“Brambleclaw!” The tom sounded surprised but welcoming. “What are you doing here—and all these others? I hope there’s no trouble in your Clan.”

“Nothing that need worry you,” Brambleclaw replied.

“Who are they?” Hollyleaf whispered in Lionblaze’s ear.

Lionblaze shrugged. “No idea.”

“Smoky, Floss,” Brambleclaw went on, “this is Hazeltail, Daisy’s daughter.” He twitched his ears to draw Hazeltail to his side, in front of the stable cats. “Hazeltail, this is Smoky…your father.”

Hazeltail’s eyes widened in astonishment. “Daisy brought us here when we were kits. Father!”

She rushed forward and rubbed her muzzle against Smoky’s chin. Purring loudly, Smoky bent his head and gave her a lick around the ears. “I’ve missed you all,” he murmured.

With the touch of his tail on her shoulder, he urged the small she-cat forward. “Do you remember Floss?” he prompted Hazeltail. “She helped Daisy look after you, when you were first born.”

Hazeltail looked uncertain. “I don’t remember that,” she mewed, dipping her head to Floss. “But I do remember seeing you here when Daisy brought us back.”

“How is Daisy?” Smoky asked Brambleclaw. “And the other kits…Berry and Mouse?”

“They’re all fine,” Hazeltail assured him, her eyes sparkling. “They’re Berrynose and Mousewhisker now. We’re all warriors of ThunderClan. Berrynose lost half his tail in a fox trap—”

Floss interrupted with a gasp. “Was he badly hurt?”

“Not too badly,” Hazeltail replied. “Leafpool—she’s our medicine cat—looked after him. He’s a strong warrior now, and so is Mousewhisker.”

“And Daisy?” There was a shadow of sadness in Smoky’s eyes as he looked to Brambleclaw for an answer. “Is she happy in the Clan? She was so scared, that time she brought our kits back here after the badger attack.”

Brambleclaw nodded. “She has found her place. She will never be a warrior, but she is a true cat of ThunderClan.”

“She has two more kits!” Hazeltail broke in. “Rosekit and Toadkit. They’re so cute!”

“I can see she has moved on,” Smoky murmured. Then he gave his pelt a shake, as if dismissing memories. “So you’re a warrior now,” he meowed to his daughter. “Show me what you’ve learned.”

“Okay.” Hazeltail dropped into the hunter’s crouch and began to glide forward. “Now I’m stalking a mouse,” she explained. “You have to set your paws down light as clouds, because the mouse will feel the vibrations through the earth. Then when you’re ready—” She paused, waggling her rump. “You pounce!”

She leaped into the air and landed with her front paws gripping the tip of Birchfall’s tail.

Birchfall jumped a tail-length off the ground. “Hey! That hurt!”

Hazeltail’s eyes gleamed. “Attack me, then!”

Hollyleaf watched as Birchfall sprang for Hazeltail; she dodged to one side and fetched him a blow across the shoulder with her claws sheathed. Birchfall whipped around and leaped on top of her with a screech; the two young cats wrestled together on the ground.

We were like that once, Hollyleaf thought. Not a care in the world. Seeing the pride in Smoky’s eyes, she felt a wave of jealousy sweep over her. Would my father be proud of me? she wondered. Does he even know I exist?