"I'm going fishing!" called Hollyleaf. "Are you coming?"

It had been about three moons since Hollyleaf had found him, and in that time they had started to settle into a routine. They still weren't friends, and they certainly bickered regularly, but he had to admit he didn't hate her company. She could be nice to talk to, when she wasn't trying to act morally superior to him.

He could tell she didn't understand why he hadn't gone back to his Clan, but he had no desire to tell her. Partly because he didn't fully know himself, but also because there was no way she could ever understand what his family was like and what WindClan had been like for him.

Part of his reason for wanting to stay, maybe the most spiteful part, was because he wanted to punish his father. If Crowfeather wasn't going to love his son, then he deserved to feel guilty for his disappearance. But in truth, he didn't even know if his father would be upset he was gone. Maybe he was celebrating that he was finally free of the burden of the son he had always hated.

Another reason was that with each passing day, he became more scared to face his mother. Nightcloud had always been terrified to let him out of her sight, never wanting him to participate in activities the other kits and apprentices had gotten to do. Whatever he did, it seemed like she was always watching. Breezepelt knew it was just because she loved him so much, but it could be stifling. When he had gone on the journey to the mountains, it had been his first real taste of freedom, where he could do whatever he wanted without having to hear a lecture about staying safe first. But when he had returned, she had been beside herself. Crowfeather hadn't consulted with her before bringing Breezepelt on the journey, and in addition to being furious with her mate, she was also even more terrified for her son than she had been before. Nightcloud tried to keep him from leaving her sight for an entire moon afterwards. He couldn't even imagine her reaction if he returned now, after being missing for three moons. He would never be able to leave camp again. And after being able to do whatever he wanted for the past three moons, he didn't think he could ever go back to that prison again.

And the last reason was, well… he was scared no one in WindClan would have even missed him. What if he went back and found that his Clanmates had barely even noticed his absence, or worse, that they had celebrated it? He knew his Clanmates had never cared much about him, but despite that, he couldn't bear the idea of returning home and not having been missed.

Heathertail would miss him. He hoped she missed him. He had known her since the day he was born, and now she was one of the only cats he missed.

When he was born, there were six other kits in the nursery. Breezepelt had been born earlier than he was supposed to be, and neither of his littermates had survived their first night. As a result, his mother was extremely protective of him- she was terrified she would lose her last kit. After Harespring had knocked him over by accident while they were playing when he was a moon old, his mother had forbidden him from playing with the other kits.

"They're so much bigger than you, they don't know how to be careful with you," she had insisted. "Besides, they're much older and I'm sure they'd rather play with the other kits their own age."

The only exception to this rule was Heathertail. Nightcloud was friends with her mother, Whitetail, and Heathertail was less than a moon older than him and not much bigger. She was also a lot like him. She had also had a littermate who was stillborn, so there were no other kits her exact age. He was pretty sure their common tragedy was why their mothers were so close. After Heathertail had begged his mother to let him play with her, Nightcloud had relented, as long as they didn't leave her sight.

Looking back, it wasn't surprising his mother had agreed- when Heathertail asked for something, she usually got it. She had a way about her, even at two moons old, that made cats want to make her happy. It made cats want to be around her. Even Antpelt, Dewspots, and Leaftail, who were about to become apprentices, wanted to play with her. Conversation always seemed to come so easily to her. Whether she was talking to someone older or younger than her, she always knew just the right thing to say to make them laugh, or agree with her, or feel better.

Heathertail was friends with all the other kits. Breezepelt was only friends with her.

But she was a good friend, and they had fun together. Even though Breezepelt was limited in what play he was allowed to do, Heathertail always made an effort to include him, and they spent hours playing games in camp.

They had stayed together when Antpelt and his littermates had left the nursery, and then when Harespring and Kestrelflight had gone. But eventually, it was time for Heathertail to become an apprentice. She had come back to the nursery sometimes to visit him, but it wasn't the same. It was obvious she didn't really want to be there- why would an apprentice want to spend time with a kit when she could be out doing so many more exciting things? So he had spent most of his time alone.

He wasn't alone in the nursery, of course, but he might as well have been. Gorsetail's kits were far too young for him to be friends with, and he had never been close with Sunstrike.

