Sunheart squeezed into the Gathering cave, wedged between the fluffy gray pelt of Sheepstar and the dark ginger one of her deputy, Talonstrike. Not for the first time, Sunheart breathed a silent prayer of thanks to StarClan for blessing her with supportive leaders. This was her first Gathering since Webwhisker's passing.

She swallowed the beginning of a sob before it could rise past her throat. Pull yourself together. Be strong. If you can't be strong, fake it, just for this one night. Just fake it, and then you can go home. But even in her own head, the advice felt frustratingly hollow. The Gathering hadn't even begun yet, and already she wanted to turn tail, scramble out of the cave, and find a hole to curl up in while she chewed the fur off her tail.

Sunheart was seriously considering the idea – she was a small cat; if she stayed in a hunting crouch, would anyone even notice her leaving? – when the crowd split in front of her, and she spotted the other medicine cats clustered around the Great Rock. Cricketleg's face lit up when he spotted her. Nudging Loudstorm, he pointed his tail at the approaching PeakClan cats.

Loudstorm snapped at him, provoking no response from any of the other medicine cats, who were used to it by now. When she looked in Sunheart's direction, however, her scowl melted away. The old she-cat hauled herself to her feet and trotted over to greet her.

Sheepstar nodded tensely in greeting. "Loudstorm."

"Sheep," replied Loudstorm, not bothering to nod in return, or even to look at the leader or deputy. Her eyes were fixed on Sunheart. "Talon. StarClan welcomes you and so on and so forth." She gestured to the Great Rock with an idle sweep of her tail. "Scoot. I want to see my daughter."

Talonstrike looked taken aback. "Daughter?"

"Not really," Sunheart whispered. "It's a...um...running joke. I guess?"

"How dare you speak of your mother that way." The next thing Sunheart knew, Loudstorm had swept her aside and was escorting her to the Great Rock.

The other medicine cats greeted her with a chorus of purrs. For a brief, wonderful moment, Sunheart's worries lifted. Cricketleg bumped foreheads with her, setting a lone butterfly loose in her stomach, followed by concern at showing intimacy in front of every Clan in the valley. But it was only a brief touch, and she reminded herself that their friendship was neither a secret nor a crime.

"I'm glad you came," he said. His eyes were bright with carefully restrained affection.

"Go away. She's mine." Hooking her foreleg over Sunheart's back, Loudstorm yanked her into a strange sort of embrace which nearly smothered her in fluff. The WildClan cat was so much taller that Sunheart could curl up comfortably underneath her with her head and front paws peeking out between Loudstorm's forelegs. She couldn't decide if the gesture – that of a mother guarding her kit – was more comforting or embarrassing.

A rough purr came from beside her. "We're all glad you came," said Snailnose. His cheerful look faded into a mournful one. "Webwhisker was one of the best." The other medicine cats mewed their agreement, and Sunheart had to swallow another lump in her throat.

"How's Patchstar?" she asked of the BrightClan leader. "I heard she didn't make it to the last Gathering."

Snailnose shrugged. "Unless StarClan can make her younger, it looks like she'll be speaking through her deputy from now on." His tone was light, but Sunheart could hear worry behind it.

"Speaking of her deputy, how is Goldstripe?" she asked. "Has his cough gotten any better?"

"Well..." He shot a meaningful glance at the top of the Great Rock. For the first time, Sunheart realized she only knew two of the cats perched there. There was Sheepstar, of course, and Beetlestar of BlazeClan, but also a huge brown tom who she assumed to be Oakstar of WildClan, and a cream-colored tom with a dark mask who she didn't recognize at all. Had BrightClan appointed a new deputy? Just as Sunheart opened her mouth to ask, the masked tom rose to his paws and yowled for silence.

Before the murmur of the crowd had time to die down, the tom began speaking over the top of them. His voice was as thin as an apprentice's, and it took an obvious effort to make himself heard. "Cats of all Clans," he yowled, "I am proud to stand before you as the new deputy of BrightClan."

