Jealousy spiked Icepaw's pelt as she eyed Swanpaw and Poppypaw standing near their mentors as the group for the Gathering waited on Dovestar and Runningwhisker. Hawkpaw gave her a warm look from beside Wasptail and mouthed, 'Maybe next time?' Sandnose and Cloudwing were chatting like birds while Marshleaf and Sparrowpaw sat in silence. It wasn't fair that she couldn't go tonight. Especially since Clawnose never let her leave camp.

Only three sunrises passed since she became an apprentice and so far she's only been caring for the elders and kits while the others got to do normal apprentice activities. She had tried to ask her mentor if she could, but Clawnose always refused. She hated the mean ginger tom and wanted to change mentors. But Dovestar always turned her away before she could speak. As if Icepaw was just a waste of her time.

So Icepaw had to hold in her emotions as her leader and deputy finally took the patrol out of camp, Blossomtail and Shelldawn being the last two out. Silverfang was the cat keeping watch, so Icepaw's plan would work.

She kept herself quiet as she snuck to the entrance and glanced back at her mother. Silverfang was distracted with cleaning herself, giving Icepaw the advantage to rush out, following her Clan's scents.

She kept herself as far from her Clanmates as possible, knowing that she'd be scolded if they saw her, standing out like a rabbit in a fox's den. She had never been so far from the camp before and she had to stop to catch her breath, helping her get farther away from the Gathering cats.

When she finally got close enough to Fourtrees to see, but also far enough so that she didn't get caught, she found a tree and dug in her claws. She had never climbed one before and was surprised by how natural it seemed.

She had a moment of pride before she looked down at the Gathering, intimidated by how many cats she saw. So many more cats than at camp for sure. Many different pelt colors and sizes. She could tell who the apprentices were because they were the smallest cats. Swanpaw was fighting with another white she-cat who was smaller than her.

She started to study the other Clans' apprentices when a pair of amber eyes from a ginger apprentice locked with hers. The other apprentice was absolutely beautiful with silky fur and gentle warm eyes. The apprentice gave her a nod and went back to speaking with the cat beside her. She didn't know which Clan this apprentice was from, but she wondered if she would be Icepaw's friend had they been born in the same Clan.

The apprentice and her Clanmate looked up as the leaders began to speak. First up was a gray tabby she-cat with blue eyes.

"RiverClan fares well this moon, and we have finally driven out the badger that has been living near our camp. Luckily no cat was injured, but it ran into ThunderClan territory. If I was you, Seedstar, I would keep an eye out. That's all from RiverClan, thank you."

"I'll keep that in mind, Troutstar," ThunderClan's dark brown tabby she-cat's amber eyes were unimpressed. "Luckily we haven't seen hide or hair from it. Maybe we just got lucky. Brownburr has retired to the elders den and we have a new warrior. Sandpaw is now Sandtail."

"Sandtail! Sandtail!"

Icepaw was envious as the Clans cheered for the light ginger tom. WindClan certainly didn't give her that much faith. Sandtail's amber eyes were full of joy.

"We don't have a new warrior, but our deputy Pikeheart has become an elder and Tangleflower is our new deputy," the last leader, a black she-cat with amber eyes stepped up. It must have been Hollystar, the leader of ShadowClan. She looked fierce, even more than Dovestar.

The long-furred tom was sitting beside Runningwhisker and the other deputies as they praised him. His eyes were yellow, reminding Icepaw of Nightfeather.

"And we have a new apprentice, Blazepaw." Hollystar pointed to the beautiful ginger she-cat who had noticed Icepaw. The she-cat nodded as the gathered cats glanced at her. She was not boasting like Swanpaw would have or as shy as Icepaw would be.

As Dovestar replaced the ShadowClan leader, Icepaw wondered if the gray she-cat would tell the other Clans about her becoming an apprentice too. Was she going to give some fake excuse to why she wasn't there?

"WindClan is thriving well," she spoke up, "With the warmer weather, prey is much easier to find. There is no more news to report."

Icepaw felt herself grow upset. She knew she wasn't as respected as any of her Clanmates, but Dovestar didn't even mention her at all! She slid down from her tree and glanced back at Fourtrees to get one last look at Blazepaw, but the she-cat couldn't be spotted behind all of those warriors. She ran until she spotted a clump of herbs she didn't know the name of and rolled around in it so that her scent wouldn't be noticed as quickly.

She found it much easier to sneak back into camp as Silverfang was fast asleep as if she didn't care if the camp was attacked. She even looked peaceful as if her dreams were pleasant.

Lazy fox-heart!

As she entered the apprentices' den, she noticed Beetlepaw and Thistlepaw fast asleep and envied them as she sank into her own nest. She was still upset about not being acknowledged by Dovestar. But that wasn't what kept her up. It was that pretty ShadowClan apprentice. Icepaw wanted to become friends with that apprentice somehow. It wasn't as if she would ever have to fight ShadowClan anytime soon. Or ever if the Clan got their way. She wasn't mentioned at the Gathering and maybe the she-cat wouldn't care about her either if they met.

A new wave of loneliness washed over her and she had a hard time falling asleep because of it. Insomnia she couldn't even blame on her going out at night to sneak out of camp.