"Do you need marigold for this one?" Maplekit asked Sweettooth in a soft voice. The gentle sun of dawn was rising and Maplekit, Silverkit, and Torrentkit volunteered to help in the medicine den after the previous night's battle. Though the worst injury in camp was a only a deep scratch on Nightsky's shoulder, Willowshine gladly agreed for the kit's help.
"No," Sweettooth answered educatively. "It isn't very deep so it probably won't get infected. However this one—" Sweettooth rolled around to uncover a deeper scratch on his belly. "Is deeper and in a more infection-prone spot so it should be treated."
"Okay!" Maplekit was becoming more excited. The tortoiseshell-and-silver kit chewed up a few marigold leaves well into a poultice, and rubbed the poultice over Sweettooth's worst injury.
Sweettooth felt a healing sensation that got only stronger when he saw Shelldawn coming with Silverkit and Torrentkit.
"I chewed horsetail!" Torrentkit ran up to Sweettooth and Maplekit. "Did you also chew horsetail?"
"Willowshine gave me marigold." Maplekit meowed, puffing his silver chest.
"I didn't like being a medicine cat." Silverkit meowed disappointedly. "The horsetail was tasty though."
"I can put some in your next fish," Sweettooth suggested, ideas bubbling in his head. "Maybe some other herbs and leaves too."
"Kits," Shelldawn rubbed her tail on their kit's spine. "Go ask Oakkit and Stormkit to teach you mossball."
The kits ran away excitedly to learn the clan-wide beloved game.
"Maplekit is very enthusiastic about medicine." Sweettooth understood his mate's intention in sending away the kits. "I've got a feeling he wants to be a medicine cat."
"But what if he doesn't?" Shelldawn objected quietly. "He's only half a moon old, what if he gets pulled into something he doesn't really want?"
"He'll be fine," Sweettooth wasn't worried, not when Maplekit had Shelldawn for a mother. "We'll teach them to stand up for themselves."
"Look how many scratches you've got on yourself." Shelldawn scolded in a sudden change of topic. "You chose to fight Lionstar? You know how dangerous he is, he killed like five cats, most of them leaders and deputies. Is that right Mothwing?"
"Well," The old medicine began reminiscing from behind Sweettooth. "He killed Russetfur, who was the ShadowClan deputy, and he took two of Harestar's life, though one of them was against an imposter who took hold of Harestar's body. So that's three lives Lionstar took."
"That's still very dangerous!" Shelldawn retorted.
"I heard Sweettooth fought very well." Mothwing tried to comfort Shelldawn. "You don't need to worry about him. Even if he does get hurt, we are capable enough to heal him." Mothwing paused and looked to where Sweettooth's and Shelldawn's kits were playing with Mistfeather's and Jayclaw's. "Your kits are lovely." Mothwing meowed at last and headed towards the nearby medicine den.
"Let's go to the nursery." Shelldawn got up and began padded towards the nursery.
"I'll bring us a fish." Sweettooth meowed, and padded towards the fresh-kill pile.
At the fresh-kill pile, Fluttercloud and Nosemallow were sitting together.
"Brackenpelt can't stop bragging about you." Nosemallow greeted Sweettooth. "Fighting Lionstar like you did is no easy feat. So is fighting Mousewhisker, Poppyfrost, Molewhisker, Thriftear, Snaptooth, Flameclaw, and Sparkpelt all in the same battle." Nosemallow congratulated Sweettooth and turned his tail towards Fluttercloud. "Especially when you had this fishbrain for a mentor."
"Your blood definitely didn't help either." Fluttercloud returned the tease, and put on a more serious tone. "We'll miss you on patrols Sweettooth, are you sure you want to move to the nursery?"
"Of course I am." Sweettooth answered. "I want to raise my kits and spend more time with them."
"It does sound nice," Fluttercloud commented. "Getting to spend more time with Splashpelt and Fogtail."
"Oh no," Nosemallow disagreed with his littermate. "I've seen what Petalfur has gone through in the nursery. I was fine only playing with those brats."
"I'm taking a fish for Shelldawn." Sweettooth closed the conversation and grabbed a chub.
Sweettooth padded over to the nursery and shared the chub with Shelldawn. When only a few morsels were left on the fish, the bramble entrance rustled and three kits barged in.
"Mossball is fun!" Torrentkit exclaimed.
"Can we eat this fish?" Maplekit was staring hungrily at the fish.
