Fourtrees |☾ ☼ ϟ ≈ ☁|

RIVERCLAN

Iciclestep dipped his head respectfully to Slatefur and Smokestream, before he turned his gaze to Snowflower once more. He kept close to her side, nodding slowly. "If we're lucky, he'll be back and ready to hear about it. With those creatures out and about, I'm sure he'll be able to come up with a plan. Perhaps they can't swim." He offered.

Foxripple flicked his ear at Glacierpaw's worried questions. "The smartest choice, if I know Diamondheart well enough, is to send your mother out. I know you don't like to hear that, but Frostlake would know Shimmer, the cat that Earthstar's patrol is visiting." He spoke so quietly that only his apprentice would hear him. "If Diamondheart stays to guard camp, he'll have plenty of older Warriors to choose from to send out and fetch them. It shouldn't be too long, surely." He assured.


WINDCLAN

"I have not." Blacktail frowned softly. "In all the moons I've been alive, nothing like this sounds familiar. If they are as large as a dog, I doubt they use the same tunnels we use." He mewed quietly into her ear, before he hummed. "Perhaps they're from twolegplace, behind Shadowclan, Thunderclan, and Skyclan."


SKYCLAN

Redspring smirked at Willownose's suggestion, always in support of her ideas. "Whatever these things are, I'm not scared of them one bit. I know the three of us could take down any threat in front of us, let alone all of Skyclan." She mewed, confident in their shared intelligence, skill, and dedication to battle.

“Always.” Redspring nodded, still a bit giddy over the fact that they had worked everything out. If anything, she felt even stronger for Ashfeather and Willownose, and liked being able to see them be as close with eachother as she was to them. Not that she needed it, but… she felt safe, with them both.

ShadowClan

Cedarstar looked to the crowd when the other leaders responded. Diamondheart and Spiritstar both suggested the Clans working together to face this threat. Now they want help. Typical, when their Clans are threatened is when they want to work together, but ShadowClan had to stand alone through the fire and leaf-bare. We chased off those Prey-Maulers just fine without the other Clans. Granted, they had help from a twoleg, but the other Clans didn't need to know that.

Cedarstar took a deep breath to continue his report. "Otherwise, ShadowClan has been faring well this past moon. Spottedpaw, Rustlepaw, Longpaw, and Lightpaw are our new apprentices. After the fire, prey in ShadowClan territory was scarce, but the tireless hunting of three apprentices kept the Clan fed. For their efforts, those apprentices are now warriors." Cedarstar looked to his Clan with a smile. "Hollyvine, Oakfall, and Lilywhisper! And, for completing a rigorous warrior assessment I oversaw, myself, Honeycrest, Coalhaze, and Crystalsight also earned their warrior names."

Cedarstar paused to allow the Clans to congratulate the new apprentices and warriors. "I can proudly announce that ShadowClan has had several successful kittings. Cherryvine had Stormfury's kits, and Leopardshadow had Talltalon's kits. Unfortunately, we lost Hiddendream when she gave birth to Viperpool's kits, but her kits are healthy and strong and currently being raised by Songbreeze and Lionscorch. ShadowClan also has more kits on the way as Snakesong is expecting Smokestorm's kits." He grinned and held his head high when he found Starrylight in the crowd. "And, Starrylight is expecting our second litter."


Kinkfire rolled her eyes at her brother's report. He always sounded like a dork to her whenever he talked about his kits. She shifted the way she sat when her stomach gave her discomfort.

Whorlpaw grinned from ear to ear and glanced at her siblings. They were going to have little siblings! "I'm gonna be a great big sister," she whispered. Palepaw chuckled quietly.



SkyClan

Spiderbite blinked and glanced at Snowdance and Opalmist when Cedarstar reported about Hiddendream. "I'm sorry," he mewed softly to them. "Do you know what went wrong?"


WindClan

Beanpaw was looking for Palegaze when Cedarstar continued his report, but he caught Fuzzypaw's friendly smile, and it made him feel a little better.


RiverClan

Eelshock slipped over to Fluffcloud in the crowd. "Sounds like ShadowClan might continue to go hungry," he whispered. "All those queens expecting. Their territory might not be able to sustain them."

SHADOWCLAN:

Honeycrest lifted his chin with a glint in his eyes, proud but calm as his name was called. He could even hear Goldberry cheering too, even with the shakiness to his voice as he had at most Gatherings.

Opalmist cheered for her clanmates, before her eyes drooped. “The kitting just… did not go well. Nothing could have saved her, when it happened.” She swallowed.

RIVERCLAN:

Fluffcloud looked at Eelshock with a quick glance, sympathy in her gaze. “I hate knowing that a Clan is starving while we’re full. Especially if these prey-maulers are taking their prey too…” She flicked her tail. “I saw you talking to Hickoryshade. Was… it a success?” She asked hopefully.

