Featherstar's POV

"Welcome everyone." Featherstar gazed around the clearing. She looked at DarkClan the longest, then her gaze quickly flicked over to the rest of the crowd. "Thank you for coming here to a special Gathering."

Gazing once more at the Clans, Featherstar took a deep breath and continued. "We all know that last Gathering, we were requested to tell the story of our birth by StarClan. So we did. We explained about ElementClan, the rebellion, and the split. But," Featherstar began pacing on the Point Rock.

"A couple of my warriors, and perhaps a few from SunClan, noticed DarkClan was very...er, fidgety, lets call it." She stopped pacing and looked straight down at Dawnstar, the leader of DarkClan. "It is almost like the story that we were telling...it didn't apply to them."

Several gasps erupted from the Clans, while a few other warriors were nodding their agreement.

"DarkClan?" Featherstar addressed the shady Clan. "Would you like to explain yourselves?"

Dawnstar bit back a snarl. "We are no more non-ElementClan than you are," she growled. "Of course the story applies to us, why don't you ask Darkstar - the very first leader of DarkClan!" Her voice rang through out the clearing, echoing far beyond the trees that sheltered the Island.

"Very well." Featherstar mewed coolly. "I am still not convinced that you are telling the truth. I mean," She turned towards the IceClan and SunClan groups. "Would we really trust DarkClan - who is known by the Clans to be the sneakiest of them all?"

Yowls and cheers of approval erupted from the Clans. "So." Featherstar sharply turned her head and stared at Dawnstar.

"So," Featherstar meowed. "We will let you off now...but we will - and I repeat, we will, find out the truth..."

With a lash of a tail, Dawnstar barked, "DarkClan, back to camp!" Both Patchstar and Featherstar repeated the same action. As Featherstar bounded down the Point Rock, she felt a tip of a tail on her shoulder. She spun around and saw a jet black tom.

"I have been wanting to talk to you for a long time," Crowstorm whispered.

Snowsong - er, Darkstar's POV

I stare down at my pitiful mate. He is trembling; a scar is now branded into the soft flesh of skin. A wave of guilt instantly hits me: it was my own claws that struck the killing blow.

But thats enough misery for now. I look hopefully at Sunstar and Icestar, waiting for them to start the evaluation. Soon it hits me that they are waiting for me. I try my best to imitate what Darkstar said at my last evaluation.

"Let's begin," I meow in Darkstar's powerful voice. Seeing that Sunstar and Icestar both close their eyes, I close my own.

I'm surprised on what I see. I see Hawktalon...but thats not all. I can see his thoughts swirling out of him, his feelings pulsing out, blowing on my skin. I see small flashes of what must be his life - Larkflight, a dead dog, and me.

"You are Hawktalon of DarkClan?" Icestar meows.

"Y-yeah," Hawktalon replies nervously.

"You were killed by your mate, Snowsong?" Sunstar continues.

"She didn't know what she was doing!" Hawktalon meows rather defensively. Through the thoughts and feelings, I can see him unsheathe his claws are snarl.

"Keep your claws sheathed," I boom. "Its best that you leave here alive."

Hawktalon looks surprised. He soon sheathes his claws once more.

"You are not angry at all at your mate." Sunstar whispers. "I would be."

"Me too," Icestar echoes. "The Council...we knew who Snowsong was. She was brave, confident, and kind. She...she was set a task: To stop the devastating battle between SunClan and DarkClan. She succeeded - but only because of StarClan's help. Snowsong...she cared about her kin. We knew that. The thing we didn't know is that she really did, deep down, care about them. Before we executed Frost, the rogue that had been stealing the prey and Snowsong's mother, Snowsong stepped in the way and..."

Icestar sniffs tearfully. "She...she died." She bursts out into tears.

"Now, now, Icestar," I mew. "It was our own fault that we didn't realize Snowsong's connection with her mother. It is especially my fault, since I brought down the killing blow."

Sunstar soon realizes that both Icestar and me are not up to continue the story, so he continues it for us.

"Now, Snowsong's story doesn't end there. After she had been killed, she was exiled from StarClan forever. It was not our own choice - it just happens. She was about to vanish from this world forever, when Cedarstrike, then an apprentice, pulled her out of death's edge and saved her. Snowsong was now alive once more."

Recovering from her tears, Icestar decides try and tell the story.

"Snowsong was now a spirit in limbo - she was nor a part of StarClan or the Dark Forest, though she did live in the Dark Forest for a period of time. Cedarstrike continued to visit her, and they developed a great friendship. He soon fell in love with her. He asked her to be his mate. She declined him."

I know this story better than anyone else, so I decide that it is time for me to step in.

"Cedarstrike found another mate," My voice his hollow and thick. "He had a kit with her. That kit was supposed to be Cedarstrike's apprentice. Featherstar, who was receiving visions from Snowsong, thought that Cedarstrike was evil. Sandpaw was apprenticed to someone else. Cedarstrike was mad. He killed Bluefeather, his mate, by accident, and murdered his father.

"Snowsong found Bluefeather in the Dark Forest. StarClan wasn't accepting anymore cats. We thought that there was no good left in the Clans. StarClan, thinking that it was best to give Snowsong a little surprise, reincarnated Snowsong. Changed her into Snowkit, daughter of Featherstar. But she was Snowsong at nighttime. Snowsong later gathered a crew, consisting she-cats that had all been betrayed by Cedarstrike. Now, I know that you must know who Larkflight is. Larkflight had been learning from Rosestar, the former leader of IceClan. She knew magic now. While Snowsong and her crew set out to fight, Larkflight used a piece of ancient magic and transformed Snowsong and her crew evil. And you know the rest."

My paws knead the fresh earth. I wonder what he's going to say.

"You are to stay in StarClan," Icestar meows. "You have suffered too much. It is time you relax."

My eyes fly open. I stare at Hawktalon for a few moments before walking away.