Hollyleaf had been in WindClan for a half-moon, and it was just starting to feel like it could be her home one day. She still missed ThunderClan with a physical ache. She missed running through the forest with the branches whipping at her pelt, she missed biting into a delicious juicy squirrel, and she missed climbing the Sky Oak so high she could see all the Clans' territories. She missed the prickly squeeze through the thorn tunnel, she missed the endlessly long stories Mousefur and Longtail would tell, and she missed the cramped tightness of the warriors den.

Most of all, she missed her family. She missed Lionblaze's boastfulness and Jayfeather's irritability and Brambleclaw's bossiness and Squirrelflight's stubbornness and Leafpool's concern. Oh, StarClan, she missed them all more than anything.

But she couldn't go back to ThunderClan. There was no point in worrying about that now. Now, she was living in WindClan, and adjusting quite nicely. She had worked tirelessly to master WindClan hunting technique, and she had picked it up quickly. In battle training, she had an advantage because Breezepelt had already shown her WindClan fighting moves. Plus, she suspected her time in the Dark Forest had made her one of the greatest fighters in any Clan. So she was certainly able to hold her own in those fights.

She was getting to know her new Clanmates, too. Sunstrike was the most friendly towards her, though she was still a bit nervous around the eager she-cat after the look Sunstrike had given her the night she had killed Tigerstar and Hawkfrost. Sunstrike was training in the Dark Forest, she was sure of it. Was she just being manipulated by them into thinking it was the best way to serve her Clan, or did she genuinely agree with their mission to destroy StarClan?

Still, Sunstrike wasn't the only WindClan cat she was spending time with. Thistleheart and Swallowtail, two of the cats she and Breezepelt had saved from the tunnels when they were still kits, were quite friendly. They hadn't forgotten Hollyleaf from all those moons ago, and they seemed to think they still owed her a debt. She was spending a lot of time with Dewspots, too. Dewspots' brother– Antpelt– was the cat that had died "mysteriously" from wounds Hollyleaf knew must be from the Dark Forest. It was clear she still missed him a lot, and wanted revenge on whatever had killed him. Hollyleaf longed to tell her new friend the truth, but of course that wasn't possible.

Crowfeather had still barely spoken to her, despite his passionate argument to Onestar about why she should be allowed to stay, which confirmed her suspicions that he didn't really care one way or another if she was there– he just wanted Breezepelt back. That was fine by her; she had lived her whole life without her father, she didn't need him to be active in her life now. But he and Breezepelt seemed to be getting along surprisingly well now, which made Hollyleaf smile. In the time she had known Breezepelt, he had been so troubled by his relationship with his father. It was nice that they were trying again.

The senior warriors were more split on their attitudes towards Hollyleaf. Whitetail had welcomed her instantly, Nightcloud was doing her best to pretend she didn't exist, and Gorsetail and Willowclaw treated her well enough, if a little suspiciously.

Unfortunately, it was getting harder to ignore the fact that some of the WindClan warriors were only interested in her because they thought they could get her to reveal ThunderClan secrets. So far, she had been able to mostly dodge their questions, or tell them she had been gone so long she didn't know how things worked anymore. But she was still terrified of what would happen if ThunderClan and WindClan had a battle. She knew she could never fight against ThunderClan, but if she didn't, she would be kicked out of WindClan.

Apparently, Sol was back in ThunderClan. Why they would accept him back after all the harm he had done to the Clans was beyond her, but then she supposed Firestar had never been able to turn away a cat in need. Whatever the reason, WindClan was furious about it. ThunderClan may have forgotten the damage he did, but we haven't, voices hissed furiously. She feared the two Clans might be getting closer and closer to war.

She was also more and more anxious the closer they got to the Gathering. It was only a quarter-moon away, and she knew WindClan and ThunderClan cats would talk. Her Clan would know she was back. Of course she didn't expect she would be chosen to attend the Gathering, but would her Clanmates try to find her afterwards? Will they be happy I'm alive, or disappointed Ashfur didn't get justice for his murder?

As she curled up next to Breezepelt that night, images of her former Clanmates' furious faces flashed in her mind, and it took her a long time to fall asleep.

