Forestleaf POV

Forestleaf sat in the middle of a throng of cats, her shoulders held high, and her tail tucked neatly over her paws. Although there were groups of cats around her, none were talking to her, and she wasn't talking to them. She would, of course, talk to other cats, but they all knew that they had to come to her first, and most preferred the company of more… sociable felines. She didn't mind, though, as she preferred to be left alone to her own thoughts. She was happily enjoying being ignored, until suddenly, an apprentice decided not to ignore her.

"I love your eyes!" The spotted she-cat said.

Of course, Forestleaf though. It's always the eyes… Except, most cats looked down on her for her eyes. Treated her like some sort of alien. She had worked hard to prove that she could be a true ShadowClan warrior.

Forestleaf grimaced as the scent of ThunderClan hit her nose. But before she could say anything, the she-cat continued.

"My name is Savannakit. And this is my sister, Bravekit."

"Kits?!" Forestleaf sputtered. "ThunderClan is letting kits come to the gathering?!"

"Shh!" The one called Bravekit said. "We snuck out of camp. Our clanmates don't exactly know."

"Well they do now!" Forestleaf said. "You're surrounded by them! Did you really think they weren't going to notice?!"

But before the kits could answer, there was a yowl from the leaders, and the whole island fell quiet.

"Now that everyone is here," Pinestar said, "I think it's time we begin the Gathering."

Forestleaf turned her attention away from the kits, and towards the leaders sitting in the branches of the large tree.

"I will go first," Pinestar said, standing up on his branch. "ShadowClan has been doing quite well. "Both Litterleaf and Splatterpelt are expecting kits." He paused as a few murmurs passed through the crowd. "In addition, we have welcomed Amberpaw and Goldpaw as apprentices." He paused again as the two apprentices puffed out their chests with pride, and the apprentices nearest them let out small noises of approval. "And finally, we have welcomed Forestleaf as a warrior."

Forestleaf stood up proudly, as many of the cats in the gathering murmured their approval. "Forestleaf, you have done well in your training, and we are proud to recognize you as a warrior of ShadowClan." Pinestar sat down after saying this, and Forestleaf sat down as well, turning her head to the next leader.

Streamstar stood up next. "RiverClan has also been doing well. "Thundereye had five beautiful kits. Smoothstone is expecting her kits any day now. And Honeypelt is also pregnant." She paused for the reactions of the crowd, then continued. "Darkflame and Creamlight have retired, and now sleep in the elders' den. We thank the both of them for their service, and hope that they can rest now with the other elders." She took a breath before continuing. "And we have some new apprentices. Rosepaw and Brackenpaw are warrior apprentices and Lilypaw is a medicine apprentice." There was some chatter among the crowd. Mossfur was still a rather young medicine cat, so it was a bit surprising that she was taking on an apprentice already.

Streamstar sat down, and when the murmuring died down, Swiftstar stood up.

"WindClan is doing good. All of our apprentices are doing well with training, and Firestorm has retired. Shadefoot hasn't had her kits yet. That's all the news we have to report."

As Swiftstar sat back down, Forestleaf recalled how WindClan hadn't had as much news as the rest of the Clans. Not just in this gathering, but in several of the previous ones too. She wondered if WindClan wasn't actually doing as well as Swiftstar said it was.

Forestleaf turned her attention back to the leaders as Stormstar stood up to address the crowd. "ThunderClan is thriving," she said with a slight purr. "We have two new apprentices, Oceanpaw and Snowpaw. Spotflank is nearing the end of her pregnancy, and Yelloweye is also expecting." She paused to let the talking fade, then a serious look overtook her. "But I do have one thing to address." The island fell dead silent as she looked down at the cats. "Bravekit and Savannakit, I see you've taken it upon yourselves to come to the gathering."

Forestleaf looked down at the two kits, who shrunk down in embarrassment. The rest of the cats were talking now, and looking around for the kits.

Stormstar cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. "Quiet down. Bravekit, Savannakit, you took it upon yourselves to come to this gathering, despite being only one moon away from apprenticeship. You know the rules about kits leaving the camp, and yet you chose to disobey them. Am I wrong?"

The kits shook their heads, looking down at the ground. "No, Stormstar," they said in unison.

"So, since you decided to leave the camp a moon early, I think it's only fair if you wait an extra moon before becoming apprentices."

The island filled with loud chatter as the cats discussed the new punishment. While most of the cats chattered, ThunderClan's deputy, Dirtfur, and the medicine cat, Dovefoot, wove through the crowd to pick up the kits.

"Way to make ThunderClan look bad," Dirtfur muttered, before grabbing Savannakit by her scruff.

Dovefoot just gave the kits a sympathetic look before picking up Bravekit. The cats then took the kits back to the front of the crowd, next to the other deputies and medicine cats.

"This Gathering is concluded," Stormstar shouted over the noise, before hopping off the tree.

Forestleaf though about the ThunderClan deputy's words as she wove through the crowd to meet up with her clan. 'Way to make ThunderClan look bad,' he had said.

"Tch," Forestleaf scoffed. ThunderClan is already the worst Clan. And just when I thought they couldn't get any worse, their kits had to go and pull something like that. How ridiculous.

But the thoughts of ThunderClan soon slipped her mind, as she followed her Clan back home, longing for a soft place to rest.

(Note from the author: Hello, and thank you for reading my story. I'm sorry the chapters are so short, I typed them on my phone so I didn't realize how short they actually were until I looked at them on my computer. I will try to make the upcoming chapters longer. Until then, feel free to leave a review, and again, thanks for reading!)