"Come on Sparrowpaw," Badgerthump sighs "You can do it, just lean a bit more on your back legs." Pollenpaw and Sproutleaf anxiously watch while I wiggle more onto my back legs. I take a breath and lean back.

"Gaargh!" I sputter through dirt in my mouth after falling face-first into the dirt.

"Let me show you," Sproutleaf smiles weakly, and smoothly does the move, but I'm distracted by Poolpaw sneaking around, alone. "Now, try it again." She instructs. I stumble around and try again, but it's no better than before. Sproutleaf nervously smiles and looks at my mentor.

"Er, it's okay. Acornstar is announcing who is going to the gathering so we should go back now, just in case we're picked." Badgerthump meows, then flicks his tail and sets off.

~~~

"This Gathering I will be taking," Acornstar starts, looking across the group of cats from her stump. "Featherheart, Mudfleck, Badgerthump, Sparrowpaw, Sproutleaf, Pollenpaw, Quietflutter, Ambershine, Foxslash, Ivyfoot." She pauses for a moment, almost looking around in panic, but sighs with relief a few heartbeats later, continuing. "Willowbranch, Rockslide. And obviously myself, Owlwatcher and Rosethorn. Thank you every cat!"

Once Acornstar hops down from her stump I hear her mutter about her kits to Sunsetpelt for a moment, mainly how rude and stubborn Spiderkit is, but for some reason the complete opposite to Snowkit. After that I see Poolpaw frown with disappoint, only to roll her eyes once she sees me looking at her. I smile at Pollenpaw while she's bouncing with excitement. She gives a giggle before meowing,

"Our first gathering!" She exclaims "Oh Sparrowpaw, aren't you excited?!" I only nod my head in reply, because truthfully, I'm nervous. So many new cats, how can I pick some to talk to?! I'm also a bit angry that Ambershine is going too. Her relationship with my father has been a little odd and I don't like it. "Come on silly, let's get a nap in before the Gathering so we're not tired!" Pollenpaw meows, her voice thick with excitement, breaking my thoughts and clearing the cloud of negative emotions from above my head.

"Good idea!" I add, making sure I don't look too glum; I hate dampening her happiness. She gives a small smile and skips with glee over to the apprentices' den, but not without almost running into Poolpaw.

"Watch were you're going," The silver she-cat hisses "you ignorant runt." Pollenpaw just shrugs and keeps on going, but the way Poolpaw lingered on that word, makes me cringe.

~~~

A golden speckled paw prods me in the side, waking up from my nap, that wasn't long enough. I give a short yawn and get up, giving in to Pollenpaw. She smiles and yawns as well, but moving past that, turning her attention to a patch of my fur that won't calm down.

"It won't go down!" She meowed in between licks "I guess it'll just have to stay!"

"No!" I fake exclaim, flopping onto the ground dramatically. I get up after a few heartbeats of wiggling, then laughing with Pollenpaw. "Come on, we should go." I meow, a weird sense of seriousness hanging to my voice. She gives me a small giggle and a smile, then follows out of the den, then out of the camp.

After walking for quite a bit, our mentors catch up with us and give us the "run down".

"The others clans," Badgerthump meows "are SwampClan, the clan to our left." I nod, and Pollenpaw does the same, to show that we're listening, although I can tell Pollenpaw is too excited to fully pay attention.

"BreezeClan." Sproutleaf chimes in "The clan on SwampClan's left."

"Then StoneClan," Badgerthump finishes "The clan to our right, past the Thunderpath. "

"Thank you!" I meow to them before they pad back up ahead. My mentor gives an awkward nod before turning back around for the final time before we arrive at the Gathering.

Stepping into the area, it's not at all what I thought it would be. It's a hill, higher ground towards the front, where the leaders sit, then a somewhat steep slope down where we sit. Pollenpaw is eying the cats from our clan carefully, then realizing we have time to talk to other cats, because of overhearing Acornstar.