When she finally did, she found herself in her dream alone on the moors. The wind howled around her, and she shivered. Anything is better than the Dark Forest, she decided. The nice thing about dreams was she could go to ThunderClan territory all she wanted without having to worry about her former Clanmates discovering her, so that was exactly where she set off.

But she hadn't even gotten to the border yet when the wind shifted suddenly, twisting itself into the pale, gray shape of a cat she knew quite well. Jayfeather.

I'm just dreaming, she reminded herself. This isn't really him. It's an image of him I constructed with my mind. But this didn't feel like an ordinary dream. The Jayfeather before her didn't feel like a figment of her sleeping mind. He felt real.

The wind finished assembling her brother's features and then died down. Jayfeater's eyes, usually pale and sightless, were the last bit of him to take shape. To her surprise, they were a clear, vibrant blue.

"Hollyleaf," he breathed. "It's really you." Of course it's really me, she thought. It's my dream. What a silly thing to say. But she couldn't shake the feeling that this was more than just a dream. She didn't know how she knew, but just as surely as she had known Tigerstar and Hawkfrost weren't just a dream, she knew the cat before her was the real Jayfeather. Somehow, he was sharing her dream.

Which meant he knew she was alive.

"It's really me," she meowed, unsure what she could possibly say to him after all this time.

"Dovewing said… but I didn't think it really could be… I thought you were dead," he murmured, seemingly more to himself than to her. He trailed off, looking lost in thought. "You look older," he meowed finally.

"I am older," she retorted with a smile. Then she paused for a moment, realizing something. "Wait, you can see me?" she asked.

"I can always see in my dreams," he told her, with just a hint of his usual crossness she had missed so much. Yup, this is definitely him.

"I never knew that," she meowed. But of course, it wasn't surprising Jayfeather had been keeping something important from her and Lionblaze.

"Where have you been?" he demanded. "I… I was feeling your thoughts when the tunnel collapsed. They went silent. I thought I had felt you die."

"I was in the tunnels," she meowed. "I was living down there, with Breezepelt."

"All that time?" Jayfeather meowed incredulously.

"It's really not that bad once you get used to it," she meowed with a shrug.

"Oh, it's not that bad," meowed Jayfeather crossly. "Well, isn't that nice?" Hollyleaf just stared at him.

"What's got you acting like you ate a sour mouse?" she asked heatedly. She had known this might happen. She had known her Clanmates might be more angry at her for what she had done than happy she was alive. But she had still held out hope that her littermates would be happy to see her again, if no one else.

Jayfeather turned a glare on her. "How can you even ask that?" he hissed. Hollyleaf didn't reply. She didn't know how to reply. A moment of silence passed between them, the tension so thick she could have ripped it open with her claws. "You let us think you were dead!" Jayfeather burst out finally. "I mean, we sat vigil for you, we mourned you… we thought we had lost our sister forever. And then all this time you've just been frolicking in the tunnels with Breezepelt. How could you do that to your family? To your Clanmates?"

"I– I'm sorry," Hollyleaf stammered. He was right. She had put her own freedom and peace of mind over that of her brothers. She had known they would miss her, but she had assumed they would get over it eventually, especially in the light of what she had done. But she should have known better. If one of her brothers had died, she would never have stopped mourning them, no matter how much time had passed and no matter what they had done. "I guess I just thought you would be better off without me," she confessed softly.

"Well, then you're even more mouse-brained than Lionblaze," snapped Jayfeather. As tense as the moment was, Hollyleaf had to hide a smile. Great StarClan, she had missed that Jayfeather grumpiness.

She nodded. "You're right," she meowed. "I'm sorry. I should have told you I was alive, I was just… Well, I was scared. I mean, I ruined everything for you and Leafpool and Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight and Crowfeather and… everyone. I thought you would be so mad at me, and I didn't know if I could face that. Plus, now that ThunderClan knows about Ashfur and I know I can never return, I just thought it would be too painful to speak to any of my old Clanmates. A clean break felt less painful."

A distinctly confused expression had appeared on Jayfeather's face when she mentioned Ashfur. "Wait, why do you think the whole Clan knows about Ashfur?" he asked.

