Chapter Twenty

Jayfeather's P.O.V

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the high ledge for a clan meeting!" Firestar's yowl brought Jayfeather and Hazeltail out of the medicine cat den and into the clearing. They sat down behind Hollyleaf who was squished between Ashfur and Cinderheart as well as the two warriors' apprentices.

Jayfeather could hear Firestar jumping down from the highledge, and then pad to stand at the front of the crowd.

"Jayfeather, Hollyleaf, Lionblaze please step forward," Firestar meowed, beckoning them forward with a swish of his tail. Hollyleaf walked ahead of Jayfeather while Lionblaze trotted alongside him.

Once the three littermates were all standing directly in front of Firestar, the ginger tom continued, "These three brave cats, though they have been born in another clan, wish to join Thunderclan, and by the power of Starclan, I give them their rank of full-fledged Thunderclan warriors and medicine cat". With that, Firestar rested his head on each of theirs, while they licked his shoulder in return.

"Hollyleaf, Jayfeather, Lionblaze!" Cinderheart leapt to her paws, yowling. Ashfur, and Briarpaw were shouting alongside her. Soon the whole clan was yowling their names in celebration. Jayfeather's fur tingled with happiness. He was a Thunderclan medicine cat.

"Windclan!" A yowl at the back of the crowd warned. Then the clearing exploded into battle.

Hollyleaf's P.O.V

Hollyleaf attacked the first Windclan cat she saw, which happened to be Breezepelt. The tom tore at her chest and belly with his thorn sharp claws. Hollyleaf snarled viciously and bit his shoulder, causing him to yowl in pain.

She battered at his stomach and forced him to back right into Ashfur's waiting claws.

Nearby her brother battled with a large she cat nearby. She barely had time to notice that Lionblaze's claws were sheathed before another cat knocked into her, biting down hard on the back of her neck.

Hollyleaf writhed and twisted, but the she cat just held on and clawed at Hollyleaf's belly. She tried using her fore paws to bat at the she cat's eyes, but still she remained in the Windclan cat's vise-like grip.

Suddenly the cat let go, and Hollyleaf saw one of the cats she thought she would never see again, it was her father, Crowstar.

"Crowfeather, you dirty traitor!" The she cat hissed furiously at her father. Hollyleaf was able to do little more than stare at them in shock. Her father had returned to the original clans? Where was her mother then? Hhad something bad happened?

"Sorry Dewspots, but I won't let you harm my daughter," Crowfeather meowed in apology, eyes wide with pain. Suddenly Hollyleaf understood why her father was reluctant to attack the Windclan cats; it was because long ago they had been his clan-mates.

"Sorry? Sorry? You betrayed Windclan for that mouse-brained Thunderclan medicine cat!" she hissed furiously.

It seemed that Dewspots and Hollyleaf weren't the only ones who had noticed Crowfeather's return, for the battle abruptly ended.

Nearby, Lionblaze looked too shocked to react for a moment, but then to her own astonishment, her brother's amber eyes narrowed in anger. Why would he be mad to see our father, he should be happy, Hollyleaf thought.

"Leafpool!" Squirrelflight shot across the clearing like a rocket and barreled into Dawnclan's former medicine cat, who began purring loudly, obviously pleased to see her sister.

"Seems you two have finally decided to stop living like rogues," Onestar, the leader of Windclan sneered softly as he came to stand beside Firestar.

"It's good to see them unscathed though," Firestar pointed out quietly. He flicked his tail at his daughter and Crowfeather, "Both of you come here".

"How did our parents find us? What happened to Dawnclan?" Jayfeather breathed in Hollyleaf's ear.

For a while, several cats from both clans jeered at the two returning cats, while others greeted them happily, pleased to see them again. All the while, Onestar and Firestar talked with them, deciding their fate.

Watching the two leaders standing side by side, Hollyleaf found it strange to think that they had just been battling each other to near death just moments ago.

Finally, it was Onestar who ended the discussion, "I don't care if they've returned or not," he snarled, "Crowfeather; you gave up your claim as a Windclan warrior when you left to be with Leafpool. You're a traitor and you have no place in Windclan. You set one paw on our territory and we'll kill you".

With that said, he and his warriors stalked out of the Thunderclan camp, leaving behind a dejected and defeated looking Crowfeather.

Luckily, Firestar was a fair leader, or at least more understanding than Onestar, "Leafpool, you are always welcome in Thunderclan my daughter,"—he turned to face the dark gray warrior beside her—"Crowfeather, you are also welcome to stay in Thunderclan if you like".

"What! They left once! Who says they won't do it again!" Thornclaw yowled in protest, as did a couple of other cats.

"They just wanted to be together, now that they are what reason do they have to leave?' Cloudtail answered.

"Cloudtail's right, what reason do they have to leave now?" Sandstorm added.

"What do you two say? Will you stay?" Squirrelflight asked hopefully, her green eyes twinkling with happiness.

"Of course I will. Thunderclan is my home, I shouldn't have left it. And if it's alright with the rest of you, I would like to go back to being Thunderclan's medicine cat alongside it's current one," Leafpool meowed, looking just as hopeful as her sister.

Firestar nodded his approval.

"What about you Crowfeather?" Graystripe asked the tom who hadn't said a word since he had been brutally rejected by his former clan.

"I will stay too if I'm welcome," he meowed softly, a faraway look in his eyes.

Hollyleaf's heart ached for her father, she could only imagine what it must feel like to be rejected by your birth clan. She imagined Dawnclan ever going to war with Thunderclan and shuddered.

"It's ok Hollyleaf," Ashfur murmured from beside her, "These cats left moons ago, but they've come home again, only Crowfeather will be Thunderclan instead of Windclan".

"I know who they are Ash," Hollyleaf told him softly, "Their my parents".