"Is it true? Is Whiteshadow gone?" Hero heard Greykit ask as he strode past the small grey tom, watching as Dawnheart nudged his cheek comfortingly.

"I don't know, little one," She replied calmly, though he could hear the concern in her voice. Hero shook his head, his pace quickening as he neared the base of the Withered Oak. Thistlestar was struggling to address a crowd of cats who appeared to have recently returned from a patrol, and with less than good news.

"Whiteshadow went off towards the Burning Plains, and we couldn't find his scent through the smoke," Slatefur explained calmly, though his tone didn't have the desired affect on the Leader. Thistlestar's expression hardened as she turned away, and Slatefur's voice rose above the murmurs of the cats around camp. "There's still hope, maybe a BreezeClan patrol found him-"

Thistlestar flicked her tail, and the cats below immediately silenced. "I've been running patrols since last night, and I apologize for my persistence," She began, then dipped her head to the cats below as she trailed off. Then she raised her head again, determined, and stared at the cats before her. "As all of you know, tonight is the full moon; the Clans will be gathering to meet and share news. If any of the other leaders have information on Whiteshadow's disappearance, this would be the best way to get it."

Slatefur hesitated before nodding, and Hero realized that Thistlestar hadn't told any other cat about Whiteshadow's prophecy. The leader cast him a warning glance, proving his theory, and flicked her ears at him plainly. That simple, somehow accusing gesture felt like a crushing blow.

"We'll find him," Russetfire assured the leader, making the statement sound more factual than comforting. Thistlestar smiled faintly, and Hero finally understood why she had been chosen as deputy. Russetfire was the only Clan cat he knew to be completely objective.

Thistlestar cleared her throat to keep her audience's attention. "Russetfire, Harestripe, Fawnpaw, Jayflight, Smokewhisker, Lilypool, Sparrowheart, Brackenpaw, Sootfeather, Lark, Slatefur, Swiftpaw, and Hero will be attending tonight's gathering," She finished with a swish of her tail, and it didn't take Hero's intellectual abilities to sense she was on edge. "We're leaving now."

Lilypool, who had attended the patrol unbeknownst to him, scoffed at the leader's words. "We'll be there at sundown, the others Clans may not arrive until moon high-"

Thistlestar shot her a glare, and Lilypool was immediately silenced. "I've thought through the consequences of my actions," The leader informed her, "And my decision stands. Anyone not prepared to leave will be left behind."

"I'll go find Sparrowheart and Brackenpaw," Lilypool muttered, heading off in the direction of the training hollow located near camp. Thistlestar leapt from the branch on which she was perched, striding up to Hero with a deliberate gate. He felt his eyes shift in the other direction as she neared, until he could feel her breath on his face. The other cats cleared out of her way uneasily, and Russetfire began to organize the stunned cats.

"You promised me," Thistlestar meowed evenly, her green gaze boring into Hero's skull. The pale brown tom said nothing in response, and only ducked lower when her scrutinizing gaze moved away from him and he watched her paws as she padded towards the camp's entrance.

Hero swallowed dryly. "I know," he whispered to himself, so quietly that he could barely hear it. For a brief moment, he closed his eyes, just to feel the ticking of the watch against his throat. Then, trying to make himself useful, Hero glanced around and named off the cats who had already gathered near the camp's entrance with Thistlestar. Lilypool trotted up beside him, Sparrowheart and Brackenpaw in tow, and the mentor and apprentice continued past her towards Thistlestar. 

"She yell at you?" Lilypool asked, eyes narrowed as she tried to read his expression.

"No," Hero hung his head, "Not exactly."

Lilypool inhaled sharply. "Ouch," She muttered, resting a tail on his shoulder. Hero flinched at the contact. "Cheer up, kittypet. We'll find him. Besides, you're about to go to your first gathering." She said lightly, and Hero dazedly followed her towards where the other cats had congregated.

Thistlestar nodded as the two final members of the party approached, and with a flick of her tail she signaled for them to move forward. Numbly, Hero stepped over the rise and walked up the roughly hewn stone steps that led out of camp. Every now and then, Lilypool would glance back at him to make sure he wasn't too far behind, but as they began their journey through the open plains, she charged off through the tall grass with the wind blowing through her fur. Soon Brackenpaw joined in, much to his mentor's disgruntlement, and Hero smiled wanly in amusement at their antics. Thistlestar remained stoic during most of the trek, and Fawnpaw soon shyly joined in with the coy tom.

