"Tonight is our very first gathering! Because of it, it is time for me to pick a deputy." Dawn light seemed to make the cats in the clearing glow. They sat around, excitedly watching and waiting. After some brief silence, Nightstar spoke, his voice loud. "From this day on, Echostorm shall be Nightclan's first deputy!"

Cats happily cheered and Ashleaf could feel Fogfrost lean slightly on her. "I'm happy for your brother." She mewed, her voice hardly a whisper. Fogfrost let out a small purr of agreement before going silent. Brindle, the chestnut tom; or Wesley, and his cream tabby daughter, Bumble; padded up next. "Now, these three wish to join Nightclan. We welcome each of them with open hearts. From this day on, Wesley and Bumble will be known as Scarstorm and Beekit. As requested by Scarstorm, Beekit will nurse from Fawnstripe, along with her two kits Poppykit and Shadowkit."

Ashleaf smiled, remembering the two kits had been born a few days after the three's arrival. Poppykit was a beautiful brown and white patched she-kit and her brother was a brown and black. Ashleaf's gaze traveled as Beekit padded up to the queen who had been waiting outside. The she-cat gave Scarstorm a kind look before padding into the nursery. The chestnut tom took a seat beside Acornleap, who happily nodded.

All eyes turned to Brindle and Nightstar, who seemed to be giving each other a strange look. "From this day on, Brindle shall be known as Brindlecloud. We welcome each of you to Nightclan as full members."

Ashleaf raised her head and happily cheered. Fogfrost cheered beside her and it seemed their voices were in synth. As the cheering died down, Nightstar started to speak again. "Now that we have all of this arranged, I would like to choose cats for the gathering." Cats mumbled excitedly as he looked around, his thin black tail flicking only once.

"Those cats shall be, Echostorm, Ashleaf, Moonpaw, Acornleap, and Brindlecloud." The choosing seemed small, but knowing the lack of warriors it had made sense. Ashleaf watched as Nightstar jumped down and invited Echostorm to talk. Her gaze turned to Fogfrost, who seemed to shuffle his paws. "I'll go see if I can get on a border patrol." He mewed suddenly, rising and leaving. A tang of disappointment rose in her chest but she ignored it. She turned, letting out a sigh.

Having the day off seemed to go on forever. It was only sun-high by the time true boredom hit the silver tabby. Grumbling, Ashleaf padded out into the forest. She looked around in awe, her worries seeming to leave her as she watched the colors and objects around her.

Leaves, all a tint of yellows, browns, and reds seemed to flutter close by, collecting into piles. Trees seemed to start to grow bare as they lost their touch for the upcoming leaf-bare. A chilly wind made Ashleaf puff her fur up as she padded up a slope. This one lead away from the clans, and closer to were humans lived.

Ears pricked forward as she padded along, she watched as trees and bushes slowly left her, before she was near the back end of a two-leg place. She noticed it was fenced off and with a closer look at it, she could see small leaves and twigs stuck on them.

"What are you doing here?" A sudden growl made Ashleaf jump. She looked up, noticing a young she-cat was sitting on the fence. She had scorching green eyes, which made Ashleaf crouch in fear. The large fluffy brown tabby blinked. "What's your name?" She asked, her voice seeming a bit calmer. "A-Ashleaf." The fur on her back started to prick. "You're a clan cat, right? Nightclan? I think that was the name. They just moved in there?" Ashleaf nodded slightly. "Y-Yes..."

The she-cat, with thorn ears flicked forward and her green gaze full of interest, she jumped down, her stubby tail shockingly helping her. "I wish to join this so called Nightclan then! My father raised me to understand all about your code!" She raised her head proudly, showing off the scar on her shoulder. "Plus, you need cats since you're so new!" She purred, but to Ashleaf it was more of a sneer.

"We won't accept cats that are completely proud of themselves and see those lower then the former." The grim voice behind her made Ashleaf jump. She swirled her head around, seeing Nightstar pad out of the bushes. The scar on his chest looked red and irritated but the solid black tom showed no pain. He raised his head, green eyes meeting the young she's. "What's your name?" He asked, loud enough to be made clear. Ashleaf took a step sideways so the two could look at each other clearly.

