CHAPTER FOUR

Jayfeather widened his eyes incredulously. "I—Lion's Roar! How do you—"

"Lion's Roar?" Ryan echoed, confused. "Jayfeather—it's Lionblaze! Your brother!"

Jayfeather looked very shocked. "I—Lionblaze—Lion's Roar—" He paused, looking at Sam. "Wolfstar?" he mewed, dumbfounded. "And who are you?" he said, turning to me.

"Gingerstar," I replied.

"But—I—I mean—" Jayfeather stammered. "What's going on?" he asked finally. "Aren't you done with this?"

I growled. "I thought I was," I replied.

Jayfeather sat down, in a daze. "This—this doesn't make sense," he mumbled. "Does this mean that I'm not done with saving the world? Because, I swear, I thought—"

Ryan interrupted his brother. "Jayfeather, where are we—the mountains, with the Tribe of Rushing Water? And why are you calling me Lion's Roar?"

"So, this is just going to be another one of those saving-the-universe things?" Sam asked in mock disdain. "I wish I could have gotten a note."

"Don't we all," I responded sarcastically.

"All right—you know what happened after the whole Sky thing, right?" Jayfeather asked. "Right. Good. So, StarClan finally followed up on their promise and sent me back in time to be Jay's Wing permanently."

"What?" Sam interrupted. "I'm sorry, but I'm totally lost."

"You really should have read the books," I muttered. "All right, so Jayfeather went back in time a couple of times to form the Tribe of Rushing Water. In that time, he became Jay's Wing, a member of this group of cats who used to live at the lake before coming to the mountains because of excessive Twoleg activity. He named a she-cat called Half Moon the first Stoneteller, and it just so happened that he and Half Moon were in love. Unfortunately, in one of the greatest tragedies in Warriors history, he was later unable to return to her."

Ryan's mouth twitched in a slight smile, but he said nothing as I continued.

"So for his magical StarClan wish, he decided to come back here to live with Half Moon in the pre-Tribe world. Except the whole forming-the-Clans thing happened in between that—well, technically after, you know, these time-travel things are always so confusing—"

Sam let out a short bark of laughter.

"—and then here we are," I finished, "with Jayfeather—sorry, Jay's Wing—explaining to us what just happened."

"I don't know!" he protested. "Okay—I've been here for about a year in Twoleg time. I made up with Half Moon, who has sort of taken control after Stone Song moved to the elder's den, but no one's calling her Stoneteller. Once newleaf came, we had another casting of the stones as to whether or not to stay, but Half Moon delivered such a passionate speech about the mountains that most chose to stay. Furled Bracken said we would all die up here, and I have a feeling that Jagged Lightning strongly agrees with him, but they stayed here with the rest of us." He paused. "Also, Half Moon is expecting my kits." Jay's Wing looked very pleased about that. I couldn't blame him.

I smiled warmly. "Congratulations!" I said, Sam echoing me. Lionblaze purred and butted his head on his brother's shoulder lightly in congratulations—something that looked very silly because in this form, he was smaller than Jay's Wing.

Jay's Wing explained to us the finer points of this society, and confided his worries that the mountain cats were not changing to become more like the Tribe of Rushing Water, though they had begun referring to themselves as "the Tribe".

"I think we're stuck here," I said at last. "StarClan—or whoever it is that sends us here, since StarClan doesn't exist at this point in time—put us here for a purpose. We're going to have to do something here before we can go—if they let us go before we die."

Everyone nodded. "Are we going to be living with this Tribe of yours?" Sam asked. "Or at least meeting them?"

"I don't see why not," Jay's Wing replied. "Especially since Lion's Roar apparently now knows he is Lionblaze. He's going to have to stay, or Shy Fawn will be worried out her mind."

"Shy Fawn?" Ryan asked in confusion. "Who's she?"

Jay's Wing gave the golden tom a wry smile. "In this time and place? Your mother."

Ryan widened his eyes in shock. "But—I'm not your brother?"

