(Mossypaw above)

The Gathering-Place was huge. Those were the first words that came to Patchpaw's mind as she and Icepaw padded into the island's large clearing. Huge.  And it was. The great oak tree where the leaders sat to give their clan's report towered many fox-lengths above the clan cats' heads. Icepaw inhaled sharply. "Wow!" he breathed.

Patchpaw nodded, her hazel eyes huge and glossy, staring up at the giant oak tree. She stepped forward, mesmerized, and promptly bonked her head into another cat. She bounced back and land on her hindquarters with a thud.  The larger tom turned to look at her with huge green eyes. 

"I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" he mewed quickly .

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry for running into you."

The dark tabby chuckled. "Likewise."

Patchpaw purred. She liked this new tom. He was sweet, and some part of her mind thought he was handsome. Wait! No. I do not like a tom from a different clan. I can't. It is against the warrior code she reprimanded herself. "What's your name? I'm Mossypaw of ThunderClan."

"And I'm Patchpaw. Of SkyClan."

Mossypaw purred. "Nice to meet you Patchpaw. Come, I'll show you where the apprentices hang out. Patchpaw padded quickly to keep up with Mossypaw's long strides as he lead her to a yew bush where two much older, almost-warrior apprentices were sharing tongues. She also spotted two other apprentices her age play-fighting. "Hi, guys! This is Patchpaw," Mossypaw dipped his head to the other two apprentices. 

The four apprentices who were fighting immediately separated into one tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat, a dark ginger she-cat, cream and golden tom, and a dark gray tom with white flecks. Patchpaw suspected they were litter-mates.

"Patchpaw, meet Swanpaw, my brother, and Pebblepaw. Her brother is Moorpaw, who is over with the other medicine cats."

The ginger she-cat piped up, "I'm Flarepaw, this is my brother Juniperpaw," she nodded at the golden tom, "And this is Dewkit."

The last cat whose name she said hissed at her, "I'm Dewpaw, mouse-brain." and launched himself at her. 

Patchpaw turned to look at the last she-cat and noticed an odd resemblance between them. Their pelts both had similar markings, and both had hazel eyes. Weird thought Patchpaw. "I'm Flowerpaw." offered the she-cat. "Are you new here? I've never seen you at a gathering."

Patchpaw shook her head. "I've been an apprentice for six moons, I've just had never gone to a Gathering."

Flowerpaw nodded and sat down. "Well, welcome to chaos."

The SkyClan apprentice purred in amusement at her new friend's joke. Mossypaw came over and sat down beside them. "Can I sit with you guys? Too much energy back there."

Mossypaw motioned with his tail at Flarepaw, Juniperpaw, and Dewpaw. Dewpaw and Flarepaw were still fighting. They watched as Dewpaw pinned down his sister and pretended to bite down on her neck. "Ha ha! I won." crowed Dewpaw, not long before Flarepaw tucked in her hind legs to push off Dewpaw and send him flying through the air. 

The dark gray tom land with a thump just outside the entrance to the holly bush right as two more apprentices walked in, narrowly avoiding getting hit by the flying tom. "What happened this time?" asked the tortoiseshell she-cat.

"Flarepaw happened. Also, where's Bramblepaw?" replied Mossypaw. 

"She fell out of a tree and dislocated her shoulder. But, what can we expect from Bramblepaw?" giggled the other apprentice, who was a silver tabby tom with fur that looked just like a storm cloud. "Oh right! We have another addition to ApprenticeClan." Mossypaw looked at Patchpaw. 

"This is Patchpaw of SkyClan. Patchpaw, this is Rosepaw and Stormpaw."

Patchpaw felt jealous of the way Mossypaw said Rosepaw's name and the way he looked at her. She wanted him to talk and look at her like that. Suddenly, the noise from the other cats outside died down to hushed whispers as the final leader jumped into the tree. "RiverClan will go first." announced a black-striped she-cat.

Mossypaw leaned over to whisper into Patchpaw's ear. "That's Beestar. Meet me behind the Great Oak at the end of the Gathering."

Patchpaw nodded. He wanted to meet with her! Not Rosepaw or anybody else. Her. She purred quietly. Once the Gathering was over, her meeting with Mossypaw would begin.