Flintheart was silent for a moment, not answering the youth’s question right away as he, personally, did not know the true answer. “One can only hope.” He murmured, his claws digging into the grass as he continued further through the forest with the rest of Thunderclan. The grey-furred warrior had bad feelings about this, but for the sake of Ebonypaw, he did not show such of his own worry, not wanting to frighten the apprentice that he cared for. “Snowstar will handle this. We need to trust our leader.” Flintheart mentioned to Ebonypaw, but it seemed like these words were to reassure himself more than the young tomcat that traveled with him. He was ready to defend Thunderclan with his life, there was no doubt about that, but with the dark furred youth in the corner of his line of sight, Flintheart hardly had his own well being on his mind. Yes, the youth was skilled in his fighting techniques and he was impressive when it came to such things, but.. No, he shouldn’t be worrying about this. It was a Gathering, for Starclan sake, and they were under the truce of the full moon! Starclan was watching them with observant gazes and most cats, even himself, feared in angering their ancestors with such acts of violence. When they had finally reached the Seastones, he was slightly relieved that Ebonypaw was alright with sitting with him. He almost said something along the lines of preferring that he would sit with him anyways, but he held his tongue because of obvious reasoning. “Fair enough.” He murmured to his student, walking through the crowd of clanmates, “My friend, Sproutwhisker, will not be attending the Gathering tonight because his mate just gave birth to a litter of kittens, so I have nobody to sit with anymore. He sat with us at the last Gathering, if you remember that Riverclan tomcat.” As he rested on his haunches once he had found a space open among the cats, he gestured for Ebonypaw to sit beside him with a gentle smile. His greenish blue-hued eyes scanned the clearing for a moment and for a split second, he met eyes with Hawkfeather, the Windclan tomcat that was another friend of his. He was sitting with Carcalspirit, his mate, among Windclan. They stared at each other without exchanging a word before the tan-furred male dipped his head to the older warrior and turned back to talking to the female that sat beside him. Flintheart gave a slight sigh, hating this tension and divided sense that they had. “Do you remember the moves that I taught you in the training cave several days ago?” The mentor said, out of context to the apprentice as he looked up at the gathered leaders before them.

It was no surprise that Hawkfeather was often seen as someone that worried too much at certain times, especially when it came to his loved ones. The bristled, ruffled fur along his spine settled ever so slightly as his beloved nuzzled him to calm his nervous and anxious form. “You’re right.” He murmured, licking Carcalspirit’s cheek, “I apologize, my dear. It’s just that tensions have been high between Windclan and Thunderclan lately. Who knows what’ll happen when Blazingstar confronts Snowstar about the matter..” Hawkfeather didn’t like the idea of drama going about, especially in such a populated area with so many cats as well. There were other cats among them that seemed to share the same uneasy feeling in their guts about the matter, but his mate didn’t seem to be bothered, trusting in the truce of the full moon, so why should he worry? He shook his head, brushing away worrisome thoughts as he focused on the positives. “Since you aren’t worried about this, I’ll try not to worry either.” The tan-furred male said, “Let’s just hope we can find a good spot to sit and watch everything.” He wondered, in the back of his mind, if Flintheart would be here as well - though it probably wouldn’t be safe to visit his old friend since the ties between Thunder and Wind were very, very deadly. The young warrior remembered a time when Sproutwhisker, Flintheart, Pinewhisker and him could all sit together and share stories of their lives at the Gatherings. Oh, how he missed his old friends quite dearly. Pinewhisker had told him that he would not be attending the Gathering this time since he was still feeling an ache from his injured leg after the flood. He disliked the idea of meeting his companions in battle, but his loyalty lied with Windclan and Carcalspirit, so despite his friendships, he would protect his family. “Where would you like to sit? I’ll let you choose.” He mentioned as they reached the spacious clearing with cats of all colors and sizes, varying in rank and clan before them. It certainly a sight that he had not yet grown used to, even though this was far from his first Gathering.

Newtpaw was looking up at the stars the shined above them when the other apprentice rested his tail on her shoulder, which surprised her, but she did not jump, only turned her head to look at Eburneanpaw for a moment with a small smile resting on her maw. His words were kind and sweet as he wished the best for her and Shadowclan, regarding the flooding that had ruined their camp a few moons previously. “It was such a scary thing to go through.” She admitted, a certain sadness going through her blue-hued eyes, “I would’ve drowned, but I was saved by Lionpaw, another apprentice who was once my best friend. Though we’ve grown apart since Shadowclan returned after staying with Riverclan for a few moons while everything recovered.” The small apprentice usually wouldn’t tell anyone these things, especially since she had just met this tomcat, but he was nice and friendly - making her already feel like she had a true friend once again. Newtpaw noticed the tomcat pull his tail away from her, realizing that she was not of his clan and this made her utter a small laugh, a smile still resting on her maw. She enjoyed this cat’s company a lot so far. “The camp hardly looks like it was destroyed by a flood these days, which still leaves me in awe.” The munchkin remarked, shaking her head slightly, “Some cats are still healing from the event - broken legs, loss of family, trauma and shock.” She said and decided to add something, “I cannot handle being around large bodies of water anymore since the flood. It.. It terrified me beyond belief, all the darkened water around me as I struggled for breath.” Newtpaw forbid herself to think about it any longer, the experience was a nightmare. She was glad that she had gotten the names of the leaders correct. “It seems that I have a tendency to make friends with Windclan cats.” She giggled, “There’s another apprentice named Ferretpaw, who is in your clan, and a good friend of mine. It’s a shame, but I don’t see him at the Gathering. I do hope that he is okay.” She mewed to her newfound friend, the shecat’s skinny tail swishing back and forth behind her as she spoke.