"How much farther?" Hero asked as Lilypool finally slowed down enough to hear him.

"Tired already, kittypet?" She teased, putting a purposeful skip in her step. Hero rolled his eyes, though he was in fact exhausted, and didn't reply for fear of humoring her. "Well, you're in luck. See that rise over there, by the two scraggly trees? There's a big dent in the earth, just out of eyeshot. We used to call it 'Defender's Point', because when the founders of the Clans found this place, they used it as a fighting ground against the city cats. But now we just call it 'The Hollow'."

"Because it's a hollow?" Hero quipped dryly.

"Nope. Because before we used it for gatherings, it was a fox den, and the foxes used to drag cats there before eating their entrails and leaving their hollow corpses lying out on the middle of the pit," Lilypool replied brightly, beaming in satisfaction at Hero's surprise.

"How pleasant," Hero grunted, "What, was 'The Boneyard' taken?"

Lilypool huffed. "Yeah. Stupid BreezeClan."

"Quiet your chatter, mouse-brains," Russetfire hissed at the she-cat and tom, "We've arrived."

"Don't be so dramatic," Swiftpaw sniffed, bounding past the reddish deputy before she could retort. "I'm sensitive to ignorance, and I think you're making my allergies flare up."

Hero blinked, impressed as he saw that Russetfire didn't have a good reply. She growled audibly, just as the group of cats came to a halt. Thistlestar stood at the head of the group, outlined against the pale orange and pink of dusk, and Hero took a moment to stare around and marvel at the beauty of it all. "We're the first ones here," She commented distantly, as if it wasn't obvious that they would arrive before the other Clans. "The other Clans should turn up shortly after sundown, we'll wait here until then. Make yourselves comfortable."

With that, the she-cat turned and disappeared into the plains, the last Hero saw of her being a tail weaving through the stalks of tall grass.

"Where's she off to?" he asked quietly, more to himself than the cats around him

"She needs time to think," came Lilypool's voice unexpectedly from next to him. Hero turned his head to face her, and Lilypool did likewise. "Her son just went missing. She's the leader of the Clan." She moved her blue-green gaze back to the spot in the grass where Thistlestar had disappeared. "There's not much time to just have a quiet moment when you have to run about making sure things are going along well all the time."

"True," Hero replied, sitting back onto his haunches and curling his tail over his front paws. He looked out over the entire setting, letting his eyes travel over the plains, the two thin trees, the odd dent in the ground. This place was so calm, so serene. Hero could understand why Thistlestar had disappeared as soon as they had arrived. This place was perfect to sit somewhere and think, with the sunset in your vision and a light breeze ruffling your fur from time to time. Maybe that was why Thistlestar had decided to come so early. She could use this time of waiting as her time of calmness, where there was nothing but the words of her thoughts to break the silence.

The cats slowly settled down, either alone or with one or two others. They conversed, practiced battle and hunting moves, or just stared about them, deep in thought, like Hero. In this way, they passed the time while the sun dipped lower and lower until it was completely gone and the moon rose higher to take its place. Finally, it hung directly over them, and the cats grew quieter as they waited for their leader and the other Clans.

Thistlestar arrived first. One second, she wasn't there, and the next, she was standing by Russetfire's side. "WildClan's close to arriving," she said, and almost before she had ended her words, cats began to stream into the area, causing the AshClan cats to rise and make their way towards the dent, were the WildClan cats were stopping. Hero followed, a weary sense of curiosity filling him.

A silver she-cat, at the head of the group, nodded to Thistlestar, and they together made their way up to the highest point in the Hollow, where the dent evened out. Hero watched the spotted cat, and from the fluid way she moved, the authority in the way she lifted her chin, the fierceness in her gaze, deducted that the cat must be the leader of WildClan.

Before Hero could turn his attention to the other cats of WildClan, who'd mingled with the AshClan cats, a rise in the noise made turn his head to see that another Clan had arrived, heading straight to the dent as WildClan had.

"BreezeClan," a WildClan cat next to him murmured, shifting as she tried to look over the other cats' heads.

This Clan's leader was a brown tom with splashes of ginger and intense pale yellow eyes that swept the cats as he padded up to the other leaders and sat down. He nodded a greeting to Thistlestar and the other cat before turning his scrutinizing gaze on the cats once again, and it didn't take him long to find Hero. His eyes narrowed and he glared at Hero, who calmly returned his gaze.

