Poolpaw felt excitement surge through her as she saw other Clan cats with so many different smells! Featherpaw crouched beside her. Next to them was a group of IceClan elders, queens and warriors waited in the undergrowth for Silverstar to give the signal.

"Look at all those cats down there!" hissed Poolpaw under her breath.
"Look! I think that's Emberstar, DawnClan's leader! Bluefeather told me about him!" Featherpaw hissed back.
"Where?" Poolpaw mewed, nudging Featherpaw impatiently.
"That dark-ginger tabby! Beside the Great Rock!"
Poolpaw followed Featherpaw's gaze and saw a big, muscular dark-ginger tabby tom who had light underbelly and muzzle and had emerald eyes.

Poolpaw gasped as she saw a black tom with fiery orange eyes look up at the Great Rock in the moonlight. She recognized his smell immediantly. Icefrost had told her about him. "Look! There's Darkstar—SmokeClan's leader!"

She then saw a pale-blue she-cat with lighter muzzle and underbelly and had sky blue eyes. That must be Miststar, leader of EchoClan!

Silverstar stood, and, holding her tail high, flicked it from one side to the other. Poolpaw's heart missed a beat as her Clanmates rose as one and bounded through the bushes, down toward the meeting place. She raced alongside them, feeling the wind rush in her paws and her paws tingled with excitement.

Raindapple wrapped her tail around her daughter. "Come sit with us, dear."
Poolpaw sighed. Even though she loved hanging out with her family, this was her only opportunity to meet other Clan cats! I know there are gonna be other Gatherings but you know what I mean, she thought.
Poolpaw looked at Raindapple. "Can I watch the Gathering by myself? Pleaseeee?"
Raindapple sighed. "Oh, alright. Go ahead,"

She trodded forward and squeezed in toward a line of cats. She looked up at the Great Rock, excitedly wondering ehat would happen tonight.

Someone shoved Poolpaw from behind. Her forepaws nearly tripped on the earth, and she almost lost her balance. Crossly she jerked her head around.

Clumsy frost-brain! "You nearly knocked me over!" The she-cat behind her had exclusively shades of gold, golden-brown eyes and what looked like a sun on her chest.

Design drawed by ArenaTyke

The she-cat sat back up instantly, her whiskers splaying in a playful grin. "Sorry, guess you were just in my way."
Poolpaw had to hold in all the things she wanted to say to this she-cat. IN YOUR WAY!? OHH IMMA NAIL YOU DOWN FOOL!
She did her best to stop her fur from bristling and tried her HARDEST to stay calm. "Sorry. What's your name?"

The she-cat grinned wildly. "My name's Sunpaw," her tail flicked and sat up. "I'm from DawnClan, your from IceClan, right? Were you rolling in flowers or something? Your Clan's scent is masked in something flowery. Ah, sorry I mean, I'm Sunpaw and you are?"
Poolpaw raised an eyebrow amusingly. Maybe it was an accident after all. BUT DON'T SAY YOU WERE IN MY WAY TO THE CAT WHO MIGHT END YOUR LIFE!
"I'm Poolpaw. Also, how can we be flowery if we LITERALLY live in snow?"

Sunpaw's ears twitched. "Poolpaw... That's a pretty name! Also I don't know! It's just what my nose tells me! Don't you guys have SOME flowers there? Or were you helping your medicine cat or something? I don't know, but you smell really nice and-!" Sunpaw shook herself. "I'm ranting again. Aha.. well.. uh.. I've just met you so I hope you don't hate me already! I promise I'm not that weird—I mean—uh—yep." Her ears dropped slightly and she gave Poolpaw a guilty smile. "I'm not great at talking to cats from other clans—I mean cats my age at least—uh—sorry.." She cast her another shy-guilty grin.

Poolpaw purred. This cat was just like Owlpaw! "I know a cat that is like you, so don't worry! Also, just because we have herbs doesn't mean we roll around in them and say 'Oh wow! I love rolling around in flowers that heal me'!" She said the last part in a girly voice.
Sunpaw's ears twitched again and she shot Poolpaw a wide grin. "I bet you do."

Poolpaw glance left and right. She wondered if there were other DawnClan apprentices like Sunpaw. "Are there other apprentices in your Clan?"
Sunpaw nodded. "Yeah. There's Goldenpaw and my brother, Pinepaw. There are other apprentices in IceClan, right? I think I've seen some of them."

Poolpaw looked at Sunpaw. "Wait... did you say you have a brother? Me too! Well... I have a sister, Featherpaw." She flicked her tail over to Featherpaw sitting next to Bluefeather.
Sunpaw followed her direction and her eyes landed on Featherpaw. "She's pretty, but not as pretty as you—I mean your both pretty, but your prettier? If you get what I mean? My brother's a bit of a stubborn mouse-brain and... well we don't talk much, he wants to be the next leader of our clan and well..." Sunpaw shook her head slightly. "Well anyways, what do you like doing?"