Though Sunheart could hear him clearly from the base of the rock, she doubted the cats at the back of the cave could. A quick glance at the crowd, their ears swerving in search of an echo, proved her right.

The tom paused to draw breath. Oakstar, lying beside him, tapped the other cat's hind paw with a flick of his tail. The movement was so slight that Sunheart wouldn't have noticed it, had the BrightClan tom not bristled and whipped his head around to hiss in his face. Oakstar simply looked away and said nothing.

"They can't hear you," Sheepstar mewed, too quietly to be heard by the crowd. "Step back."

The tom's eyes darted in her direction. His lip uncurled, but his hackles stayed up as he took a few tentative steps backwards.

"I am Sharpheart, the new deputy of BrightClan," he called. This time, his voice bounced off the walls of the cavern behind him and reverberated all around the cave. His fur flattened. "Several sunrises ago, our previous deputy Goldstripe joined the elder's den after a long bout of illness that sapped his strength. He served our Clan well for many seasons, and we are honored to care for him in his last moons the same way he has cared for us."

A few meows of support rose from the crowd, mostly from his clanmates. Sharpheart acknowledged them with a pause before continuing. "Rest assured that this change in leadership has only made BrightClan stronger," he said. "We will no longer overlook encroachment on our borders for the sake of keeping the peace, as Goldstripe and Patchstar did. Our patrols are to be increased, and anyone—warrior, apprentice, or queen—caught tresspassing will no longer be let off with a warning." He looked at Oakstar through narrowed eyes, a thinly veiled challenge.

He talks like he's already leader! Uneasiness made Sunheart's belly feel sour. It didn't help that Loudstorm's fur had bristled so much over the course of Sharpheart's speech that she was beginning to look like an overgrown dandelion.

However, the WildClan leader seemed unperturbed, perhaps even a little amused. Oakstar took his time stretching before he stood up to take Sharpheart's place on the Great Rock. Sharpheart, suddenly looking twig-thin by comparison, stepped aside with reluctance.

"Cats of all Clans." Oakstar bowed his head. His voice was neither youthful nor aged, his tone neither aggressive nor submissive. "I am not unreasonable. I cannot ask you to forget the unjust actions of my Clan under Icestar's leadership. I hope that, in time, we can shed the reputation he built for us, but I understand that one moon of peace isn't enough to earn your trust yet. All I can offer is a promise that WildClan will not seek trouble as long as I am leader."

"Words are empty," hissed Sharpheart.

"Words are all I have," Oakstar replied. "A promise of war can be proven by a single action, but a promise of peace can only be proven by time." For the first time, he looked Sharpheart in the eye. "Increase your patrols, if it suits you. Prepare your warriors for battle. Cower in your camp waiting for an attack, hide your queens and your kits, tell them that death and destruction are coming until they wither up and die of fear, if that's what you want." Though his voice was still as smooth as a frozen pond, the tip of Oakstar's tail had begun to twitch, ever so slightly. "But WildClan will not come for you."

"BrightClan does not hide in our dens waiting to be attacked," Sharpheart snarled, arching his back and flattening his ears against his sleek head.

"Then come and attack my Clan in our own home, if that suits you. Raze our camp. Leave our kits without mothers, our apprentices without mentors, our elders without the clanmates they raised from kithood. Waste the lives of your warriors on revenge. Then let StarClan judge you," he said, narrowing his eyes, "if that's what you want."

"I want what's best for my Clan," said Sharpheart.

"I believe you," Oakstar replied. "You and I want the same thing. Let's not go to war over it."

With one final glower, Sharpheart took a seat. Through the rest of the announcements, his tail never stopped twitching, even when Oakstar stepped aside to let the other leaders speak. The masked tom's eyes never left the WildClan leader for more than a heartbeat.

"Do they know each other?" Sunheart whispered to Loudstorm. "I feel like I'm missing some context here."

A giant paw covered her muzzle in response. "Shush. I'll tell you after the announcements."

