Our shadows dance across the ground, like moving water from the uneven mud beside the shrunken lake. A warm breeze ruffles our thick fur, revealing our thin bodies beneath. The sky is black, but dotted with tiny white stars, lighting the entire night with a silvery-white haze. It's quiet. Not because everyone is content with just walking in silence as we make our way to the island, but because no one really has the energy.

The journey to the lake is already tiring us, even though the night has just begun. We have to face Leopardstar's desperate accusations and then travel all the way back home. At least the Gathering will end early, so I can just go to sleep a little earlier than when we'd have a normal Gathering. I feel like stones are weighing me down as we cross the fallen tree, its trunk is rough and hard beneath my paws. Icecloud and Poppyfrost flank me, looking around with interest. "Where are RiverClan?" The latter murmurs, her tortoiseshell fur moving in response to the wind.

Icecloud's eyes widen. "I thought we were late, but our excuse is that we live on the other side of the lake!"

"Hopefully it's nothing serious; I'm sure they're fine." I bluff, pretending that I don't have a clue about what might be holding the RiverCats up. I find myself searching the crowd; scanning the many faces of the cats. My eyes meet the jay blue pools of his and I quickly look away, trying not to be so obvious. I turn my attention to Icecloud, who is watching Lionblaze wander off into the crowd. Only then do I notice that the cats are all in their respective groups, barely interacting with others of a different clan.

"Lionblaze!" I call out, and he fortunately hears me over the quiet chatter in the clearing. I beckon to him with my tail and the golden warrior turns around to come back. He quickly glances behind him, and I know by the sympathetic look on his face that it's directed at Heathertail.

I turn to see whether or not Icecloud had seen his communication with Heathertail; she might have been able to see the WindClan cat from her angle, but to my surprise, she's already gone. Lionblaze pads sullenly up to me and sits down beside me.

"Oh, wipe that look off your face." I snap. "You're lucky I stopped you before you went ahead and made everyone suspicious with your 'casual' talk."

He scrunched up his face and gave me a somewhat pained look. "It's not that obvious, is it?"

"Very obvious; even Icecloud has been picking up your motives." I murmur, in hopes that no one overhears us. As the words leave my mouth, I convince myself that this is not the right place to talk about this subject, so when Lionblaze raises his eyebrows, I only dismiss our conversation by wandering over to Icecloud, Honeyfern, Cinderheart and Poppyfrost, who are huddled in the middle of the ThunderClan cats. (a/n wow, long sentence haha)

When I join them, Icecloud gives me a look that tells me she wants details of what just happened, making me confirm my assumptions. She saw.

"So, Feathersong," Honeyfern starts, her blue eyes sparkling, "have you gotten your eyes on anyone?"

"Yeah, is it just me or have you and Foxleap been spending a lot of time together?" Cinderheart asks, winking at me.

I feel Poppyfrost stiffen beside me and I quickly shake my head. "Oh, no! Foxleap and I are just friends."

Icecloud rolls her eyes. "Feathersong has a thing for med-" I shove her, and she squeaks. "Mean toms…"

Face palm.

"Well, not mean toms, but tough and manly." Icecloud says quickly, as the other she-cats glance at each other. I notice that she had moved away from me before I could shove her again.

"Really, Feathersong?" Oh... I turn around to see Foxleap looking down at me with a raised eyebrow, his eyes dancing with amusement. Please ground… Just swallow me up already.

I clear my throat. "Nah, Icecloud just got our preferences mixed up again." I joke uneasily.

He chuckles as he sits next to his sister. "Ah, of course,"

Poppyfrost looks up at the tree where the leaders normally sit. Sure enough, there are only three leaders present. "RiverClan sure are taking their time."

"I overheard the leaders considering starting the Gathering without them; we don't have all night." Foxleap frowns, looking at the bushes as though the last clan should emerge any second now.

I suddenly feel envious of Hazeltail, Berrynose and Mousewhisker who had teased us before we left. They're probably sleeping soundly in their nests right now, dreaming little kitty dreams while we're sitting out here in the hot waiting for RiverClan to show up.

Blackstar howls and we all turn to the tree.

"Looks like we're having a RiverClan-free gathering," Foxleap murmurs behind me. I flick my ear to let him know I heard before turning my attention to Blackstar's words.

"RiverClan won't be-" he pauses when there's a rustle in the bushes.

The cats in the clearing break out in gasps and whispers as a very scrawny Leopardstar emerges from the undergrowth. Her fur is matted and mangled, her eyes wide and alert as she stalks into the clearing with a small group of thin RiverClan cats behind her.

"Thieves," she growls, glaring at us accusingly. I exchange a glance with Poppyfrost. Her eyes are questioning as she looks back at them and observes Leopardstar.

"Stealing our fish from the rivers," She spits. "There's barely anything left."

Blackstar snorts. "We don't eat fish. We don't even know how to catch it."

Firestar raises an eyebrow. His pelt is dark in this light, with the silver lining of the full moon above. Clouds threaten to cover the only source of light in the sky; they drift slowly towards it, as if preparing to warn us of our growing conflict. "Leopardstar, we only seek peace through this drought."

The RiverClan leader looks up at him through her narrowed, disbelieving eyes. "Then why is it that the rivers are so empty? Small fish swim through the low surface, darting between rocks and hiding away where we can't reach them. Not that it would feed even one of us." She hisses, baring her teeth. "You look well-fed, Firestar. And I highly doubt you are surviving solely on forest prey, since they are starved of water."

"That's not fat, he's just fluffy." Blackstar chuckles, the corner of his lips turned up. "In fact, he's as scrawny as everyone else."

Onestar nods, a troubled look on his face. "You're in need of food, just as we all are. Perhaps it's time we work together to-"

"Never! I've come to claim the lake as RiverClan territory." Leopardstar snarls. "Anyone who gets in the way will face the wrath of our border patrols that will secure our newly found territory until the end of this drought."

As the other clans begin to protest, she whips around and leaves, the group of RiverClan cats following, their faces neutral and unaffected by the yowls that are aimed at them.

Foxleap had gotten to his feet. "That's outrageous! The lake shouldn't belong to any
Clan!"

Poppyfrost sighs. "What a night."

A/N Hey guys =) I'm awfully sorry that this took so long; I wasn't sure what happened in the actual Gathering when this happened, so it really put me off… And when I finally did finish the chapter, my computer crashed and I'd lost what I had done so I had to rewrite this chapter ;~; Anyway, even though I'm taking forever to produce more work, I promise I will finish this fanfiction!

Thank you for your patience.