"Littlepaw doesn't look too happy," Rabbitpaw remarked. She was watching Littlepaw dab the elders' fur with mouse bile.

"Would you be happy if you were killing ticks with stinky moss?" Flyingfish asked. She lost count of the marigold leaves she was counting and had to start over. "Besides," she meowed between counts, "apprentices can't just go running off. Where would the Clan be if that happened?"

"Uh . . . wouldn't we still be in the camp?" Rabbitpaw asked.

Flyingfish looked at her apprentice before answering. "Yes, I suppose we would. Except for the apprentices," she meowed quietly. "But that was a rhetorical question."

"Oh, sorry!" Rabbitpaw began to feel hot under her fur. She had just embarrassed herself in front of her mentor, who also happened to be the Clan's medicine cat.

"It's fine," Flyingfish reassured her. "You're fine, he's fine, I'm fine, everything's just fine and dandy!" Her tail tip flicked back and forth as she spoke.

"Uh . . . is everything okay?" Rabbitpaw asked, worried that her mentor was just going to have a random mental break down. She did that alot.

"Yes, I'm fine." Flyingfish turned around and started counting more herbs. "1 . . . 2 . . . 4 . . . no, wait . . . 3?" She mumbled to herself.

"Do we, um, need any more herbs?" Rabbitpaw asked nervously. Flyingfish nodded and flicked her tail towards the wall where the juniper berries would usually be. She continued counting herbs, but Rabbitpaw ran off into the woods to look for more.

---

Rabbitpaw crouched down low, hiding herself in the tall grasses of the panicum plant. She had scented cats - three or more - in DreamClan territory. They definitely didn't smell anything like a DreamClan cat, so they must have been rogues or - even worse - trained warriors from another Clan. The wind was facing her, so she knew no cat could smell her.

"So, what d'ya think we're gonna do?" She heard one of the cats ask.

She sank lower as another cat replied. "I dunno. Probs gonna be sayin' stuff 'bout eh . . . mouse-brained DremClen cats."

Rabbitpaw saw the cats as they walked by. One was golden with brown stripes, one was a gray tabby, and there were a bunch of fierce looking black cats. There were seven cats in total. Then she realized who they were.

"Hello," she greeted, stepping out of the tall grass hiding her.

The golden cat jumped and so did the gray tabby, and the black cats bared their teeth. The golden tom flicked his tail for them to calm down. "Hellore, Rabbitpaw," he replied. "How's da prey runnin'?"

"It's fine, thank you." She dipped her head, pushing the herbs she had gathered into the grass so they couldn't see them. "Sorry I startled you, Cedarstar."

"Iz fine." He waved his tail for his Clan to continue. "So . . . got 'ny erbs?" he whispered.

Rabbitpaw shook her head, lying to the GlowClan leader. He had always stole herbs from every Clan, but Rabbitpaw had been giving some to him in secret. No herbs, except burdock root, grew on his territory.

"Ah, that's kay," he meowed in a low voice. "We jist need s'more . . . Hawksong has Whete Coff."

Rabbitpaw nodded her head in understanding. "Sorry. I hope she gets better," she mewed with sympathy. "Well, have fun at the gathering!"

Cedarstar flicked his tail to show that he heard her. He padded away, catching up to his Clan, trying not to be late to the important gathering held every full moon.

Rabbitpaw looked around and sniffed the air, making sure Cedarstar and his Clan had really left. The coast was clear and she gathered the herbs she had collected and padded back towards camp.

When she was almost to camp, she was tackled and pinned to the ground. Rabbitpaw craned up her neck to see that it was a big black tom. "GlowClan . . ." Rabbitpaw muttered. "They always get their herbs."

The well-muscled black tom had overheard her talking. "Yah, Cedarstar sayed you was hidin' erbs." He took the herbs from the young she-cat, padding away without even scratching her.

Rabbitpaw had to go collect more herbs now. Great. She looked over at the half-set sun. "I'd actually better go with my Clan to the gathering," she murmured.