Sunstrike had been born two moons after him, and he had been so excited to meet her. Finally, he wouldn't be the youngest member of WindClan anymore! And since she would be smaller than him, surely his mother would let him play with her, and he would have another friend.

But Nightcloud didn't like Sunstrike. "Willowclaw just lets her run wild," he had overheard her whispering furiously to Whitetail one night. "She's a bad influence for Breezepelt. She'll get him into trouble."

So Breezepelt hadn't played much with her. It wasn't worth upsetting his mother. And besides, her mother did let her run wild. She probably wasn't the sort of cat he wanted to hang out with if he was going to be a powerful warrior one day.

Though it seemed like it took an eternity, eventually he became an apprentice, joining Heathertail in the apprentice's den once again. She had acted excited to see him, but he knew he couldn't just go back to being friends with her like before. No, he had to earn her respect so she wouldn't still think of him as an annoying little kit. Had to earn the respect of all of his Clanmates.

And so he threw himself into training, vowing to become the best warrior WindClan had ever seen.

It had never been enough.

But now, things were different. He and Hollyleaf weren't friends, but they respected each other. All they had to worry about was feeding themselves and keeping watch for threats, not about trying to impress mentors and Clanmates and parents. They just did what needed to be done.

At the moment, they were going fishing. Breezepelt still hated the taste of fish, but he had to admit anything tasted better than rotten fox.

He also hated that he hadn't quite gotten the hang of fishing yet. Even though she wasn't from RiverClan, fishing already seemed to come naturally to Hollyleaf. He hated her having to explain her techniques over and over again.

But teaching him seemed to make her happy, and he really did need to learn, so he put up with it.

"It's just like stalking prey," she was explaining for the millionth time. "You stay still, and wait for the right moment, and then pounce."

"We don't stalk prey in WindClan," he hissed, frustrated.

"Then how do you catch it?" she asked.

"By outrunning it," he meowed, irritated. WindClan had no need for confusing, sneaky tactics for hunting. They caught prey by being faster than it, and then killing it. No need for fancy tricks.

But as he watched her lunge for a fish, narrowly missing it, he had an idea.

"I want to try something," he told her. She looked up expectantly. "Stand downstream," he instructed. "And be ready. I'm going to grab at one of the fish upstream, and when it becomes frightened and swims away, it'll go right into your jaws."

"Ooh, I like it," she meowed, eyes sparkling. He figured she would. Hollyleaf always seemed to enjoy an elaborate solution to a simple problem. She took up her position, and he struck, throwing himself towards one of the silver fish swimming carelessly upstream. As he had hoped, the fish darted away from him… directly to where Hollyleaf was waiting. She dispatched the catch with a swift bite, and it went still.

"That was brilliant!" she exclaimed, dropping it on the cave floor. "When did you come up with that?"

Breezepelt couldn't hold back a smile. He didn't care what Hollyleaf thought of him, but it did feel nice to be complimented. "This is one way WindClan hunts," he explained. "Two cats work together sometimes. One of them chases a rabbit, and by steering it in the right direction, you can get it to go right into the jaws of your Clanmate."

She nodded thoughtfully. "I remember seeing you and Crowfeather do that once," she meowed. "On our journey to the mountains." His smile faded. That journey had been the most time he had spent with his father since he was a young kit, and by the end of it, Crowfeather had almost felt like a real father. Like the kind of father Heathertail or Sunstrike or Antpelt had. But then they had returned, and everything had gone back to the way it was before.

He opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by a voice behind him. "Hey guys!" the voice chirped. Fallen Leaves.

In the three moons they had been down here, they had interacted with Fallen Leaves every few days. He would stay with them for a few hours to a day, and then vanish until a few days later. He was always excited to see them, and would sometimes help them out by bringing fish or herbs or showing them around the tunnels.

And he made Breezepelt incredibly uncomfortable.

For one, they still knew almost nothing about him. When Breezepelt tried to ask him questions about his past, even ones that seemed innocent, Fallen Leaves would ignore him as if he hadn't said anything, and if Breezepelt pushed for an answer Fallen Leaves would say he had to go and disappear.

And what they did know about his past made no sense. He said he had lived in the hills outside the tunnels "long ago", but he seemed younger than Hollyleaf and him. WindClan had lived in those hills since moons before Breezepelt had been born- surely they would have known if Fallen Leaves and his family lived there too, right?

