Chapter 30: Meeting!

I walked out of the medicine den, feeling like I was starving to death. It had felt like I had not eaten in forever, in fact, I was not quite sure if I could even remember the last thing that I had eaten. I walked into the clearing, to where the prey pile was.

To my surprise though, it seems as though it was either no longer in that spot, or it was empty. That was not a good sight for me to see if we were already out of food. The cold time of the year was not even upon us yet, and we were already running low on food...

Just as I thought of that, I heard a noise of cats walking through the briar patch that secured our camp. I looked up, as I was not all that worried about an intruder coming into our camp. They would not make it that obvious if that was what they were doing, and they would for sure not do it in the middle of the day either.

I saw Angel walk out with quite a large rabbit in her mouth, and the 2 other cats walked out right behind her, 1 was Flame, who was carrying 2 mice on him, and the other was Owls mate Ginger, the cat that was supposed to come with us on our journey, but then had gone back.

At first I was happy that she had gone back, because I did not like the cat all that much, but I suppose that I had just had a bad first impression, because now she was one the best hunters in the clan, as she was carrying a much larger rabbit than the one that Angel was carrying.

Angel and Ginger first dropped their prey down at the pile, and I saw Flame go to do the same, but he only dropped one of the mice for some reason. I squinted my eyes at him, a bit confused as to what it was that he was doing, but he did not say a word to me, as he then went to the nursery den, where there were now 2 sets of kits.

I then understood as to what it was that he was doing, and I turned my head away, not worrying about it all that much now. I saw that both Angel, and Ginger were both looking at me, with quite surprised looks on their faces, as I walked over and grabbed the mice that Flame had just caught.

I felt like I was hungry enough to eat the whole fresh kill pile, but I knew that no matter how hungry I felt, I had to be a good leader, and set a good example for all of the cats that were around me. I then began to eat up the mouse, as it warmed me up, and began to restore a little bit of strength to my weak body.

It felt good for me to eat, even if it was the same animal that had gotten me to the place that I was now stuck at right now. I sure hoped that Limp was being for real when she told me that I should be okay, I still always had worries about letting down my clan as a leader.

Though that would not really be my fault, it still felt like it was letting down my clan, if I was not able to work in the same function that my body normally would work. I closed my eyes, as I took one last bite of the mouse, trying to shake out all of those thoughts from in my head.

I was still a bit hungry, after eating the mouse, but I was not going to eat anything else, as I saw a cat coming over to get some food from the fresh kill pile. I saw that it was Steve as well, as I squinted my eyes at him. What had he done to help the clan so far?

I turned my head away, as I knew that I should not be thinking those types of thoughts on a cat that I was trying to get to join my clan. It was not his fault that he was stuck in the medicine den anyways, so I should try my best not to blame him for it.

Ginger walked up to him, and then she sat down beside him, and she tore the rabbit in half, so that they could share it between the both of them. Steve nodded to her, a bit surprised that she was being so friendly, as I felt even more bad about what I was thinking about a few moments ago.

I am sure that a lot of the cats in the clan were not treating him as nicely as these cats were. I then lowered my head down the the ground, as she began to speak to the poor cat. He lifted his head up, to listen to what it was that she had to say as well.

"Are you doing okay today Steve, you not feeling any pain?" She said to him. He still had a bit of a surprised look on his face as well, as he looked over at the medicine den, clearly confused as to which cat was the medicine cat. I saw that she had noticed it as well, as she continued to speak to him. "I'm not the medicine cat, that is Limp, I am just worried about all the cats in our clan."

I looked at her, and then nodded and smiled, letting her know that she was doing a good job of letting him feel welcome to the clan. She nodded back to me, with quite a happy look on her face, as she sat there for a bit longer, letting Steve eat up the rest of his rabbit before he began to speak back to her.

He finished off the last scraps of the rabbit, almost as if he was more hungry that I had been, then he looked over to Ginger, the cat that had just spoken to him, and he then nodded to her, as he then began to politely speak back to her.

"Im feeling a lot better, I am thankful for the help that Limp has given me and my family..." Steve said to her. I noticed when he spoke, it was a clear indication that he was letting her know that his family was not quite a part of our clan just yet.

I saw Ginger wince a bit, but it was clear that she was not going to get too worried about it, as she then nodded, as she too then began to finish off the last couple of scraps of the rabbit. They then began to walk over to the dirt pile, which was not too far away from here, as the put the bones in the pile.