His strategy worked, as it always did, and the tom looked away first, his bearing stiff as he continued his observation.

"Hawkstar looking at you funny, eh?" the she-cat next to him, who'd announced BreezeClan's arrival earlier, said. "He always does that to new cats. Always thinking that AshClan adding more cats means less power for his Clan."

Hero gave a slight nod, but didn't respond as he observed the cat. She was a lithe brown tabby with white markings and sparkling blue eyes who seemed to be a little overenthusiastic.

"So. I'm Minnowpool. I've never seen you before, and you have the look of a non-Clan cat. Where'd you come from? Are you one of those rogue city cats? A loner from somewhere far beyond?" she pressed, trying to continue the conversation.

"I'm from the city," Hero said carefully. "I'm - was - what you call a kittypet."

Minnowpool nodded. "Ah, I see-"

She was cut off by the arrival of the final Clan to show up. These cats did the same thing that the other Clans had, gathering in the dent and mingling with the other cats. Hero realized that this had to be MossClan. They were the only Clan left.

MossClan leader was a brown and gray tom with patches of white. He was very very old, as one could tell by the white creeping up his muzzle.

When he finally reached the place where the other leaders had congregated, the silver she-cat stepped forward and announced, "All four Clans are here. The Gathering will now commence."

Immediately, the chatter died down and the cats turned their heads to stare up at the leader, who dipped her head to the MossClan leader. "Duststar, you may go first."

The old tom shuffled forwards. "Thank you, Silverstar. MossClan has no problems to speak of at this Gathering. We've got enough prey. No problems with the city cats. That's all." He shuffled back to his spot.

"I will go next," Silverstar said. "WildClan is doing well this season. We've had more than sufficient prey. In fact, I wouldn't have had to report anything out of the ordinary if not for BreezeClan setting their scent marks quite a bit farther than the border onto our side." She cast an accusatory glance at Hawkstar, her amber eyes narrowed accusatorially. 

"You know full well that that area of the forest is BreezeClan's," Hawkstar hissed. "You only were able to place your scent marks there because you managed to barely win the last leaf-bare, and you only managed that because our warriors were malnourished."

Silverstar opened her mouth to retort, but Thistlestar stopped her. "Silverstar, Hawkstar," she said wearily, her normally sharp green eyes dull. "Didn't we talk of this the last Gathering too?"

Hawkstar was quick to respond. "As if anything was resolved."

"As if you'd let anything be resolved," Silverstar shot back.

The two cats lapsed into an argument that lasted quite some time before Thistlestar finally managed to stop them, acting as a mediator. 

Minnowpool chuckled beside him. "Honestly, I don't know why they bother. The exact same thing happens every other Gathering. Hawkstar and Silverstar begin fighting, and Thistlestar must stop them."

"AshClan has been doing well," Thistlestar announced. "Our cats are thriving, and there is no problem with prey."

Hero watched on. He knew what would come next.

"Or at least, we were doing well until a little while ago. Whiteshadow, one of our younger warriors, has gone missing." Thistlestar paused, and whispers passed through the crowd as she continued. "He has not been seen since last moonrise. Does any other cat know anything about this disappearance?"

Silverstar spoke up. "I'm afraid that nothing about this has been reported to me from my Clan, Thistlestar," she said, and the other leaders echoed her.

Thistlestar turned back to the cats below, an almost unnoticeable note of desperation in her voice. "And no cat knows more? Step forward if you do."

Cats shifted, but none padded forward.

Thistlestar seemed to slump for just a second, but she immediately straightened once more. "Alright then." 

Hero grew apprehensive. There was something about the way she held herself, the certainty in her tone, that told him something was coming up.

"Tomorrow, I will be sending a search patrol into the city to look for Whiteshadow." Her gaze, sharp once more, swept through the cats as Hero's heart began to beat faster. "The cats in this patrol will be Lilypool, Jayflight, Smokewhisker-" she paused for a second, finding Hero in the crowd and meeting his gaze "-and Hero."

This was written by Frawst and Duskie together. Can you guess where Frost's writing ends and Duskie's begins? XD, I think that you guys will be able to differentiate between our writing styles quite easily. ~ Duskie

UPDATE: You guys suck at this guessing thing. I started writing at the "With that, the she-cat turned and disappeared into the plains, the last Hero saw of her being a tail weaving through the stalks of tall grass." You should've known. ~Duskie