"Let all cats old enough to hunt join beneath the High-Rock for a Clan meeting!" Squirrelstar called.

Finally! Tonight's the gathering! Will she choose me? Sharppaw hurriedly ran forward to join Stormpaw, who was already waiting. Stormpaw purred as he neared her.

"I wonder if we can both go," Stormpaw admitted. "I hope so."

"I hope too," Sharppaw meowed, leaning against her. "I wonder how the leaders will react when they hear about the rogues!" He meowed.

Stormpaw curled her tail around her paws. "Lets hear who gets to go, then."

"Now, as you all know, the gathering is tonight. I'll choose now," Squirrelstar announced, her tail flicking. "Mossheart, Whitewing, Ambertuft, Sharppaw, Stormpaw, Smallfeather, Ripplewind, Cloudspark, and Echostrike."

Sharppaw felt Stormpaw jump up beside him, her eyes lighting up. "Finally, my first gathering!" She purred.

Sharppaw followed her to the camp entrance, his tail lifting. "This is my second gathering now," he meowed. 

They talked quietly the whole way until they reached the stream where the ThunderClan border ended. The stream was large, but wasn't deep. They crossed the stream easily, since some parts were frozen and stable to walk on. The large blossom tree, which had no blossoms now, stood tall, its branching stretching in the black sky. They padded across the sandy clearing and finally reached the tree. They were surprisingly the first Clan to arrive. 

Squirrelstar clawed her way up the tree, sitting on the branch of the tree. 

The quiet gurgle of the stream made Sharppaw want to sleep. On the other side of the tree, there was less ground. It slightly dipped a little, where the river was. On the other side of the river was RiverClan territory.

The reeds suddenly rustled and Flowerstar padded out. Reedwhisker followed her, along with Mothwing, Willowshine, and Sapbriar. Rust, Mallownose, Petalfur, Pineshade, Lizardtail, and Iceriver followed them. 

Flowerstar took her place in the tree, while Reedwhisker joined Ivypool at the bottom of the tree. The other medicine cats padded over to where Mothstripe, Twistedfoot, and Flamedawn were sitting by the stream. 

Then Tigerstar came from the darkness, leaping over the stream. Tawnypelt, Ravenbreeze, Dawnpelt, Strikestone, Berryheart, Juniperclaw, Crowpaw, and a sleek light gray tom were  following close behind.

"I wonder when WindClan will arive," Stormpaw murmured. 

"Their territory is farthest from the gathering place," Sharppaw pointed out. He watched as Tigerstar took his place in the Great Blossom Tree, his amber eyes shining.

"I know," Stormpaw meowed, her tail curling around her paws.

Finally, WindClan scent washed around them. Gorsestar padded from the darkness. Doveclaw, Rabbittail, Antpelt, Larkwing, Flashpaw, and Sparkpaw followed. Gorsestar heaved himself up the tree, panting. His movements were slow.

"Everything ok, Gorsestar?" Squirrelstar asked, her tail flicking with worry.

"Everything's ok. Just a little tired," Gorsestar growled, flicking his tail. He lifted his chin. "Ok, are we ready to-" he suddenly broke off with a cough.

Rabbittail glanced up in the tree, his eyes rounding with worry. "You're sick, Gorsestar. I told you that you shouldn't of come to the gathering," he sighed.

"He insisted on coming no matter what," Doveclaw meowed, flicking her tail.

"And I suppose you'd rather be up here addressing the Clan?" Gorsestar retorted. He lifted his chin. "Are we going to start the gathering?" He asked.

"I'll start first," Tigerstar meowed, dipping his head. "Leaf-bare has been harsh so far, but we're surviving. We recently lost one of our apprentices, Frogpaw, to the sickness, and Littlecloud and Beenose have come down with it as well. Strangely our medicine cat cannot treat this cough. Catmint doesn't seem to work and they get worse with every day," Tigerstar murmured. He turned to Squirrelstar. "Squirrelstar, do you think you could send one of your medicine cats to stay with my cats for a while?" He asked. 

"I don't know. I'll think about it," Squirrelstar murmured.

"You don't say. We have sickness in our Clan too. Whitetail, Sparkpaw, Featherpelt, and Thornstem have all come down with this sickness. Kestrelflight stayed home to try and treat them," Gorsestar meowed. 

"And you seem sick as well," Flowerstar pointed out, her green eyes flashing.

Squirrelstar lifted her chin. "Tigerstar? Have any more news left?" She asked.

"Yes. About a half moon ago, Shrewfoot gave birth to three healthy kits: Leafkit, Shadekit, and Adderkit," Tigerstar announced proudly. "And a loner named Sky recently joined our Clan," he added, then sat back down, dipping his head to Gorsestar. 

Gorsestar weakly lifted his chin. "And Windflower also had three healthy kits: Ravenkit, Patchkit, and Cloudkit," he meowed. He dipped his head to Flowerstar.

"Not much news for us, except that the rogues have been coming onto our territory, taking our prey," Flowerstar meowed. "But we're still surviving with enough prey, and we still have our fish," she added, dipping her head to Squirrelstar.

Squirrelstar flicked her tail, her green gaze flashing. "Oh StarClan, where do I even start? Well, Darktail kidnapped Sharppaw, and we had to rescue him. We had a big battle. Three of our cats betrayed us, and Fluffypelt, Sootwing, and Smoky died," she murmured with grief?

"I'm sorry for your loses," Flowerstar murmured sympathetically.  

"Who betrayed your Clan?" Tigerstar growled.

"Falconflight, Snowbreeze, and Frostpaw," Squirrelstar explained. She hung her head. "But I don't know why Falconflight and Snowbreeze betrayed us, I really don't. They'd been loyal to ThunderClan for moons and moons, and they were skilled fighters," she meowed lastly.

"They'll realize their mistake soon," Flowerstar insisted, flicking her tail.

Sharppaw was too drowned in his thoughts to hear what the other leaders were saying. The only reason they left was because of me. After what seemed like forever of staring at his paws, Stormpaw prodded him sharply in the side.

"Come on, lets go! The gathering is over," Stormpaw meowed. She looked closely at Sharppaw, her eyes clouded with worry. "Is everything ok?" She asked.

"What? Yeah," Sharppaw muttered. He got to his paws, following his Clanmates with Stormpaw at his side. Memories of him killing the kittypet flashed in his mind. He shook his head, trying or forget the awful moment. I should do better...