Some of the other cats were still following, but Half Moon stepped forward to intercept them. “He needs quiet now,” she mewed. “You can see him later.”

Rising Moon looked as if she was about to object, but Whispering Breeze laid her tail over her shoulders and led her away. Jayfeather and Stone Song settled Chasing Clouds on the sandy floor and Jayfeather dabbed the soaking moss on his shoulder where the bird had torn away his fur.

“That feels good!” Chasing Clouds grunted.

When the wound was clean, Jayfeather pressed more moss over it, patting it down at the edges to make sure it would stick. “Keep still so you don’t dislodge it,” he told Chasing Clouds. “Sleep if you can.”

He thought he detected a flicker of surprise in Stone Song’s eyes at his tone of authority, but he shrugged it off. I don’t know how much Jay’s Wing knew about healing, but this is me. I’m doing what I have to.

“You next,” he meowed to Half Moon.

As he cleaned up the white she-cat’s scratches, Jayfeather spotted Furled Bracken in the center of the cavern, with most of the other cats clustered around him.

Trouble? Jayfeather wondered, though he said nothing, and didn’t pause in his careful cleaning of Half Moon’s wounds.

Furled Bracken had been the leader of the ancient cats when Jayfeather first met them beside the lake. He had cast his stone in favor of staying, and when the decision went against him, he had yielded the leadership to Stone Song.

“I think most of us agree that coming here was a mistake,” Furled Bracken was meowing. “We should never have left the lake. As soon as the ice storm is over, I will lead those cats who want to return.”

“About time!” Jagged Lightning exclaimed. “I’ll go with you.”

“So will I,” Fish Leap meowed. “I never wanted to come in the first place.”

Shy Fawn raised her tail to speak. “Furled Bracken, we haven’t all agreed.” Her voice grew more determined as she went on. “Did the father of my kits die for nothing?” She whisked her tail-tip along her swollen belly and added, “I can’t travel, not until my kits are born and strong enough to make the journey.”

“I want to stay, too,” Dove’s Wing put in. “We had problems by the lake, and they won’t have gone away.”

“But maybe Fallen Leaves will be there,” Broken Shadows suggested, a brighter gleam in her eyes than Jayfeather had ever seen. “Take us home, Furled Bracken.”

Whispering Breeze let out a sigh. “I cast my stone to leave,” she mewed. “And now I regret that bitterly. This was a mistake. We should go home.”

“I wanted to leave, too, but now I want to go back.” Owl Feather drew her kits toward her with a sweep of her tail. “I’m afraid my kits will die if we stay here.” The kits set up a frightened mewling; their mother curved her body around them, soothing them with gentle licks.