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The sun was slowly setting behind the mountains ahead. Shadows began to form throughout the camp as cats made their way toward Moss Rock as the waterfall growled beside them, water gurgling as it splashed upon itself.

The air was filled with excitement as tails swished behind themselves.

Stripestar was standing on Moss Rock as he gazed at his Clanmates. Honeypaw let a tiny wail of delirium and joy as he scanned the crowd.

"Finally, it is time for the gathering, as you all may know, is a meeting for all the Clans. Now it is time to pick the cats that will be joining this meeting tonight," Stripestar took one last glance at the crowd before continuing. "I will be joined by Silverblaze, Rainpaw, Dawnstream, Leappaw, Rushcreek, Whitepaw, Pounceclaw, Leopardfur, Honeypaw, Puddlespring, Goldenpaw, Rivertuft, Lightningspot, and Violetfern."

He went on. "Every cat that is staying behind must guard the camp at all costs, if there is danger please report to the gathering immediately. If any cat is to speak without permission at the gathering then you shall be punished. For now, all the cats that are going, shall meet beside the entrance. We'll be leaving shortly."

Honeypaw twisted toward Leopardfur who was standing beside her. "Can't you believe it, I'm going to the gathering!" she meowed.

Leopardfur purred. "Gatherings are so much fun, apprentices like you, who are outgoing and extroverted, usually make a lot of friends."

Honeypaw flicked her tail in delight at her mentors sudden praise. Did she really act like that? Of course, it was a good thing, like Leopardfur said, she could make a lot of new friends!

Then the thought came rushing back about HedgeClan, could any of the other apprentices know anything about the mysterious Clan? Probably not, but it was worth asking. Maybe in a couple moons when she becomes a warrior she could go with some cats from the other Clans. . . Though, that was risky, maybe not.

She tried shrugging it off as she padded toward the entrance, but she couldn't keep forgetting it.

He noticed her father, Pounceclaw's, well muscled smoky gray fur in the nudist of the cats gathered. They made eye contact and she made her way over.

Pounceclaw nudged her ear. "I'm so glad Stripestar let you and Goldenpaw go to the gathering. Although your mom wasn't chosen I'm sure she's happy for you both."

Honeypaw nodded as she waited patiently beside him as they waited for Stripestar to emerge from his den above Moss Rock.

The moon was beginning to rise as the sun was just a small speck in the distance, the sky swirling with the colors of pink, orange, and red. It was, in fact, beautiful.

Finally, it was time to leave for the gathering as Stripestar made his way over to the gathered cats. Their leader took the lead and they exited camp and into the forest. Crickets buzzed as they passed by, birds songs have stopped as they huddled in their nests, cowering together with their family. The whole forest seemed as it was going to sleep.

Small waterfalls trickled to and fro and ponds bubbled. The grass was a little muddy, though, it didn't bother any of them considering that they were used to getting their paws wet. Their bodies were meant for swimming and the water.

She could finally make out the large island that rested in the middle of all the surrounding territories. She saw the four trees all bunched together as the moon reflected off the lake into her eyes as it glittered brightly.

"Don't you just love it when the moon shines on the lake," she overheard Leopardfur whisper to Puddlespring.

She agreed with her mentor, the lake sure was pretty.

It felt like moons before they made it to the lake. It looked so much bigger when they got closer to it rather than seeing it from the highest point of MossClan territory.

To get across toward the island they would need to either swim, which wasn't really a good way of going across considering that not all MossClan cats, like herself, really knew how to swim yet, even though it was shallow. Or, they had the option of stepping on the small rocks and stones that jutted out of the lake.

She stepped just a little forward on the sandy shore and looked closer as she could see through the water, rocks of all different shapes, sizes, and colors piling up beneath the blue, transparent loch.

She noticed her Clanmates beginning to leap across the rocks. She realized Leopardfur was waiting with her while Pounceclaw stayed near the back, making sure each cat got across safely.

Then, it was Goldenpaw's turn. Honeypaw could smell her fear.

"Go on with it, you'll be fine Goldenpaw," her mentor, Puddlespring, pressed.

Goldenpaw hesitated before leaping to the first rock followed by Puddlespring. Surprisingly, Goldenpaw seemed to be doing fine, she never slipped or lost her paw step.

It was her turn now. Yeah, she was nervous, but she didn't want to seem like a scaredy-mouse. She leaped to the first rock, regaining her balance again and did it a couple more times until she was on the second to last rock. She leaped, but slipped, her hind paw slashing at the water. She immediately stepped back up.

Embarrassment flooded her, how embarrassing, she thought grimly.

Though, she made it across without slipping anymore times. She leaped onto the island. It was sandy and muddy. It was more like MossClan land then any of the other Clans, well, she guessed.

Tons of different scents filled her nose. It was because of all the new cats from the different Clans along with the new territory. Though, Leopardfur said once she stared marking territories more often she would learn the smell of every Clan and be able to identify a scent quickly.

The gathering island was huge, four trees lined up in a circle in the middle and large branches stood out from each one, she assumed that the leader sat on them. Then beneath those were smaller branches, probably where the deputies sit. The muddy sand turned into grass and dirt.

She realized that MossClan was the last Clan to get to the gathering. There will tons of different fur colors that plastered around as all the different eye colors sparkled as they stared.

She looked around to see that the MossClan cats began spreading around into the crowd and began talking to he other Clans. She decided to do the same. She looked around and noticed a couple of smaller cats, she was pretty sure they were apprentices.

Honeypaw padded over to them, inclining her head in greeting. "Hello, you must be apprentices, right?" she asked. There were two cats, one was ginger, she looked awfully like herself, and an icy-white tabby.

"Hi, my name is Eaglepaw! I'm from FlowerClan," Eaglepaw said as she introduced herself.

The other cat flicked her tail. "I'm Icepaw, from TreeClan," Icepaw mewed. "Let me go find my brother."

"If you insist," Honeypaw said.

Eaglepaw and her sat for a while, waiting for Icepaw to appear, but the she-cat had still not returned. Perhaps she was saying that to get away. She shrugged. "Well, I haven't introduced myself, I'm Honeypaw."

Eaglepaw let out a small yawn. "Nice to meet you, it seems as my friend Icepaw can't find her brother, Sootpaw. He's really nice, a lot like Whitepaw from MossClan. I know he usually hangs out with Rainpaw at the gatherings."

Honeypaw nodded her head slowly. "You've met Whitepaw, Rainpaw, and Leappaw before?" she asked.

Eaglepaw nodded. "Of course I have, I've met almost every apprentice. I'm about to become a warrior along with my brother, Volepaw. He wasn't picked to come to this gathering because of—uh, never mind."

Honeypaw purred with amusement. "You don't have to tell m—"

"Welcome everyone!" she heard one of the leaders yowl as it rang through the crowd.

The gathering was starting!

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Thank you for all the love I'm been getting, and, for 1k views on this story! I've been working on this book for YEARS and it's finally started to make some sense and get its views it has deserved. I have been working very hard and I have been extremely busy, thanks for sticking with me. <3