Rising from the Ashes

Chapter 103

"Excited for your first Gathering?" Hareflight asked his kits.

"Yes!" Weaselpaw exclaimed.

Nightpaw flicked her tail, giving away her anxiety over the Gathering to come.

"Lucky! Finally getting to meet the other Clans!" Meadowkit exclaimed, envious.

Weaselpaw puffed out his chest. "Don't worry. I'll tell you kits all about it tomorrow."

Flamekit rolled his eyes. "It's not that big a deal."

"Well yeah it wouldn't be to you since you've already been to WillowClan," Runningkit pointed out.

"But we barely remember it!" Riverkit protested.

"And some of you have met an OakClan warrior already."

"Ah, Runningkit! You can't still be sore over that!" Flamekit nudged his denmate good-naturedly.

"Well, we're going to meet more than a rival warrior tonight," Nightpaw mewed.

With that, Hawkstar called the Gathering patrol to leave. It was early leaf-fall so the weather hadn't quite changed yet. It was a warm night under a clear sky. Bramblestripe fell into step with the rest of his Clanmates as they walked the familiar trail through the meadow. It was a quick journey to the ravine.

"We're the first ones here!" Weaselpaw exclaimed, standing in the middle of the mostly empty clearing.

"Old as I am, I can count on one paw the number of times that's happened," Beetleflight rasped.

"You know, I can't tell if he's joking or not," Bramblestripe murmured to Honeypool.

"Neither can I," Honeypool murmured back.

This didn't last for long as their fellow Clans arrived. The ravine soon filled with warriors, apprentices and elders from all four Clans. Suddenly overwhelmed, the new GrassClan apprentices stuck close to their mentors.

A couple of PineClan queens greeted the GrassClan mentors.

"So, GrassClan has apprentices at last," a longhaired ginger she-cat observed.

Duskflower made the introductions.

"And are they shaping up to be worthwhile warriors?" Petalsplash, a tortoiseshell she-cat, asked.

"They've only just started their training," Flowerpetal explained, sounding exasperated.

"And you can't tell already whether they'll be good warriors?"

"An apprentice is only as good as their mentor," Firestorm, the ginger she-cat, meowed.

"Then they'll be excellent warriors," Bramblestripe asserted.

"Were we asking you?"

"You've never even had an apprentice!" Petalsplash scoffed.

"Neither have you!" Flowerpetal shot back.

"Actually, I've had an apprentice for the past half-moon and I know I'll be a better mentor than you."

"It's not a competition!"

"You always were afraid a challenge," Petalsplash sneered before sauntering off with Firestorm.