Both of them then began to walk back over to where we were still standing at the fresh kill pile, as I saw that they had quite a cheery look on their faces. It made me feel good as a leader as well, to see that the cats of my clan were happy around camp.

I smiled back to the both of them, as we then sat there in silence for just a couple of moments. I looked up at the sky, enjoying the last of the warmth of the sun that was eventually not going to feel all that warm for us very soon from now.

I also saw that the sun was going down on the sky at the same time as well, and I made a note to myself that I was going to have to go to the tall rock to call a meeting very soon. I had nearly forgotten that the clan gathering was going to be tonight, so I would have to remind the clan of that as well as tell them which cats would be going or not.

I then began to think to myself, which cats I should bring to the gathering, and which cats I should leave back at camp, when I suddenly heard to voice of now Silent's mate Angel, as she decided to speak up to all of us that were currently standing together in the clearing. I turned my head over to her, to hear what it was that she had to say.

"Well he isn't a part of our clan..." She said back over to Ginger. Ginger squinted her eyes at Angel, as Angel was still a bit young, as she did not realize the mistake that she had just made. She did see the look on the face of Ginger, and it seemed that she semi understood it, and she said one last quick word to change what it was that she had been getting at. "Yet..."

I noticed right away, as Steve dropped his head to the ground, as it seemed all that Ginger had just done to make him feel welcome to all of us, had now gone to no use. Ginger looked at Angel a bit angrily, as she saw that Steve had his head to the ground.

I decided that I was going to step in and speak, just to clear all that was going on right now, and try to make Steve feel a bit better as well. Both of my clan mates looked away from each other, as they turned their heads over to me, to hear what it was that I had to say.

"Sorry Steve... Ignore Angel, she is still a bit young, she does not know her words have an impact yet..." I said to him, looking over to Angel, to make sure that she had now understood why me and Ginger were a bit upset at what it was that she had said.

Angel looked down at the ground, as she was a bit embarrassed at what she had said now, and she had quite the guilty look on her face. I was glad that she had at least learned her lesson though, but I also realized that I was not much older than her, so I was certainly one to talk.

Steve looked over to me, and then he nodded to me, as I could tell it had at least made him feel a slight bit better, as he now understood the meaning of what she had said. He then began to speak back to me in a calm voice, which made me feel happy that he seemed like a calm and good cat.

"Thank you... I understand, I just am not too sure about all the clan stuff. I have heard good things about all of you, I would love for my kits to have a safe and friendly place to grow up in, I just need to give it some more time and thought first with my mate." He said back over to me.

It was good enough for me to hear to calm me down, but I also knew that he had another meaning to it, to let me know that I should not get too ahead of myself just yet either. I nodded back to him, letting him know that it was fine by me.

I saw Ginger nod to me, happy to see that I had calmed him down a bit. I nodded back to her, and then I turned my head to the rest of the cats, Angel included, as I needed to say something to the rest of them, and to calm each of them down as well.

"You are welcome here any time Steve, I am about to call a clan meeting, so you guys don't go wandering off alright?" I said to all of them. Ginger and Angel nodded to me, as Ginger relaxed herself, putting herself in a position to let me know that she had no plans on going anywhere.

Steve looked at me a bit confused for a few moments, and I knew exactly what it was that he was confused about as well. He did not say anything, as it seemed as though he somewhat got the jest of what it was that I was talking about, when I had said that it was a clan meeting.

Angel did not have any sort of emotion on her face, but she stayed still just as Ginger had done, and she waited for me to go ahead and go to the rock to address the clan. I was not quite ready for that however, but as I looked over at the sky, I realized that the sun was now getting lower and lower.

I knew that we were going to have to go very soon, and I also noticed that all the cats in the clan were in camp right now, so I went ahead and began to walk over to the tall rock, to speak to the clan. As I had begun walking though, I turned my head around, as I heard Steve say one more thing to me.

"Also Moon... I want to thank you for risking your life to get us some food, and to bring back the herbs for me..." He said to me. I looked at him for just a few moments, and then I smiled at him and then I nodded to him, grateful that he was thankful for me.

He nodded back to me, and then I began to walk back over to the tall rock. Once I was up near it, I began to walk on top of it, and I looked around the camp. I saw that there were a fair amount of cats that were in fact waiting for me to speak seeing that I had finally come out of the medicine den.

I closed my eyes for just a few moments, as I felt the chilly air fly through the camp. It relaxed me, and it calmed me down from the bit of pain that I was still in. Once I got that out of my system, I then opened my eyes, and then I began to speak up to my clan.

"Everyone come to the tall rock! I have an important meeting!"