Additionally, he had no idea where he went when he disappeared. He had tried following the strange cat's scent once to see where he was going when he wasn't with them, but he had quickly lost the trail, as if Fallen Leaves had disappeared into thin air.

And finally, he just seemed… off. It was hard to put it into words, but something just felt wrong about him. He didn't move like any cat he had met before, he could appear without making a sound, and Breezepelt had never seen him eat or drink. Strangest of all, he was cold to the touch. Not just cold like a cat who had been out in the snow too long, but cold like his body wasn't producing heat at all.

He hadn't expressed any of these concerns to Hollyleaf. She seemed to really enjoy the company of the strange cat, and she had told him about how Fallen Leaves had saved her life when she had first come to the tunnels badly injured, so she probably wouldn't listen to him if he brought up how Fallen Leaves made him uncomfortable. Besides, she had already scolded him for being mean to Fallen Leaves the first time they had met. It turned out Fallen Leaves had tried to help him while he was deep in his crowfood-induced hallucinations and he had scared him away, thinking he was just another figment of his imagination. If he told her now that something felt off about Fallen Leaves, she would probably just get upset with him again for being ungrateful for Fallen Leaves' help.

So he kept his mouth shut, and kept a close eye on the strange cat.

"Hey, I need to show you guys something," meowed Fallen Leaves. He always had something to show them. Sometimes it was an exit from the tunnels, which they now knew there were several of. Sometimes it was an animal skeleton he had found, and sometimes it was a patch of herbs. We've already seen everything down here, he wanted to tell Fallen Leaves. They had been down in the tunnels for three moons. They knew every inch of them at this point.

"Okay, show us," meowed Hollyleaf, padding over to him. Breezepelt sighed internally. Great, another long walk so he can show us a particularly big rock we've seen dozens of times before, he thought. But he kept his mouth shut. He didn't want to get yelled at for being rude again.

"I should have showed you these moons ago," meowed Fallen Leaves as they followed him through the tunnels. "But it's better late than never, especially since the rainy season is starting soon…"

"What do you mean?" meowed Hollyleaf.

"Well, the tunnels can become deadly when it rains," explained Fallen Leaves. "As you're already aware." Oh, we're very aware, thought Breezepelt. They had both almost died along with Hollyleaf's brothers and Gorsetail's kits when they had been caught in the tunnels during a rainstorm. It had only rained twice in the three moons they had been down here together, and on both occasions they had been close enough to an exit to get out of the tunnels before the flooding started, huddling together at the mouth of the cave.

But he was still terrified of what would happen if the tunnels flooded again before they had the chance to get out, and although she hadn't said anything to him, the way her body had shaken while they waited for the rain to stop told him Hollyleaf felt the same.

"Yes, we've noticed that," meowed Breezepelt dryly, trying not to let Fallen Leave see how much the rain still terrified him. Hollyleaf gave him a disapproving look. Sorry. "I mean, uh… you're right. Do you know how to stay safe when the tunnels flood?"

Fallen Leaves brightened. "I do! Let me show you." They rounded a turn, and Fallen Leaves padded up to the cave wall. "Look up there." They followed his gaze up the wall and found a ledge sitting above them, about the height of five cats off the ground. Though the ledge was high, there was enough texture in the wall that a cat would be able to get traction to climb up to it. "The tunnels have a bunch of these ledges," he explained. "When it rains, all you have to do is find the nearest ledge, and even if the tunnels flood, the water won't reach that high. They're safe spots."

"Oh, that's brilliant," murmured Hollyleaf, relief audible in her tone. So I was right. She was scared of the flooding too, he thought, satisfied to know he wasn't alone.

"Thanks!" purred Fallen Leaves. "I found them myself." How long has he been down here? Breezepelt wondered, not for the first time. He knew there was no point in asking.

"Can you show us more of them?" asked Hollyleaf.

"Of course," Fallen Leaves meowed. He took them on a winding path through the tunnels, pointing out ledges as they went. Breezepelt tried to keep his bearings, but quickly lost them. He was used to the wide open plains that made up WindClan's territory. There, all you had to do was get to a high point and you could easily see the lake to orient yourself. But down here, he had no sense of direction. He was able to recognize a few key landmarks, but not much more than that.

