**OLD** Valley Cats: Of Sky and Stone 1- Daughters and Darkness

Chapter Ten

 "So, what now?" Twisterkit still had her eyes trained on Sedgestar as the tom drifted through the crowd. "Are we leaving, or..." she trailed off, unsure. The leaders were jumping down from their perch, disappearing into the clearing where cats were now visiting with one another.

 Lemmingpaw stood up and stretched. She shook out her pelt and shifted a little closer to Twisterpaw. "I guess you could leave if you want. But usually after a gathering, cats of all Clans visit with each other before regrouping and heading home, usually in the same order they came." she explained.

 Twisterpaw broke away from staring at the unfamiliar clusters of cats. "How do you know all of this? How long have you been an apprentice?" she said, accidentally sounding accusing.

 The fuzzy she-cat shrugged off her tone. "Seven moons. But I've only been coming here for the last four." she replied.

 "I've been an apprentice for about... a few days." Twisterpaw felt a small flash of embarrassment, but almost immediately perked up again. "You're really observant, aren't you?" the black-and-white she-cat commented. "You'll be a warrior soon, no doubt about that."

 "Oh... I guess so. But we'll see." Lemmingpaw shrugged once more.

 "You remind me of my sister." Twisterpaw blurted.

 "Who?" the dark brown apprentice pricked her ears, clearly thinking hard. "Is it Magpiepaw or Galepaw? Although I'm pretty sure Galepaw was a tom, last I heard..." she mumbled, half to herself.

 "It's Magpiepaw. She isn't here tonight, though." Twisterpaw explained, mentally scolding herself for thinking out loud.

 "Oh! You should meet my family!" Lemmingpaw suddenly jumped to her paws, apparently having a spark of energy. "They're really nice. Come on, I'll show you." she walked away towards the far side of the island, looking back to see if Twisterpaw was following.

 The young apprentice stepped in her general direction, casting a glance at the others she was leaving behind. She did a double take when she saw both Sandyfur and the grayish-brown WoodClan deputy deep in discussion with Brightpaw. He nodded solemnly with his tail resting sorrowfully on the ground as Sandyfur viciously growled at him.

 Behind Brightpaw, a few of the other apprentices giggled evilly. Possumpaw held back, though, as she hunched over and examined her paws. A tortoiseshell she-cat was sitting besides her, shooting glares at the apprentices who began to mock Brightpaw. Twisterpaw scrambled to remember their names. Oriolepaw, Adderpaw... Fernpaw! That was the name of the tortoiseshell she-cat. Didn't she have a sibling or something?

 "Hey! Watch it, you little-" a sharp voice cut through her observation. Twisterpaw took her paw off of and elderly cat's tail as she backed up a few steps. "Oops! Sorry there!" she apologized to the brown tabby tom with pale green eyes. His scent was familiar to MireClan, although a bit... woodlike? Kind of like the slightly sweet smell of GroveClan, but dull and earthy. She glanced around him to see the brown-and-white tabby tom that only said a few words about... ConiferClan. The elder must be from ConiferClan.

 He stood up abruptly, baring his teeth at the apprentice. "What are you looking at, you scrawny rat? You trying to start something with our leader?" he snarled. Twisterpaw took another step back and hissed quietly, remembering Cardinalheart's tales of the fierce and proud ConiferClan.

 "No, of course not. Just... walking over there." she said humbly, flicking her tail in the direction she last saw Lemmingpaw.

 "Come on, Twisterpaw! They're right over here!" she heard faintly over the chatter of the cats. 

 She gave the elder a small smile before trotting away towards Lemmingpaw, who was slipping through the low hanging leaves.

 Pikastar and Tawnyhawk were sitting on some smooth boulders just outside of the treeline. The pebbles here gave way to chilly sand, a few moose-lengths away from the shore- or at least, what Twisterpaw could hear of it. The snow was falling thicker than ever out in the open, and Twisterpaw was standing right below the leader and deputy before she could even see the color of their pelts.