Sunpaw:
It had been moons since she and Shadowpaw had figured that they were littermates, and they had hidden their secret well. Well, except for Shadowpaw's best ThunderClan friend, Ashfire, who had figured out the same day as them. Sunpaw tucked in her tail and followed Willowsplash, the new RiverClan deputy, and Streamstar out of camp, half the clan at her side as they padded to the gathering. This time, out of her "littermates" (Brightpaw and Icepaw)- would they still be considered her littermates?- she had been the only one chosen to go.
A drought, a heavy, serious drought, had fallen across all the clans recently, and the lake seemed to be drying up, along with some of the streams. All the clans were short of land prey, and RiverClan was also short in fish. Hunger threatened to destroy the clans.
Sunpaw fell behind a little, noticing a certain gray-white tom padding alone near the end. "Cloudpatch-" she began.
Cloudpatch's head barely turned, but Sunpaw could see that his once soft, blue eyes were now hard and cold as they gleamed in the half-light. Without replying, the young warrior stalked ahead, his tail high. Sunpaw glanced helplessly after him, her heart heavy, shattering, with the loss of a friend. When her heart was heavy, so were her feet, as Sunpaw trudged sadly along, after the RiverClan cats.
Sunpaw's head and tail drooped as she watched Cloudpatch weave ahead. Still, she didn't feel the loss as hard as she would feel if she had loved him any more than a close friend, but she knew that she would miss the young warrior. Sunpaw felt that she would never truly love the gray-white tom, but she thought that the two would have gotten along quite well if Cloudpatch had never truly loved her.
Sunpaw felt something stir beside her, and she didn't need to look up to know that it was Rainblaze. "Well, Sunpaw," the dark gray she-cat mewed. "I can't say that it's all your fault, but it's certainly not his, either. You gave him the illusion you loved him, by acting kind and all, and that gave him the confidence to tell you that he loved you! And then you let him down!"
"No, it's not like that-" Sunpaw mewed.
Rainblaze waved her tail for silence. "I'm not finished. You haven't heard your side of this yet. It's not your fault that you didn't love him, and you tried to tell him as nicely as you could. I don't think you could have done anything else."
But I could, Sunpaw thought. I could have declined Sootpaw, and not have met him every night. Of course, she didn't put what she was thinking into words.
Rainblaze paused for a moment, then purposefully slowed until she and Sunpaw lagged behind everyone else. "Sunpaw?"
"Yes?" Sunpaw mewed, pricking her ears.
"Why don't you love Cloudpatch? I mean, why... who else would you love?" Rainblaze mewed, quietly.
Sunpaw stiffened, her heart sinking at the inevitable truth. "Please, Rainblaze," she whispered, "don't tell a soul."
"I won't," Rainblaze mewed, her eyes narrowing in half-suspicion and half-curiosity. "But just tell me. Who's the lucky tom?" she mewed, teasingly.
"It's... Sootpaw of ShadowClan."
"What?"
"I know it's against the code, and I'm sorry," Sunpaw mewed, a little annoyed. "But I can't help it!" Rainblaze didn't say anything, so Sunpaw hung her head. "Go on! Tell me off! Tell me how important the warrior code is, and-"
Rainblaze laid her tail on her shoulder. "I'm not going to tell you off," she mewed.
Sunpaw blinked. "What?"
"You have the power and the freedom to make your own decisions," Rainblaze murmured. "If that is your choice, we cannot do anything to change it." Sunpaw stared at her, but was unable to find any insincerity in the depths of her deep blue gaze.
Sunpaw nodded, a little startled by the deeper wisdom with which Rainblaze spoke. "Thank you. A-and, you won't tell...?"
"I won't," she promised. She gave Sunpaw a little nudge. "Now, come on, let's cross." She padded onto the tree-bridge easily, her claws gripping the bark as she crossed neatly. "Come on!" Sunpaw scowled. Rainblaze didn't need to treat her like this was her first gathering. In fact, this was her fourth or fifth, but she didn't spit back an angry retort as Rainblaze called her over. She simply crossed the fallen tree and made her way into the island.