---

Rabbitpaw rushed to sit down by Flyingfish as Frogstar let out a yowl for the gathering to begin. "Thanks for getting the herbs earlier," Flyingfish whispered in her ear.

"Uhh . . . yeah." Rabbitpaw shuffled her feet. She was glad the gathering was starting now. She had made it just in time.

"We have lots of new apprentices and stuff. Let me name them all. Firepaw, Sandpaw, Flarepaw, Rustpaw, Russetpaw, Orangepaw . . ." Frogstar continued to list lots of new apprentices.

When did they get so many cats? Rabbitpaw wondered. She shrugged. It wasn't important anyways.

Frogstar nodded to Kinkstar, who stepped forward to speak. Everycat looked at him expectantly. "Well . . . we have a new warrior named Heatherflare," the leader meowed with a slight shrug of the shoulders. The cats below looked at eachother hesitantly. "We also found out that a badger and adder are living in a cave together," he continued. "It's very dangerous, but other than that, the prey is running smoothly." Now the crowd of cats exchanged uneasy glances.

Kinkstar stepped back and Cedarstar took his place. "Our Clen has nevr bean bettererer," Cedarstar announced. "Tha rever is pluntiful und tha prey is goot. Altough we do haf one miner probrem. Wun of our warrers has whete coff. Iz a bit bad . . . but DremClen hath helped us troo."

A murmur of confusion passed between everycat. DreamClan and GlowClan didn't like eachother at all . . . why was Cedarstar being so nice to them? Rabbitpaw felt her ears twitch and her fur got hot. I thought this was a secret, she thought. Will he tell everycat about the herbs?

But, to her surprise and relief, Cedarstar backed up to reveal the last leader, Firestar. She looked weak and hungry. When Rabbitpaw looked around the clearing, she noticed that the whole Clan of NightClan didn't look very good either.

"We have been . . . okay," Firestar meowed weakly. Her Clan slightly shook their heads. "Our main source of water has dried up, driving the prey away," she confessed.

Half the cats gasped, but a few warriors from GlowClan snarled. Rabbitpaw saw a familiar glare in Cedarstar's eyes as Firestar spoke.

"Our Clan has suffered the death of two kits, too," Firestar meowed, grief filling her gaze.

Rabbitpaw huffed. Why is she telling us this? She wondered. NightClan has always seemed strong. What happened? She saw a few NightClan warriors stomp the dirt a bit, obviously thinking the same things she was.

The gathering soon came to an end, leaving the cats to talk before having to travel back to camp. Rabbitpaw shoved her way through the crowd, passing the occasional "sorry". She finally saw the cat she was looking for.

"Gingerpath!" She called out to the GlowClan warrior.

The she-cat turned to face Rabbitpaw, her pale ginger pelt glowing a silvery blue because of the moon. "Rabbitpaw!" She mewed enthusiastically. They greeted with a nose touch.

"Oh, StarClan! I haven't seen you since your warriors ceremony!" Rabbitpaw exclaimed. Rabbitpaw had been allowed into GlowClan for Gingerpath's warrior ceremony. She was, obviously, good friends with the leader, so he made an exception. Gingerpath got the suffix 'path' because Cedarstar truly believed she was on the path to bringing GlowClan and DreamClan back together as friends - not as enemies. (Just some information ;) )

"I know!" Gingerpath replied. "It's really been too long. So, how is life?"

Rabbitpaw told her some of the things that had been happening. The details about the badger and adder, Littlepaw's punishment, and other Clan gossip. She looked over at NightClan, who was just about to leave. "Why do you think they are so scrawny and weak?" Rabbitpaw asked, flicking her tail tip toward the Clan.

Gingerpath hissed a bit. "They tried to steal from us," she answered. "They have to pay."

Rabbitpaw was just about to ask another question when Kinkstar let out a yowl. "DreamClan! Let's move on out!" He meowed loudly.

Rabbitpaw flicked her tail goodbye to Gingerpath and bounded towards her Clan. "Is everycat here?" Kinkstar asked. Everycat nodded. "Ok then. Let's go!" The Clan raced off into the forest, back towards camp.