A quarter-moon later, the RiverClan camp was filled with all the cats that were walking to the Gathering. The Gathering was the time once a month when a group of cats from each Clan would meet on the Island to discuss happenings in each Clan's territory. Clan leaders would sit on the Great Oak with all other around them, and would be the main ones to speak.

Icestar padded over to the group. "Are we ready?" She whispered to her deputy. Most cats were milling around, so it was close to impossible to tell whether she had everyone.

"I believe so. I can't quite tell. After all, we are herding cats," Grasspelt said with a joking wink.

Icestar smiled at his remark and stepped to the front of the group. All cats suddenly became quieter at the show of authority. This was Icestar's chance. "Ok, is everyone here? It is time to be going."

Cats shuffled about, looking for missing members of the group. Robinwing piped up. "I don't see Petalfur!" Other cats agreed, so Grasspelt went off to find the stray she-cat. When all cats were assembled, Icestar nodded and raced out of camp with Grasspelt, Petalfur, Mallownose, Graybrook, Toadstrike, Brighttail, Cougarheart, Robinwing, and Flickerpaw.

Icestar started to reflect on what she was going to say when it was her turn. She was leader now, and held much more responsibility than the deputy. The past days had gone by smoothly. Each sunrise some cats would get up and start working on the camp walls, and each sunset the RiverClan camp would look even better than before. As the RiverClan cats trotted downstream, Icestar thought of all the problems that still remained, such as Beechpaw's name and the badger. The badger had not been seen or shown evidence of living near by since the day of the battle. The unspoken question hung in the air of whether it was still lurking RiverClan territory.

RiverClan stepped out of the bushes and over to the log used to cross the lake to the Island. Seeing nobody other than fellow Clan members, they leaped onto the bridge-like log and walked across.

Entering the clearing used for Gatherings, Icestar saw that RiverClan was the first to arrive. This was normal, since RiverClan's territory was closest to the island. In fact, all cats had to cross over RiverClan territory to get to the island.

Icestar claimed a branch with a good view of all cats. She stood on it as she gazed over the Gathering's clearing. It looked so much smaller from this vantage point. She could see all her cats from up here. Toadstrike, Cougarheart, and Brighttail were talking together, probably excited for their first Gathering as warriors. Flickerpaw was exploring the edges if the clearing with Robinwing close behind. The others were either sharing tongues or talking amongst themselves.

Soon, all the other Clans had arrived. The other leaders joined Icestar on the Great Oak. Whitestar of ThunderClan gave Icestar a curious look.

"Hello, Icefrost. Where's Minnowstar? Is she ill?" The news had not traveled to ThunderClan, so Icestar had to break it herself.

"Icestar now. She died in a fight. WindClan got too angry about the prey problem. They decided to attack, and accidentally killed Minnowstar in the process." Icestar decide not to mention what happened to Willowshine at this moment, and to wait for the Gathering to start to mention it.

"Oh! I didn't know. I am sorry for RiverClan's loss. For all of the Clan's loss, really. She was a respectable leader." Whitestar bowed her head in grief.

Tawnystar of ShadowClan stepped in. "Are we ready to start?" She mewed to the other leaders. Whitestar lifted her head and nodded. Tawnystar sounded the starting yowl. When all murmurs had faded, she said loud enough for all cats to here,"Cats of all Clans, welcome to the Gathering. We are joined by Icestar this moon, who is the new leader of RiverClan." Icestar could here cheering from her RiverClan cats and smiled sheepishly. "Would you like to start?" Tawnystar asked Icestar.

"It would be my pleasure," Icestar replied and stepped forward. She took a deep, reassuring breath that filled her entire chest. It didn't make her any calmer, but her voice was able to be heard to the back row quiet easily.

"RiverClan is healing well after our battle with WindClan. Sadly, it resulted in Minnowstar's death, so now I am here to take her place. We will all grieve for her, but we must move on." Sad mews could now be heard among the assembled cats.

Icestar let them quiet on their own, as she fumbled with her thoughts on how to word the incident with the badger. She didn't want to make the Clan sound weak, yet it was her duty to report was had happened since the last Gathering. "After the battle had ended, a badger attacked us and killed Willowshine our medicine cat."

More gasps arose from the crowd. The Clan must sound like it is falling apart! thought Icestar. If I keep this up, I'm sure it'll sound like I'd accept help from a fox. Already Tawnystar was of out to open her mouth to speak. Probably to offer help. But no! We can take of ourselves.

Icestar jumped in. "Willowshine did have an apprentice, so we do have a cat that knows medicine. RiverClan is already ready healing, and I think we will back to normal before too long. We do have three new warriors, Toadstrike, Brighttail, and Cougarheart." RiverClan cheered at the mention of the new warriors, while Icestar nodded and stepped back.

Emberstar stepped forward next. "I am sorry to hear about both your cats, and again for give me about Minnowstar. Feel free to ask if you need anything, maybe medicine supplies from Whiskerpelt," he mewed humbly. Icestar knew that it would be hard to, but she might as well start trying now. The WindClan leader went on to tell about the birth of Heathertail's kits (which he was very proud of since he was the father) and that WindClan is as healthy as ever, despite the prey problem.

Next came Tawnystar who mentioned the kittypets that live on ShadowClan territory getting a little feisty. Whitestar reported the apprenticeship of Bluepaw and Cloudpaw, who were Dovewing and Bumblestripe's kits. The brother and sister blushed as their new names were cheered.

As Whitestar stepped back, Emberstar, being the eldest leader, asked, "Anything else?" Since no leader said anything else, Emberstar announced, "I believe this Gathering is over. May StarClan light your path." With that, he leapt gracefully down the Great Oak. Tawnystar followed, except used scrambling as a technique rather than leaping. Whitestar followed, then Icestar.

"Good job, Icestar." Grasspelt came up behind her. "There isn't much else you could have said. It is hard to tell other Clans of bad news in ours. I have watched Minnowstar do it, and even she struggled."

Icestar felt flattered. She hadn't thought she handled it well, but apparently Grasspelt did. She looked at him. "Thank you. I knew that we can take care of ourselves, so I was just standing up for the truth."

"O- of course," Grasspelt said with a stutter, then hurried off to go find everyone.

Icestar was suspicious. Why did Grasspelt seem so nervous? He didn't seem like the kind of cat that would betray his own Clan. No, that was definitely not it. She displayed a puzzled smile, then followed after Grasspelt to round up the RiverClan cats.

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So, what do you think is up with Grasspelt? Leaving you with a cliff hangar! Mwahaha! Sorry for another late update.