Sunheart's eyes started to glaze over when Oakstar brought up something about a border crossing and Beetlestar interrupted him to purr loudly about mouse-brained apprentices, whom he promised had been "tied to the elders' den by their tails." She assumed that meant a lot of moss gathering and tick checking duties that would be forgotten about within a few sunrises, since she couldn't picture Beetlestar being strict about anything. He probably apologizes to his prey before he eats it. Still, after all that fur-ruffling and tail-lashing between the other two toms, a little good humor was refreshing.

When the leaders had finished speaking, Loudstorm finally removed her paw from Sunheart's face. "I suppose you're too young to remember Sharpheart, aren't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"He wasn't born in BrightClan," Snailnose explained. "He was a...well, he was a..."

"Kittypet," growled Loudstorm.

Snailnose hissed. "He doesn't like having it brought up."

"And I don't like pandering to some upstart little tom's ego," Loudstorm replied.

"It's rude."

"It's the truth," she said. "Besides, I don't care that he was a kittypet. I care that he's making veiled threats against my Clan."

Snailnose bowed his head. "Okay, that is also true. He's a good cat, though, honestly. He just has a lot to prove."

Loudstorm rolled her eyes. "If you say so. Anyway, it was a minor controversy when he joined BrightClan. Icestar treated him like he was a damned soul from the Dark Forest reincarnated. No one else in the valley gave a rat's tail about the whole thing, but back in his younger days, Icestar could be awfully convincing, and he managed to stir up quite a bit of bad blood before the whole thing blew over. Nothing serious ever came of it, except for leaving a bad taste in a lot of cats' mouths."

"StarClan approves of Sharpheart," Snailnose said firmly.

Loudstorm snorted. "I never said they didn't."

While they bickered, Sunheart glanced up at the Great Rock. Sharpheart's glare met her. A chill went up her spine, and she looked away quickly. He didn't look angry, exactly, but she was sure he had been listening to their conversation.

"Sunny!" Loudstorm called, jerking her attention away. "I asked if you'd met my new apprentice."

"You have an apprentice?!" Sunheart's ears pricked up. "Why didn't they come with you tonight?"

"I'm right here," said a soft voice behind her.

"Gah!" Sunny leaped forward, her tail bushing up, and spun around. The cat behind her looked like a half-sized, white-furred copy of Loudstorm. "How long have you been there?"

"The whole time?" The white cat tilted her head, confused.

"Are you serious?" Sunheart padded up to her. Despite her youth – she couldn't have been an apprentice for more than a moon – she still towered over Sunheart, but had none of the intimidating aura of her mentor. Maybe she'll grow into it.

The white cat blinked. "That's why they named me Quietpaw."

"Quietpaw! I'm so happy to meet you!" Sunheart stretched her neck to touch noses with her. "And so happy to not be the only young she-cat around here anymore!"

Quietpaw purred.

"If you've really been behind me the whole time, you must be an amazing hunter. I had no idea you were there."

"Oh, no." She ducked her head. "I'm a terrible hunter. I can't stand to hurt anything. Whenever I see a bird on the fresh-kill pile, I can't help but wonder if it had a nest and a mate somewhere waiting for it to come home."

"Oh..." Sunheart's eye twitched. "Oh, no. Now I'm going to think about that every time I eat a bird."

"Mice have families, too," said Loudstorm dryly.

"No, stop it!" Sunheart batted at her. "What am I going to do if eating makes me sad?"

Loudstorm shrugged. "Never bothered me."

"That's because you're awful," said Snailnose.

Loudstorm puffed up like a dandelion again. "What did you just say about me?"

"I said you're awful."

"How dare you."

Sunheart watched them mock-swat at each other, feeling the void that Webwhisker's death had left in her heart start to fill up again. She felt soothed, even knowing they would all go home to their separate Clans at the end of the night. Whatever tensions lay between the Clans, whatever battles they fought or grudges they held onto, she and the other medicine cats were above all that. However the world around them changed, their shared bond would stay the same, even as StarClan appointed new faces and called the old ones home.