In The Dark - Warriors.

Chapter Seventeen

Three sunrises later, and it was the day of the Gathering. That night, Froststar called out a meeting so he could pick who he may bring to the Gathering. "All cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Highrock for a Clan meeting!" His deep voice rang out as cats gathered all around.

"As you all know," the huge leader began as the cats settled themselves below him. "Today is the day of the Gathering. The day as to which all four Clans - MapleClan, CloudClan, MeadowClan, and WolfClan - gather together in peace underneath the Lone Tree." The name sounded exactly like what it was. It was the only tree to be found right out in the middle of the forest. It was huge, big enough for the four leaders of all four Clans to climb onto it and the deputies of all four Clans to settle themselves down below, near the stump. The area around it was vast - large enough to fit cats of all four Clans.

"Tonight, I will pick out the warriors and apprentices that will be coming to the Gathering with me, as always. The cats who I would like to pick out are Stormfast, our great and loyal deputy. Next I would like to choose Cricketleg, Rabbitleg, Swiftdawn, Bluemask, Smokesnarl, Venomstrike, Mistcloud, Crowfall, Stoneflight, Tanglepaw, Waterpaw, Mudpaw, Thornscratch, Foxheart, and, last but definitely not least, Lostpaw." Froststar announced.

The whole Clan gasped at his decision, including Lostpaw. Froststar had never brought she-cats to Gatherings, not once in his life! "Why bring a she-cat to a Gathering? Even if Lostpaw helped rescue someone, she still broke a rule by doing so!" Ravencall was the one who called this comment out. It wasn't a surprise, really, in Lostpaw's eyes. He was clearly jealous of all of that attention she was getting.

"Yeah!" Smokesnarl agreed. "Why bring her to a Gathering! She won't have anything important to say!" He growled.

"Neither will you," Froststar stated, glaring hard at Smokesnarl. "I haven't seen you rescuing anyone." He retorted. That shut Smokesnarl up. He was possibly the most arrogant in the Clan.

Some toms stayed quiet about it, but most didn't. They disagreed with Froststar's choice. "Honestly, I can't believe my mate got picked to go to the Gathering instead of
me! It's a shame!" Rockfall growled out. Lostpaw glared at him, quite obviously disagreeing with his words.

"Or my sister!" Pinepaw stated. "Why would my sister get picked instead of me?!" He hollered.'Okay, that hurt ... ' Lostpaw thought, shooting her brother a sharp look. Froststar glared at all of the toms whom had protested.

"Quiet!" He growled, which shut them up. "It is my choice for Lostpaw to come to the Gathering andthat is final! None of you will change my mind. She's coming whether you like it or not!" Froststar said. "Meeting dismissed." He then said, which left the warriors to murmur quietly to themselves.

Lostpaw went over to Pinepaw. "Why'd you say that?" She asked. "That was mean." She pointed out. "I'm your sister. Have you forgotten about that? Remember how you said that your gender doesn't matter many moons ago?" She added.

"I said that because everyone thinks you're so much more special than me! All of the attention is pointed directly at you. Sure, you spoke up against a warrior about breaking the Warrior Code. Sure, you rescued a kit from death. That doesn't make you any better than anyone else!" Pinepaw exploded.

"I ... I never said it did, Pinepaw." Lostpaw soothed her brother quietly. "I'm not trying to be better than you. Obviously, you're better than me at some things which includes hunting and fighting, since I've never been trained to do that kind of thing like you have. I just do the right thing." She purred.

"Oh what?! What are you saying now? That you're doing the right thing and I'm doing the wrong thing? Look, Lostpaw, I've been looking forward to going to a Gathering my whole life! And then you, a she-cat, get picked instead of me!" Pinepaw hissed, his fur bristling.

"Who are you to say that I haven't ever wanted to go to a Gathering, also? Sorry to say this, Pinepaw, but you're acting selfish right now." Lostpaw said, flexing her claws which were actually quite sharp.

Pinepaw stopped for a minute, thinking. "I have not been selfish, Lostpaw. You have." He was just coming up with excuses now so that he didn't look like a fool in front of a she-cat, Lostpaw could tell. "You are not my sister, and you never will be." He stated, then turned, walking away.

Lostpaw stood there, watching her brother, as helpless as could be. 'This popularity thing has ruined my life. First Bloodpaw, now Pinepaw ... 'Lostpaw stopped thinking about it and finally, she just sighed, shaking her head as she looked around. The Clan was already beginning to leave. The ones that were going to the Gathering like her, that is, at least.

Lostpaw glanced back at everyone in the Clan, then started following behind Froststar and all of the other cats towards their destination: The Lone Tree, of course. Her tail being dragged behind her, she looked over her shoulder to see that Rockfall was staring at her, a mad look on his face that he didn't get picked to go to the Gathering and a she-cat who was his own mate did! She really didn't think that half of the toms going to the Gathering actually deserved to go, but she'd never dare to say her thoughts out loud, especially with Rockfall not that far away.

The whole way there, everyone except Toadleap, Thornscratch, Foxheart, and Froststar were staring at her as if she was a disease. It didn't really bug her. It happened a lot now, actually, though it did get on her nerves, however. As if she would ever dare to complain, though. Not before long, Froststar and the rest of MapleClan had arrived at the Lone Tree, where the Gathering would soon be held. Turns out, WolfClan and CloudClan were already there, though MeadowClan wasn't ... not as if she was surprised, however, and she doubted that anyone else in MapleClan would've been as well . The cats of MeadowClan were probably ... busy.

Froststar padded over to the Lone Tree and jumped up onto one of the branches to talk with the other leaders of the Clans, which were, as followed; Icestar of WolfClan, and Duststar of CloudClan. Though the leader of MeadowClan was known as Redstar. She was a she-cat, too, which could possibly have been a reason as to why she had made MeadowClan cats attack MapleClan. If she had even set that plot up, anyways.

Cats all around Lostpaw began to sit and lay down, talking to eachother, sharing tongues, even though they were all from other Clans ... it really unnerved her. How could they just trust eachother so easily? She could hears cats like Toadleap talking rather good, actually, about Lostpaw, to the other medicine cats of the Clan, though there was also cats like Smokesnarl talking bad about her to the other Clans. Lostpaw didn't mind being talked goodly about, like how Toadleap was currently talking about her, though if someone dared to talk bad about her, well, that was a bit too far ... again, not as if she would ever dare to complain about it to anyone, not even to Froststar or even Toadleap.

Lostpaw sighed when all of a sudden, the cats of MeadowClan barged in with Redstar in the lead, her tail held high as she glared at the others. Literally, glared. If looks could kill, then everyone would have dropped to the floor. Yes, she had definitely created the idea of attacking MapleClan, without a doubt ... she jumped onto the tallest branch and, without missing a beat in her ice cold voice, yowled out loud enough for everyone around the large tree to hear ...

"LET THE GATHERING BEGIN!"