Hollyleaf blinked, confused. "Well, Leafpool knew. I know maybe you and Lionblaze wouldn't have told everyone, but I knew she would, after… everything I did," she meowed. Is he saying the Clan doesn't know? She wondered. This whole time, I could have gone back?

Jayfeather shook his head. "She never told anyone. I didn't even know she knew– not that we've spoken much recently. How did she find out?"

"She said she found my fur on his body when they brought it back to camp," she meowed softly. Leafpool never told them. Even after everything I did to her. Even after I tried to kill her. Why wouldn't she tell?

"Well, she certainly never told me that," Jayfeather meowed, looking mildly irked by the fact. "And I don't think she told any other cat either. Lionblaze and I thought we were the only ones who knew, and we never told any cat. As far as ThunderClan knows, you were chasing a squirrel into the tunnels when they collapsed, and you died like that."

Hollyleaf had to squeeze her eyes shut to process what she was hearing. ThunderClan didn't know she was a murderer. They didn't know she'd broken the warrior code in the worst way possible, by killing one of her own Clanmates. They might still hate her for revealing Clan secrets at the Gathering, but somehow Leafpool, the cat with more reason to hate her than anyone else, still cared about her enough not to tell the Clan what she had done. Why wouldn't she tell? Why wouldn't she hate Hollyleaf? Is a mother's love just that strong?

She opened her eyes to see Jayfeather watching her, looking concerned. "So you're saying no cat in ThunderClan, save for the three of you, knows I broke the warrior code?" she clarified. Jayfeather nodded in response. "So then, do they…" she didn't even know how to ask what she wanted to ask. "Do they not hate me?"

Jayfeather huffed an annoyed breath. "Of course they don't hate you," he snapped. "What a stupid question! You were one of ThunderClan's most valued warriors, and the entire Clan was devastated when you died. When you let us think you were dead."

"I had no idea," she murmured. "All this time, I thought… I thought they would exile me if I ever went back. I thought they hated me."

Jayfeather shook his head, a rare expression of pity on his face. "ThunderClan never hated you," he meowed. "They missed you." Hollyleaf was silent. Somehow this revelation was harder to stomach than the idea of her Clan's loathing that she had already resigned herself to. "Come home, Hollyleaf," her brother meowed, a pleading tone overcoming his usual prickliness. "Please. Lionblaze misses you. Cinderheart misses you. Our… parents miss you. Your Clanmates miss you. I miss you."

"I… I can't," she insisted, though she didn't know why. Wasn't this what she wanted, more than anything? Hadn't she just been thinking about how badly she missed every single thing about her old Clan? Why couldn't she go back? She had come to WindClan to make sure Breezepelt would be okay, but he was doing so well now. He had his Clanmates, and his friends, and his parents. He would be okay without her, and it wasn't like they wouldn't ever see each other again. They would still see each other at Gatherings. They could still be friends. "I just can't," she whispered, the words leaving her mouth almost involuntarily.

"Please," meowed Jayfeather plaintively. "Just come home."

Home. That word carried the weight of the world. Because of course, no matter how long she had been gone, ThunderClan would always be her home. And in that instant, she knew she couldn't live another day anywhere else.

"Will they really let me come back?" she meowed softly. She knew she couldn't bear the idea of going back just to be turned away.

To her surprise, Jayfeather scoffed. "Firestar just let Sol back into ThunderClan. I think you'll be fine." Hollyleaf smiled. He had a good point. As she had thought before: Firestar would never turn away a cat in need.

"Okay," she meowed. "Okay, I'll come home."

Jayfeather had clearly been trying to hide his emotions throughout this conversation, though he had been doing a pretty poor job of it. But with her decision, he broke into a very un-Jayfeatherlike smile. "Good," he meowed. "That's the right decision." But then, suddenly, his face shifted into an expression of… was that guilt?

"I have to tell you something else," he meowed softly. Her heart skipped a beat. Had someone died? He had talked about Lionblaze in the present tense, so it couldn't be him. Was it one of their parents? One of her friends? "It's about the prophecy," he went on. "About the three. Lionblaze and I are two of the three, but the third cat-"

"I already know," she cut him off. "I know it's not me." Saying the words aloud hurt, but she had had many moons to get herself used to the idea. She wasn't one of the three. She never had been. That didn't mean she couldn't still help her Clan.

