Gingerpelt

Chapter 8

Gingerpelt padded out of camp to go hunting at the river. Flametail had just left on the dawn patrol and Gingerpelt knew that they had already passed the spot where she was going to hunt so she wouldn't be disturbed.

Padding up to the river and searching it for fish, Gingerpelt was distracted by a cat near the the ThunderClan side of the border, collecting herbs.

The she-cat looked oddly familiar but Gingerpelt couldn't tell why by the thick greenery blocking her view. The she-cat obviously recognized Gingerpelt and ran away when she saw her.

Gingerpelt shrugged and continued hunting until she had a good pile of large greenleaf fish beside her.

As Gingerpelt padded back to camp with the fresh-kill in her jaws, she stopped as a thought about the ThunderClan she-cat came to her.

Was that she-cat the same one from the dream I had last moon? No. She can't be. The one in my dream was my mother. She can't be because she was collecting herbs. She must be the ThunderClan medicine cat. Then why does she look so familiar?

Gingerpelt shook her head to clear her thoughts and decided that the she-cat in her dream was her mother and the she-cat she saw across the river was ThunderClan's medicine cat who Gingerpelt must've seen at a Gathering before.

Gingerpelt got back to the camp right after the dawn patrol. She padded over to sit beside Flametail and they shared some of the fresh-kill Gingerpelt had brought back.

***

"You were hunting the entire time? How come I didn't see you?" Flametail asked.

"I went hunting in a spot where your patrol had already passed." Gingerpelt explained.

"There's a Gathering tonight you do know that, right?" Flametail meowed.

"There is?" Gingerpelt looked up at Silverpelt and realized that there was a full moon. "Oh. I didn't notice the full moon." She mewed.

Flametail got up and stretched. "Come on! They're announcing who's going!" Flametail bounded over to the centre of the camp where Badgertail, the Clan deputy, was saying who was going to the Gathering. Both Flametail and Gingerpelt ended up going.

Gingerpelt was excited only because she hadn't been to many Gatherings recently and, like every other time, she hoped to see her mother there or the she-cat she saw collecting herbs who she thought was ThunderClan's medicine cat.

At the Gathering, like usual, there were so many cats and Gingerpelt was very confused. She had no hope of finding her mother in the large crowd of cats.

Gingerpelt sat down next to Flametail and looked at the spot near the Great rock where the medicine cats sit. She saw ShadowClan, WindClan and RiverClan's medicine cat but no sign of a cat that could be ThunderClan's medicine cat.

Surely no cat, not even a medicine cat, would miss a Gathering unless there was something extremely important to do. Gingerpelt had been to many Gatherings but she had never seen ThunderClan's medicine cat. Does ThunderClan even have a medicine cat?

Gingerpelt watched as the Clan leaders' reported what was going on in their Clans. There was nothing important that Gathering but the entire time Gingerpelt wondered if ThunderClan's medicine cat purposefully never went to Gatherings. If so, then why?