Erin Hunter - Twilight

“I love it here.” Leafpool’s eyes shone; Squirrelflight guessed she felt especially close to StarClan here. “It’s smaller than Fourtrees, but it feels so safe.”

As Squirrelflight started to agree, she saw Firestar race across the clearing and leap into the tree. He clawed at the trunk, then pulled himself onto a low branch and stood looking down at the four Clans.

“Blackstar! Leopardstar! Onestar!” he called. “We could sit here for the Gathering.”

Blackstar was the next to appear, agile for a cat of his bulk as he swarmed up the tree to crouch on the branch beside Firestar with his tail hanging down.

“I bet Blackstar wishes he thought of sitting in the tree first,” Ashfur murmured into Squirrelflight’s ear.

Leopardstar settled herself in the fork between two branches not far from Firestar and Blackstar; Onestar climbed a little higher so he could look down on the other three.

Mistyfoot sat tidily on one of the thick, twisting roots at the foot of the trunk. When the other deputies, Ashfoot and Russetfur, joined her there, a pang as sharp as a thorn pierced Squirrelflight’s belly. It was blindingly obvious that there was no ThunderClan deputy to sit with them.

Firestar let out a yowl. “Cats of all Clans, welcome to this new Gathering place. StarClan has brought us here, and we thank them.” He waited for a moment while the warriors grew quiet, then courteously dipped his head to the WindClan leader. “Onestar, would you like to begin?”

The WindClan leader rose to his paws, balancing confidently on the thick branch. His eyes gleamed in the moonlight, his tabby pelt turned to silver. Squirrelflight remembered how nervous he had been about addressing the Clans when Tallstar died. There was no trace of that uncer-tainty now. He looked as if he had led his Clan for many moons.

“All is well with WindClan,” he reported. “I have made the journey to the Moonpool and received my nine lives and my name from StarClan.”

Murmurs of congratulation rose up from the cats in the clearing: from all four Clans, Squirrelflight noticed. Onestar had been popular as a warrior, and his leadership had received powerful approval from StarClan when they made the tree fall, killing Mudclaw. She glanced around to see whether Webfoot and Mudclaw’s other supporters were joining in; she couldn’t see Webfoot at all, but the black she-cat Nightcloud was crouching under a bush, gazing up at her leader with an unreadable expression on her face.

Onestar bowed his head. “This morning Ashfoot, Tornear, and Crowfeather drove a fox from our territory,” he went on.

“They fought well, and I’m sure we’ve seen the last of it.”

A yowl of approval came from the cats below—mostly from WindClan, but some from other Clans too. “Ashfoot!

Tornear! Crowfeather!”

Squirrelflight didn’t join in. “He hasn’t mentioned Mudclaw’s rebellion at all,” she muttered to Ashfur. “Or ThunderClan—how we helped in the battle, and how we warned him about the fox.”

Ashfur glanced sideways at her. “Did you really think he would?”

Onestar continued: “We have held warrior ceremonies for two apprentices. Owlwhisker and Weaselfur are here tonight as full warriors of WindClan.” He sat down again as the new warriors were welcomed by the other cats.

Leopardstar was on her paws almost before Onestar had finished, impatiently waving her tail for silence. “There is no sign of the badger that we drove out a moon ago,” she announced. “We think it has gone for good.”

Squirrelflight looked across the clearing to Hawkfrost. He had led the patrol that got rid of RiverClan’s badger.

Squirrelflight curled her lip when she saw how pleased with himself Hawkfrost looked. Like he’s the only warrior who ever fought a badger , she thought resentfully, twisting her head to lick the healing wounds on her flank.

“RiverClan have also made a new warrior,” Leopardstar went on. “Voletooth sits vigil in the camp tonight.”

“Onestar and Leopardstar seem very keen to report new warriors,” Squirrelflight whispered to her sister. “It’s as if they’re trying to show the other Clans how strong they are.”

“It’s ridiculous!” Leafpool hissed, startling Squirrelflight with the ferocity of her reply. “Why is it so important for us to be rivals instead of friends? Have they forgotten everything we went through to get here?”

Squirrelflight was a bit surprised that Leafpool felt so strongly; medicine cats usually kept apart from ordinary Clan rivalries, and her friendships with Littlecloud, Barkface, and Mothwing wouldn’t change however hostile the Clans became. But then, Leafpool had probably grown as used to living with all the Clans together as Squirrelflight had.

“At the last Gathering,” Leopardstar went on, “I agreed that the marshy ground where we first camped could be neutral territory so that we would have somewhere to gather. But now that StarClan have given us this island, I’m claiming the marshes for RiverClan.”

Squirrelflight heard several cats muttering discontentedly; Barkface, the WindClan medicine cat, exclaimed, “Mouse dung! Now I won’t be able to collect herbs there.”

“The rest of the Clans have to agree,” Blackstar pointed out, sinking his claws into the bark beneath his paws. “There was neutral territory around Fourtrees.”

Leopardstar lashed her tail. “You can’t turn this place into the forest. Things are different here. For a start, every Clan but RiverClan has to cross another Clan’s territory to reach the island. There’s no point in having neutral territory.”

“Leopardstar’s right,” Firestar meowed. “I don’t see any reason why RiverClan can’t have the marshes.”

Leopardstar dipped her head to him, acknowledging his support.

“Onestar, what do you think?” Firestar asked.

Onestar hesitated; Squirrelflight guessed he would like to claim the marshes and their stock of useful herbs for his Clan, but WindClan already had the largest expanse of territory.

“Very well,” he growled.

Blackstar shrugged. “I won’t object, if you all agree.”

Leopardstar’s eyes gleamed with satisfaction. “Then we will set our scent markers by the horse place tomorrow.”

Yowls of approval rose from the RiverClan cats; Firestar waited for them to die down before he started to speak.

“I don’t have much to report,” he admitted. “Like RiverClan, we found a badger on our territory, and Brambleclaw led the patrol that sent it away. Apart from that, everything is going well, and we have seen nothing of Twolegs since we moved into the territory.” He stepped back and gestured with his tail to Blackstar.

Squirrelflight tensed as the ShadowClan leader stood up.

Would he mention the badger? Did he know that ThunderClan had driven it into ShadowClan territory? But when Blackstar spoke, it was to report that prey was plentiful in the pinewoods. “We found an old badger set not far from the Twoleg nest,” he rasped. “But we could barely detect the scent. It must have been abandoned long ago.”

Squirrelflight exchanged a glance with Ashfur, feeling the fur lie flat on her neck again. The badger and her cubs must have retreated deeper into the forest, well away from any Clan’s territory. From the number of old sets being reported, it looked as if several badgers had once lived around the lake.

Perhaps the Clans were lucky they hadn’t encountered more.

“I hope we’ve seen the last of them,” she murmured to Ashfur.

“If they come back, we’ll deal with them,” Ashfur meowed.

“Anyway, I thought you liked badgers,” he teased. “What about Midnight?”

“Midnight’s different,” Squirrelflight told him. “As for the rest—I don’t care if I never see another one. Badgers and cats don’t mix.”