The first thing I noticed was the sheer amount of cats everywhere. Their breath filled the air with mist, and their eyes gleamed from every corner. I couldn't help but feel unnerved, and think, I'm probably the youngest, least experienced here, and they could kill me with one claw.

Luckily, I picked out a dark ginger apprentice sitting on his own. He looked like he could be the same age as I was, give or take a moon. His hazel eyes glimmered at me as I sat down beside him. The first thing that hit me was the strong reek of ShadowClan emanating from his pelt. Wonder if I could get him to share any of his Clan's secrets? I wondered, nodding curtly at him.

"Who're you?" the ginger apprentice asked, drawing his tongue over one glossy forepaw and using it to clean his whiskers. "Don't think I've seen you before."

I nodded, slightly unnerved at his calm, placid air. "I'm Lilypaw," I murmured. "Thornclaw's apprentice. I'm from ThunderClan."

"I could tell from the reek of your pelt!" the flame-colored cat mewed, with a mrroww of laughter.

Warmth, like sunlit honey, suffused through my pelt. "Hey! Who're you calling smelly? You smell like a heap of fox dung!" I purred, batting one paw at his muzzle. His hazel eyes offered no response except for a slight glint of playfulness, so I added, "What's your name, at any rate?"

"Flamepaw." The warm cast flickered away from his eyes, and his tail curled round his paws. "Tawnypelt's son. My mentor's Russetfur. Who's your mentor again?"

"Thornclaw." I dipped my head at him, where he was talking with Birchfall and Onestar. "My mother's Brightheart."

Flamepaw's eyes flashed. "The ginger-and-white queen with the half a face?" he asked disrespectfully, though I could see through his twitching tail and gleaming eyes that he was joking around. Still, he shouldn't be talking about Brightheart like that!

"Mnn. She's still a good fighter, though," I pointed out fairly, flicking my tail at him.

"No need to get your fur all ruffled," Flamepaw sighed. "Just makin' a joke now, will you?" He swung a sheathed paw at me, which I ducked.

"Hey!" I purred, rearing up and knocking him down, pinning his shoulders to the frost-covered earth with my forepaws. "Watch who you're messing with!"

Flamepaw kicked at me from underneath, and I flung back into a grey RiverClan apprentice. My whiskers twitched with embarrassment as the apprentice stared at me. "Watch where you're going!" she mewed, a trace of a purr entering her voice.

"Sorry. Blame him!" I said, flicking my tail in Flamepaw's direction. His green-blue eyes glowed almost sneeringly at me, and I bared my teeth playfully at him.

The RiverClan apprentice turned back to where she was talking with a young warrior from WindClan and a ShadowClan apprentice. Honeypaw put a paw on my shoulder, her whiskers twitching with amusement.

"Beaten by a ShadowClan apprentice!" she teased, before racing off to join a larger group of apprentices. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself!"

I let out a good-tempered hiss before rejoining Flamepaw. "Thanks a lot!" I teased, kicking an amount of snow into his face.

"Hey! Watch it, you stupid furball!" Flamepaw called.

I was about to say something before a loud yowl sliced through the night air. Leopardstar, the RiverClan leader, was standing in a fork of two branches in the oak trees. I tremor ran down my spine as I realized the Gathering was starting.

"Cats of all Clans, the prey is running well in our river, even though leaf-bare has taken hold of the forest," she called, her spotted pelt rippling powerfully. I felt a little bit in awe. "We are not to be reckoned with."

"She sounds like she means business!" I mewed under my breath at Flamepaw.

"I know! She sounds fierce," Flamepaw agreed. "Wonder what's up with her?"

"Why, scared of yellow-bellied RiverClan attacking you?" I sneered, before being hushed by a WindClan elder sitting behind me. I looked back, feeling a little bit sheepish.

"Nothing much has happened in WindClan," Onestar reported. His whiskers gleamed in the moonlight, and I couldn't help noticing his lean body. He doesn't look like a force to be reckoned with, either! I thought. "We chased a fox of our territory, though that's it. ThunderClan?"

A chill of awe ran through me as I saw Firestar stand up, his emerald eyes glistening in the reflection of the moonlight. "We have been recovering well from the snowstorms a quarter moon ago," he announced. "Other than that, nothing has happened in ThunderClan, either. Blackstar, have you anything to report?"

Blackstar looked uneasily at the crowd. "No." He shifted backwards, with a glance at his deputy, Russetfur.

"What's up with them?" I hissed to Flamepaw.

"Like I'm going to tell you?" Flamepaw asked, tapping my paws gently with his tail. "It's none of ThunderClan's business. Don't you think that's why he didn't mention anything?"

Yeah, but there was definetly something that he didn't share, I felt like pointing out. As the Clans began to regroup into their individual alliances, I glanced back at Flamepaw, who was talking with a white-furred ShadowClan elder.

"Hey, Lilypaw!" I whipped around in surprise as Cinderpaw slipped up towards me. "How'd the Gathering go for you?"

I felt an rush of warmth. "It was fun," I purred. "Wonder what was up with ShadowClan, though?" I added in an undertone. Tawnypelt and Cedarheart were walking by, and Cedarheart gave us a suspicious glance, as if he realized that we were gossiping about them.

"Dunno. They're always a bunch of hairballs," Cinderpaw said loudly. I felt a rush of laughter and embarrassment as Tawnypelt and Russetfur glared at us.

"Oops!" Cinderpaw squeaked, casting her blue eyes downwards as we headed back towards our own Clan. "You seemed to make fast friends with that one ShadowClan apprentice, though." Her eyes glittered teasingly, and her whiskers twitched. "You can't have a mate in ShadowClan, don't forget!"

I purred, feeling an unusual spark of warmth hit me as I thought of Flamepaw. "He's Flamepaw," I mewed. "Tawnypelt's son." Seeing that Cinderpaw was looking curiously at me, I added, "He's nothing special. I just happened to see him at the Gathering, that's all."

"If you say so," Cinderpaw replied.