However, she was halted by Rainblaze, who hissed at her. "You need to stop acting like the world is coming to an end, Sunpaw!"
"What? I'm not!"
"Right," Rainblaze mewed drily. "Next, you'll be telling me that hedgehogs can fly. No, fine, you're acting too gloomy."
Sunpaw snarled. "I don't care. Like you said, I have the power and the freedom to make my own decisions," she mimicked. "I choose to be gloomy. Alright?"
"No, it's not alright!" Rainblaze snapped. "That's not power and freedom to make decisions, that's just..." She broke off. "All right, just please try to act brighter and happier!" Sunpaw rolled her eyes, but she nodded anyways. Her eyes brightened as her gaze fixed on a dark gray tom's fur as he moved through the crowd toward her.
"Sootpaw!" she mewed, fighting off the urge to rub against him with so many cats watching. "How's life in ShadowClan?"
"Sootpaw?" Sootpaw mewed, with mock confusion. "If you don't mind, my name's Sootclaw."
Sunpaw gasped. "You became a warrior? Already?" She had almost another moon until her final assessment.
"It was a little early, but it was because I saved Darkblaze from a fox," Sootclaw mewed, sounding rather proud as he spoke. "I became a warrior just this morning."
"That's great!"
"Well, how's life in RiverClan?" Sootclaw mewed, the same unreadable glint in his eyes as there had been when Sunpaw had taught him to fish.
Sunpaw shrugged. "It's fine." She didn't want to drop any hints about Cloudpatch. "We have a new deputy, Willowsplash, and our medicine cat - you remember Frostwing? - discovered a fresh bout of herbs, catmint!"
Sootclaw's eyes darkened. "There's greencough in our camp," he muttered. His eyes flickered for a moment, and traces of a smirk crept across his face.
Sunpaw narrowed her eyes. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing, never mind." Sunpaw thought he spoke too quickly, and realized that he was hiding something. "Just an idea I had."
"How's your clan coping with the drought?" Sunpaw asked.
Sootclaw shuddered a little. "We're really short of prey," he admitted.
"So are all the clans," Sunpaw snapped. "So what's new about that?" Sootpaw looked surprised by her outburst, but she flicked her tail. "It's drying all our water, and we can't eat fish or land prey!"
"Let the gathering begin!" Sunpaw pricked her ears as she heard Adderstar let out a yowl. She watched as the ShadowClan leader dipped his head to Wolfstar. "You may speak first."
Wolfstar flicked her tail. "The effects of the drought have been hard on all the clans," she mewed. "We are all short of land prey. One of our elders, Windrunner, and a warrior, Swiftfang, have passed away to hunt with StarClan."
She stepped back and let Streamstar take her place. "RiverClan has also been hit by the drought. Prey in the lake is short, and we have turned a little to land prey, not completely, but just partially. Bluewisp is dead, and Willowsplash has taken her place as deputy." A few yowls of mourning rang out from all the clans; Sunpaw realized that Bluewisp had been a popular deputy in all the clans.
"We have been struck by greencough as well as hunger. The drought has taken all prey, which makes it almost impossible for our sick to survive. Still, we are fighting as hard as we can to survive. Whiteflame, Shadeheart, and Blackmoon have died this moon," Adderstar mewed. It seems that every clan has its losses this moon, Sunpaw thought.
Jaystar dipped his head. "ThunderClan have lost Oakshade, a great loss for our clan. However, we have a new apprentice this moon. Or, kind of. Daisyfoot has left the life of a warrior and accepted apprenticeship to Poppyfoot, to become a medicine cat." Sunpaw turned to see the cream-furred she-cat raise her head proudly from where she sat with the medicine cats as appreciative cheers rang out for her. "That is all. The gathering is over."
Sootpaw's tail touched her cheek. "See you tonight."