Nightpaw paddled towards the SkyClan apprentice. She had white fur, with barely visible light grey spots on her flank. The fur on her head was unusually long. Her eyes were weirdly pinkish-red, but Nightpaw thought that they were as beautiful as ever.

"Um." Nightpaw meowed, "Hi." He didn't know why he was sounding nervous.

"Hello." The apprentice with red eyes meowed.

"Why aren't you with the other apprentices?"

"I just like to listen to the warriors."

"Oh." Meowed Nightpaw. "Do you want me to leave?"

"No. I like to have company sometimes." The Skyclan apprentice turned to look at him. "My name's Blossompaw. What's yours?"

"I'm Nightpaw." Nightpaw meowed. "I'm a ThunderClan apprentice."

Blossompaw nodded. Her gaze moved onto his scalp. "The top of your head is long-furred, like me."

Nightpaw's whiskers twitched. "Really? I hope you don't mind."

"Why would I mind?" Blossompaw let out a purr. "You look great. I like your amber eyes."

"Uh." Nightpaw found this conversation awkward. "I like your eyes too." He blurted out.

"Thanks-" She was interrupted by Willowstar, the RiverClan leader, yowling,

"Let the gathering begin!" I didn't realized that RiverClan arrived, thought Nightpaw.

The two apprentices turned their heads towards the leaders. Willowstar is next to Redstar, on the right of Redstar was Breezestar of SkyClan. Next to Breezestar was Shadestar, leader of ShadowClan. Patchstar took his place close to Shadestar. Patchstar killed Swiftstar, Nightpaw realized. He the reason why she's dead. Him and and his clan.

What Nightpaw did not realize, was that his tail twined with Blossompaw's.

"Shadestar, would you like to start?" Willowstar asked.

The ShadowClan leader nodded. "ShadowClan's prey is running well. We are prepared for the upcoming leaf-bare."

Nightpaw listened to the announcements, still unaware that his tail had collided with the white-furred apprentice's. Breezestar went next, then Willowstar. It was Redstar's turn.

"ThunderClan have an new apprentice, Skypaw, and Mouseflower have gave birth to three healthy kits." Redstar continued. "Prey is running well, but..." He narrowed his eyes at Patchstar accusingly. "WindClan had decided to launch and attack at us, leading to Swiftstar's death."

The cats began muttering to each other.

"We had to!" The WindClan leader meowed, "Gorsetail, Harepelt, and Dustkit starved to death!"

The gathered cats turned to glare at Redstar. "Why won't you give them prey?" Breezestar demanded. "They have kits!"

Redpelt looked at the Skyclan leader. "They didn't ask."

Now the eyes were on Patchstar. "I-I didn't thought you would give us!" Patchstar spluttered.

"You can't just assume something, Patchstar." Shadestar meowed.

Redstar nodded. "Your action has lead to Swiftstar and your clan's cats death."

The cats began hissing at the WindClan cats. "What kind of decision is that?" Nightpaw heard a Warrior meow furiously.

"The ThunderClan cats said that the prey is theirs!" Honeywind meowed furiously, unsheathing her claws.

Fawnmist also unsheathed her claws. "You didn't explain your situation clearly!"

"STOP!" Redstar's yowled. "This is a gatherings! StarClan would not be happy if we break the truce!"

Willowstar nodded. "We shouldn't fight. I will send Dewfur and Skyflake to check on your camp. If it is in serious trouble, you would receive prey."

Patchstar nodded. "Very well."

"The gathering is ended then." Breezestar mewed. The cats began to break up into clans. RiverClan exited the island first, stepping onto the log.

Nightpaw finally realized that his tail was wrapped around Blossompaw's. He tucked it away quickly in embarrassment. The SkyClan apprentice didn't seem to notice.

They cats exited the island. Nightpaw paddled across the slippery log, Blossompaw barely a tail-length behind him.

Riverclan and Shadowclan traveled in the direction of the marshes. SkyClan and ThunderClan travelled side by side, across WindClan's moorland territory.

Nightpaw accidentally brushed his pelt against Blossompaw's. He edged away quickly.

"What?" Blossompaw asked, curiosity glimmering in her pinkish eyes.

"Nothing." Nightpaw murmured, ducking his head. His pelt felt hot with embarrassment.

Blossompaw's tail weaved along Nightpaw's spine as they walked. She stopped. "Have you ever saw a moon so round?"

