Diverging Paths (Warrior Cats Fanfiction)

Chapter 11

Half a moon later...

Not really any new news.

Highwings had been confined to camp during this Gathering. It'd be the final blow from Scatterstar's punishment of camp confinement before she lifted it the next day.

Sickbreath had not talked to her much this past half a moon, and neither had Archpounce aside from screaming matches. But Hollowfortune had stuck with her, and made a point to tell her all about the Gathering she would miss. She didn't really know how to properly thank him, and he didn't know how to properly respond to thanks. So they just had an unspoken agreement to know that she was grateful.

There wasn't really much to report. WindClan was still having troubles with rogues, and they were snippy with RiverClan like before. ThunderClan was still rude towards ShadowClan, but nobody had forgotten their blunder from last Gathering, so they were a bit more to themselves, thankfully.

And of course, in the regular announcements, there were new kits, new apprentices, and new warriors. WindClan had a lot to report on. For one, it had five new kits: Fallingkit, Trustkit, Stormkit, Pickkit, and Barrenkit. Then three new apprentices: Callpaw, Tappaw, and Wailpaw. And finally, two new warriors: Sodfloor and Wiltedplant. If there were any deaths, they weren't announced.

For RiverClan, they had four new warriors by the names of Harebounce, Lilyflower, Dropletshine, and Fallingsky. Not much else to report. According to Hollowfortune, their leader had seemed quite aggressive and very stand-offish. It wouldn't surprise anyone if Coldstar was hiding something too.

On ThunderClan's end, they had a couple new apprentices, Yellowpaw and Allpaw, but otherwise were well. And though Kestrelstar hadn't been as erratic as Coldstar or as untrustworthy as Battlestar, Hollowfortune guessed that she was probably hiding things too, just from the fact that ThunderClan's relationships with the other Clans had taken a hit since last Gathering, so it'd make sense if they started withholding some information.

And ShadowClan went last. Perhaps it was out of bias, but Hollowfortune reckoned they were the only Clan not hiding shady business or death that night. Scatterstar announced Tickkit and Humblekit, and told all about Tornkit and Skinnykit's deaths. There was slight mockery from some of ThunderClan that was hushed up by other members of ThunderClan, so thankfully they had enough self-control not to start another huge fight.

And that was that.

A rather uneventful, but incredibly tense Gathering, where three out of the four Clan leaders seemed to lack the usual transparency. And Hollowfortune claimed that he probably wasn't biased, because Mellowsigh talked to some friends in RiverClan who felt the same way about the leaders.

Highwings, while still angry at Scatterstar, found a new reason to continue holding respect for the black she-cat.

And now she laid beside Sickbreath, the sunhigh air quiet between them, cats still somewhat lazy around them due to the Gathering having occurred last night and having taken away much of their sleep. Scatterstar had lifted her ban on Highwings' patrols, but she hadn't been sent on any yet. It was probably on purpose, but Highwings dare not confront the leader and risk more punishment.

They didn't have any other of the elders with them, nor did Highwings have one of her siblings or friends by her side. They were either on patrol, or tired from the Gathering. It was just father and daughter. Just them.

Highwings glanced skyward, at the hot sun coming through the branches of the tree above them. She finally had an idea of what to say to her father, as she had not spoken to him since she had laid down, and he had not spoken to her.