"Do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your clan, even at the cost of your life?"

"I do."

"Then by the powers of Starclan, I give you your warrior name. Flamepaw, from this moment on, you will be known as Flamebreeze. Starclan honors your strength and integrity, and we welcome you as a full member of Skyclan."

I moved up to Billystar, and respectfully licked his shoulder as he rested his head on my shoulder.

"Flamebreeze! Flamebreeze! Flamebreeze!" The clan called out, although as I looked into the crowd, I could see Sparrow, now called Sparrowfur, staring me down.

And so it begins.

Sparrowfur stood up from where he was standing and made back to the warriors den. His head was hung low and his shoulders were hunched. He seemed... bored.

As I retreated into the crowd, Billystar called out. "Have you all forgotten? Tonight is the gathering! I have to announce who's going." Cats around me yowled with excitement as Billystar tried to quiet everyone down. "Besides Cedartail and the medicine cats, Skystorm, Snowheart, Peonypelt, Flamebreeze, Sparrowfur, and Yellowwhisker will be accompanying me to the gathering."

Perfect.

I assume that the others would be able to hold the meeting without me, or possibly without someone else, but it is definitely preferred that everyone be there.

"Flamebreeze!" Yellowwhisker was sprinting over to me as she called out my name. She slid to a stop directly in front of me. "We're finally warriors!"

I gave my sister a small smile as she ranted on about all of the things she was excited about. I looked over her shoulder to see Stonecreek standing in front of his den, beckoning me with his tail.

"... And leading patrols and- Hey, are you even listening to me?"

I shook my head and looked back to Yellowwhisker. "No, sorry, I got distracted. Stonecreek was calling me, I'll talk with you on the way to the Gathering." I didn't bother waiting for a response as I moved past her and towards the medicine cat's den. Stonecreek was already waiting for me as I entered the den.

"We have another meeting tonight, right?" I nodded. "Okay. Is there anything different now that you're a warrior?"

"Well, we had a truce while we were apprentices so that it would be a fair fight, but that's broken now that we're warriors. So besides all the normal things, that's basically it."

"Okay. And how are your flames coming along?"

"Pretty well." I shot a short burst of flames out into the shape of a messy leaf. "I'm trying to learn how to shape it so that I can fit it through foliage without burning anything."

"Is that why the forest always smells like burning leaves when I go out to get herbs?"

"Probably."

"Yeah I would train against something non-flammable."

"Like what?"

"Rocks." Stonecreek looked at me as though I was stupid. Sure I wasn't the smartest, that title belongs to Maple, and sure, I hadn't remembered that there were rocks in this forest, and sure, I hadn't-

Okay, now I'm starting to think that Stonecreek may have been right.

I turned around and exited the den, and was immediately greeted by Raineye. "Congratulations Flamebreeze! It took you long enough."

I snorted in response and responded, "Yeah, because you've been waiting all this time to retire to the elder's den."

"Ouch." Despite that remark, there was still a smile on Raineye's face.

"Seriously though, are you going to retire to the elder's den?"

"I don't know yet. It'd be great to stay with Jaypool, but it's also great to see the smile on her face when I bring her prey that I caught. So I might stick around for awhile."

"Well then, I look forward to patrols with you."

"Likewise."

I moved past Raineye and further into the center of the camp. The sun was starting to set, and our clan had to travel the furthest to reach the gathering, so we would be leaving very soon.

I decided to settle down next to Cedartail, who was eating a mouse by herself.

"Hello Flamebreeze. Congratulations on becoming a warrior!"

"Thanks." An awkward silence fell over us as Cedartail finished her mouse.

"You do remember that you have to keep vigil tonight, right?"

Being honest, I had completely forgotten about the vigil new warriors had to keep on the day they were promoted to warrior. Looks like the others would have to have the meeting without me. "Right, I'll go and remind Billystar so that he can replace myself and my siblings."

Cedartail nodded to me and went back to the warriors den, while I turned towards the leader's den.

"Billystar?"

"Hmm?" Billystar's head moved from his paws, where it was resting. "Oh, hello Flamebreeze. What do you need?"

