Lost Stars

Bristlepaw glanced around to see that more of her Clanmates had gathered around, gazing at her with worried eyes. She wanted to shrink into a tiny little bug that could hide itself under a twig.

“I’m really sorry—”

“‘Sorry’ fills no bellies,” Jayfeather snapped. “If I were your mentor, I’d confine you to camp for the next six moons, and the only training you’d get would be how to shift the elders’ ticks!”

While he was speaking, Bramblestar stepped forward, and he brushed his tail down Jayfeather’s side. “Calm down,” he meowed. “If we punished apprentices every time they said something foolish, we’d have no time for anything else. I’m sure Bristlepaw didn’t mean it.” As he spoke, he fixed Bristlepaw with his powerful amber gaze.

“N-no, I really didn’t,” Bristlepaw stammered. “I was just . . . I wasn’t thinking.”

“That’s clear enough.” Jayfeather took a step back.

“We’re sorry, too,” Flippaw added, while Thriftpaw nodded eagerly.

Bramblestar inclined his head, accepting their apologies. “However,” he continued, “it’s clear that the three of you don’t know enough about StarClan. You’d better come with us to the Gathering tonight, and maybe you’ll learn more.”

As her Clan leader spoke, Bristlepaw felt a churning in her belly, a weird mix of shame at being scolded by her Clan leader and excitement at being chosen to accompany her Clanmates to a Gathering.

“Really?” Jayfeather twitched his whiskers in disgust. “It’s like you’re rewarding them!” He stalked off toward his den.

“Jayfeather has a point,” Bramblestar meowed, his gaze traveling over Bristlepaw and her littermates. “You’d better make sure that tonight you don’t put a single claw out of line.”

“Oh, we won’t!” Bristlepaw assured him fervently, while her brother and sister nodded in earnest agreement.

The frozen lake shone silver under the full moon as Bristlepaw, Thriftpaw, and Flippaw followed their Clan leader along the water’s edge toward the Gathering island. The snow had stopped, but the cold felt like huge claws gripping Bristlepaw’s body and striking up through her pads. She had never seen the forest looking so desolate, and the stars that glittered overhead seemed remote and uncaring. For the first time, she wondered why the warriors of StarClan might be refusing to communicate with the medicine cats.

Have we done something to make them angry?

But Bristlepaw’s fears receded as she and the rest of her Clan arrived beside the tree-bridge to cross to the island. WindClan’s cats were already picking their way along the tree trunk, and the mingled scents of the other Clans wafted from the bushes at the far side.

I wonder which cats I’ll meet tonight? Maybe Rootpaw, she added to herself. I hope he’s okay—and I hope the silly furball has had the sense to ignore the other SkyClan apprentices.

Crossing the tree-bridge felt weird. Bristlepaw had been to Gatherings before, and she was used to the way that the lake water would suck at the tree, making her feel that at any moment she would lose her balance and fall in. Tonight the water was frozen, and Bristlepaw guessed that they could have walked across to the island without using the tree.

Leaping down from the trunk at the other side, Bristlepaw raced up the shore and pushed her way through the bushes into the clearing where the Gathering took place. ThunderClan was the last to arrive, and the open space around the Great Oak was already crowded with cats. Bramblestar and Squirrelflight headed for the Great Oak; Squirrelflight took her place on the roots, while Bramblestar leaped into the branches and found a spot near Mistystar, the RiverClan leader. Jayfeather and Alderheart headed to join the other medicine cats.

Glancing around, Bristlepaw saw that her Clanmates were already mingling with cats from other Clans. She waved her tail to greet some young WindClan warriors she had met at previous Gatherings, but as she was making her way toward them, she was almost carried off her paws by a small yellow tom who thrust his way out of the crowd and bounced up to her.

“Hi, Bristlepaw!” he meowed.

“Rootpaw!” Bristlepaw exclaimed. “How are you?”

“I’m fine,” Rootpaw assured her. “And it’s all thanks to you! I’ll never forget how you saved my life. Did they give you your warrior name after that? I’m sorry if I shouldn’t have called you Bristlepaw.”

Bristlepaw winced; the comment stung, even though Rootpaw had no way of knowing about her failed assessment. And I’m not about to tell him. “No, I’m still Bristlepaw,” she told him.

“I went on this amazing hunt the other day,” Rootpaw chattered on, clearly unaware of how Bristlepaw was feeling. “I caught a huge crow, all by myself! Four of us shared it, and we still couldn’t finish it.”

Bristlepaw tried to force some enthusiasm into her reply. “That’s great.”