Mosskit Book 3: SnowClan

Chapter 4

            Mosspaw awoke, feeling Gorgepaw, another apprentice, poke him with his tail. "Time to leave for the gathering," the tom said.

            Mosspaw nodded, rising from his nest and padding out of the den. Other cats stood as well, them awoken from their nap too. Mosspaw looked up, seeing the full moon shine overhead.

            "Is everyone ready?" Smokestar asked.

            Cats mewed and nodded in agreement and Smokestar began to lead them off.

            Mosspaw searched the crowd, finding Fernpaw. He padded after her.

            "Hey," she said.

            "Hi," Mosspaw replied. "So what exactly goes on at this gathering?"

            "Us clans gather together in peace and discuss the news in our clan. We also get to talk to the other cats. It's quite fun," Fernpaw said.

            "It does seem fun," Mosspaw spoke as he walked along with the other cats.

            There was a short bit of silence, then Mosspaw spoke again. "What clans live here, again?"

            "NightClan and FoxClan. CloudClan recently was ruined, so now we only have two other clans with us. It's a change, but a good one. The forest was getting crowded," Fernpaw said.

            Mosspaw nodded, beginning to scent the other cats. He turned, seeing a group of cats walk as well.

            "NightClan," Fernpaw whispered and Mosspaw nodded.

            Soon they arrived in a clearing where another clan sat. Mosspaw inferred that it was FoxClan since NightClan had arrived with them.

            Mosspaw stood, not knowing what to do or where to go. Fernpaw seemed to notice that he had no idea what to do and she came over to him.

            "Go and mingle with the other clans," she said, motioning him towards the cats.

            Mosspaw nodded, walking into the crowd. He looked up, seeing a group of apprentices sitting down and chattering. Mosspaw padded over and the cats turned to look at him.

            Mosspaw did not recognize any SnowClan scent. These were either NightClan or FoxClan cats talking.

            "Hey, a SnowClan cat!" a brown tabby she-cat spoke, though annoyance was detected in her voice. "What's your name? You seem small. Are you a new apprentice?"

            "My name is Mosspaw," he said. "What's yours?"

            "Acornpaw," the tabby she-cat said. "A NightClan cat. This is my sister, Applepaw," she said, pointing to a ginger tabby she-cat. A gray tom stood next to her, staring at Applepaw. It was obvious that he was drooling over her.

            "This," Acornpaw spoke, poking the tom who stopped gazing at Applepaw, "is Rabbitpaw."

            "Oh, uh, hi," he said, staring back at the ginger she-cat.

            Acornpaw looked down, saddened by him gazing at her. Mosspaw guessed that she loved the gray tom but he loved her sister.

            Mosspaw craned his head, seeing the ginger she-cat facing away from Rabbitpaw, talking to another tom. When Applepaw turned back, she would roll her eyes and turn away, obviously not liking that Rabbitpaw was into her.