She followed him through the soft white while the wind played with the fur around her ears.

Sol never faltered, not even to check for directions or if she was still behind him. Hollyleaf let her mind drift into thought and memory, thinking of her brothers. Were they still with the Clans? Did they think she was dead, and grieve for her? Or did they hate her for what she'd done? Her mouth twisted bitterly at the thought that her only legacy to the Clan she'd loved and shed blood for was no legacy at all. She imagined her name being spoken less and less with each rise and fall of the sun, until only the older warriors remembered that Leafpool had a third child, a mad daughter who fled the Clans.

Oddly, the thought was strangely freeing. I'm not that cat anymore. I can take a new name, have a new life. Nobody out here would care who my parents were, or if they were supposed to have kits or not. Yet try as she might she couldn't possibly imagine what this new life could be. I wanted to be Clan leader. That's all I ever wanted. To be a good warrior, to serve the code. What made a cat? What made her Hollyleaf, and not someone else? She was black fur and green eyes, but she was more than that. She was ambition and pride and intelligence. And if she couldn't change the color of her eyes or fur, did that mean she couldn't change herself in any other way? So lost was she in her circling thoughts that she nearly ran into Sol when at last he stopped. She bit back the instinctive apology and flexed her claws as he waved his tail in preemptive dismissal of it.

"This is the place," Sol mewed, quietly.

"This" was a Twoleg nest. It was swathed in snow and seemed oddly lonely, with the windows dark and empty, staring like a cat in death. The house was built on wood sticks, so there was a large space beneath it, more than big enough for a cat to walk through. The space was blocked at the back by earth, so it was almost a sort of cave. Somebody had built a kind of nest in one of the corners with dead brush, and Sol headed for that, squeezing into it. Hollyleaf hesitated, examining the house. She could scent no trace of Twolegs, but the house didn't seem abandoned; the gate and fence were in good condition, as were the walls and doors. Nevertheless, she saw nothing to fear, and padded into the space. It was not as warm as she'd hoped, but it was a great deal more pleasant than the bitter conditions outside. She pushed the wall of Sol's nest aside to make enough room for her to lie down without touching him.

Before relaxing, she inhaled again, this time scenting for prey. There was a strong odor of rat and Hollyleaf followed it on silent paws, invisible in the gloom. A sudden flash of movement and she sprang, teeth sinking into the back of its neck before it could dart back into its hole. She took her prize back to the nest and began to eat, famished. Rat had never been her favorite food, but just now she was too starved to care.

"You're an excellent hunter," Sol praised her, tail twitching. "That's a gift. No matter where you are, you will never starve."

"I'm not catching anything for you," Hollyleaf mumbled through a mouthful of meat. "Keep your flattery to yourself." She swallowed, and gave him a hard look. "What do you want?"

He ignored her glare. "What do you want? Surely you did not come to find me for this..."

Hollyleaf thrashed her tail. She did not want to waste her time bantering with this cat. Perhaps he sensed her mood after all, because he raised his paw in capitulation.

"A bargain, then. Something for something. You can ask me a question, which I will answer, and then I will ask you a question. Which you will answer."

"Okay," Hollyleaf mewed warily. She didn't want to seem desperate by launching into the spinning shadows in her mind, so she thought before asking her first question. "Where did you come from?"

"I? I come from everywhere."

She nearly spat at him. "That's not an answer!"

"Yes it is. It's a true one, as well. Nevertheless, if you wish for specifics...I was born a kittypet. After, oh, one or two adventures, I decided that wasn't the life for me, and I left. Then I wandered."

She thought about that. Her own grandfather Firestar had been born a kittypet, but he had only entered the life of the wild at the behest of Bluestar and Graystripe. She tried to imagine a cat simply waking up one morning and deciding to leave his entire life behind, and she didn't know if she was disbelieving or simply envious. Sol watched her for a few moments, before speaking.

"Does ThunderClan know you're here?"

For a heartbeat she was tempted to lie, just to spite him; but she didn't see any real point in it otherwise. "No. I left." She expected for him to ask why, but he said nothing, merely waiting for her next question.

"How did you learn about the Clans?"

