Sparks of a Fire

Chapter 39

It was evening, and by now most of BreezeClan was settled down, sharing freshly caught prey, grooming each other and sharing the latest gossip. Thrushkit and Wolfkit were parked directly in front of the elders den, listening to Burrbounce, Blizzardsnow, and Shimmerstone talk about the days when they were warriors, young and strong.

Kestrelpaw was sharing a thrush with her sister, Winterpaw, when Rosestar's yowl caused the two apprentice's to turn their attention to the Highrock where the brown-and-cream-furred BreezeClan leader sat.

"May all cats old enough to hunt join beneath Highrock for a BreezeClan meeting!" Rosestar's mew rang across the BreezeClan camp.

Kestrelpaw and Winterpaw nodded to each other and patted over to join the rest of their clanmates at the base of the Highrock.

"Attention, BreezeClan! We are going to attend tonight's Gathering! The cats I have selected are: Briardawn, Willowbrook, Leafcrackle, Hollytuft, Frostwind, Rainlily, Featherpool, Mothwhisper, Swiftshade, Springlight, Fawndapple, Softpurr, Firepaw, Stormpaw, Kestrelpaw, Rookpaw, Winterpaw, and Larkpaw. The rest of you will stay here and guard the camp. Meeting dismissed." She finished, leaping off the Highrock and heading into her den to speak with Briardawn.

Once the meeting had ended, Kestrelpaw quickly patted back to the medicine cat's den to help her mentor sort the herbs they had gathered earlier that afternoon.

By the time the two cats had finally finished sorting all of the herbs into neat piles, evening had fallen and Rosestar was preparing to leave camp with the rest of the cats going to the Gathering.

"C'mon, Kessy, Rosestar's leaving!" Winterpaw yowled, and together, the four apprentices followed Rosestar as she padded out of the grassy camp clearing, with the other warriors and apprentices following her as she went.

•••

When Kestrelpaw and the rest of the BreezeClan cats finally arrived to the Gathering place, the young orange-and-white medicine cat apprentice instantly started looking around for Bluepaw, Ripplepaw, and Starlingpaw.

"Hey, Kessy! Over here!" the orange-and-white she-cat turned her head to see Bluepaw waving her tail in greeting. Kestrelpaw smiled brightly and dashed over to join the three other apprentices.

As the young she-cat approached the small group of cats, she caught sight of a beautiful cinnamon tabby she-cat sitting next to Bluepaw, her mint-green eyes gleaming as she bent down to whisper something into the younger she-cats ear.

"Hey, Bluepaw, who's your new friend?" Kestrelpaw asked the blue-gray apprentice with a twitch of her whiskers and a raised eyebrow.

Bluepaw paused and turned to face the orange-and-white BreezeClan medicine cat apprentice.

"Oh yeah, how could I forget!" the blue-furred she-cat muttered with a flick of her tail. "You weren't here at the last Gathering, were you?"

Kestrelpaw frowned and shook her head. "No, no I wasn't. I had greencough, remember?" she reminded them with a slight twitch of her ears.

Bluepaw just nodded numbly in response.

Kestrelpaw had just opened her mouth to start saying something to the blue-furred she-cat, but at that moment Rosestar spoke.

"Good evening, cats of all Clans. I am here to report that BreezeClan is having a successful newleaf. Prey is plentiful, and I am pleased to report that we heave two new apprentices. Firepaw and Dreampaw!" She meowed.

"Firepaw! Dreampaw!" The Clans cheered. Firepaw ducked her head, modesty getting the better of her. She noticed though, how Dreampaw puffed her chest out and was basking in the other cat's praise, and she purred in amusement.

"We encountered fox scent on the borders of our territory and StormClan's, but the scent was stale." She turned to Duskstar, who nodded.

"We will put more patrols out. Thank you, Rosestar." The black she-cat dipped her head in gratitude. Rosestar nodded to her and spoke again.

"There are no other announcements. Over to you, Larkstar," Rosestar meowed, leaping back to her branch beside Briardawn and letting the old MistClan leader speak.

"MistClan is thriving and we are having a successful newlead. I am also pleased to report that we have four new warriors. Silverfeather, Leafwing, Honeyspring and Pinebreeze!" Larkstar announced.

"Silverfeather! Leafwing! Honeyspring! Pinebreeze!" The Clans cheered.

"One of our queens, Goldenflow, has five kits, and her two older kits have just become apprentices. Sunsetpaw and Twilightpaw have-" but before he could finish speaking, an ear-splitting shriek pierced through the air.

Every cat in the clearing went completely still, there eyes wide and fur bristling in alarm.

It was then that a frantic voice broke through the barrier of horrified cats. Meadowlight, MistClan's medicine cat, stood in the middle of the clearing, her eyes filled with terror as she looked down at the cat laying right in front of her.

"Cloudsky!" Bluepaw cried out, trying to run toward the MistClan deputy, but a tail on her shoulder made her stop in her tracks.

"No, Bluepaw, you can't go over there right now." It was the cinnamon tabby who had spoken, her tone firm but gentle as she stared into the apprentice's tear-filled eyes.

"B-but she's my sister! And my mentor!" she cried desperately, "I just want to make sure that she's ok."

The cinnamon tabby sighed sadly and gave Bluepaw a sympathetic look. "I know you do, Bluepaw," she whispered into her ear. "But you can see her after the Gathering, I'm sure she'll be fine after a good nights rest."

Kestrelpaw opened her mouth to try and comfort her friend, but no words came out. Instead of speaking, she just lowered her head and flattened her ears, not knowing what to do or what to say.

"Meadowlight!" Larkstar meowed urgently. "Take Cloudsky back to camp! Honeyspring and Pinebreeze will go with you!" Meadowlight nodded her head and together, the three she-cats carefully hoisted Cloudsky onto the medicine cat's back and with that, they slowly began to make there way back to the MistClan camp.

"U-um, uh, t-this G-Gathering is over for tonight." Rosestar stammered, her ears flattened against her skull and her paws trembling beneath her.

After a few moments of utter silence, the Clan cats slowly began to move, no one spoke, no one did much of anything except head back to their own territories.

As she glumly followed her clanmates back to camp, Kestrelpaw shot one last mournful look to Bluepaw before slowly turning away and leaving the Gathering place behind.