Fortunately, Hollyleaf seemed to have committed the whole tunnel system to memory already. When he needed to get somewhere specific, he just followed her. So he wasn't particularly worried about not remembering Fallen Leaves' instructions; he knew Hollyleaf was, and as long as they didn't get separated, that was good enough for him.

They walked for what felt like hours, and though he didn't want to complain, his feet were aching. Looking to his side, he saw Hollyleaf was looking exhausted too. He was about to ask Fallen Leaves if they could take a break when he stopped.

"Right, I think that's all of them!" he announced. "Do you think you can remember that?" Absolutely not, thought Breezepelt.

"Absolutely," meowed Hollyleaf. "Thank you so much, Fallen Leaves. I don't know what we would do without your help." Does she really not see how suspicious this cat is? he wondered. Or does she just not care?

"Of course," he meowed, smiling. "Right, well I have to get going. But I'll see you guys again soon!" Of course he had to get going. He had to get back to whatever mysterious place he always went. I will find out who you really are, Breezepelt vowed.

Hollyleaf watched as Fallen Leaves padded off down the tunnels until he turned a corner. "Well, that was helpful!" she meowed, shaping her face into a half-smile.

"Yeah," he replied softly. Hollyleaf said nothing for a moment, watching her feet.

"I was… pretty scared of the tunnels flooding again," she confessed finally. "Just because… well, because of what happened last time."

"I was too," he admitted. He didn't tell her that he still regularly woke up from nightmares where he was drowning, searching frantically for a way out of the darkness as water poured in until it filled the tunnels and there was no air left. But from the look on her face, he didn't have to tell her. From the look on her face, maybe she had those nightmares too. Maybe that was something that had bound them together moons before they had found themselves stuck down here together.

"Right, I'm exhausted," meowed Hollyleaf breezily, breaking the moment between them. "Do you want to head back to camp?" "Camp" referred to the large cavern with the huge river. It was where they did most of their fishing, so it had made sense to sleep there too, to be close to their food and water source. He nodded, and followed her back.

A short time later, after filling his belly with fish, he curled up in his nest to sleep. They had been able to find some leaves and moss to build nests out of, and though they weren't as comfortable as the nests back in WindClan, they did the job.

It took him a while to fall asleep, since his thoughts were preoccupied by trying to figure out Fallen Leaves. But eventually, the exhaustion of the day caught up with him. Just as he was starting to doze off, he looked to his left. Hollyleaf was shivering in her sleep. She's got all that fur, he thought, amused. What's it useful for if she's still cold?

She was far fluffier than him. Though their pelts were the same color, his was much sleeker, like the pelts of most of his Clanmates. He had assumed her thicker fur must keep her warm. But now, though he was a perfectly reasonable temperature, she was shivering.

Thinking about it, this wasn't the first time he had noticed her getting cold faster than him. The tunnels were drafty, and she would often shiver when a cold breeze came through even though he was unbothered.

But then, maybe that made sense. WindClan was pretty much always, well… windy. It didn't have the same tree cover ThunderClan had. Maybe it made sense that WindClan cats would have developed thicker skin to keep them warm during the cold nights that were so common on the moors, even in their dens.

But whatever. Hollyleaf's discomfort wasn't his problem. He turned away, trying to find a comfortable position. But he was suddenly finding himself unable to. Even though it wasn't his fault she was cold, he felt bad. Even if he still didn't like her, she had saved his life even after he had left her to die from her injuries. Maybe he owed her.

Sighing, he stood up and padded over to Hollyleaf. He lay down next to her, curling his body into hers. Almost immediately, the shivering stopped. Good. Now I can sleep.

He did have to admit, it felt nice to sleep next to another cat. He hadn't slept like this since he was a young cat and Nightcloud had curled herself around him while he slept as if to protect him even in sleep. In the warrior's den, many cats slept next to their littermates or mates. But Breezepelt had neither.

Whatever, this is not going to be a permanent solution, he thought grumpily. Tomorrow we'll go find her more moss for her nest, and she'll be able to keep herself warm.

And then, as his breathing fell in line with hers, he drifted off to sleep.