The full moon shone brightly over the heads of the gathered cats. Waterpaw shifted her weight from side to side and tucked her paws in to keep her pads from freezing off- it was so cold! Okay, maybe her pads weren't really going to freeze off, but it sure felt like it. She shuddered at the sight of her breath coming out in white puffs.

"C'mon, other Clans, hurry up," muttered Patchfur, who sat beside Waterpaw, working his claws into the ground. "We haven't got all night!"

"Actually, I'm pretty sure we technically do have all night," Smokefur remarked. "It'd still be nice to get a few hours of sleep, though."

RiverClan had managed to get to the island first tonight. Miststar had gotten everything running orderly, and Graystorm had picked a good selection of cats to go. It was Waterpaw's first time at a Gathering; she was already an apprentice when the Gathering a moon ago had rolled around, but she'd volunteered to stay behind and watch the Clan. Minnowleap hadn't been too happy about that. "Such a wonderful cat should show herself off as often as possible," she'd said, but Waterpaw didn't really see the point of Gatherings in the first place. They were all just going to fight each other again anyway, so why pretend like they were all friends when they obviously weren't?

Finally, the bushes rustled and ShadowClan cats began to stream into the clearing. They were shortly followed by ThunderClan.

"How come WindClan is always the last one to arrive these days?" Patchfur grumbled as cats from different Clans began to mingle. "They're always making the rest of us wait longer."

"It's because they're in a tough spot," Smokefur informed him. "Their leader is old, but their deputy is even older, so…"

"Why don't they both retire, then?" Waterpaw mewed. "Or is that not allowed?"

"Roseflower doesn't want to retire, from what I hear."

A group of attractive young ThunderClan warriors walked by, and Patchfur stood up and padded after them, meowing some sappy pick-up lines. Smokefur rolled his eyes and followed after his brother, leaving Waterpaw by herself to think.

A few other apprentices greeted her, and she mewed a polite greeting back without being overly friendly. Forming bonds with these cats would be a liability if she ever found herself facing them in battle. At least she could talk comfortably with her Clanmates Shellpaw, Mallowpaw, and Oakpaw. They were a bit older than her, but they weren't as much older as Smokefur and Patchfur, so they were better for talking to about apprentice things. Not that Waterpaw would ever be like other apprentices and complain about her mundane tasks. That wouldn't be fitting of a cat with a prophecy about them, as Minnowleap had informed Waterpaw a few times in the past upon catching her whining. "StarClan has chosen you, Waterpaw, and your behavior always has to reflect that," the silver-gray queen had scolded. "I know you're a lovely little cat, but if you go about acting like the rest of the rabble then no cat will know how special you are!"

If Minnowleap were here, Waterpaw felt like she'd be forcing her to brag a bit more to the cats from other Clans. After all, what was the point of being a special cat with their own prophecy if you didn't show off a little? Well, Waterpaw wondered sometimes but never dared to say aloud, what if the prophecy that Mossnose had spoken of wouldn't be about her after all? He'd only said that StarClan had said that they were going to give him a prophecy in the future; they hadn't actually given him the prophecy in full yet. Saving the future could mean a lot of things. Did it mean one cat's future? A Clan's future? The future of all Clans? The whole world? The whole universe?

And a cat with fur the colour of the deepest waters could mean either blue like her fur, as every cat in RiverClan assumed, or it could mean…

"Hi!"

Waterpaw was jolted out of her thoughts by the chipper mew. She blinked when she saw the cat she'd just been thinking about, his face barely a whisker-length from hers. Waterpaw looked around and, sure enough, WindClan had finally arrived.

"Do you remember me?" the little greenish-furred cat mewed curiously, tilting his head when Waterpaw drew away slightly. "We met about a moon ago. You saved my friend." When Waterpaw didn't respond right away, the kit's smile faded and he mewed sullenly, "I guess you forgot who I am."

Waterpaw felt like purring with amusement at this kit's pessimism. Of course she remembered him! His fur was green; how could any cat forget that? His name had been Grasskit, and his friend was… Seedpaw, right? But why was this kit at a Gathering?