"I always knew them. There was a Clan living near my housefolk." His eyes darkened, just for a moment.

Hollyleaf blinked. "You lived in the old forest?" He would have to be much older than he looked, to have done that.

"I do not know this 'old forest'. A Clan lived in the gorge nearby and I learned some of their ways." And again there was that fleeting shadow across his face.

"But that can't be right," she argued. "There are only four Clans, and they only lived in the forest before they came here."

Sol let out a mrrt of laughter. "Is that so? In all the wide, wide world, there is no possibility of there being more than four Clans? In any case, I answered your question. Why did you leave ThunderClan?"

"I had to leave. I..." She remembered that Sol knew some of this already. "I found out that Leafpool and Crowfeather were my parents. My existence was a betrayal of the code. I did things..." She looked down at her paws, remembering bright red berries and Leafpool's dark despair. "Things that shouldn't be forgiven." She flicked her gaze up into his eyes, and added, "How did you find my Clans in particular?"

"A badger named Midnight told me about them, and that the sun would disappear in their midst briefly." Hollyleaf took a breath. So he didn't have powers greater than that of medicine cats; he'd just been lucky. Was she disappointed or relieved? Sol continued, and to her surprise he did not ask exactly what she'd done.

"Did the prophecy come true, then? Do you and your brothers have greater power than StarClan?"

A thorn of grief pierced her heart, and she remembered her dreams as she'd lain in the tunnels. "They might," she mewed, her voice almost a whisper, "but if I do, I don't know it." Was she selfish to so desperately want it to be otherwise?

Sol gently lay his tail across her flank, and she sensed that the tit-for-tat questioning was over. "You do have power over StarClan, Hollyleaf. Every cat does. Truly, what can the dead do? When I broke ShadowClan's faith in their ancestors, who brought that back, you or StarClan? Can StarClan heal the sick, mend what's broken, feed the starving, kill their foes, lead the Clans? No. Only the living can."

She pulled herself away from his tail. "StarClan gave us the warrior code. They don't tell us how to lead our lives. They help."

"Who did they help, exactly? You? Jayfeather?" He leaned in. "Ashfur?"

She swiped a paw at him, but he didn't flinch, and her claws sliced the air harmlessly a few inches from his face. "No more games. What do you know?"

"I know you killed Ashfur." When she gaped dully at him, he smiled without humor. "Who else could have killed him so neatly and efficiently, and who else had such a good reason?" Now he sat up, all mockery gone. "You want the truth, Hollyleaf? Even knowing it might be painful?"

"Am I one of the Three?" she asked softly.

Sol held her gaze. "If you do not have your power now...then I would say not. It manifested in your brothers at an early age, I am given to understand, perhaps even since birth. There was nothing in the prophecy to indicate that the Three had to be littermates, and Firestar has plenty of other kin in his Clan, doesn't he?"

Even though at heart she already knew this, had known it for a very long time, it still hurt like a blow to the stomach. There's nothing special about me. I have no great destiny. Perhaps Sol could read her thoughts, because he spoke on.

"Prophecies do not make a cat powerful, Hollyleaf. Cats with power have prophecies made about them. No words were ever spoken over Tigerstar, but he rose to undoubtedly be one of the greatest cats in the forest. Evil, yes indeed, but no less for all that."

"I don't want to be Tigerstar. I want to follow the code and serve my Clan. I mean...I used to want that."

Sol exhaled sharply. "Can't you see how free you are now? You are entirely in charge of your own destiny, with neither rules nor prophecy to bar your way. You want to lead a Clan? Form your own. There are plenty of strays and house cats who would jump at the chance and you are strong and clever enough to keep even the fiercest rogues in line. You could rule a Clan greater than all the others put together, why not? Who would stop you?"

For a moment Hollyleaf saw the idea, burning brightly in her mind like a firefly. Then she shoved it away. "I would," she answered softly. "Quit pretending that you know me." Because he didn't, she remembered. They had not met more than a pawful of times, and of those, only the trip back from Twolegplace had been long enough to form a lasting impression. His flattery was just that.

