Mossfire's Rebellion

Chapter Four

Mosspaw followed the group that Smallstar picked to go to the gathering. She was walking beside Russetflower, and Oakpaw was on the other side of her.

"What do you think it's going to be like?" Oakpaw asked, looking ahead of him.

Mosspaw's whiskers twitched, "I'm not sure. It'll be weird to be around the other clans and be in peace."

Russetflower looked over at her kits, "You want to try and make friends in the other clans, get to know the other apprentices. But at the same time, remember where your loyalties lie. You may have to meet them in battle one day." She smiled down at her kits, then continued to look forward.

Mosspaw's ear twitched. She looked over at Oakpaw, "I'm excited. I've never seen any of the other clans, other than running into them on borders. I've never seen the leaders or their medicine cats."

Oakpaw nodded and then stopped in his tracks, eyes straight ahead. Mosspaw followed his eyes, wondering what he was looking at. Then she saw it, the island. It had bushes growing around the perimeter, so she couldn't see on it. It was surrounded by water, and she was curious as to how they were going to reach the island.

She watched as Snowtuft as he stepped on a huge tree, that seemed to stretch across the whole lake. He walked across it with confidence, after doing it for so many moons. Fuzzytail followed him, leaping on the branch with no problem and walking across it. Her clanmates continued to cross the branch until it was just Mosspaw, her littermates, and Russetflower left.

"It'll be okay." Russetflower said, looking at her kit's wide eyes. "It's sturdy, cats have been using this for generations. I'll wait for you guys to get across and then I'll follow."

Swiftpaw was the first to go, stepping on the branch with no problem. She turned to her littermates, "That was easy!" She said with her chest puffed out. Mosspaw was not surprised. Swiftpaw was fearless, and always had a go to mentality for everything. Of course it would be her that crossed first.

Oakpaw sighed and followed, "The fact that it's old enough to be used for generations is what scares me." He said. He walked up to the branch and hesitated, then put one paw on the branch. He stepped on the branch with grace and followed Swiftpaw to the other side.

Mosspaw walked up to the branch. She knew if she overthought it, she wouldn't go. She knew that this would become a normal thing as she became a warrior. She took a deep breath and walked onto the branch. She started to cross it, looking at the water below her. Thankfully, it was pretty still water, so if she were to fall in she wouldn't be carried downstream. She walked forward, the branch being wider than she expected. Before she knew it, she was on the other side and stepped off.

Mosspaw looked up with wide eyes. There were cats from every clan mingling with each other. She had never seen this many cats at once. She saw Oakpaw and Swiftpaw nearby, already talking to a couple of apprentices. She started to follow him before hearing Leafpaw and Russetflower behind her. She turned towards her mother, "This is amazing!" She said, "There are so many cats here."

Mosspaw headed towards her littermates. Oakpaw and Swiftpaw were sitting beside two small cats. One of the cats dipped their head respectfully to Mosspaw.

"This is Streampaw," Oakpaw said, nodding towards the light gray cat. "And this is Lightpaw." He said. Mosspaw looked over at the brown tom. "They're from Riverclan."

Mosspaw smiled, "I'm Mosspaw, and this is Leafpaw." She said, nodding to her littermate. "We are all littermates." She stopped for a second, not knowing what to say, "So... how are things in Riverclan?" She asked, feeling the awkwardness flow off of her.