ShadowClan

Fuzzypaw cheered alongside her Clanmates, happy that despite the harsh moons, ShadowClan had good news to report. She giggled at Spottedpaw's comment, nudging him back. "Hope you like giving badger-rides!" She was happy to hear about more kits, ignoring the twinge in the back of her mind at the mention of kin

“The implications of that are not great.” Iciclestep murmured as he watched Cedarstar make his report. He glanced at Snowflower once more. “Frostlake’s patrol came up with no scents at the bridge. If they crossed, they did it a while ago.”

A shiver ran down her spine. "I hate to say it, but... I wonder if they were coming into or out of our territory."

Swiftstar waited for Cedarstar to settle back down before stepping forward, tail flicking as he addressed the crowd. "Windclan's territory has healed well from the fire, our greenleaf has been rich with rabbits. We have many new kits, Cloudkit, Berrykit, and Frostkit were born to Thorndash and Ashsong. Clovekit, Copperkit and Jaykit are also being raised by Ashsong. They are the kits of Brownleaf and Meadowbrook. She was found dead on the outskirts of our territory with newly born kits at her belly. They will be treated and raised as rightful Windclan warriors." he mewed firmly.

"Windclan has several new apprentices as well. Ashenpaw, Ravenpaw, Dreampaw and Beanpaw have all begun their training in the past moon. We also welcome Soarshadow, Antbite and Weaselstride as full warriors. Grasslight and Fallowmeadow are both expecting kits in the upcoming season and will be moving to the nursery shortly."

The leader paused, allowing cats to cheer for the new apprentices and warriors before he gazed down at the circle of medicine cats, eyes locking on Eclipsesky. "Lastly, I would like to report that Eclipsesky has made the decision to step down as Windclan's medicine cat based on a message from Starclan he received at the last half-moon, he has been learning the ways of a warrior with the help of our senior warriors. We thank him for his moons of service and dedication to our clan and we leave the health of our clanmates in Dawnshadow's capable paws."



Eclipsesky looked down at his paws, unable to bear the weight of everyone's stares as they turned to look at him. His heart pounded in his chest, roaring filling his ears.


Shadow:
Starrylight looked toward the medicine cats with surprise, Eclipsesky had been Windclan's medicine cat since she was a kit!

Spottedpaw blinked, looking curiously at Fuzzypaw, "A message from Starclan, what do you think they told him?"


Sky:
Specklepaw leaned in close to Hawkpaw and Sproutpaw, "Do you think he broke the medicine cat code and that's why he's stepping down?"

WINDCLAN:

Blacktail felt a flicker of both relief and tension as Meadowbrook’s death was announced. While it seemed most of the cats at the gathering were relieved, he could tell many had begun to whisper about her kits. He flicked his tail, noticing Palegaze’s stiff posture. He didn’t blame the ither tom.

Weaselstride flicked her ear, while Splashstone visibly deflated next to Stormsplash. The tom rasped. “She was… I thought she was my friend. Meadowbrook. She seemed so genuine, in wanting to help me, I didn’t expect…” He sighed, shaking his head. “She’s gone now.”

SHADOWCLAN:

Opalmist was deathly silent at the news of Eclipsesky stepping down. Her heart raced as she wondered if her own vision was pushing for her to do the same. Yet, she had a feeling that her actions were far more serious than anything that Eclipsesky could have done for Starclan to want him to step down. She took a shaky breath, releasing it as nerves made her body stiffen.

"I certainly hope so." Her fur fluffed out a little at the thought.

As she listened to Swiftstar's announcements, Snowflower let out a little gasp at the unexpected death of Meadowbrook and flicked her eyes to judge the reaction of the cats around her. Though their relief didn't entirely surprise her, a stab of pity for the kits stung her heart. As the announcements continued, she, like most of the cats in the clearing, turned curiously to Eclipsesky.

"At a time when we might need medicine cats the most," she murmured, "How strange of Starclan. Though, I'm sure their clan will be in good paws with Dawnshadow."

Stormsplash nodded, "Adderstar and I were around the same age, we had been apprentices together and became warriors together. We were easy friends. I'm not sure when his greed took over, when he started training in the dark forest. But, we were once close. When he started to implement his plans, overthrow the leaders of Riverclan, I couldn't see what he was doing. I thought he had Riverclan's best interest at heart and that was he was doing was right. It was too late before I realized he was wrong, what he was doing was evil. It cost my aunt Lilypetal her life."

Arcticpaw blinked in surprise at Swiftstar’s announcements, remembering hearing rumors from previous gatherings about Meadowbrook. “I hope the kits are alright.” She murmured to Gustpaw, looking back at him, “I wonder why StarClan would ask Eclipsesky to step down though. Did something happen?”

Hawkpaw shrugged, “I don’t know. Maybe StarClan decided Eclipsesky didn’t fit the role of medicine cat anymore.” She suggested quietly, glancing at Sproutpaw to see what he thought.

Honeycrest took this time to give Rowanpaw a light flick of his tail to signify he was padding elsewhere, in hopes of using the responses to Windclan’s report to overhear some information elsewhere. So far, the gathering had been lackluster in juicy new information, but he was determined to at least bring something home to Cedarstar.