"Flowerpaw? Flowerpaw, are you listening?"

The cream-colored she-cat jumped guiltily at her mentor's words. "Er, yes, Slatefur," she replied, embarrassed. Of course, she hadn't been listening at all- as a new apprentice, this would be her first time going to a Gathering. The moon overhead shone down with a sharp, clear light, but Flowerpaw's head was spinning in confusion. Her mentor, Slatefur, had just rattled off an immense list of rules for the Gathering, along with various facts about the other Clans. So what if ThunderClan's deputy had just retired, or ShadowClan should have a new litter of warriors to announce? Flowerpaw flicked her tail in slight annoyance. Though she held no grudge towards her mentor, she wished he'd be a bit more sensitive sometimes. Just because he was so intelligent and had a great memory didn't mean she was exactly the same way.

Slatefur narrowed his eyes slightly, scrutinizing his young apprentice's pelt. She shrank away from his scintillating blue gaze, feeling hot and uncomfortable. At last, he nodded and said in approval, "Right, then. Let's go."

Relieved, Flowerpaw trotted after her gray-black mentor, trying to keep up as best as she could with her short legs. RiverClan was the closest Clan to the island on which the Clans gathered- for which Flowerpaw was grateful tonight- and the moon lit their path in a bright, welcoming way. Flowerpaw soon began to relax. Perhaps tonight won't be so bad, she thought. As long as Slatefur doesn't try to confuse me some more. Within a few minutes, the cream-colored apprentice could see the log used to cross over to the island, washed silver in the light of the full moon.

As soon as she crossed over, Flowerpaw was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of pelts around her. The other three Clans were already there, and everywhere she looked, there seemed to be cats. Flowerpaw felt dizzy from the scents and sights and sounds that assaulted her senses- she shut her eyes, desperate to block it out, only to feel a cat bump her from behind.

"Move along, Slowpaw!" sneered a gray tom behind her.

"Yes, Troutpaw," she replied meekly, moving out of the way of the log for her Clanmate to pass. The rude nudge he gave her was a perfect opportunity for her to slip into the brambles nearby, and although the branches pulled at her thick fur, at least the spot was unclaimed by any other cat. It was there that Flowerpaw waited- until Slatefur found her sitting there.

"Hey, Flowerpaw," he greeted, squeezing in beside her. She shuffled her paws uneasily, muttering a reply into her chest fur. "Come on! There are cats to meet, you won't want to miss this, it's your first Gathering, after all." On and on the dark tom chattered, and Flowerpaw had little choice but to follow him.

After she was in one of the calmer throngs of cats, Slatefur began pointing around with his tail. First he went to the Great Rock. "You see Leafstar up there, on the far left? Next to her is Spottedstar, from ShadowClan. And that black tom there is Nightstar- WindClan's leader. Don't mess with him. And finally, there's Dapplestar, who leads ThunderClan- she's pretty old now." He didn't even pause before launching into the deputies at the foot of the rock, and the medicine cats beside them.

How do you know all of this?! Flowerpaw wanted to cry out in shock. And more importantly, do you expect me to?

"Let's look for some familiar faces here," he mused, glancing at the cats around them. "Oh! Look- that's Frostheart, she's from ShadowClan- she was apprenticed in the same moon as me- and there's her apprentice now, Pebblepaw- let's go say hello-" Flowerpaw didn't even get a chance to protest as her mentor led her towards his friend. Terrified, she froze in place, and didn't even meet the others cats' eyes for several long moments. When Flowerpaw looked up, however, she met a gorgeous pair of green eyes, brighter than the marsh grass in Greenleaf, and they belonged to a slim, intelligent-looking gray-blue tom.

The young she-cat had to swallow back a cry of surprise when she realized he was looking at her with genuine interest.

"H-hi," she murmured quietly, at last, gaze refocusing on the ground as her face heated up. Was this the Pebblepaw who Slatefur had mentioned? Had that been his name? Maybe it was Rockpaw- she wasn't good with names.

"Hello," he greeted in response, waving his dark, dappled tail confidently. Now that Flowerpaw looked at him more closely, she could see similar paler gray spots- more like dapples- along his sides and stomach. She realized she must have been looking at him like Slatefur looked at his mate, Flamepool, and her heart began pounding nervously. What if he noticed? Did she really like him like that- already?

None of the previous introductions Slatefur had given mattered anymore. This was Pebblepaw, she told herself, and she wasn't going to forget him.

Moons flew by like mere sunrises for Flowerpaw. Her initial meeting with Pebblepaw had gone far better than she'd expected- he'd made her feel so much more at ease at the Gathering. Slowly, being the perfect apprentice to Slatefur began to matter less and less to Flowerpaw- she only had to be good enough to become a warrior. Pebblepaw, on the other paw, was becoming far more important. She saw him at a border patrol three sunrises after the first Gathering, and they both attended the next one, too. After that they began to meet once a quarter moon at the border between RiverClan and ShadowClan, and those quarter moons slowly turned to every other night, to nightly. Pebblepaw, who was nearly a moon older than Flowerpaw, became a warrior- Pebblestorm. And then, before she knew it, Flowerpaw was nearly a warrior.

Her assessment took her by surprise- literally. She hadn't known it was happening until she spotted Leafstar's tabby pelt in the shadows while she was hunting. Flowerpaw was ecstatic when she passed, and earned the name Flowerbreeze. Though she had to sit vigil that night, and missed being with Pebblepaw, she didn't mind in the least- being a warrior was so much more important for the time being.

But then, sitting vigil, Flowerbreeze realized something- she loved Pebblestorm.

What they were doing was breaking the code, but the cream-colored she-cat loved him anyway. She loved him enough to break the code.

She loved him enough to join ShadowClan for him.

The leafbare sun was bleak in the sky, casting light but no warmth onto the cats below. The snow on the ground was pure white and fresh, making crisp crunching sounds as two cats- one who stood out starkly, and one who nearly blended in- walked across it.

Pebblestorm held his head high as he approached the ShadowClan camp. He knew he had nothing to fear from his own Clan. Leafstar and Spottedstar had already agreed to this, hadn't they? His tortoiseshell leader, though mixed-minded as the colors on her pelt, would not turn her back on him. He was her kin, after all. And so he walked without care, with the confident and intelligence he'd always possessed, into his camp.

Immediately, cats began to crowd him- elders, warriors, apprentices, even kits. He saw his mother Briskwind in the background, and Spottedstar watching through even blue eyes. At the Clan's unanimous clamoring, he raised his tail for silence, and then began to speak.

"This is Flowerbreeze." Pebblestorm's blue eyes were full of pride at the introduction. "This is my mate."

AN: Oh my goodness, guys, I'm so sorry I couldn't release this one yesterday! My family planned an all-day beach day sort of trip today, and I was too busy helping out to post... x.x I won't be able to release another one tonight like I'd planned to, but I hope you all do enjoy this one! It actually is Theme #1, Introductions, though I strayed a fair bit from that after having this idea. cx I was going to end it more tragically, since we haven't had any sad chapters yet, but there'll be plenty of opportunities in the future, trust me!

I hope you all enjoy the story of Flowerpaw and Pebblepaw!

Please review if you can, and follows/favorites are always appreciated!

Thank you all so much!