Falling Moon- A Warrior Cats Fanfiction

Chapter 16

Palepaw was one of the last of the ThunderClan cats to cross.

In front of her was a small ShadowClan apprentice. He was a fluffy white tom with a short brown tail and piercing amber eyes that she saw every time he turned his gaze to the water below. Most of all, he was agonizingly slow, and Palepaw found herself getting annoyed.

"Hurry up," she muttered under her breath, and to her surprise the little tom did so, squeaking a "Sorry!"

He scampered across the tree trunk, his tail lashing. Palepaw couldn't tell whether he was annoyed, stressed or scared.

When Palepaw finally reached solid ground, she turned to the white apprentice.

She padded over to him, giving him a gentle nudge. "Hey, you okay? You look a little shaken up," she meowed cheerfully. "I'm Palepaw."

The white and brown apprentice jumped. "I-I'm Eaglepaw." The tom kept glancing from Palepaw to somewhere else, as if trying to look busy.

She rolled her eyes. "You know, this is my first gathering." She tried to sound friendly, but found it hard to when the tom seemed to be ignoring her. How rude.

She shrugged it off, attempting one last time. "Is it your first gathering?"

The tom turned to her, fixing piercing amber eyes on her. "Leave me alone."

He tried to walk away from her, huddling in the fur of a grey tabby tom, most likely his mentor.

The tom was amused, his amber gaze warm as he acknowledged Palepaw. "Eaglepaw, there's nothing to be afraid of. It's only a ThunderClan apprentice."

"Only a ThunderClan apprentice? Psh." Palepaw was not pleased at the title that the tom had given her.

The young apprentice didn't speak, only burrowing deeper into the tom's thick fur.

The warrior turned to her apologetically. "He's a bit timid. Ever since-" Eaglepaw gave him a nudge, peering up at the tom.

"I don't want her to know. She'll just be mean about it." The tom's tone was rude.

Palepaw's eyes widened. She'd known that ShadowClan were rude, but not that rude!

She glared at him. "Forget I even tried to be your friend," she muttered, padding back to Sorrelspots' side.

Her mentor was deep in conversation with Kestreltail and a pretty white she-cat with bright green eyes. A younger dark grey tom with blue eyes sat by the white she-cat's side.

"And then she yelled it out loud! It was the funniest- Oh, hello, Palepaw. I was just telling Lilytail how you thanked StarClan for your prey." Sorrelspots' cheerful voice calmed Palepaw, and she sat down beside her mentor.

"This is Lilytail, and this is Ripplepaw. You two are both apprentices, so you'll get along great."

One glance at the grey tom told her otherwise. He was looking at her with the gaze of a kittypet; rude, obnoxious, selfish and careless. "Hi, Palepaw," he meowed, dipping his head to her. She narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Hello," she returned the gesture, "Ripplepaw."

Sorrelspots nudged Palepaw over to the apprentice, much to her dislike. "Go play. You'll have fun!"

Palepaw stared at her mentor incredulously. "Fun? Fun? A ShadowClan cat, fun?"

Her mentor sent her a disapproving glare. "Not all ShadowClan cats are bad." Again, a haunted look in her eyes, but quickly masked.

Palepaw shrugged. "This one might be," she muttered, but followed the tom.

They padded over to where a small, pale grey apprentice was sat, carefully touching her paw to the lake. "Echopaw?" Ripplepaw called gently. "Say hello to Palepaw."

The small apprentice turned around, her amber eyes shining with delight at the sight of Palepaw. "Hi! I'm Echopaw! Who are you? I mean, you're Palepaw? Are you from ThunderClan? I've never seen you before. You must be from ThunderClan. You are from ThunderClan, right? I mean, it's because I've never seen you before, and you smell like a ThunderClan cat, and you're probably an apprentice, which is great, because so are we! I have to ask, what is it like in ThunderClan? It it warm? I've heard that you eat foxes! Is that-"

The she-cat stopped babbling when Ripplepaw put his tail on her shoulder. "Aww, I did it again, didn't I?" She dropped her head sadly.

Palepaw burst out laughing. "I like you. You're interesting. But we don't eat foxes."

The grey apprentice's eyes widened. "Really? That means that Blizzardnose was lying... I thought he was! That means we can be friends! If you did eat foxes, I don't think I could have been your friend, but now I can! I mean, if you want to be friends. I don't know if you want to be friends because you haven't said it yet. So... do you want to be friends?"

Palepaw nodded, and she cheered. "Great! That means that-"

The chatty she-cat was broken off by a yowl. Palepaw raised her head, spotting a skinny grey and white tom leading a patrol of warriors and apprentices, slowly followed by an elderly leader with her Clan.

Palepaw spotted two WindClan apprentices following their Clan down the slope and her spirits brightened. Maybe they'll be my friends as well.

She padded over, coming face to face with a white she-cat and a ginger she-cat. She noticed the similarities instantly; same build, same excited quivering, same fur length.

"Hi! I'm Palepaw," she meowed eagerly, tail flicking.

The white apprentice blinked, friendly welcome in her eyes. "I'm Lightpaw, and this is Poppypaw."

Palepaw nodded to each one of them. "Is this your first gathering?"

Lightpaw nodded while Poppypaw exclaimed, "I'm super excited!"

Just then Echopaw padded over, her pretty monotonous pelt fluffed up against the wind. "Bumblestar's just started the meeting, come on! I bet it's going to be great! This is my first gathering, actually, but..."

Tuning out of the wave of words, Palepaw followed the apprentice's sweeping tail as she led the other apprentices through the pine trees. Her heart accelerated when she saw the huge group of gathered cats.

"Don't worry," Echopaw purred to Palepaw. "You'll get used to it. At least, that's what Ripplepaw says. He's been to lots of gatherings! I think Flashstar likes him. He's so lucky!"

Palepaw slowly made her way down to where a grey RiverClan she-cat was noisily boasting to Ripplepaw, who sat next to Eaglepaw with his tail rested on this white tom's shoulders.

Slowly picking her way along the crowd of cats, she went to sit near them, Poppypaw and Lightpaw following. Echopaw padded over to Ripplepaw and the grey apprentice, instantly joining in with her chatting.

Palepaw rolled her eyes, fluffing out her honey-golden pelt and waiting for the gathering to start.