“I feel their absence inside me, like a silence,” Fallen Leaves meowed. “But your cats are still here. Come, let me take you to them.” Without waiting for Jayfeather to reply, he headed across the cave into the mouth of a different tunnel. Jayfeather hesitated for a heartbeat, then bounded in pursuit.

Fallen Leaves led him along the tunnels, and before Jayfeather thought it could be possible, they were standing in the hole again, in front of the branch. Of course—he has wandered these tunnels for so long. He knows the quickest way.

Suddenly, Jayfeather couldn’t bear the thought of leaving the young tom alone there again. “Come with me,” he urged.

Fallen Leaves shook his head. “We both know that can’t happen.” He raised his head and looked up at the sky. The clouds had cleared away, and the warriors of StarClan shone in a blaze of icy light. “The stars are still shining,” Fallen Leaves whispered with wonder in his eyes. “I never thought I would see them again. It’s good to know that they are still there, just as they have always been. The past is all around us.”

Jayfeather jumped, startled. That’s what Rock said!

“Your destiny lies up there, doesn’t it?” Fallen Leaves meowed, gesturing with his tail toward the sky. “You don’t belong here.” He reached out with his tail, and Jayfeather raised his own tail so that they touched for a moment.

“I wish you luck, my friend,” Fallen Leaves continued. “If ever you need me, I will be here.”

“Thank you,” Jayfeather murmured. He picked his way across the loose earth and scrambled up the branch. When he looked down into the hole again, Fallen Leaves had gone. “Hey, Fallen Leaves!” Desperate to see him once more, Jayfeather leaned out over the hole.

Something sharp jabbed into his side. Darkness slammed down over his vision as he opened his eyes and found himself leaning over the edge of his nest, his cheek pressed against the stone floor of his den.

“Jayfeather?” Briarlight’s voice was muffled, and Jayfeather realized that she was prodding him with a twig held in her mouth.

“Stop that,” he mumbled, sitting up and shaking the moss out of his pelt.

“I thought you were having a bad dream,” Briarlight mewed, more clearly now. “You were saying weird things…something about leaves falling. What was happening to you?”

Jayfeather ignored her question. Hauling himself to his paws, he stumbled past the bramble screen and out into the camp, almost barging into Mousewhisker as he headed for the fresh-kill pile. “Sorry,” he muttered, as the young tom whisked around him.

Over by the nursery, Poppyfrost’s kits were squeaking and tumbling about while their mother sat watching. Ivypool and Dovewing brushed through the thorn tunnel and staggered across to the apprentices’ den, their paws heavy with weariness after their night’s vigil.

Briefly Jayfeather wondered why they were still heading for their old den, until he remembered how little space there was in the warriors’ den. With no other apprentices, they’ll get a good sleep there.