Gingerclaw and Fernwillow padded over to Stripestar with their tails intertwined.
"Are you two ready to go?" Stripestar meowed with a knowing look in his eyes. They
nodded and the small patrol of cats left for the gathering. Gingerclaw told Stripestar
about finding a tunnel beneath the Thunderpath. He led Fernwillow away from the group
and she followed him into a small tunnel beneath the Thunderpath. They slowly entered
the little hole and followed it until the end, on Thunderclan's territory. They bounded
over to the rest of the cats and continued on to Fourtrees. They arrived last, as usual and
Gingerclaw took Fernwillow to meet his friends from the other clans. It was her first
gathering so she was kind of nervous to be around all of the cats. She acted like they were
all going to attack her.
"Hey! How's it going Gingerpaw?" A brown tom meowed excitedly.
"It's Gingerclaw now." Fernwillow replied coolly. Gingerclaw looked at her strangely.
"It's okay Fernwillow; this is Thistlepaw, my friend."
Fernwillow flattened her ears straight to her head in embarrassment. "Sorry! I didn't
know that was you."
Thistlepaw chuckled with amusement. "Its fine, but I'm Thistlethorn now. You're
Fernwillow? I've heard a lot about you. This is Streamripple on my right and Blacktail on
my left. We all got our warrior names a little while before this gathering."
"Did you know that Fernwillow named a kit after you Thistlethorn?" Gingerclaw mewed,
trying to hold in a laugh. Fernwillow looked like she wanted to sink into the ground so
Gingerclaw tried to change the subject. "Where's Honeypaw?"
"She's Honeyclaw." Blacktail hissed coldly. "She had her kit two moons ago. Your kit!"
Gingerclaw's heart sank straight into the ground and so did he. He sat down and opened
and closed his mouth over and over again. Fernwillow stared at nothing, looking
horrified. Thistlethorn tapped Streamripple on her shoulder and led her away from the
three other cats.
"My kit?" Gingerclaw echoed. "Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure! She has the exact same eyes as you! They're sort of golden with
brown flecks. She's definitely not mine!"
Gingerclaw and Fernwillow sat in silence. "I guess this is a bad time to tell you that I'm
expecting kits, huh?" Fernwillow meowed, shocked.
"And that concludes tonight's gathering, I hope you all have a great moon until we meet
again." Snowstar of Thunderclan meowed. Gingerclaw dragged his paws over to the cats
that came with him and Fernwillow. His mate gently laid her tail on his back and tried to
keep him steady by walking close beside him. All of the cats quietly padded slowly back
to camp; they all seemed to know that something was wrong, but no cat wanted to ask.
"It's okay." Fernwillow whispered. "No other cat will know, except for Streamripple and
Blacktail. They won't tell anybody either, they're your friends."
"I'm so sorry." Gingerclaw replied sadly. "I had no idea."
"It's fine. I know it was a mistake." Fernwillow meowed lovingly. "These kits won't ever
know about the other one. Problem solved!"
Gingerclaw couldn't believe that Fernwillow was taking it that easily.
"I know what you're thinking. How can I forgive you? It's because I've loved you since I
was a little kit, I won't let anything get in between us. Our fight today really upset me and
I don't want to do that again. You and I belong together."
Gingerclaw licked her gently. "You're right, we do belong together."