"Hawk." She mewed, seeming almost bored at what was going on. "Well Hawk, as I said. Usually I gladly accept those into my clan, but I will not accept those who may endanger our kin." His grim voice seemed to do nothing to Hawk. 'She's very powerful, whoever taught her knew what they were doing.' Ashleaf thought, watching as the large she looked around for a moment. Eventually she let out a sigh and shook her head. "You all know the story of Hawkstar, right?" The two went dead silent, and so Hawk took the chance to carry on.

"Hawkstar died trying to keep his clan alive. Eventually his warriors scattered, including my parents, Hollyheart and Wolfpelt." Ashleaf's crystal eyes slightly widened as she started to realize. "My father; Wolfpelt, was the son of Hawkstar. Wolfpelt raised me all about the code. He said he foresaw a new clan, one I would strive in. He named me after my grandfather in order to make my family name a...better one." With that, she slightly waved her paw into the air before setting it back down.

"I ask to learn from your clan as Hawkpaw. I also ask that if I'm allowed to join, we keep this all a secret." Ashleaf's gaze met Nightstar's, and he seemed as bewildered as she was. Quickly he regained himself, going deep into thought. "We see you are a fighter Hawk, how do we not know this is all a trick?" It had seemed to be the first they had needed to question a joining cat.  She did look powerful though. She had clear, powerful muscles rippled underneath thick and fluffy fur. She had a hunger in her eyes, a set clouded in mystery.

"Fine. I shall let you join our clan, but your mentor will be under heavy watch with you. You will also take each moon a normal apprentice takes in order to become a warrior." Hawk seemed taken aback for a moment and she open her mouth to complain, but with a quick thought about it she shut it.

Dipping her head she nodded. "Thank you."

"Hawkpaw! Hawkpaw! Hawkpaw!" Cats cheered excitedly as Hawkpaw touched noses with Fogfrost. They were nearly the same height, only Fogfrost being a couple inches taller. As soon as the meeting was over, Ashleaf watched as Moonpaw excitedly padded over to her new den-mate, exchanging mews before heading to the apprentices den. Her gaze turned from them to Fogfrost, who was padding over with a squirrel.

"I'm happy Nightstar choose you. You must remember to keep a sharp eye on that one." She purred softly, a smile clear on her face as Fogfrost settled down. He nodded, pushing the squirrel over to Ashleaf as he began to speak. "I promised to take her out as soon as i'm done eating with you." Ashleaf purred, a bite already in her mouth.

The two shared a decent meal mainly in silence, enjoying the sounds of the clan around them. Ashleaf had started to watch as Mistyheart was padding out with her kits. Palekit was tumbling out, her eyes wide and full of excitement. Pebblekit followed next, flanked by Owlkit. Cherrykit was the last to come out, hiding underneath her mother's belly. Ashleaf let out a purr as they each past by and Mistyheart gave her a funny look before turning to address Palekit to get out from underneath Acornleap. The large red tabby only laughed, allowing the kits to climb up on him. Ashleaf could feel Fogfrost's body lean closer to her and she simply rested her head on his shoulder.

Cats swarmed down to the clearing, flanking each other. Most of the clans had already gotten there, expect Nettleclan and Sunclan. Cats turned and greeted the new cats and Ashleaf padded off towards Sunnypelt, Flowerpool, Dewflight, and a young tom. "Hello Ashleaf!" Sunnypelt greeted her with a purr and Ashleaf nodded. "Who is this?" Ashleaf asked calmly to the young apprentice. He had russet colored fur with white speckles on his back. "This is my new apprentice Foxpaw. He started training yesterday." As Dewflight proudly mewed, Foxpaw blinked and dipped his head, but said nothing. He simply scooted closer to the white cat. Ashleaf purred before taking a seat beside Sunnypelt.