"Are you an apprentice now?"

He nodded slowly, as if he was still having a hard time believing he was. "Yep; my name's Grasspaw now! And my sisters are Applepaw and Berrypaw. We just got apprenticed yesterday!" He glanced from side to side as if checking to see if any cats were listening, then he leaned in a bit and whispered, "I think Sandstar should've waited a couple more days to apprentice them, though. They're not mature enough yet."

"But you are, right?" Waterpaw purred.

"Look, you've never seen those little rabbit-brains," Grasspaw grumbled. "Compared to them in terms of maturity, I'm practically a senior warrior."

"Or an elder," Waterpaw teased. "I can see it now: old man Grasspaw, yelling at the young cats to get out of his den…"

Grasspaw swiped at Waterpaw's face and she let out a tiny screech, jumping back. His claws were sheathed, of course, and he giggled when he saw her reaction. "Were you afraid I was gonna do you in with my fuzzy little paw?" he teased, shaking his paw in Waterpaw's face. "Wow, I didn't realize that when Sandstar made me a 'paw, he also turned me into a badger!"

"You'd make an awful badger," she meowed. "You're too tiny."

Grasspaw narrowed his eyes. "But I'd make a great old cat, huh?" He hunched over and mimicked the voice of an elder. "'Well, back in my day, we didn't have Gatherings! We all just fought each other all the time, and we liked it!'" He glanced at Waterpaw, who was trembling with amusement at the sight of the young cat pretending to be elderly, and then he started chuckling as well. "Something like that, right?"

"Exactly like that," Waterpaw mewed through her laughter. "Hey, at this rate, maybe Sandstar won't even bother making you a warrior. You'll get to retire and spend the rest of your life as an elder with an apprentice name."

Grasspaw's tail fluffed up. "He'd better not!" he hissed.

"I didn't mean it,' Waterpaw explained.

"I know that, rabbit-brain!" Grasspaw gave her another fake-swipe, batting her chin. Waterpaw purred at the young cat's feistiness. "I was just trying to keep the joke going, but you went and messed it up!"

The two young apprentices played around under the light of the full moon, not even noticing at first as the cats around them quieted down until a ThunderClan warrior rather rudely told them to quiet down and listen. The Gathering had started. One by one, the leaders talked, but none of them really had any interesting news. Jadestar reported a fox sighting in her territory, but Ringstar said that his cats had found it at their border and chased it away. Sandstar talked about how Grasspaw, Applepaw, and Berrypaw were apprentices now; he also said that there were two new warriors: Seedpelt and Barkstripe. When their names were called, Grasspaw chanted them louder than any cat. Waterpaw remembered that they were good friends of his.

When it was Miststar's turn to speak, he had more or less nothing to say. Waterpaw was wondering if he'd mention Arrow, but he said nothing of the kittypet. Before she knew it, the Gathering was over.

Cats began to stream out of the clearing. Anxiety suddenly shot through Waterpaw. She'd just spent the night talking to and making friend with a WindClan cat! If Minnowleap found out she'd been wasting time with WindClan, she might punish her. Waterpaw had hated being stuck in camp for a week, and she knew that Minnowleap would hate to be forced to give Waterpaw yet another punishment. Why did she have to keep stepping out of line like this?! When would she learn to be perfect, like she was supposed to be?

Most of Grasspaw's Clanmates had already left, but he didn't want to go just yet. He was having too much fun with Waterpaw. It was the most fun he ever remembered having with any cat, because while she was only two moons older than him- unlike Seedpelt and Barkstripe, who were already warriors (!)- Waterpaw had a youthful yet mature sensibility about her that Grasspaw could appreciate.

"I never got the point of Gatherings," she admitted as they prepared to say goodbye. "Why get the chance to make friends you might have to fight with someday?"

"I kind of agree," Grasspaw mewed. "But not really. See, the way I look at is: maybe if we're friends with cats from other Clans, we won't want to fight them as often."