"Cedartail reminded me that my siblings and I need to keep vigil tonight."

Billystar shook his head, and responded, "Raineye must not have told you. The Warrior Code was changed a few generations ago. New warriors aren't required to keep a night-long vigil anymore, but new warriors are required to do something, which varies by clan. In Skyclan, new warriors must spend a full day, morning to morning, in the canopy of trees. And yes, we do keep the silence rule."

Well that sounds so fun.

"However, some clans keep the old tradition. Don't worry though. You get to choose the day you do it, it just has to be within the next few days. Before you do any patrols."

"Huh, Cedartail told me otherwise. She must have been messing with me." I shook my head, "Anyways, is it alright if I do it the day after tomorrow? I'd like to take tomorrow off because of the Gathering."

The brown tabby tom smiled politely, "Sure, that's fine. Just remember the rules, and the earlier you start, the better."

"Of course. Thank you, Billystar." I dipped my head to the tom respectfully and left the den.

Outside of the den, cats were beginning to gather, ready to leave for the gathering. This was a rather small amount of cats going to the gathering, and most cats were either lounging near the edges or the clearing, or were dozing off in their nests.

I joined the group of cats near the entrance, and almost immediately Yellowwhisker came up to me, "Hey! So, anyways, as I was saying earlier, we can finally have mates, and-"

Oh Starclan, this is going to be a very long walk.

'~******~'

"Hey Flamebreeze!" Someone's voice called out behind me.

I turned my head to see Maple making his way over to me with a light jog. Somehow it doesn't surprise me that he already knows my warrior name. He probably overheard someone. "Hello Maple."

"Don't shorten names when we're in public. Don't want too many people getting suspicious, eh?"

I hadn't even thought of the possibility that cats may hear us shortening each other's names. "Oh, alright, well what do you need Maple-uh-"

"Maplepelt."

"Yeah. Maplepelt."

"Stone told me to tell you that we're having today's meeting after the Gathering, not during. And don't worry about telling your leader or anything, everyone will immediately go to their nests, and no one will know that you're gone."

"How-"

"Telepathy, remember?"

"Right."

"Alright, enjoy yourself, see you after the meeting."

I moved through the crowd of cats, eventually settling down next to Icetooth. We greeted each other with a nod, but otherwise stayed silent as we waited for one of the leaders to start the meeting. The weather was starting to warm up from leaf-brae, but I could still see a few cats fluffing their pelts out against the cold.

Finally, Gorsestar called out to the all cats, "Let tonight's gathering begin!"

Everyone took awhile to calm down, and the leader's tails were twitching and sweeping in impatience.

"Hailstar, would you like to begin?"Stygiastar seemed to be in an oddly good mood, if she was willing to let someone else begin.

Hailstar looked just as surprised as I was. "Uh, sure," He turned to the clans, "Riverclan is doing well, and fish are starting to return to the river. We should have new warriors soon, but their assessments have not yet taken place. Otherwise, we have no news."

Hailstar stepped back and allowed Gorsestar to step forward. "The prey is also returning to the moors, and we have five new warriors. Staghorn, Doefern, Swiftstorm, and Dahliaspot." She paused and let the cats around her cheer out in congratulations. "Also, Cinderface has moved into the nursery, and will be expecting kits soon."

Yet again, cats cheered in congratulations, and Cinderface timidly bowed her head and licked her chest in embarrassment.

Lynxstar moved up next, but I tuned out for most of it, only catching warrior names. Prey is running well, clan is healthy, blah blah blah.

I refocused when Stygiastar finally called the meeting to a close, and cats started to disperse, following their leaders off of the island. What surprised me was that Stygiastar left Shadowclan to her deputy, Badgerclaw, and she herself stayed behind.

I averted my eyes to see Maple beckoning me towards the giant oak tree. Soon after, he himself climbed up the tree and settled himself across from Stygiastar.

I groaned inwardly. I have to spend a full night in the trees two days from now. Do I really have to sit there?

Well, no, you don't have to, but it's a once in a lifetime opportunity. What are the chances that you get to sit up on where the leader's sit?