"You can." Shelldawn purred happily.
"Thank you StarClan for this prey." Maplekit meowed, which reminded his littermates to follow.
The kits proceeded to eat slowly and mannerfully, as they were taught the previous day, and stood alert for bones and scales.
"This one tastes different!" Silverkit meowed excitedly after swallowing her bite. "How is it called?"
"This fish is called a chub." Sweettooth taught his kits. "They're very similar to a carp but they're usually smaller. It is very impressive that you managed to notice the difference."
"I'm impressive!" Silverkit bragged proudly.
"Hop into the nest kits," Shelldawn half-meowed half-purred. "Remember that you still need milk."
The kits jumped into the nest and wriggled comfortably on their mother's belly and began suckling. Shelldawn glanced at Sweettooth with a warm expression in her eyes, and Sweettooth got into the den, cuddling his mate and his kits.
A full moon brightly lit the gathering island, as cats of most clans were waiting for the gathering to begin.
"Hey Sweettooth!" A brown-and-cream ThunderClan tom was padding over to Sweettooth. "How is it going? You had some great skills in last moon's battle, I heard you even fought Lionstar and Sparkpelt."
"I think I did." Sweettooth answered, not knowing who is Lionstar, or Sparkpelt. "I remember pushing you hard into another she-cat."
"Oh yeah that was my mother," The tom meowed without any change of tone in his voice. "Poppyfrost. But you can be sure that next time ThunderClan would be victorious, Sandkit would be apprenticed at the start of the next moon, he's going to be the best warrior in all the clans."
"My kits should be apprenticed soon too." Sweettooth was happy to talk about kits. "They're not much older than a moon, but they're already so big! We're fully weaning them the next morning."
"I know how you're feeling." The ThunderClan cat replied. "Do you ever wonder who their mentor is going to be? I wanted Mousewhisker to mentor Sandkit but he already got Tigerpaw."
"I haven't really thought about it," Sweettooth answered. "All of my clanmates would be great mentors. I guess I'd want Willowshine to mentor Maplekit."
"Willowshine the medicine cat?"
"Yes."
"That's nice, being a medicine cat is very honorable. Anyway, you have to teach me some of your moves sometime." The tom parted and turned away back to sit with his own clanmates.
As SkyClan cats entered the clearing behind their tired leader, the other leaders leapt onto the branches of the Great Oak, and the brown-and-cream tabby soon followed.
"Let the gathering begin." The SkyClan leader yowled when she was steady on a branch. "Nothing of note happened in SkyClan this moon. Mudpaw's and Pheasantpaw's apprenticeships are coming along well, and soon they'll be joined by Fallkit and Honeykit." The tabby finished her report and sat down.
"ThunderClan has new apprentices!" The golden leader rose and yowled. "Tigerpaw and Featherpaw are apprenticed to Mousewhisker and Bristlefrost."
"Tigerpaw! Featherpaw!" The clearing cheered while two young she-cats were standing proud and determined.
"Birchfall and Whitewing are now residing in the elders' den." The ThunderClan leader resumed. "And we sadly sat vigil for Brightheart and Brackenfur." The golden leader paused with a solemn expression.
"We wish them good hunting, swift running, and shelter where they sleep." Reedstar shared his grievances.
"Thank you Reedstar," The muscled tom meowed, and turned to face the other black cat sitting on the oak. "How is Bayblade?"
"Bayblade is fine." The WindClan leader grunted, and proceeded to give her report. "WindClan has four new apprentices in Harepaw, Rabbitpaw, Stagpaw, and Ryepaw."
"Harepaw! Rabbitpaw! Stagpaw! Ryepaw!" Similar congratulations we're given to the new WindClan apprentices, who seemed less brooding than those of ThunderClan. As the cheering calmed down, The WindClan leader sat down.
"We don't have any new apprentices yet but next moon we will." The dark tabby on the great oak rose and announced. "Rowankit, Runningkit, and Dawnkit are very excited to become warriors." The ShadowClan leader sat down after giving the brief report.
"RiverClan is doing great," Reedstar began his report. "Frostfur has moved to the nursery, and will soon bring even more kits to our clan. We were also glad to help other clans this moon in many different ways."
Reedstar's show of strength was answered by three hidden glares from most of his fellow leaders. "This seems like a good time to end the gathering." The ShadowClan leader half-grunted and leaped down from the tree. The rest of the leaders followed shortly after, formally closing the gathering.