<Sorry that this is late! I hope it's still ok!>

Out of all the things on the long list of possibilities, waking up to three climbing all over him wasn't something that Greenclaw had expected. Not that it was unwelcome or annoying, quite the opposite really. "What are you three doing out of the nursery?"

The kit that was on his head squeaked, not expecting the deputy to actually wake up. They stumbled off and landed next to the tom's big paws, which revealed it to be Primrosekit that had been climbing his head.

"Exploring!" Was Russet kit's reply, the tom-kit was sitting at the edge of Greenclaw's nest.

"Without Sparrowflight?"

The russet colored tom looked out to camp before sneaking up to the massive tom, said tom leaned down to give the kit an easier time to whisper in his ear. "We snuck away!"

Greenclaw scowled at the young cat, "You shouldn't do that, you're still too young to be all alone."

"Hey!" Cried Jaykit, swiping at the deputies side. "We are nearly four moon old! That's plenty old!"

"It is." Agreed Greenclaw. He playfully batted against the tabby kits head. "But still too young."

He then stood up from his nest, the kits all looking up at the now even more towering tom. Greenclaw looked down at them with amusement. "Come you three, let's get you back to the nursery."

The three kits complained loudly, but followed him anyways. The cats resting outside looked on in amusement as their tough and stoic admin led three kits towards the nursery, and no one more than Turtlestar. The leader had seen this before, back when he was deputy and known as Turtlemoss. Though instead of a trio of brown, russet and gray, it was a two black and white kits. Redkit and Mistlekit.

Mistlekit had always wanted to hang out around Greenclaw, so it was no surprise to him when Antstar, the leader before him, said he was making Greenclaw Mistlekit's mentor.

But then the fox (changed from wolf to make more sense) attack happened, and suddenly plans had changed.

The attack was brutal, ending the lives of many. But more specifically ending the lives of many of the nursery cats. One of the cats lost in the attack was Mistlekit.

Redkit mourned her for a long time, so long in fact that Turtlestar became leader before the tom became an apprentice. And when he did he asked to be assigned the mentor his sister was supposed to have, because if she couldn't become the warrior she was supposed to be then he'd be it for her.

Turtlestar shook himself of those thoughts, now was not a time to think of that. They had five new clan members, and the nursery had some recidens in it. And the gathering was soon, so he needed to focus on that. With one last look back at the kits he turned and went into his den to rest up for a little while longer.

As the leader entered his den Greenclaw and the kits did the same thing, but with the nursery instead. He was confused when he saw Aspenmoss in the nest instead. She was supposed to be in the elders den, so why was she here?

"Where's Sparrowflight?" Asked Russetkit innocently, looking up at the old she-cat.

"With Frostfoot." Answered Aspenmoss kindly, though there was something in her eyes that put Greenclaw on edge. "He'll be back soon, so don't you worry."

The three kits looked a bit uncertain about being without Sparrowflight, and the elder could see this. So thinking fast she motioned to the flowers that were in the nest. "Where did you three get these?" She leaned in close and playfully glared at them. "You didn't sneak out of camp did you?"

And just like that the three were distracted, chatting on about all the flowers they'd been given.

Greenclaw left after he saw the kits settle down with Aspenmoss, intent on going to check up on Sparrowflight before the gathering. He carefully entered the den to be greeted with the sight of a sleeping light brown tom and a herb sorting Frostfoot. Said she-cat looked up as she heard him enter, she smiled kindly before putting down a few leaves in a pile. "Hello Greenclaw! Here to see Sparrowflight I suppose?"

"Yes." Confirmed the muddy tom. "Aspenmoss said he was here. Is he okay?"

Frostfoot looked at the sleeping cat. "He is, he just had some problems breathing earlier so I'm keeping him here for a bit to see if nothings wrong. Cedarfall will be watching him whilst we're away at the gathering." Added the small she-cat when she saw Greenclaws worried face. The two were interrupted by Turtlestars call. "Come on, we need to go."

The two walked side by side to meet all the other cats who were going to the gathering. Both sat down relatively close to the stump, not only to show their close position to the leader, but to also show that they needed to talk to him (Frostfoot was actually the only one who really needed to talk to him).

Turtlestar surveyed all the gathered cats, looking for who was here and who wasn't. He was pleased to find everyone who was supposed to attend present. "I'm glad that everyones here! Now I would normally just check that everyone was here, but I feel that on this occasion we'll need more preparation."

Mummers and whispers passed between the gathered, they had a hunch they knew what he was talking about.

"As you all know we welcomed five new cats into our clan, cats who were previously of another clan. Today I will call out their previous leader on his misdeeds, and I want you all to protect Birdwing if Oakclan gets aggressive." Turtlestar's eyes narrowed as he looked over everyone. "He is one of us, and an attack against him is an attack against Spruceclan. You defend him as if he was one of us, because that is what he is."

Shouted agreements filled the camp, and Birdwing bashfully bowed his head. Whitehawk nudged him playfully, a small grin on his face.

The group of cats left after that, Turtlestar leading the way. Greenclaw and Frostfoot fell into step behind him.

"How's Sparroflight doing?" Asked Turtlestar softly, looking down at Frostfoot.

"He seems to be doing better. But I'll have to wait to get back later to truly see." Answered the she-cat, tilting her head in though.

"Good."

The stream that separated spruce forest from the birch forest could now be heard, which meant that they were nearing the gathering place. Turtlestar halted his movements and turned to look at Birdwing. "Are you ready for this?"

Birdwing nodded with determination. "Yes."

The gray-brown leader gave a curt nod back. "Let's go then."

This would be one different gathering.

<Next chapter will be the gathering! And Birdwing will meet his old clanmates, that will be fun :3 And here's a Greenclaw for you all!

Stay safe and have a wonderful time everyone!>