"No," Jay's Wing admitted. "I don't think I'm related to you at all, in fact. Dovewing, or Dove's Wing in this time, is my sister, though."

I resisted the urge to smile. Sam's whiskers were quivering, a sign that she was trying not to laugh.

Lion's Roar looked flabbergasted at the thought of not being Jayfeather's brother. "Um... okay," he said at last.

Jay's Wing turned to Sam and I. "How are we going to announce you two?" he asked. "I suppose I could introduce you as Annie and... uh..."

"Sam," she supplied.

"Annie and Sam, but do you really want that? Would you rather go by something else?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. I kind of miss being Gingerstar, but that wouldn't work with this fur, and it really does feel weird giving cats my real name. I'll go by something else."

"I'll go by Wolfstar, or Wolfclaw, if that's all right with you," Sam shrugged.

Jay's Wing hesitated. "Maybe not 'Wolfstar'," he said apologetically. "It wouldn't be good for them to hear of that type of name yet. I'm trying to ease them into naming their kits the Tribe of Rushing Water's way—I think that Half Moon and I will name our kits like that, trying to start a tradition—so putting in another type of naming system would make things even more confusing."

"Should we go by names with two words, like they do?" I suggested. "It might make them more comfortable with us."

Jay's Wing opened his mouth to reply when a she-cat's voice drifted down the tunnel. "Jay's Wing? Have you found Lion's Roar yet?"

In padded a white she-cat with green eyes and a round belly. Half Moon. Oh dear. Jay's Wing would have a lot of explaining to do.

Jay's Wing widened his eyes and turned. "Um—Half Moon! Hello!"

She gave him a curious look, then looked at Sam and I with suspicion. "Who are those cats? Oh, hello, Lion's Roar."

"Hi, Half Moon," he replied uncomfortably.

"I'm—um—" I made a split-second decision. "I am... Snow Falling on Rock. And this is..."

Sam paused, trying to choose a name, then continued, "Wolf with Sharp Claws."

Half Moon blinked. "Hello, Snow Falling on Rock and Wolf with Sharp Claws. I am Half Moon, leader of the Tribe. Where did you come from?"

I gave Jay's Wing a glance. He looked nervous and uncomfortable. He hadn't told his mate the truth about him yet. In my opinion, he should have told her a long time ago, and I reminded myself to tell him so sometime later.

"We come from... across the mountains," Wolf with Sharp Claws replied. "And you can just call me Wolf, and her Snow."

"Yes," I confirmed. "We left our Tribe, the... Tribe of Shaded Pines, a while ago, and have been traveling."

Jay's Wing finally decided to help us out. "I met Snow and Wolf when I was, uh, traveling when I left after naming you Healer."

Half Moon narrowed her eyes. I could tell she didn't believe us, and there was something that looked like hurt in her eyes, as if maybe she thought that Jay's Wing had left her to spend time with us, and he was in love with one of us or something. I felt bad for her.

"Yes, Jay's Wing was a good friend for a little while. Back then we were traveling with my... relatives, Wind that Blows Through Trees and River where Rocks are Large. But Wind and River returned home, and Wolf and I have been exploring these mountains ever since," I continued our tale.

"We were exploring a system of caves when we stumbled upon this young tom, Lion's Roar, in this cave," Wolf finished.

"How interesting," Half Moon said, but there was still suspicion in her eyes. "Well, what are you going to do now?"

"I suggested that they stay with us for a while," Jay's Wing added.

The hurt flashed in Half Moon's eyes, confirming my earlier suspicions that she thought that Jay's Wing loved one of us and not her, or at least had had a brief affair. I mentally winced in sympathy, and reminded myself to convince her otherwise.

She sighed. "Well, all right," she said with reluctance. I noticed that Jay's Wing looked slightly baffled at her attitude toward us. Apparently he had lost his mind-reading powers when he became Jay's Wing permanently.

"Come with me," Half Moon said with finality. "I will introduce you to the rest of the Tribe."