Narrator's POV
"You can do it! Don't be afraid! This is your destiny! Bring my lost daughter back!"
Aspenpaw's ear twitched. "Huh?"
She looked up to see Goldenpaw hovering above her. "Are you going to stop moving and let a cat sleep tonight?"
"It's not night anymore," Coalpaw pointed out on the other side of the apprentice's den. "Besides, Russetstar did just call a meeting."
Aspenpaw flicked her tail crossly. Did Coalpaw have to be so hostile all the time? Instead of confronting him, she forced her fur to lie flat and she crawled out, blinking in the dawn-lit clearing.
"I have to announce an apprenticeship of three more kits. They are now 6 moons old and will be apprenticed today," Russetstar was saying.
"Twigkit, Owlkit, and Warblerkit." The three kits bounced up to the ThunderClan leader excitedly.
Russetstar climbed down her tree to address the kits. Twigkit stared at her, evidently nervous, while her brother and sister met her gaze bouncing up and down.
"Warblerkit," Russetstar went on, "from now on, until you become a warrior, you will be known as Warblerpaw. Your mentor will be Pebblemoon. I hope she will pass on her skills so that you may become a warrior in your turn."
Warblerpaw headed away from her littermates to touch noses with Pebblemoon. "Twigkit, from known on you shall be known as Twigpaw. Flamestorm has not yet had an apprentice, so you will be his."
She dipped her head, warm affection glazing her amber eyes. Twigpaw slowly stalked to her new mentor and touched noses with him warily.
"And last, Owlkit. You shall be known as Owlpaw until you become a warrior. Silkfeather will be your mentor." Silkfeather nodded to Owlpaw, and Aspenpaw clearly saw pride in her blue eyes.
"Twigpaw!" "Warblerpaw!" "Owlpaw!" Aspenpaw joined in with the cheering and Russetstar waited patiently for the yowls to die down.
"Whispyfur and Quartzpoppy have told me they wish to join the elder's den." Whispyfur dipped her and Quartzpoppy blinked beside her.
Aspenpaw heard a gasp of surprise coming from Brownpaw. "But she's not that old!" Heavypaw, her brother, heaved a mrrow of laughter.
"Well, she told me that she was already one of the senior warriors when we were born!"
Whisperdusk leaned forward to give Heavypaw a cuff around the ears. "Respect your elders!" He growled and Turtlepelt added, "Hush! We're in the middle of a meeting here!"
Aspenpaw's whiskers twitched. Russetstar was watching with amusement too and waited for the protests to die down. "Whispyfur, Quartzpoppy, Is it your wish to give up on the warrior name and join the elders?" Russetstar asked.
Whispyfur and Quartzpoppy replied "It is" with a crack of sadness in their voices.
"Your Clan honors you and all the service you have given us. I call upon StarClan to give you many moons of rest."
Russetstar dipped her head to the new retired warriors and padded to her den, tail held in mid-air.
Aspenpaw exchanged a glance with Goldenpaw. He hurried over to her. "I'm going to get Whispyfur and Quartzpoppy the juiciest piece of prey there is!" She told him, flicking her ears cheerfully.
"Well, then, I'm getting them the best bedding!" He swung his head around to the entrance. Aspenpaw thought with amusement that his mentor ordered him to gather fresh bedding for both the elders.
Aspenpaw noticed that the fresh-kill pile only had a few stale mice.
She sniffed and followed Goldenpaw outside of camp.
"Are you seriously not going to say anything about the battle with BlazeClan?" Greypattern was anxiously asking Russetstar.
It had been almost a whole moon since the battle with BlazeClan. Aspenpaw's tail was healing and her scratches stopped stinging.
"Yes," Russetstar hissed impatiently. "Turtlepelt, Flamestorm, Aspenpaw, Coalpaw, Brownpaw, Heavypaw, Whisperdusk, Oakleaf, and Dapplesun." She summoned the cats with a flick of her tail.
Aspenpaw realized with a pang of sadness that Goldenpaw wouldn't be joining, yet again. Russetstar seemed to think he would make the Clan look weak because he was found starving in a cave in her den.
Why can't Coalpaw or Brownpaw or Heavypaw stay behind and let Goldenpaw come? But she knew she was only being selfish.
She gave Goldenpaw a farewell by licking his shoulder briefly.
Aspenpaw could not hide her excitement. She trotted over a dead branch and finally reached the place where rich fruit and pretty flowers grew.
In leaf-fall, sometimes ThunderClan would eat the plenty fruit that grew on the trees. Usually the queens fed their kits chewed up fruit.
Aspenpaw's nose twitched unpleasantly. "DarkClan!" Stormfern gasped from behind her somewhere.
"Why are they here?" Coalpaw demanded to nobody. Yellowstar dipped his head to the approaching Clan. "Why are you here?" Russetstar growled.
"Why not?" Yellowstar answered with a hint of snarl in his voice. "We should be able to go to Gatherings like any other cat." Brownpaw spoke softly, "He has a point."
Flamestorm glared at the apprentice. "But DarkClan are bad cats," he hissed quietly so only ThunderClan heard.
"DarkClan?" Someone huffed. "They aren't even supposed to be a Clan! They're just a group of rogues and desperate loners who drove out the three other Clans!"
Three other Clans? Aspenpaw wondered. She hadn't heard of them.
"Let's just get this Gathering over!" Acaciastar scoffed from the half-tree.
Russetstar snarled bared her teeth at Yellowstar and his cats, but she said nothing as her cats pushed their way through.
Acaciastar spoke first. "BlazeClan are plentiful of prey. But we haven't enough land." Russetstar bristled.
"You aren't stealing land from us again! You learned that the hard way," Russetstar snapped. "No, mouse-brain," Acaciastar growled.
"We are expanding our territory onto the empty pine trees." But rogues live there! Petalstar lives there!
"But that's where rogues live!" Coalpaw protested. Acaciastar glared at him. "Not anymore!"
Some cat whispered behind Aspenpaw, "Where are the rogues and loners gonna live now?"
"Your turn, Yellowstar," Acaciastar invited. She jumped off the half-tree and let Yellowstar climb on.
Once he was settled, Yellowstar started. "We've found squirrel bones on our side of the border!" He bared his teeth at Russetstar.
"Your thieves took our prey." Aspenpaw scanned the clearing and anxiously saw a DarkClan tom had the expression of excitement and awkwardness.
Aspenpaw wondered if he thought this was his fault. Peering closer, she recognized Lightning, a brown and white tom.
She turned back to the leaders and saw Yellowstar unsheathe his claws. "Not true! I would know if my Clan took prey!" Russetstar hissed.
Acaciastar let out a growl. "Stop arguing. Anything else, Yellowstar?" Hesitantly, Yellowstar meowed, "But prey is plentiful and we have a new warrior to name. Bloodspill."
He glanced at a golden apprentice who looked a lot like Goldenpaw. He flicked his tail. "That's all I have to say."
"Then, this Gathering is over," Russetstar snarled and led her Clanmates out of the clearing and into the trees back to their territory.