Nightpaw stopped walking and looked up. "It's larger than usual." He gazed at the sparkling stars. Are they all dead warriors?

The two apprentices' tails twined again. They stared at the night sky.

"Do you think StarClan is watching us right now?" Blossompaw asked, still looking at the Silverpelt.

Nightpaw purred. "I think so." He turned his head to look at Blossompaw. "Although in one way, it seems as though they are stalking us."

The moor was quiet and almost deserted. The other cats had went back to their camps without them.

Blossompaw sat on her hind legs. Nightpaw also dropped into a sitting position next to her. 

Wind blew into their pelts. NIghtpaw felt his fur ruffle. "This feels nice." Blossompaw commented.

Nightpaw purred again. He wanted to enjoy this moment, to not think of the horrible nightmare, to not think of blood, blue flames, or anything like that. He concentrated on the stars, twinkling beautifully in front of him. His nose was filled with Blossompaw's scent, which smelled like flowers.

The two apprentices sat on a small hill, they didn't speak for a long moment.

The peace was interrupted by Stormflight yowling, "Nightpaw! Are you coming? Why are you taking so long?"

"I'm coming!" Nightpaw meowed back, loud enough for his mentor to hear. "Just give me a minute!" 

"But I need to help with something!"

"Can you wait for me at camp?"

Stormflight paused. "Okay." He meowed. "Just don't come back too late. You're not supposed to wander though the forest by yourself."

"I won't!" Nightpaw called after Stormflight.

He got onto his paws. Blossompaw did the same and stretched. They walked together, their tails still twined. Nightpaw noticed, but decided to let it be.

After a period of walking, Blossompaw meowed. "I want to do this every day."

Nightpaw looked at her, puzzled. "What do you mean? We're not in the same clan!" Then something clicked at the back of his mind. His eyes widened. "You want to sneak out at night?"

Blossompaw nodded. "It'll be nice."

"Every night? Isn't that a bit too much?"

Blossompaw flinched. Her head drooped. "So you don't want to see me?"

"Uh." Nightpaw wondered what did that meant. "How about every other night at dusk?"

Blossompaw met his amber eyes. "Sure."

The two apprentices reached the border between SkyClan and ThunderClan. "We'll meet at the edge of this border." Nightpaw meowed.

"See you the day after tomorrow!" Blossompaw meowed, crossing the border.

"Bye!" Nightpaw called. He waited until the  white-furred apprentice disappeared beneath the undergrowth. Then he turned in the other direction and headed back to camp.

Nightpaw broke into a trot. He hoped that he hadn't been away for so long...

~

"Nightpaw!" Sunpaw exclaimed. "What's taking you so long?"

"Uh." Nightpaw decided not to talk about Blossompaw. "I was busy staring at the stars."

"Featherbrain." Sunpaw mewed, humor edging her voice. "Stars aren't prey."

"I was telling Sunpaw about the gathering." Skypaw meowed. A drop of water fell from the sky. Weird, Nightpaw thought. The sky was clear a few minutes ago.

Skypaw glanced at the sky, which is now grey with clouds. More drops of water landed on Nightpaw's pelt. "Let's go inside."

They paddled into the apprentices' den. Flutterpaw, Bushpaw, and Leafpaw are sleeping. "Don't you dare shake you're pelts in here!" Branchpaw snarled. He curled into his nest. "I'm going to sleep."

Nightpaw sat down on his nest. He could hear the drizzling rain outside.

"So what happened at the gathering?" Sunpaw asked.

"I talked with the other apprentices." Skypaw meowed. She turned to Nightpaw. "What about you?"

"Oh." Nightpaw meowed. "I met a SkyClan apprentice."

"How was she?" Sunpaw asked.

She's an awesome cat. She's pretty. She's nice. I think I like her. "Her name was Blossompaw." Nightpaw decided to say.

"That's all?" Sunpaw looked as if she knows that Nightpaw is hiding something.

"Yeah." Nightpaw meowed, trying not to mutter. He turned the attention to Skypaw. "How was the other apprentices?"

Skypaw paused, then meowed, "There was this one particular apprentice. His name was Darkpaw. He's a troublemaker apparently."

"Cool." Sunpaw yawned. "I think I'm going to sleep." She meowed.

"Me too." Skypaw meowed.

"Good night." Nightpaw curled into a ball. His eyelids closed automatically. The world drains into darkness.

For once in Nightpaw's life, he didn't have nightmares.