Fair point. I lifted myself onto my paws and trotted towards the tree, quickly climbing up and settling myself next to Stone. "Good to see you again," I quickly mewed.

"Good to see you as well. And that was some impressive climbing. You reached this branch very quickly."

"A bonus of being Skyclan."

"Ah."

"Oh yeah, why is your leader here?" I also noticed the Shadeheart hadn't come.

"She maybe kinda sorta found out. But she's on our side, and I trust her."

Maple quieted everyone down and began our meeting. "Welcome everyone, and Stygiastar, of course. We'll start by going around and giving our new warrior names, just so that we know what to call each other in public. I was named Maplepelt."

"Swiftstorm."

"Flamebreeze."

"Stonestripe."

"..." We all turned to look at Heron, who had yet to say anything. "What? My assessment is tomorrow."

Maple nodded. "Alright. Stygiastar, to keep it simple, we're all cats from the past, what you would call 'ancients'. We were each born with siblings that are on the opposite side. Before you all ask, I didn't say evil because only we think that they're evil. They think they're doing the right thing.

"We were each also born with powers that somewhat relate to our names. If you're willing to stick around after the meeting, I'll fill you in on both all of the other cats and their known powers."

The black she-cat nodded.

"Speaking of which, how are everyone's powers coming along? And if you feel like it, you can give a little demonstration."

A chorus of good's and well's echoed throughout the group, and I added my own at the end, after everyone had finished. "It's going good."

And then Stonecreek had to speak up. "You mean it's going well, except for all of the parts where you burn the forest."

"How does this not surprise me." Stonecreek chirped.

"And I didn't ask your opinion." I replied. I saw Stygiastar whisper something to Maple, and he in turn laughed at shook his head, explaining something to her.

Yet again, everyone noticed that Heron hadn't said anything. This time, I also heard what Maple said to Stygiastar, "Oh, and we all agreed not to make fun of Heron when he uses his power."

"Why is that?"

"Heron, take it away."

The tom rolled his eyes, "Fine." Heron opened up his wings and flew around for a bit, even pulling off a flip. I could see a few of his muscles twitching, indicating that he hadn't yet perfected the craft.

Heron landed cleanly back on his paws, which was a huge improvement from the last time we met. 

"Oh, now I see why."

We continued the meeting, Maple going over a few things such as updates on the other five, as well as their allies. When the meeting was adjourned, Maple, Heron, Stone, and Stygiastar stayed behind. Meaning it was only Swift and I, plus our accompanists, walking back to our clans.

"How's Skyclan doing?"

"Swift we were just at a Gathering."

"Well, yeah, but I want to hear your report. So I guess what I'm asking is 'How are you and Sparrow doing'?"

"We're doing okay. Sparrow has been oddly quiet, I don't think I've talked to him since we've become warriors."

"Huh, that is weird."

"How's your life going?"

"Pretty well. Nothing too special."

Swift's medicine cat, Blackleaf, chimed in. "Except for Haretuft. He is apparently really special.

"Oooooo, looks like someone's got a crush."

Swift covered her ears in embarrassment, "Shut up! Is it really that obvious?"

"Swiftstorm, you've been padding after him since you were a kit in the nursery. Everyone knows. Even Haretuft himself."

"Wait, even he knows?"

"Yes, he's talked to me about it multiple times. I haven't gotten anything from him yet though."

Swiftstorm looked crestfallen at the fact that she doesn't have a for-sure mate yet.

Luckily, Stonecreek and I were saved from more embarrassing talk when Swift and Blackleaf turned to head towards their camp. "We're heading off here, we'll see you next Gathering." We exchanged farewells, and then went our separate ways.

Lol I'm so good at updating.

Another 2000+ word chapter though, sooooooooo.

Also, I think that Flame is becoming a a guinea pig for gatherings... but it kinda makes sense. He's the last cat in each 6-part section, and Gatherings happen a moon apart, so they're spaced out.

Absolutely no plans yet for the next chapter, so expect a wait. Maybe another few months if it gets bad.

Until I decide to update next,

- Maple