Hollypaw looked around the camp. It was strangely empty. “They must be resting after the battle,” she guessed.

“Wait there,” Russetfur ordered, and disappeared into Blackstar’s den.

The brambles rustled at one side of the camp. Hollypaw recognized the nursery entrance, where Snowbird had gathered Tawnypelt’s kits. Flamekit, Dawnkit, and Tigerkit were tumbling out now, their eyes bright with excitement.

“Hollypaw!” Flamekit reached her first and started jumping up to grab her tail. She spun around and greeted him with a playful cuff over his ear.

Tigerkit was bouncing around Lionpaw. “Have I grown?” the kit demanded, stretching himself up to his full height.

Dawnkit leaped on her brother, bowling him over. “You must have grown, the amount you eat!” She pummeled his back with her hind paws, then stopped when she spotted Sol. She scrambled to her paws and stared at the stranger. “Who’s he?”

Tigerkit followed her gaze. “What’s he doing here?” He frowned and gazed up at Hollypaw. “Why are you here?” Was he worried they’d come to take his mother away again?

Flamekit was padding around Jaypaw. “Who are you?”

“He’s Jaypaw, our brother,” Lionpaw told her.

Jaypaw stared blankly ahead as Flamekit circled him.

“Why isn’t he looking at me?” he asked.

Jaypaw leaned down suddenly. “Do you want me to look at you?” His nose was a whisker away from Flamekit’s eyes.

Flamekit leaped back with surprise. “His eyes are all stare-y!”

Hollypaw glanced nervously at Jaypaw.

“I’m blind,” he explained more softly.

Flamekit padded closer. “How did you get here, then?”

“I walked,” Jaypaw mewed.

“Without bumping into anything?” Tigerkit sounded impressed.

“I hope you’re not being rude!” Tawnypelt’s stern mew sounded from the nursery. The ShadowClan she-cat padded out, yawning and ruffled. She blinked in surprise as she caught sight of Hollypaw. “You’re back again!” Then her gaze flicked to Jaypaw, Lionpaw, and finally Sol. “What in StarClan’s name are you doing here?” She pawed her kits back toward their den. “And who’s he?” Tigerkit tried to leap out of the way, but she caught him with an expert flick of her tail and sent him bundling toward the den. “Go inside,” she ordered. “You can come out and say good-bye when they leave.”

“But—” Dawnkit began to argue.

“But nothing.” Tawnypelt gave the kits a final gentle shove, and they disappeared into the brambles.

Tawnypelt looked warily at Sol. “Who are you?”

“I’ve come to meet Blackstar.”

As he spoke, Russetfur appeared from Blackstar’s den and stood to one side to let her leader pass. Blackstar’s white pelt was unwashed. His long tail drooped behind him, and he padded across the clearing as though his soot-black paws were too heavy for him.

“Russetfur tells me there is a stranger among us,” he growled. He glanced at Hollypaw, Lionpaw, and Jaypaw. “She said you were showing him around our border.”