Chapter 19

                                    

                                          
A few lonely birds twittered in the bare trees as the late sunset lit the sky like fire. Clouds loomed over the horizon as night slowly pushed the day away. Snowblaze sat in the clearing and sighed, watching his clanmates gather beneath the Great Maple. Flameclaw was sitting by the roots of the tree talking to Oneclaw, Snaketail, and Charfur. Sleetstar sat along the branch with his tail hanging down. His expression was unreadable. Once everyone had settled, he began the meeting.
                          
"Tonight is the gathering. In light of recent events, I don't want any of you talking too much about our insubordinate ex-clanmate. What Emberbreeze did is now in the past, and all we can do is thrive in her absence. I will be the judge on how much will be said tonight." Sleetstar's voice rang clear across the gully. Clanmates were nodding around Snowblaze as they accepted and saw the reason in their leader's words.
                          
"I support Sleetstar," Flameclaw said loudly from where he sat. "We know how quickly rumours like to spread among the clans. We can't have the other two clans thinking we're weak." His eyes flashed a challenge, but no one opposed him.
                          
Rainwshiker padded over to Snowblaze as Sleetstar called out the cats who would be going to the gathering tonight. Snowblaze looked up and saw sympathy and maybe pity in his friend's features. 
                          
"It's only been a couple days since she left. Are you okay?" he asked quietly.
                          
Snowblaze nodded, hoping that he would be okay, because right now he didn't quite feel okay. Most cats were giving him a bit of distance, not sure how to comfort him. Snowblaze wasn't even sure that they were able to comfort him. How could they when they couldn't justify anything that his sister had done?
                          
"Thank you," he meowed to Rainwhisker. The brown and white tom laid his tail comfortingly over his shoulders and Snowblaze felt a tiny spark of relief. At least he knew that he still had friends to support him. "I'm glad you don't think poorly of me after all of that."
                          
"How could I?" Rainshiwker asked in surprise. "You've done nothing wrong. And I can understand why you felt sad that she left, despite everything. Love runs deep and whatever anyone thinks of her, no one will forget her easily. Especially you." Snowblaze felt him nuzzle his head in a calming way. 
                          
"You're a good friend, you know," Snowblaze mewed, feeling choked up. He caught the eye of Starnose as they all gathered together near the entrance tunnel. Her eyes sparkled with kindness. 
                          
"I know!" Rainshiwker purred. Mistshade and Robintalon trotted up to them, crowding around the two toms. 
                          
"Are you ready to go?" Robintalon meowed loudly skipping around the group. Her enthusiasm helped Snowblaze focus his mind on the gathering instead of on Emberbreeze and a little smile touched his lips as the group left for the Ravine.
                          
They were the first clan to arrive and they settled themselves closest to the leaders' rocks. Sleetstar and Flameclaw left the group to talk quietly with their heads bent. Snowblaze sat between Mistshade and Starnose. 
                          
As the night slowly crept across the sky and stars began to twinkle, both RubyClan and SapphireClan entered the Ravine. Each clan sat away from each other, distancing themselves from their rivals. The tensions were high and suspicious glances lit all the cats' eyes. Mistshade shuffled closer to Snowblaze and pressed their pelts together.
                          
"Let us begin," Tawnystar commanded from above. She sat stiffly as every cat in the Ravine turned to face the three leaders. "As you all know there was a small fire in our territories." Both RubyClan and EmeraldClan cats murmured in agreement. There were burned and bare trees showing over the lip of the Ravine. RubyClan had been touched with the fire as badly as EmeraldClan.
                          
Tawnystar continued after the mutterings died down. "Our clan however has avoided the damage of the fire. Thanks to StarClan, our territory has been untouched." Her eyes glittered as shouts rang out from EmeraldClan.