Mosspaw awoke, feeling Gorgepaw, another apprentice, poke him with his tail. "Time to leave for the gathering," the tom said.

            Mosspaw nodded, rising from his nest and padding out of the den. Other cats stood as well, them awoken from their nap too. Mosspaw looked up, seeing the full moon shine overhead.

            "Is everyone ready?" Smokestar asked.

            Cats mewed and nodded in agreement and Smokestar began to lead them off.

            Mosspaw searched the crowd, finding Fernpaw. He padded after her.

            "Hey," she said.

            "Hi," Mosspaw replied. "So what exactly goes on at this gathering?"

            "Us clans gather together in peace and discuss the news in our clan. We also get to talk to the other cats. It's quite fun," Fernpaw said.

            "It does seem fun," Mosspaw spoke as he walked along with the other cats.

            There was a short bit of silence, then Mosspaw spoke again. "What clans live here, again?"

            "NightClan and FoxClan. CloudClan recently was ruined, so now we only have two other clans with us. It's a change, but a good one. The forest was getting crowded," Fernpaw said.

            Mosspaw nodded, beginning to scent the other cats. He turned, seeing a group of cats walk as well.

            "NightClan," Fernpaw whispered and Mosspaw nodded.

            Soon they arrived in a clearing where another clan sat. Mosspaw inferred that it was FoxClan since NightClan had arrived with them.

            Mosspaw stood, not knowing what to do or where to go. Fernpaw seemed to notice that he had no idea what to do and she came over to him.

            "Go and mingle with the other clans," she said, motioning him towards the cats.

            Mosspaw nodded, walking into the crowd. He looked up, seeing a group of apprentices sitting down and chattering. Mosspaw padded over and the cats turned to look at him.

            Mosspaw did not recognize any SnowClan scent. These were either NightClan or FoxClan cats talking.

            "Hey, a SnowClan cat!" a brown tabby she-cat spoke, though annoyance was detected in her voice. "What's your name? You seem small. Are you a new apprentice?"

            "My name is Mosspaw," he said. "What's yours?"

            "Acornpaw," the tabby she-cat said. "A NightClan cat. This is my sister, Applepaw," she said, pointing to a ginger tabby she-cat. A gray tom stood next to her, staring at Applepaw. It was obvious that he was drooling over her.

            "This," Acornpaw spoke, poking the tom who stopped gazing at Applepaw, "is Rabbitpaw."

            "Oh, uh, hi," he said, staring back at the ginger she-cat.

            Acornpaw looked down, saddened by him gazing at her. Mosspaw guessed that she loved the gray tom but he loved her sister.

            Mosspaw craned his head, seeing the ginger she-cat facing away from Rabbitpaw, talking to another tom. When Applepaw turned back, she would roll her eyes and turn away, obviously not liking that Rabbitpaw was into her.

            "I'm going to leave now," Mosspaw said, turning away from the NightClan cats quickly.

            No sooner than that did he run into another group of young apprentices. Their scents were different, them being FoxClan cats.

            "Sorry!" Mosspaw said.

            "Watch where you're going!" a young, white she-cat growled.

            "Calm down, Frostedpaw," a ginger tom spoke. "Sorry, my sister's a little...grouchy. I'm Pumpkinpaw. My other sister, Lightpaw, is probably over here somewhere. You're new to SnowClan, aren't you? I haven't seen you before."

            "Yeah, I'm Mosspaw," Mosspaw spoke.

            "Well, why don't you sit with us for the gathering. I saw you with the NightClan cats earlier. They're pretty stupid and annoying," Pumpkinpaw said. "So, you excited that your kithood is over?"

            "Um, what do you mean?" Mosspaw asked.

            "I mean that you won't continue sleeping in that stupid nursery," Pumpkinpaw laughed.

            "I didn't live in the nursery."

            "You're a kittypet?!"

            "No!" Mosspaw hissed. "No, I got lost, er well..." Mosspaw wasn't sure if he should tell the unknown cat his story.

            "Er, well, what?"

            "Well, my father died before I was born and my mother ran away from SnowClan to be with another cat and gave birth to me and then I had to journey all the way back here," he said quickly.

            "Orphan, huh? Don't worry. I know how you feel. My mother died giving birth to me and my siblings."

            "Oh, I'm sorry," Mosspaw said.

            "Nah, it's fine. You didn't know," Pumpkinpaw said.

            Mosspaw suddenly smelled a familiar scent behind him. He turned around, facing Fernpaw.

            "Oh, hey," she laughed. "You found a friend."

            Mosspaw nodded, glancing at Pumpkinpaw. Before either of them could speak, a yowl ran throughout the group of cats.

            "Sh, it's starting," Frostedpaw hissed.

            "Welcome to the gathering," Smokestar said, smiling before the cats. "We are privileged to welcome NightClan into the forest."

            The NightClan cats yowled loudly and cheered.

            "We mourn the loss of CloudClan, and hope they are able to recover," Smokestar said. "I'll start now."

            Cats looked at Smokestar and Mosspaw smiled. Seeing Smokestar's white and black pelt shine in the moonlight made him smile for some reason. Maybe Mosspaw would be up there some day.

            "SnowClan is doing very well now that green-leaf is almost here. We have five new warriors. Ashclaw, Cindertail, Thornfrost, Mousestripe, and Dawnpool."

            Mosspaw watched as the five cats stood. He recognized Ashclaw and Cindertail as the cats who seemed to glare at him from time to time. He was still clueless to why.

            As SnowClan's cheering settled down, Smokestar spoke again. "We also have three new apprentices. Darkpaw." The dark tom stood forward, smiling. "Sandpaw." The ginger she-cat warily stepped forward, looking down at her paws as the clan cheered. "And we are pleased to welcome back Mosspaw." SnowClan cheered loudly though other clans seemed to be confused. What did Smokestar mean by welcome back?

            "We are pleased to have so many kits at this time. We are also pleased to have NightClan in the same forest as us now. Speaking of NightClan, Cloudstar, would you like to speak?"

            The white tom nodded, stepping forward. He had thick fur and his amber eyes shone brightly. "Thank you, Smokestar," he said. His voice was deep and he was obviously an older tom.

            "NightClan is doing well in this forest. We are pleased by your hospitality. We have no other news at this point, but we appreciate your thought and concern for us," Cloudstar said, smiling, his white teeth showing. Something was right about this.

            Next was Sunstar. Her bright ginger coat shone in the moonlight too. "FoxClan is also doing well. We have three new apprentices and several new warriors. Pumpkinpaw, Frostedpaw, and Lightpaw are now apprentices."

            Mosspaw wathced as Frostedpaw and Pumpkinpaw stood up, then noticing the light ginger she-cat near them was Lightpaw, their sister.

            "We have new warriors as well. They are Rosecloud, Treestep, Nightclaw, Lavenderwhisker, Violetflower, Chesnutfang, Willowfoot, and Redfur."

            Wow, that's a lot of warriors Mosspaw thought, watching them stand up proudly and smile.

            The gathering soon concluded and Mosspaw waved farewell to Pumpkinpaw, though he knew the next day Pumpkinpaw would be his enemy again. It was how the clan worked.

            "How was your first gathering?" Fernpaw asked.

            "Good," Mosspaw smiled, padding back into the woods.