"Who's all up there?" She asked softly, looking at the cats who were sitting on a fallen tree. The clan deputies seemed to of settled below. "My clan leader is named Oakstar, he's the really light brown tabby there." Flowerpool pointed with a paw to the tom who was sitting in front of the others. "His father was actually Hailstar." Flowerpool seemed as though she wanted to say a joke, but nothing came out. Sunnypelt quickly took position. "His deputy is Petalfang, she's right below him. She's a completely cream colored cat but has some odd colored eyes. One's blue and the other's brown." Ashleaf nodded, looking to the cat. She was making small talk with a black and white cat beside her. "That's Splashpelt, Mossclan's deputy." Sunnypelt nodded. "She also has already had two litters. Her newest litter of Elmpaw, Twigpaw, and Primrosepaw became apprentices a moon ago." Ashleaf blinked in shock. "Are deputies allowed to have kits? I thought it would distract them..."

"Most of the time it's fine, usually they just have another cat take charge when the deputy can't, most of the time a senior warrior." Sunnypelt had simply shrugged before going on. "And her eldest litter are named Rosewhisker and Blackgaze." Sunnypelt turned as Dewflight asked her something, so Flowerpool took over. "Her leader is named Berrystar. Mossclan is usually made up of she-cats, but at times they have more males."

Suddenly Nettleclan and Sunclan padded into the clearing. Flowerpool blinked before pointing at a red tom who had padded in.

 "That's Redstar, son of Sunstar. He became leader after his father passed and his sister Emberpelt became deputy." Ashleaf watched quietly as a paler version of the red tom padded into the clearing. They both padded forward and as so the gathering started.

"Now that we are all here, we may begin!" Oakstar called from where they leaders sat. Quietly she watched as the other medicine cats took a place beside her before looking back up. "Hailclan is well. With the snow coming soon we have moved our queens, elders, apprentices, and our medicine cats underground. We won't risk any sickness. We also have a new warrior, Sheepcloud." Cats cheered and a fluffy white she-cat stood up for a moment before settling back down.

Ashleaf watched as Berrystar took place. "We are well as well. Dawnflight has moved into the nursery expecting kits and we have five new apprentices. They are Timberpaw, Crowpaw, Tallowpaw, and Foxpaw." Excited cheers mewed from the clans and Ashleaf could see Foxpaw curl up beside Dewflight, embarrassed. She couldn't help but purr.

A large black and brown tom padded forward next. "That's Thistlestar." Sunnypelt whispered before going silent. Ashleaf kept focus as he spoke. "Nettleclan is well. We have new warriors, Bonefang, Tigergaze, and Sparrowtail. We also have a new kit born from Shadebelly named Darkkit. We also are keeping a close eye on new borders." Thistlestar glanced at Nightstar who seemed to only raise his head. Thistlestar then turned and sat down. At that point, although warriors cheered, Ashleaf's back fur rose.

Finally Redstar padded forward. "With sad news I hate to say, my deputy Clearwish passed away due to a fox attack. Her kit Waterkit became an apprentice yesterday, earning the name Waterpaw and is mentored by my new deputy Emberpelt. We also have a new apprentice Riverpaw." Cats quietly mourned for the loss and some cheered for the new apprentices and deputy.

Finally after all had went silent, Nightstar padded forward. Cats leaned in to hear what this new leader had to say. "All cats of the clans." He began, his voice loud and clear. "I, Nightstar, am happy to lead alongside you. Although we have been here for many moons now, we have waited until we thought it was right to come to our first gathering." He waited for a moment before going on. "Nightclan is thriving. We have new kits this moon, Poppykit and Shadowkit, born to Fawnstripe. We also have new members, Scarstorm, Brindlecloud, Beekit, and our newest Hawkpaw." Cats cheered for a long moment before going quiet, seeing Nightstar had more to say. "We, I, hope to learn from all of you. From the youngest kit to the oldest elder. We hope to share the forest in harmony for many moons."

Ashleaf cheered alongside her clan mates at the statement. Soon all the clans joined and eventually the leaders jumped down, having their cats head home.

"Tonight was a good night." She mumbled softly as she walked along.