The Wishing Tree

03: Gathering

"It was amazing!" Fallingpaw exclaimed, her orange eyes bright. "I met Creekstar, and Ashstar, a-and even Treestar! It was scary, but mostly amazing!"

Quailstar had a skeptical look on his face. "Are you sure about this, Fallingpaw? You did say that it was a dream, after all."

Fallingpaw felt her spirits fall, until Hummingbreeze spoke up. "You know Quailstar, StarClan usually does choose to communicate through dreams. I think it's at least worth checking out."

"I can show it to you!" Fallingpaw offered excitedly.

She was sitting in Quailstar's den with him and Hummingbreeze. Fallingpaw had woken up laying in the roots of the willow tree, and had immediately ran back to camp, asking to speak with the leader and medicine cat. She had told the two everything- apart from the promised wish. For some reason, Fallingpaw thought it would be better to keep that bit to herself.

"Very well." Quailstar said with a sigh. "As the gathering's tonight, we'll leave tomorrow. Fallingpaw, don't tell anyone else about this until we know if it's real."

Fallingpaw nodded. "Of course!"

As Fallingpaw exited the den, Applepaw approached her. The young cream she-cat had a curious look on her face, her golden eyes glowing with the need for knowledge.

"Hey Fallingpaw, what was that all about?" Applepaw asked.

Fallingpaw gave her a slightly guilty look. "Sorry Applepaw, I can't tell you. Quailstar told me not to say."

"Aw. Oh well." Applepaw looked slightly disappointed. "Well, see ya Fallingpaw."

Fallingpaw let out a small sigh. Keeping this to herself was going to be harder than she thought.

*°*°*°*

Fallingpaw trotted next to Squirreltail under the light of the full moon. The cats of TreeClan were heading to the gathering place, where the Clans met every moon under peaceful truce. To get their, they had to travel through AshClan territory, which made the Clan anxious.

While walking, Fallingpaw suddenly spoke up to her mentor. "Squirreltail... do you think we'll have to fight?"

"Well..." Squirreltail's fluffy tail twitched. "Seems like it might have to come to that. But don't worry, even if you do tend to zone out, I know you'll be fine. You're actually pretty good when you're paying attention." He said in a slightly teasing tone.

Fallingpaw felt her pelt grow hot. "I was taught by the best." She replied with a purr, and Squirreltail playfully cuffed her over the ear.

Squirreltail had barely become a warrior himself before Quailstar gave him Fallingpaw as an apprentice. She had been confused as to why at first, but after training with him, Fallingpaw soon learned that though Squirreltail was young, he was experienced and clever.

The AshClan cats soon arrived at the gathering. It was a large clearing with short grass and no trees, and at one end was a small waterfall with a rock jutting out that the leaders would stand on to address the clans. CreekClan and AshClan were already there; TreeClan was the last to arrive.

"I'm going to go see Junipertail from CreekClan. Wanna come?" Squirreltail asked politely.

Fallingpaw shook her head. "No thanks, I'm okay."

"Alright, see you, Fallingpaw." Squirreltail said before running off into the crowd of cats.

Fallingpaw looked around, thinking that it would be nice to meet some new cats. She walked deeper into the clearing, looking around for any cats that seemed friendly.

She stopped when she spotted a white she-cat running towards her, smelling of AshClan. The cat was mostly white with light grey tabby points. It took a second for Fallingpaw to recognize her as the AshClan apprentice from the border patrol the previous day.

"Hey!" The she-cat greeted. "I just wanted to say sorry for yesterday, I hope you didn't take it personally. Rainyshadow goes out of his way to be a nuisance to everyone."

"Oh, it's okay!" Fallingpaw purred. I knew not all AshClan cats were bad! "I'm Fallingpaw, by the way."

"I'm Frostpaw!" The she-cat replied. "Fallingpaw's a bit of a strange name for a TreeClan cat, you guys are always doing the opposite of that!"

Fallingpaw laughed a bit. "Yeah, well, not me I guess."

Before either she-cat could say more, Mudstar's yowl rang across the clearing, signalling the start of the gathering. Fallingpaw sat next to Frostpaw, and looked up at the three leaders.

Mudstar stepped forward first, waiting for all chatter to stop before speaking. "CreekClan has been doing well. We have named two new warriors- Minnowleaf and Dawnshade!"

The cats of all clans started cheering the warriors' names, CreekClan cats the loudest. As it grew quiet once again, Mudstar continued.

"We have had more prey than usual this past moon, CreekClan is stronger than ever." Mudstar dipped his head and stepped back, allowing the next leader to speak.

Kestrelstar stepped forward, her head held high. "AshClan has been doing well. One of our queens, Lavenderwing, has recently given birth to a healthy litter of kits. There hasn't been much trouble for us this past moon." She stepped back, allowing for Quailstar to finally speak.

Quailstar stepped forward boldly, confidence pouring from him. "TreeClan has been thriving. Two new apprentices have been named, Parrotpaw and Applepaw." He paused for a moment, before speaking in a more threatening tone. "However, we have had many problems with AshClan cats harassing our warriors and apprentices. I hope nothing like that has to happen again."

Fallingpaw felt a feeling of dread climb over her as Quailstar now stared directly at Kestrelstar.

"Keep your warriors in line, Kestrelstar, or there will be consequences."