The squirrel had no idea it was being hunted. Its ears twitched back and forth as it nibbled a seed, occasionally pausing to check for scents and movement.

But it still had no idea.

The gray cat in the shadows stared unblinkingly out at it, waiting for the right moment, none of her limbs even twitching. Her face was dark gray, darker than usual in the shadow of the bush she had stationed herself in. She took a slow step forward as the squirrel turned its back, then leapt forward.

Her back foot caught on a root and she yelped in surprise as it ripped from the ground. The squirrel, alerted, dropped its seed and dashed for a tree.

Furious, the cat with the gray face jumped forward and knocked it out of the air as it tried to jump onto the trunk of an oak. It let out a pained squeak as it hit the ground and the she-cat quickly nipped it to kill it.

So much for dark and mysterious, she thought furiously to herself. If her own yelp hadn't chased away everything in the trees, the squirrel's death-cry would have. Next time don't fancy yourself invincible, she reminded herself. Just catch the prey. She shook the root off her back paw and turned towards her hunting partner, who was mrowwing in amusement.

"Oh, don't feel bad," he mewed sympathetically at her expression. "You still caught it."

"No use hunting here anymore," she sighed at him, picking up her squirrel. He moved next to her, a sparrow in his jaws, and entwined their tails. She held hers stiff, but he didn't seem to notice.

"It's alright," he mewed around his sparrow. "Let's get these to camp. It's slim pickings anyway, isn't it, Darkgaze?" When she meowed in agreement he started forward. Darkgaze lagged behind him until she was level with his flank, her ears cocked for any sound of prey. They were nearly at the camp when she saw a mouse.

"Thornpelt," she called softly, dropping her squirrel. When he looked back, she jerked her head toward the mouse, and he nodded, picked up her squirrel along with his sparrow, and kept going.

Darkgaze caught the mouse quickly, with none of the silliness she had displayed earlier. She buried it, then took a quick lap around the immediate area, only finding another scrawny, tough sparrow. It was food, at least, even if it was stupid for being so close to the ThunderClan camp. She collected it and the mouse and finally made it back to camp.

Thornpelt was waiting for her near the entrance to the camp. The squirrel and his sparrow were nowhere to be seen, so she supposed he'd already put them on the fresh-kill pile.

He purred when he saw her. "Good job," he mewed, obviously proud of her. Darkgaze flicked an ear. It was just an old sparrow and a mouse. It wasn't like she'd caught a rabbit. She mumbled something unintelligible then padded past him to the fresh-kill pile. Hazelstar was nearby, turning the prey over in her paws, taking count. Her eyes glinted when she saw Darkgaze's catch.

"Is that all?" she mewed.

"Sorry," Darkgaze mewed back. "I tripped and scared off a lot of prey, I think. This is all we could find."

Hazelstar started speaking before Darkgaze had even finished. "Be more careful next time." She nudged a vole over to her. "Here, eat this now that you're back," she instructed. "You're going to the Gathering."

Darkgaze felt a thrill of excitement. "Really?" she mewed, hopping on her paws a little. Hazelstar nodded impatiently, moving the vole closer. Darkgaze scooped it up and moved over to a tom sitting by the warriors den. "Hawkear," she purred around her vole. The tom, her brother, looked up.

"Darkgaze," he purred back, a mouse in front of him. She sat down next to him and bit into her vole. "Are you going to the Gathering?" he asked around mouthfuls of his own food.

Darkgaze swallowed her bite of vole. "Yes, Hazelstar just said I could. I guess you are too?"

"Sure am. Thornpelt isn't, though," he said apologetically, inclining his head at her. Darkgaze felt a rush of relief and tried not to show it.

"That's too bad. I'll be sure to tell him what happened," she mewed instead of yowling in relief like she wanted to. Hawkear gave her an odd look, one she was becoming increasingly familiar with.

"I'm surprised you're not eating with him right now," he meowed carefully a moment later.

Agitated, Darkgaze retorted, "I don't have to spend every minute with him!"

"Of course not," he shot back. "He's only your mate, after all."

Immediately all the agitation she felt turned to guilt and shame. Feebly, she tried to defend herself. "I just wanted to eat with my brother for once."

That seemed to do the trick. Hawkear immediately looked sorry. "Well, of course we can eat together whenever you want. I'm sorry, Darkgaze. I didn't mean to put you on the spot."

She pressed her muzzle into his shoulder for a moment, glad she'd managed to distract him. "It's okay," she soothed just as Hazelstar's meow broke through the buzz of Clan chatter.

"Everyone going to the Gathering please get ready to go!" she called.

Darkgaze and her brother gulped down the rest of their food and quickly joined the others. Thornpelt meowed a farewell that Darkgaze halfheartedly returned in a way she tried to make seem fullhearted.

She and her brother followed the others out of the camp, and to the edge of the lake, which they skirted as they passed into WindClan territory. Eventually they were joined by WindClan's own collection of cats traveling to the island. Hazelstar and Cloudstar, WindClan's leader, exchanged typical greetings, but otherwise didn't mingle. The rest of their Clans, however, had no such disdain, and many cats were already greeting each other.

Smokestorm, one of ThunderClan's own, was talking animatedly with a WindClan warrior, a light-colored she-cat, as they traveled. As her Clanmate and his friend passed Darkgaze and Hawkear, Smokestorm bumped against Darkgaze. "Sorry," he mewed, flicking his tail across her flank. His friend tilted her head to look around Smokestorm, her eyes wide and curious. Her gaze lingered even as they passed the two siblings, the cat nearly tripping over Swiftstorm, WindClan's deputy, in distraction.

Darkgaze blinked in confusion at the WindClan cat as she righted herself. She gave a furtive glance back then faced forward, and a moment later she and Smokestorm had disappeared into the flock of cats.

The rest of the journey passed uneventfully and quickly. RiverClan and ShadowClan were already at the island, the cats lingering and sharing tongues while they waited for the other two Clans. ThunderClan and WindClan joined the fray, old friends meeting up.

Darkgaze took her own seat near the back, in a yet unclaimed spot. Her brother went off to meet with Seedwhisker, a ShadowClan cat, leaving his sister to fend for herself.

"Hi!" a cat chirped, and Darkgaze looked over to see the same cat Smokestorm had been talking to. Her pelt was a light cream color, darker stripes crossing her tail, and a striped mask of the same darker color on his face and ears framing light blue eyes. Darkgaze felt her heart flutter in surprise.

"Hello," she stammered. The cat took no notice of her surprise.

"I'm Springstep," she mewed. "Do you mind if I sit next to you?"

"Not at all," the other cat meowed. "I'm Darkgaze."

"Darkgaze," Springstep repeated, thoughtful. "It suits you. It's very pretty."

The ThunderClan cat felt her ears heat up. "Th-thanks," she mewed. "You're very pretty too- I mean, your name is." She averted her eyes to the tree the leaders were on. Springstep purred and started to say something else, but a yowl from the leaders stopped her. Both of their heads turned towards the leaders as the Gathering started.

When it was over, Darkgaze would have a hard time remembering anything that happened. All she could picture was blue and the smell of heather.