared into the undergrowth, as had ThunderClan. ShadowClan was disappearing into their territory, and RiverClan was just padding into the undergrowth on their territory.
"Rainheart!" called one of his Clanmates. He turned to see his Clanmates all gathered, just padding away up the glade.
"Coming!" he shouted, and raced off to join his fellow warriors.