Lionblaze was in a forest clearing. The night was pressing in on him, rendering the world so dark that he couldn't see more than a few fox-lengths in front of his face. Mist swathed the smooth tree-trunks, and his heartbeat thundered through his ears as he stood, alone and afraid, in that dark, dark world.

Then suddenly, a shadow detached itself from the growing walls of blackness, and two shining balls of light sparkled before him. Eyes. They changed colour every second-blue, green, amber, yellow, grey, brown, hazel, and other colours for which he had no name.
"Who's there?" he called, his mew sounding pathetic and insignificant as it floated through that immense darkness.

There was an icy silence for a time, before the being spoke. Its voice was too ambiguous to identify the gender.
"We are those you have betrayed. Some of us were friends of yours. Others were foes. But most did not know you at all."
"Stop it," he cried desperately. "Kittish tricks. You can't scare me."
"Tricks?" echoed the voice, scorn rippling through it. "Are our lives tricks? Is our pain so trivial to you? Then watch well, warrior. For soon you will be fighting a darker battle than those of flesh and blood."
"Who are you?"

"Once we were like you, as ephemeral as butterflies. But we looked further, and we saw past violence. We are StarClan, Lionblaze. Fear us, for we come when you least expect it, and we are strongest when you are weakest. In the mist, in the dark, in your dreams…and in your nightmares."
"StarClan. No, no, you can't be. You're supposed to watch over me…"

"Little one," the spirits of StarClan called, their muzzle stretching to the empty darklands above, "how can the lost and dead safeguard the living? How can we free you when we are not free ourselves? How are we supposed to be benevolent towards cats, when so many of us have known nothing but their cruelty? Ask yourself, Lionblaze, why should the murdered guard a murderer?"
Suddenly, the spirit of all spirits disappeared, and the mist parted to reveal another scene. Blood was now staining his paws, and he was staring into the green eyes of a black she-cat.

"Keep your eyes wide open, Lionblaze, because one day, when you least expect me, I'll be there. I'll rip your guts out and leave your head to the crows. You'll never sleep peacefully again!" And she turned and ran for the safety of the trees, her shadowy shape vanishing into the green boughs.
If Lionblaze had been awake, he would have gone through the full circle of his memory and called her a coward. But the dream state is different from that of the waking one, and as he watched, he thought of the fire in her eyes and the fierceness in her voice, and remembered another scene, one in which an identical she-cat clawed a ShadowClan warrior beside him…
"Hollyleaf?" he called.

"Lionblaze." A soft mew rang across the clearing.
The great golden tom twitched his ears in frustration. Though no such ceremony had been officially performed, most of the new Clan of cats-SunClan-referred to him as Lionstar. Except, of course, Willowshine. For a moment he lay there, trying to wrap his head around the realism of his vision.
"Willowshine," he finally spoke. "I thought you were an image that jumped out of my mind."
The grey medicine cat sat down beside him. "A nightmare?" she said sympathetically.
Lionblaze winced. "A bit more than that. I was told it was a dream from StarClan." Willowshine's eyes widened, but she said nothing.

They lay in silence for a moment before Lionblaze spoke again. "Leaf was my sister, is that right?"
The she-cat stared at the mossy forest floor for a few heartbeats before lifting her eyes to meet his face. "Yes, Lionblaze. She was."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"She asked me not to. She wondered if you would recognize her yourself. Why the sudden revelation now? Did your dream tell you?"
"Well, sort of. I had a vision of her, and it just…clicked."
Willowshine nodded and got to her paws again. "I wonder where she is." It was a rhetorical question. Willowshine had known the smell of Saffron's blood.

"I don't know," said Lionblaze, avoiding her eyes. "Why did you wake me, anyway?"
"To tell you that the patrols found nothing."
Lionblaze let out a deep growl. "Curse that fire! If it hadn't been for that, we would have found the wolf long ago."
Willowshine remained silent. She was many things, but a fool was not one of them. She knew that they had been lucky to escape with their lives on the first meeting with the wolf.
Narrowing his eyes at the medicine cat, Lionblaze also got to his paws. "Right, that's it. Tell Tigerheart to muster the Clan. We're going home."
Willowshine's eyes shone. "Really? We are?"

The great golden tom let out a grunt. "We've been wandering these woods for weeks now and so far all we've managed to track is prey. It must be a sign from StarClan. They want us home."
The medicine cat's whiskers twitched at the idea that Lionblaze knew anything about the will of StarClan. She was quite sure that it no longer mattered to StarClan what they did; they had failed in their task to guide the wolf. She herself had had no dreams from them since that hopeful time.

But still, he was right about one thing. The wolf's scent was gone. With each day's failure, the chance of picking it up again faded even more. They had no idea which way it was heading or what its plans were. They were useless out here, while at home their Clans would need every pair of paws they got. Without saying another word, Willowshine padded over to Tigerheart.
Lionblaze ignored her. He had not missed the tiny smirk that had crossed her face at the mention of StarClan, but what would she know? She'd had no dreams. StarClan's river, he'd asked her often enough.

He found his paws guiding him to the sentry post, where, without a word to Tawnypelt, who was sitting on guard, he gazed out unto the horizon. His real motives for returning home were more selfish. First and foremost, he needed to speak with Jayfeather, about his dreams and Hollyleaf. Secondly, perhaps another medicine cat would be able to heal his crippled leg. It only pained him when he did strenuous exercise for long periods of time, but his reactions in that

leg were slow and stiff. Although he could walk normally on it, running was an awkward venture.
"Vole for your thoughts," interrupted Tawnypelt, her green gaze cool as she observed him. Lionblaze tilted his head at her. Tawnypelt was the only other cat apart from Willowshine who did not truly believe in their cause. In part this was because she was a cynic to her core, and her faith in StarClan had been shaken several times with the death of her son and now her mate. She stayed here only because Tigerheart did, but the whole Clan knew she longed to return home to her other surviving kit. Lionblaze admired her strength, but wished she had a little more idealism. She was well-respected among all of SunClan and oftentimes the cats found more inspiration in her unfailing determination than all of Lionblaze's speeches.
"We're going back to the lake," he told her, hoping to get a reaction out of her. It was doomed to fail. A swift blink of emerald eyes, which then flicked back to the horizon.
"About time," was all she said.