"Then wander alone," he meowed impassively. "Become nothing more than another starving shadow that wastes her potential. Why would I weep for the fall of a ThunderClan exile? There are thousands just like you."

She stared hard at him. Now we come to it. "What do you think I should do?"

Sol inclined his head to her. "If you don't want to forge your own path, you could join me in my travels. The world is bigger than you could possibly imagine, and there are many wonders in it. Some I have seen, but most I think will forever remain unknown. I have seen Twoleg nests that rise so high they pierce the clouds. I have seen the lions and tigers and leopards of your legends in the flesh, trapped in Twoleg cages, alongside other monsters I have no name for. I have shared words with wolves and seen flocks of birds gather so thickly that they blocked out the sun. Your Clan would call me a loner and that is so, but I do not relish traveling alone. Wherever I can, I have sought out companions. To teach them, and to learn."

"I've seen your teachings," she replied with a trace of contempt. "Jingo and her group? They looked like they really benefited from your wisdom. Almost torn to pieces by dogs as they were."

He curled his lip, ever-so-slightly. "If you spoke with them, then you'll know that they did not listen to me. They drove me out. I made mistakes, yes, I have never denied that. I overestimated their abilities. But if they preferred to blame me rather than their own failings, so be it. I moved on and found Purdy, who, you may remember, never spoke a word against me."

"And ShadowClan?"

"As I said. I believe the warrior code...no, I believe the Clans to be a useless institution, designed to trap the potential of cats into an endless circle where nothing is accomplished or achieved. Kits become apprentices who become warriors and queens, then die in battle or of greencough or old age. A few become medicine cats and dream of where to find herbs or to beware of dogs. Some become deputies and leaders to guide them through these predestined lives, and nothing happens. Nothing is lost. Nothing is gained. Bar a few exceptions, not a single life has any purpose. You could remove more than half of the history of the Clans and they would be identical to as they are now. They do not learn. They do not change unless their very existence depends on it and after the threat is gone they fall straight back into their old ways. I do not understand how any sane-thinking cat could survive under such...suffocation." He held her gaze, ignoring the ominous fluffing of her neck fur. "So yes, as I said when I met you, I did my best to break ShadowClan of their bonds. Had I been given sufficient time, I could have done so, and they would have been the better for it. But they were too brainwashed and they clung to their old ways. Blackstar was just as weak."

"You're wrong," Hollyleaf said, harshly and simply. "Without the warrior code, we would be nothing but a pack of rogues."

"A code is a noble thing. But it must be flexible. Were it not for the rigidity of the warrior code, would you be here, Hollyleaf? Why must a medicine cat be forced to celibacy, when such a thing goes against the heart of every cat? Why such scorn over the breeding of two half-Clan cats, when such a thing could only be good for the bloodlines of the Clans?"

She shook her head in mute response. Sol sighed and flicked her shoulder with his tail. "We don't have to agree on everything to journey together. It may be that you are right and the Clans truly are the best way for a cat to live. Prove it to me, and others we meet."

She shouldn't. She knew that. Sol was pond scum, his words nothing short of blasphemy. How dare he question the code and the Clans? What did he know of them, of the bonds between her and her Clanmates and StarClan?

But they didn't help you, that little voice whispered in her thoughts. Did Clan loyalty stop Ashfur from trapping you on that log? Wasn't it love that made Squirrelflight and Leafpool lie to you, over and over? Didn't StarClan deny you the powers they gave to your brothers? And if every cat was so pure and committed to code, you wouldn't even exist...

And she wondered. She couldn't imagine seeing a real tiger, or a sky-piercer, but the thought of their existence made her heart beat a little faster. She had always been adventurous; she had gone fox-hunting as a kit and journeyed to the mountains as an apprentice. Was it fitting, in a way, that she should make her final journey as a warrior...even as a fallen one?

Where else could you go? What do you have left to lose?

My honor.

You lost that long ago.

Myself, she told the voice.

Don't you want to?

Hollyleaf straightened up and narrowed her eyes. "All right," she mewed at last. "I'll go with you."

A satisfied gleam entered his eye. "Excellent," he said. "We'll start tomorrow."