"StoneClan cats are late, come on!" Pollenpaw squeals "There's time to find more apprentices! We may not have any," She stops for a moment, but continues " any friends back in TreeClan, but we're different here!" She's right though, so we pad over to a group of darker colored, I'm hoping, apprentices. Pollenpaw stops, eyeing a dark brown tabby tom who us eyeing me suspiciously, which is honestly freaking me out a bit. Pollenpaw turns her towards me, I guess gesturing me to speak first.

"Uh, hey." I meow, trying no to sound freaked out of my mind "I'm Sparrowpaw, and this is Pollenpaw. From TreeClan." The tabby one that was eyeing me, sits up straight and looks me in the eyes, his brown eyes gleaming in the moonlight.

"Sparrowpaw." He snorts, as if he doesn't believe what I said. "And Pollenpaw." He looks at her for a moment, but after she takes a step back, he looks at me again "I've, er... met, yeah, met, your lovely sister, Poolpaw. Is that correct?"

"Uh, um, yeah." I choke, wondering what in the name of StarClan he's planning to say. But if he's talked to Poolpaw, I'm sure it's not good.

"Told me you two are lonely." The apprentice meows, almost at a hiss. Pollenpaw sighs,

"Just looking for other apprentices to talk to." She adds, trying desperately not to make us seem... Like the losers we are back in our clan.

"I'm not finished." He hisses back, sheathing and unsheathing his claws. "Lonely runts." There! He said it like Poolpaw did, almost lingering on the word. But that's not the issue at paw here.

"Who are you?!" I cry out, ushering Pollenpaw being me with my tail.

"Mudpaw." He snorts, eyes gleaming with satisfaction "Mudpaw of SwampClan."

~~~

"Alright Acornstar." A black tom meows loudly from the top of the hill. "You start." The nut-colored leader nods her head respectively and begins to talk.

"Okay Shadestar. TreeClan welcomes eight new kits, Hollykit, Wolfkit, Cricketkit, Spiderkit, Ashkit, Glowkit, Snowkit, and Skykit. We also welcome three new apprentices, Pollenpaw," the cream apprentice gives a little flick of her tail "Sparrowpaw," I bow my head awkwardly, ending in a small laugh "and Poolpaw. Prey is also great, giving us hope for the many new mouths to feed." Acornstar looks upon the leaders and meows a final time "Froststar, you can go next." The small white and gray she-cat nods, and steps forward.

"StoneClan is great, we have two new warriors, Eagleflight and Hawkfeather. " She pauses, the cats of their clan cheering and whooping. "Hazelface had her kits, Gorsekit, Willowkit, Mudkit, and Seedkit. Prey is good, not bad for New Leaf." She smiles and bows her head to slim, gray she-cat. "Ashstar, continue." She meows.

"Of course." Ashstar meows, stepping forward, revealing dark gray paws and tail-tip. "BreezeClan is running smoothly, no new warriors, but two new apprentices, Bushpaw and Branchpaw. Our deputy of several moons, Cloudbelly, has retired and Swanfur has taken his place." The leader of BreezeClan meows, stopping for a moment to let the cheers subside. Without saying anything, Ashstar flicks her dark gray tipped tail towards the remaining leader, which I assume is Shadestar of SwampClan.

"SwampClan is thriving after a harsh Leafbare. My three kits," He meows, pride flowing with his booming meow "have become apprentices. We welcome Mudpaw," I look over at Pollenpaw, and a small tear starts to roll down her cheek, but she quickly stops it and looks at me with a nervous smile. "Groundpaw, and Mistpaw to their first Gathering. "Prey is well." He then steps back, signaling he is finished. All of the leaders look at each other, nod, then meow.

"Gathering dismissed." I get up, eyeing around for our clan to leave. Luckily we leave first. I follow Pollenpaw through the entrance of the hollow, and continue back to TreeClan.

Wow, long chapter! One of my longest. Thank you guys so very much for reading, and the amazing 2K reads! I can't believe it! I've been telling some people, so I figure I'll just tell everyone. This book is the first in the Unexpected Grief trilogy, so there will be two more books after this. Then, there will be at least another trilogy after that. At least that is what I'm planning now. Welp, I hope you enjoyed!

Swift 🍃