Poolpaw thought her words carefully. At the mention of leader, she had dreams of herself being leader. Poolpaw purred. "Planning to be leader, hunting, fighting and stuff. Hey, maybe if they both become leader, we could be deputies together."
Sunpaw purred. "Yeah, that would be cool! I'm sure you'd make a great deputy. I doubt my brother would choose me to be his." There was a slightly sadder tone to her mew but then she gave Poolpaw a bright grin. "I like you. Your cool, and not just cause your from IceClan."
Poolpaw sighed. She had heard enough IceClan puns in her life, and she was getting tired of them..

Sunpaw cast her head around the clearing. "Speaking of deputies, where are they?"
Icefrost turned their sharp pale blue gaze on them. "The ICECLAN deputy is right in front of you, and she'll pull out your whiskers if you don't do as you're told and be quiet!" She hissed slightly and stalked off.
Sunpaw jumped and turned her head toward Icefrost and as she stalked off, she turned back to Poolpaw and whispered in a barely audible voice. "Jeez, who put yarrow in her prey this morning?"
Poolpaw giggled. "Well, at least your question answered. That's Icefrost, our deputy and my mentor."
Sunpaw smiled wildly. "Ooooooo, as her apprentice, can you tell me..." She shot her a sneaky grin. "Is she always this grumpy?"
Poolpaw giggled. She would never... in a million moons describe Icefrost as grumpy. "What! No, she's usually calm most of the time."
Sunpaw started giggling. "Wow, she must not like me already, making a great impression on your mentor, aren't I?" She chuckled.

Miststar stood on the side of the Great Rock. "Cats of all Clans, welcome. EchoClan is doing well, we have plenty of prey and have restocked our medicine supplies."
Silverstar stepped forward. "IceClan is thriving with much prey and herbs as well. And, we have many new apprentices. Poolpaw, Featherpaw, Bravepaw and Duskpaw!"
The Clan cats started chanting. "Poolpaw! Poolpaw! Featherpaw! Featherpaw! Bravepaw! Bravepaw! Duskpaw! Duskpaw!"
Poolpaw felt pride in herself as the Clan cats started chanting her name.

Emberstar lifted his muzzle. "DawnClan has been free from a few loners who had thought it was good to trespass into DawnClan territory."
"Was there a loner attack?" Poolpaw asked.
"Everything was fine in the end," Sunpaw whispered.
Poolpaw nodded.

Emberstar flicked his tail. "Prey is good despite the loner inference."
Sunpaw nodded their head. "Yeah, everyone is really well fed right now," Sunpaw whispered to Poolpaw.
Annoyance pulsed through Poolpaw. She wanted to shout at Sunpaw. I ALREADY KNOW THAT, FROST-BRAIN! YOUR LEADER TOLD ME! STOP REPEATING THINGS I ALREADY KNOW!

Briarfang flicked her ear with his paw. "Hush! How many times do you have to be told?"
As Briarfang trodded back to where they were, Poolpaw did a raspberry in annoyance of Briarfang.
Sunpaw giggled softly. "Who was that?" She muttered softly, grinning at Poolpaw.
Poolpaw looked at Sunpaw. "That's Briarfang, now HE'S the grouch."

Darkstar was speaking. "It is with sadness that I must announce that one of our elders, Heatherheart, has passed away and joined StarClan."
Poolpaw dipped her head sadly for the fallen elder.

Silverstar looked at the cats below. "This Gathering is dismissed!" The leaders soon jumped off of the Great Rock.

"Awww." Sunpaw mewed. "I don't wanna leave youuuu." Sunpaw leaned against Poolpaw dramatically then her eyes glittered slightly. "Hey, Poolpaw.. how up to breaking the rules are you?" She mewed softly.
Poolpaw felt ice climbing along her spine. She felt frozen. Was Sunpaw suggesting they broke the Warrior code? She thought with horror. "Like what?"
"I mean, nobody's gonna be here tomorrow night..." Sunpaw mewed lightly. "And I was wondering if you wanted to climb the great rock with me...?" Sunpaw blinked at Poolpaw softly. "So whatcha say?"
Poolpaw was struck. "Isn't this.. breaking the warrior code?"
"Only a little." Sunpaw twitched her ears. "If you wanna train to be leader of IceClan.. what better way to prepare than seeing what it would be like to attend a gathering as a leader? Besides, if we get caught I'll take all the blame for us so you won't get in trouble."
Poolpaw was in horror. Say something! Give her answer! Anything! "Alright, see you tommorow night."

WHAT DID I JUST SAY!?

She didn't want to see her anymore. She raced after her Clanmates.
Featherpaw padded up to her, "Hey, Poolpaw! You alright?"
Poolpaw took a deep breath. "I'm fine."

When I'm really not...
What am I going to do?