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What a mess. Duskpaw sat next to Finchwhisker towards the back of the Gathering, her dark pelt causing her to blend into the stone behind her. She had heard whispers in FireClan that Whitestar had been planning something crazy with their neighbors, but she had no idea that this is what they meant. Amberpaw had told her she overheard some conversation that the two leaders had been having while she was cleaning out the elders den, but she hadn't believed her at the time. Now she wished she had.

She kept her eyes fixed on the ledge where the leaders stood. They looked like they were about to attack each other. Wouldn't that be exciting. Whitestar sounded about as frustrated and angry as she had ever heard him. Their leader had a temper, that was for sure, but she hadn't expected to hear it at a Gathering. She tried to ignore the prickling of her pelt as the DarkClan and RainClan cats stared from across the other side of the clearing as tensions continued to rise upon the rocky ledge.

Dawnstar kept her mouth shut as Whitestar made their point clear. She seemed content enough to let him take the brunt of the anger from the other two clan leaders, though it didn't seem that Spiderstar had any retort to what it was that the FireClan leader had said. Instead he lashed his tail in anger and barred his teeth at the white-furred leader.

[b]"I'm in agreement with Coyotestar. Whatever peace we may have had with your clans is over, and if we find either of your clans scents near our border beyond the usual patrols we will consider it a declaration of war,"[/b] Spiderstar glared at Whitestar in particular as he stood and leapt to the ground after the RainClan leader with the deputies close behind.

As the Gathering was called to a close Duskpaw waited for her mentor to stand and move away before she ducked behind some stones and began to slip towards where she had seen the medicine cats sitting. She hadn't been able to see Albatrosspaw before everything began, but she could at least get a quick word in. She felt her heart race just a bit faster at the idea of seeing the other apprentice, though she wasn't sure exactly why. She caught the tail end of what Sagecloud said and Gullbreeze's response as she crouched in the shadows.

[b]"I'll be there,"[/b] Cloudwing told Sagecloud, [b]"medicine cats are meant to be removed from things like this so we can continue to do our duties."[/b] His voice had lost the warmth that it usually held though, and he refused to look any of the other medicine cats in the eyes as he stood and pulled Rainwhisker along to join up with Spiderstar. 

She watched the other apprentices stand to follow after their mentors as Embersky also pushed himself onto white paws. [b]"We will be there as well. As Cloudwing said, our duties as medicine cats are above the squabbling of leaders."[/b] His voice was mild, but there was a slight undertone of annoyance to it that likely came from the immediate backlash from the other clans. He spoke quietly to Albatrosspaw, so much so that she had to prick her ears to hear what he said, [b]"Come on, don't let them get to you. There's nothing they can do to hurt you here other than glare,"[/b] as the smaller tom ducked behind his mentor.

An additional beat passed as Embersky stood to wait for Dawnstar's signal that they were to leave as well, she was still up on the ledge speaking quietly to Whitestar. It gave Duskpaw the opportunity to creep up behind Albatrosspaw, out of sight of his mentor, to bat at his tail with one dark furred paw. [color=7ea7d8][b]Hey![/b][/color] she whispered loudly at him with a toothy grin, [color=7ea7d8][b]"Come here a second."[/b][/color] She flicked her tail in the direction she had come from, a shadowy space behind some taller stones, and backed up into the shadows to wait.