Waterpaw nodded thoughtfully. "Good point, but what if they do something really bad?"

"Well, I wouldn't put it past any cat," Grasspaw muttered. "It seems to me like somebody's always trying to ruin everything. But," he added shyly, "I'd like to think your Clan and my Clan will get along for the time being."

The island was nearly empty now. "Hurry up, Grasspaw!" somebody called. "Or we'll have to leave without you!"

"I'm coming!" Grasspaw shouted in reply, and then turned back to Waterpaw. "So, will we see each other again sometime- I mean, you know… before the next Gathering?"

"I don't know," Waterpaw sighed. "I don't think Minnowleap would approve. She doesn't think very highly of WindClan. Besides, we couldn't meet up together in the first place without sneaking out of camp."

"Maybe we'll both be on border patrols, and they'll meet up," Grasspaw suggested hopefully, although he knew he was reaching. He and Waterpaw would have to wait to see each other again. "Or maybe something will come up that will threaten all the Clans, and we'll all have to work together. I've been told stories about that happening in the past."

Not too surprisingly, Waterpaw shook her head. "I certainly hope that doesn't happen," she meowed in a lighter tone before continuing in a lower voice: "I hope we can meet up at the next Gathering, but we can't be… friends, Grasspaw. Not really, anyway. Cats from different Clans never really can."

"Grasspaw!" Sandstar yowled. "Get over here right now!"

Waterpaw looked at Grasspaw with intense blue-gray eyes that matched the colour of her fur. Then she nodded to him and he knew he had to leave. Grasspaw slowly rose to his paws and joined his Clanmates. They left the island together in a group; Applepaw snapped at him for keeping them all waiting, but he didn't really process her words.

It wasn't until they were already back at camp and Grasspaw was settling down in his new nest in the apprentices' den that he realized that no cat had been calling for Waterpaw to hurry up and say goodbye. Did they put up with more because she was supposedly special? Or had they just forgotten about her?

They couldn't have just forgotten about her, right? Grasspaw had caught a glimpse of all the cats that had crowded around Waterpaw. Not nearly as many cats as that had introduced themselves to him! Everyone loved Waterpaw.

It certainly seemed that way, at least…

Waterpaw headed back to the RiverClan camp by herself, walking slowly. She could have caught up with her Clanmates easily if she'd felt like it, but she didn't feel like it. They knew she'd be coming along, and they'd had no need to wait up for her because they knew StarClan would prevent anything bad from happening to their chosen cat.

That was what Waterpaw assumed their logic was, in any case. As she padded through a bed of reeds, the thought crossed her mind that her Clanmates didn't really care about her, but she quickly banished it. She had so many friends! Surely Smokefur and Patchfur didn't just spend time with her because they were kin- they weren't even all that closely related in the first place- and of course Shellpaw, Mallowpaw, and Oakpaw really liked her. It was a pity that Waterpaw had no littermates; she'd been the only one of her litter to survive, and following the loss of his two other kits her father had fallen into depression and died shortly after. Minnowleap was her closest relative, and sometimes Waterpaw wondered if she blamed her for the loss of her mate and other kits. She'd certainly have no reason to, but there was a certain underlying tone to her voice- even her compliments sometimes- that made Waterpaw uneasy.

So some of her Clanmates cared about her for real, Waterpaw decided. Some of them had to. But what if not all of them did?

Take Foxfang: he always acted proud of her, but would he be as proud of a normal apprentice? Or Miststar: maybe her punishment for helping Arrow would have been much more severe if it weren't for that prophecy. And Mossnose… had he even gotten the real prophecy yet? He hadn't said anything about it, but maybe he had and he'd only told Miststar.

There were rabbit tracks along the side of the lake, with a fairly fresh scent around them. Waterpaw wondered if the rabbit would hop all the way into WindClan territory. If so, she hoped Grasspaw would get a piece of it.

She hoped his life was as nice as hers, but knowing the state his Clan was currently in, she didn't see how it could be.