warriors: in the trees

chapter ten, moon nine

Thrushpaw sat patiently beside the largest Silverpool with Floweringpaw, Briarpaw, Thistlepaw, and Hazelpaw while waiting for the other three clans to arrive. He was looking forward to his first Gathering on home turf, where he could ease himself into the loud bustle without feeling overwhelmed.

"Do you think Treepaw and Longpaw will be here?" Hazelpaw asked. The ginger she-cat seemed like the most excited out of the group, next to Floweringpaw. Thrushpaw's sister's ears perked up at the mention of the two slightly unfamiliar cat's names. He recognized Longpaw, he thought, as the apprentice from their first training session.

"I hope so!" Floweringpaw mewed. "I mean, Treepaw's nice, and Longpaw is cool too..." she trailed off.

Hailpaw burst into the clearing from the brambles. "MoonstoneClan is on their way! Sootshadow is walking them here. And I think I smelled JadeClan, as well."

Applestar nodded from atop a large rock. "Perfect. Right on time."

Thrushpaw tensed. Applestar must be anxious, letting JadeClan on his territory. No, Applestar doesn't get nervous. He's the greatest LavenderClan warrior alive!

As Sootshadow and most of MoonstoneClan made their way down the slope into Silverpools, Thrushpaw noticed Hazelpaw and Floweringpaw scanning the area for the two MoonstoneClan apprentices. Following their line of sight, he spotted a brown she-cat and a very tall black tom that resembled the one he had encountered a few moons ago.

The black tom, Longpaw, made his way over to the group of LavenderClan apprentices. He greeted them with a subtle nod of his head before settling down next to Thistlepaw and Floweringpaw. Treepaw followed suit, sitting beside Thrushpaw and Hazelpaw.

"Good evening," Longpaw said, not to anyone in particular.

Floweringpaw replied. "Hello... um, Longpaw, right?" The greeting seemed forced.

"Don't mind him," Treepaw said, referencing Longpaw, "he's been acting weird all day."

JadeClan slowly began entering Silverpools. They looked scary and fierce. Thrushpaw wondered if Floweringpaw was telling the truth when she met a cat named Evilsoul. He didn't believe her at first, but now he was questioning it.

A burnt orange JadeClan apprentice looking slightly lost made his way over to the group. Thrushpaw shrunk back, but the small tom didn't look as intimidating as the warriors at all.

"Hello," he greeted. "This is my first gathering. I'm Russetpaw."

Hm. He seems normal.

"Hi Russetpaw! I'm Floweringpaw, this is Thistlepaw, Hazelpaw, Thrushpaw..."

"Floweringpaw," Briarpaw snapped. "We can introduce ourselves." She then turned to the JadeClan apprentice. "I'm Briarpaw. Nice to meet you."

Russetpaw nodded, looking around kind of frantically.

"You can sit here if you'd like," Thrushpaw offered. Russetpaw looked forever grateful towards the ginger tom.

"My name is Treepaw, and this is my brother, Longpaw," the brown MoonstoneClan apprentice meowed. "We're from MoonstoneClan."

Russetpaw smiled, but he dropped it when a brown she-cat limped over.

"Russetpaw! What are you doing? Get over here!" She demanded. The dark orange apprentice got to his paws reluctantly.

"Sorry, Twistedpaw," he told the other apprentice, walking away slowly. "Bye guys, sorry!"

Thrushpaw was confused. Thistlepaw was too, obviously because he said, "Wonder what that was about."