AN: Sorry, updates are a little slow… computer problems. :P Anyway, I'll try to do better IF I know people are reading this one. Soooo…review? I would like some feedback on this story! Review! Pleases!

"Until you have earned your warrior name, you will be known as Bloodpaw." Thornstar's yowl rang out across the mossy clearing. Bloodpaw stood beside Mousepaw, Hazelpaw, and Beepaw, who had already been named before her. Their mentors stood before them, proud and strong. But when Bloodpaw turned her gaze up to meet Brightwind's, she saw a flicker of fear-or was it dread?- in the warrior's eyes. But it passed in a moment.

"I'm so glad I'm your mentor, Bloodpaw," she meowed, her voice faltering before Bloodpaw's name. "I'm sure we'll get along great."

Bloodpaw, herself, felt rather annoyed. Most of the cats in HalfClan hesitated to say her name. She knew why, of course; normal kits had names like 'birch' and 'saffron,' but she had to have 'Bloodpaw.' Why can't they just get over it? she thought angrily to herself. I've been here since I was a kit, for StarClan's sake! But all she replied was, "I hope so."

Thornstar leaped onto the high boulder. "Tonight is a gathering," he yowled. "Blackpelt, Firepelt, Roseheart, Hazelpaw, Brightwind, and Bloodpaw, I would like you to come." He jumped down again and Bloodpaw felt a rush of excitement to replace her exasperation. She was going to a gathering! She bounded over to a small pool- no more than a puddle, really- and began washing her face in preparation. She frowned at the way her fur stuck out to the sides at her neck and tried to straiten it.

"The gathering isn't till tonight," Brightwind's meow sounded behind her. Bloodpaw spun around.

"But it takes a long time to flatten my fur," she protested. The gray she-cat let out a purr and flicked her ear with her tail-tip.

"You look fine, Bloodpaw," she meowed, this time without the pause. "I like the way your fur does that. It gives you a unique look."

Bloodpaw tipped her head to the side and considered this. She was the only cat whose fur stuck out at her scruff, in HalfClan anyway. "I guess," she replied, still not entirely convinced. But she didn't feel like arguing just then, so she padded to the apprentice den and peered in. three nests lay neatly in the center, leaving room nearer the edges for the newer apprentices. She slipped all the way in and scraped together some of the ever-present moss to make a soft nest to the side. Then she stepped into it and tried it out. She kneaded it with her claws a bit to make it softer in some spots and curled up. It was so comfortable she lay in it for quite a while, and would've fallen asleep if Hazelpaw hadn't entered at that moment.

"Oh! There you are Bloodpaw," she meowed. To Bloodpaw's sleepy ears, her voice was high and annoying. "I was looking for you so we could choose where to put our nests before the gathering, but I see you've already done that."

Bloodpaw could hear her den mate scraping together moss nearby, and tried to ignore it. She was so sleepy. At length, she drifted off in a deep, dreamless sleep. So when she did dream, it startled her.

A forest loomed up out of the blackness. The trees were dark, and no stars brightened the sky. Bloodpaw looked around for something familiar, but she had never been very far out of the camp, and hadn't seen mush of the territory yet. All she knew was that this was not HalfClan territory, for no moss blanketed the ground.

"Well, well, well, who have we here?" Branches rustled and a large tom slid out of the bracken to Bloodpaw's left. "A kit that strayed too far from her mother?"

"I don't have a mother," Bloodpaw replied instinctively. "And I'm an apprentice," she added, holding here head up proudly. The tom purred in amusement as if she was just a kit playing warrior.

"That makes all the difference," he meowed mockingly. Bloodpaw bristled.

"I'm just small, alright!" she hissed. "I just had my apprentice ceremony." She spun around and started to stalk away, but the tom padded up beside her.

"You're HalfClan." It wasn't a question, so Bloodpaw merely flicked her tail and kept going. "What's your name?"

"Bloodpaw." She drew out the first part of her name, hoping he would flinch, and was not disappointed. "And yours?"

"Riverspots," he meowed after a pause. "From MistClan. What clan's are you really from?" His green eyes shone with interest. Bloodpaw felt like hissing.

"How should I know? I've been there my entire life. Like I said, I don't have a mother." She tried to walk faster to get away from Riverspots, but he easily matched her pace.

"You're mother died, then," he meowed, stating a fact rather then asking a question. "And your father gave you to HalfClan. It's happened before," he added at her startled look. "My mother's LightingClan. I never knew my littermates."

Bloodpaw couldn't imagine this cat in HalfClan, and was very glad he'd had siblings to go there for him.

"Well, I have a gathering to go to tonight, so I should be going now," she told him. Riverspots purred and twitched his many long whiskers.

"Alright then," he meowed. "But I'll see you later." The forest began to dissolve around them, Riverspots the last to go. Bloodpaw awoke with a jolt, feeling a paw prodding her side. She blinked up at Hazelpaw.

"Wake up, sleepyhead," she was meowing, "it's time to go!"

Pushing herself to her feet and shaking scraps of moss from her fur, Bloodpaw followed her denmate out into the camp. The cats going to the gathering had gathered around Thornstar. As soon as the two apprentices emerged, their leader yowled and they padded out of the camp. Bloodpaw hurried to catch up.

Thornstar led them through HalfClan territory that looked the same to Bloodpaw as anywhere else in the forest; trees, moss, and green. At length, however, she scented something else-a breeze was blowing the scent of cats from her right. She guessed there were a lot of them, judging by the strength of their markers. She maneuvered between her clanmates to walk beside Brightwind.

"Which clan is over there?" she asked, waving her tail in the direction the breeze was blowing from. Brightwind glanced over at it.

"That's MistClan," she meowed. "You'll see them at the gathering. Silverstar is their leader."

At last the ground grew less mossy and they approached a grove of leafy trees that all looked much the same to Bloodpaw. As they entered, she was struck with a chaos of scents that were almost overpowering. But as she went in further, she was able to sort them into three different, major scents. The other clans, she thought, recognizing MistClan.

In the center was a small clearing, just big enough for the cats gathered in it. A boulder much like the one in HalfClan rested on one end, except this one was bigger. When the other three clans saw them enter, a silver tabby leaped up onto the boulder, her eyes shining in the full moon's light.

"Let the gathering begin," she yowled.

AN: Yay! Another chappie up! Please pleaseplease review!