“Oh, are you joining us, Velvet?” Twigpaw asked. “I’ll help you make a nest. It’s pretty crowded in there just now: there’s me and Finpaw, Eaglepaw, Shellpaw, Stempaw, and Plumpaw, as well as Fuzzball. But there’ll be two less after tomorrow!”

Still fizzing with excitement, she headed out of the den again.

Alderheart and Velvet followed more slowly. “I’ll miss having you around all the time,” Alderheart murmured as they padded across the camp. “You’ll still come and help in the medicine-cat den during the day, won’t you?”

Velvet’s reply was cut off by a disturbance at the mouth of the thorn tunnel. Poppyfrost, Shellpaw, and Bumblestripe were returning from a border patrol, but they weren’t alone. A strange cat was with them: a powerful tom who, for all his size and strength, looked very nervous to be entering a Clan camp. More of the ThunderClan cats were gathering around to find out who the stranger was.

“That’s Ajax!” Velvet exclaimed. “He’s a kittypet like me. He lives with his housefolk just a few dens away from mine.”

She veered aside to greet her friend, but before she reached him, Squirrelflight raced past and confronted the newcomer. “What’s going on?” she asked.

“We found this kittypet on ThunderClan territory,” Poppyfrost reported.

“We were going to chase him off,” Bumblestripe added, “but he said he was looking for Velvet and Fuzzball, so we thought we should bring him to camp.”

“And why are you looking for them?” Bramblestar asked, padding up to stand beside his deputy.

“I hope we’re not planning to take in more kittypets,” Sparkpelt put in, with an unfriendly look at Ajax.

“Right,” Thornclaw meowed. “We have too many as it is.”

Several other cats were murmuring agreement.

Squirrelflight whirled around, her gaze raking over them. “We’ll respect Bramblestar’s decision, whatever it is,” she snapped.

“But I don’t want to stay with you,” Ajax protested. “I like my housefolk just fine, thanks. I only want to talk to Velvet and Fuzzball.”

Velvet slipped through the crowd to stand in front of him, and Alderheart followed, along with Fuzzball, who scurried across from the medicine cats’ den. Jayfeather followed with a curious look on his face.

“Hi, Ajax,” Velvet mewed, dipping her head toward him.

“Hi!” Fuzzball added, with an excited little bounce. “It’s great to see you, Ajax.”

“Thank goodness I’ve found you,” Ajax responded. “I thought I’d be wandering around this creepy forest all night. I’ve come to tell you that your housefolk are back, and they’ve fixed their dens after the fire. Won’t you come home where it’s safe?”

“Oh, we’re fine here!” Fuzzball exclaimed. “I’ve had such a great time with these wild cats, and now I can hunt and fight just like they can. And I’ve learned about all sorts of herbs.”