Lightning's Storm

The Gathering

I could see the full moon hanging brightly in the lower part of the sky from my perch in the mouth of the apprentice den. Below me, cats were mingling around camp, waiting for Leafstar's call for the Gathering. My paws trembled with excitement as I kneaded my claws into the sand. This would be my first Gathering ever, and my heart quickened at the thought of finally being able to participate in the sacred tradition.

It had been almost a moon since Frecklewish's death, and slowly things were starting to go back to normal as cats began to push their grief aside. Waspwhisker and Ebonyclaw had been on apprentice duties for a while, but they were allowed to return back to warrior's duties some paw-ful of sunrises ago. It was clear that the two were still plenty prickly towards each other, but as far as I could tell, there had been no more arguments about kitty-pets, by them or anyone. I could see their pelts both down in camp right now. There was some distance between the two of them, but they were calmly tolerating one another.

My ears pricked as I heard paw-steps behind me, and Nightpaw emerged from the apprentices' den. I followed him down the trail into camp, my paws scrambling on the small loose pebbles.

"Are you ready for our first Gathering?" I meowed excitedly to his back once our feet reached the gorge floor, my tail held high.

Nightpaw cast me a glance from over his shoulder and wrinkled his nose.

"So, we get to sit on Skyrock and freeze our tails off for a while. What's the big deal?" Nightpaw meowed, giving a shrug.

I blinked at him in surprise.

"It's a sacred ceremony that the Clans have done for generations," I said, taken aback.

Nightpaw shrugged again, arching a brow.

"And, I bet it's a lot more interesting back in the forest, where you actually get to see and talk to the cats from the other Clans," Nightpaw meowed. "We just get to sit around and see everyone, who we see everyday anyways."

"It'll still be fun!" I insisted.

Nightpaw just twitched his ears and padded away from me to sit next to Sharpclaw. I gave a soft, discontented growl.

"When did you become no fun?" I muttered to Nightpaw's back, my tail twitching.

"That's what happens to siblings sometimes," Sagewhisker's voice suddenly cut in as he padded up to me.

I jumped in surprise at his appearance, and my fur flushed with embarrassment.

"Sorry. I didn't mean for anyone to hear that," I muttered, shuffling my paws.

Sagewhisker purred. His pale green eyes were kind.

"It's alright. Don't worry, I won't tell Nightpaw," he said in a hushed voice, like it was our secret.

"Thanks," I meowed with a purr of amusement before giving him a tail-wave of goodbye and padding away to greet Lionpaw and Briarpaw, who were waiting near Rockpile.

They greeted me with purrs, but we had only a few moments to chat before my mother rose to her paws.

"It's time," Leafstar meowed, walking over to the cliff to follow the path that led up to Skyrock.

I rose to my paws, my tail waving eagerly as I fit myself into the group of cats that were gathering behind her. Almost everyone in the Clan followed her up the narrow trail; the only cats left behind in camp were Fallowfern, her kits, and Lichenfur, who complained that her bones were feeling too achy to make the climb up to Skyrock tonight.

The stone felt cool beneath my paws as we padded up the steep path. There was the sheer cliff on one side of me and a sharp edge on the other. Loose pebbles crumbled under my claws as we climbed, and for a little while the path became so narrow that we had to walk single file.