Amanda and Silverpaw hopped over to the other apprentices, who were talking in the roots of a tree. The light gray apprentice snickered when he saw them.

"Finally made a freind, Kittypet?" He sneered. Crystalpaw and Shimmerpaw, who already seemed to have realized how rude Stormpaw was, glared at him and came to stand with Amanda and Silverpaw. 

"Wanna go crying to your Mommy that you have no friends, little kit?" Shimmerpaw taunted. Stormpaw bristled, claws unsheathed. 

"I-" Stormpaw was inturrupted by Brightpaw, who had arrived with Whitepaw. 

"No fighting. This is a Gathering!" Brightpaw meowed, not knowing what the dispute was about, but probably remembering what her mentor told her before she began wandering around. Stormpaw' fur began to lie flat again, and he sheathed his claws, but there was still tension in the air, especially between him and Shimmerpaw. They sat down and glared at each other before purposely not looking at each other and pretending to focus on the leaders on the tree stump. Silverpaw, Brightpaw and Crystalpaw sat close to Amanda - as if to protect her from Stormpaw - and moved their attention to the leaders as well.

"Cats of OceanClan and MoonClan, " Sandstar began. 

Silverpaw leaned over to Brightpaw and whispered, "What's OceanClan?" Brightpaw looked at her in surprise.

"Don't you remember Moonstar and Applefrost telling us stories when we were kits?" The orange apprentice asked. Silverpaw shook her head.

"I wasn't listening." 

Brightpaw sighed. "Well, OceanClan is the other Clan that lives near us." She began matter-of-factly. "They live near the ocean - on the cliffs - and they hunt for rabbits and seabirds and fish and red things with pinchers for hands."

"You mean crabs?" Amanda whispered. 

"Ummm..." Brightpaw trailed off, confused. Stormpaw sneered. 

"They don't use Kittypet words, mouse brain." Then he added smugly, "Real OceanClan cats call them ClawFish."

Amanda glared at Stormpaw, angry at him for embarrassing her. Silverpaw put her tail on Amanda's back.

"Don't worry about him," She muttered. "He's a fox heart, and you know it." Stormpaw glowered at the silver apprentice's words.

"This moon has been hard for OceanClan because of the loss of our leader, Breezestar." Sandstar continued. Many sad and astonished yowls sounded throughout the clearing. 

An echo sounded as Silverpaw stared at Moonstar, who was solemnly bowing his head. 

Breezestar was well liked. The voice echoed in Silverpaw's ears and she looked around, wondering if anyone else had heard. Everyone was listening intently to the leaders, some still meowing about Breezestar. Silverpaw saw Moonstar's head rise, his gaze now on the moon.

She will be missed. Silverpaw cocked her head. That was Moonstar's voice!

Moonstar? Silverpaw thought, picturing the leader's face in her mind. Is that you? Moonstar sharply whipped his head to a level position and glanced around him.

"Who-" He began aloud. Sandstar gave him an odd look.

Shhh! Silverpaw thought, using the same technique that she had used earlier. Moonstar stopped talking and focused on the voice in his head. 

Silverpaw? He thought. 

Ummm...Silverpaw's mind raced. Yes. No! Act normal! Uhhh... I'm going. I'll just stop talking. Go on with the Gathering! Silverpaw closed off her thoughts and the image of Moonstar flickered out. 

Silverpaw let out a breath. That was the oddest thing that had ever happened to her. She shook her head and flicked her ears as Sandstar continued his speech. 

"Fourtunatly, there is happier news. We have two new apprentices,  Stormpaw and Amanda. "

Cheers rang out in the clearing as the cats chanted the two apprentice's names.

"Amanda! Stormpaw! Amanda! Stormpaw!" He waited for the noise to die down before he continued. "We also have a new warrior, Dylan from the Twoleg Place." He stepped back and nodded to Moonstar so that he could make his announcement. Moonstar,  no longer looking so flustered, stepped forward and began to speak.

"We all will mourn for the loss of Breezestar. But we too have joyful news. We also have many new apprentices. Shimmerpaw, Crystalpaw, Whitepaw, Brightpaw, Amberpaw, Starpaw, and Silverpaw have been named apprentices, though not all of them could come since there are so many of them."

Meows of agreement and amusement sounded blelow.

"So, today we have Silverpaw, Brightpaw, Crystalpaw, Whitepaw, and Shimmerpaw. " Moonstar continued proudly. Cheers came once again throughout the clearing as Silverpaw sat up proudly. 

"Silverpaw! Whitepaw! Brightpaw! Shimmerpaw! Crystalpaw!" The cats cheered. 

"All else is going well in MoonClan. " Moonstar concluded as he hopped off of the the tree stump.

"This Gathering is over!" Sandstar yowled before hopping down in the other direction, flicking his tail to tell his clan to follow him out of the Gathering Place. Amanda turned to Silverpaw.

"Bye Silverpaw. See you next time you're at a Gathering." 

"Bye Amanda!" The russet apprentice waved her tail towards Silverpaw in reply to hr words before padding away to join the departing cats, making sure that she was a safe distance away from Stormpaw.