The paws of ThunderClan shuddered the ground as Nightstar led them down the steep slope that led to Fourtrees. Almost immediately, Nightstar jumped up onto the Great rock, impatiently awaiting ShadowClan to arrive so that she could explain and apologize for her clan's lateness and discuss any important matters. Even so, she didn't show it because she didn't want to be rude to the other cats.

Thank StarClan that ShadowClan is finally here… the leader thought to herself, and stood, getting ready to announce the starting of the gathering. After looking among all of the bickering, gossiping and chatting cats, Nightstar let out a deafening yowl to let them know it was to begin. “Cats of all clans, including StarClan, I’d like to apologize for lateness. One of our patrols were attacked by a couple of fox, and our Medicine Cat, Dewleaf had to tend to them. We figured they should come to the gathering, but then we found that they weren’t well enough to come. However, I know that there is no excuse for my lateness, and yet again, I apologize. And Darkstar, do you have anything to say about your lateness, either?” the young, American Bobtail she-cat mewled and laid her very dark, golden eyes on the crowd of cats in front of her, and then began to speak again, “However, this is not the only thing we need to discuss. For the past few days, it has been unusually warm, and the river has begun to thaw. It thawed so much, that it’s already ran quite far into our territory, and it was difficult just to make it to this gathering. Not just that, but it has begun to drown plenty of our prey that just started emerging from their homes. RiverClan, I imagine you have been having problems, too. How is your clan coping with the floods?” after calming down, the ThunderClan leader sat and awaited Rosestar’s reply.