. . . Time to meet Thunderclan! Chapter 3 *ONE MOON LATER* “Mintpaw, wake up! We have dawn patrol with Rushingwater and Reedtail, remember?” Mintpaw woke up to Troutpaw nudging her. She was up in a flash. “Mouse-dung! I forgot!” Mintpaw shook the moss from her fur, and did a quick grooming of herself, “Okay, let’s go.” Rushingwater, Troutpaw’s mentor, and Reedtail were waiting near the the camp entrance, “Ready now?” Rushingwater asked, licking his orange paws. “Yeah, sorry!” Mintpaw apologized to the two warriors. Reedtail purred, “It’s okay, besides, I hardly think anybody would think to trespass today, after all, it’s the Gathering!” Mintpaw and Troutpaw looked at each other in excitement. This would be their first Gathering! They hadn’t been able to go to the last one, because it was too rainy and wet for any clan to get there safely. “Let’s go.” Rushingwater led the way out of the camp, with Mintpaw and Troutpaw walking side by side, excitedly talking about the Gathering. Near Sunningrocks, the patrol stopped. “Can you smell that?” Reedtail asked the two apprentices. Mintpaw opened her jaws and tasted the air, “It smells like the border, but stronger?” “That’s right, Mintpaw.” Reedtail replied. “It’s Thunderclan. They haven’t crossed the border, but there’s probably a patrol around here somewhere.” As if called by Reedtail, cats appeared out of the ferns and bushes on the other side of the river. A ginger and brown tom with yellow eyes led the Thunderclan patrol, he was followed by a ginger she-cat with blue eyes, and a light gray apprentice with blue eyes. “Reedtail, Rushingwater.” The tom greeted, not showing much emotion, “And, who are the new cats?” “Oakstorm,” Rushingwater replied, “Just patrolling with some apprentices. We couldn’t bring them to the last Gathering, because of the rain.” While Rushingwater and Oakstorm had their conversation, Reedtail leaned over to Troutpaw and Mintpaw. “You already know who Oakstorm is, but the ginger she-cat is Squirrelfoot, and I haven’t seen the apprentice before, but she looks about the same age as you two.” “Cool!” Troutpaw said, looking at the apprentice, on the other side, “I wonder if we’ll see them at the Gathering.” Mintpaw was also staring at the Thunderclan cats, since this was her first patrol seeing Thunderclan cats, she was even more fascinated then Troutpaw. The light gray apprentice looked back at Mintpaw, her eyes wide . . . “See tonight then,” Rushingwater finished up the conversation with Oakstorm, and nodded to the others to follow him. *** After the patrol, Reedtail had told Mintpaw and Troutpaw to eat something, and then Hailstar would probably call everyone together sometime after that. Mintpaw and Troutpaw were sharing a salmon next to the apprentice’s den. “So, we finally saw Thunderclan cats!” Troutpaw said excitedly. “It was cool!” Mintpaw agreed, “I wonder if we’ll see that apprentice at the Gathering.” “She was looking at you kind of weird though,” Troutpaw said after chewing on a piece of salmon. “Almost like she knew you.” “. . . yeah. It was weird,” Mintpaw said, now thinking about what had happened on the patrol. “Anyways,” Troutpaw changed the subject, “So, I’m really looking forward to the Gathering!” “Yeah! I wish Shadowclan and Windclan were here too though,” Mintpaw replied, remembering the clans that had left the territories long before she was born. “True. Didn’t they decide to leave because there wasn’t enough prey in their territory?” “I’m pretty sure they did. I wonder if the Windclan and Shadowclan cats in Starclan went with th-” “Riverclan! To me!” Mintpaw was interrupted by Hailstar’s call. She got up, “Must be time for the Gathering! Let’s go!” TO BE CONTINUED