Jayfeather's face wrinkled in confusion. "You already know?" he asked. "How?"

"I've known for moons," she told him. "Dovewing and Ivyp-" she cut herself off suddenly, realizing she was about to use Ivypool's warrior name. But she should have no way of knowing that name, unless she wanted to tell Jayfeather she had been training with Tigerstar and Hawkfrost, which she planned on never telling anyone. "Ivypaw," she went on, "got lost in the tunnels. We helped them find their way out, without revealing our identities to them, and they weren't exactly quiet. Ivypaw said something about Dovewing being a part of a prophecy and spending all her time with you two, and it didn't take much to piece it together."

Jayfeather nodded, looking relieved he wasn't going to have to be the one to break the news to her. "I'm sorry it wasn't you," he meowed. "It should have been you."

Hollyleaf sighed. "None of us can change our destinies, Jayfeather. You know that better than anyone."

He gave a faint smile. "I guess you're right," he meowed. Another moment of silence passed between them, before Jayfeather meowed, "So you'll come back to ThunderClan tomorrow?"

Hollyleaf nodded, feeling more sure about her decision than she had ever felt about anything. "Tomorrow," she echoed. She would have to talk to Breezepelt first. She couldn't just leave him without telling him why. But he would be just fine without her. She was so proud of how far he had come from the desperate, starving cat she had recused from the fox all those moons ago. He would be okay.

And she would be home.

"Well, then I'll see you in the waking world," Jayfeather meowed.

"Yes," she agreed. "Oh StarClan, I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you too," he meowed softly. They stood silent for a moment before Jayfeather broke away. "Well, I'd better let you wake up," he meowed. "Please come home."

And then he turned, and in a moment, the wind had swept in to swirl him away just as quickly as it had brought him in.

Hollyleaf closed her eyes, and in a moment she was awake, Breezepelt still sleeping soundly beside her. For a moment, she just gazed at his sleeping form, suddenly realizing this was going to be their last time sleeping like this. Was leaving him really the right decision?

It had to be. She couldn't give up everything else she loved for one cat. Sighing, she nudged him gently. "Hey, Breezepelt," she whispered. He blinked awake, his amber eyes meeting hers.

"What's up?" he whispered.

Standing up, she nodded towards the camp exit. Pausing for a moment to stretch, he followed her out of the camp. On night watch, Emberfoot gave them a slight nod as they left, but didn't ask any questions.

Dawn was breaking, and she could hear birds starting to chirp from the forest. I'll be back there, so soon, she thought longingly.

"Why did you bring me all the way out here?" Breezepelt meowed crossly. In moments like this, she couldn't help but notice that he was really so much like Jayfeather, though either of them would have clawed her pelt off for saying as much.

She opened her mouth to speak, and found no words. How was she supposed to tell him she was leaving? How could she make him see how much she cared for him, but that she had to go anyway? How could she convince him it wasn't because of him? She stared desperately towards ThunderClan territory, as if the birds would give her an answer.

"Hollyleaf?" prompted Breezepelt, concerned.

She tore her gaze away from the forest and her eyes met his. "I have to go back to ThunderClan," she blurted.

Breezepelt blinked, and then nodded. "I'm not surprised," he meowed.

"You're not?" she meowed, shocked.

"Nope. You've been staring longingly at the forest ever since you came here. Hollyleaf, I love having you in WindClan, but we both know this isn't really your home," he meowed.

"It's not," she murmured. "I just spoke to Jayfeather in my dream. Apparently he can… visit other cats' dreams. He told me ThunderClan doesn't know I killed Ashfur. Which means… it means I can go back. And I think I want to."

"Then you should," Breezepelt meowed. "Look, Hollyleaf, I've found so much more happiness being with my Clan again than I ever expected to. I want you to have that too." Hollyleaf was shocked. She tried to imagine how she would have reacted when she had first come to the tunnels if some cat had told her Breezepelt would say something so selfless one day. She would have laughed in that cat's face. But here he was, telling her to leave him so she could be happy.

"I'm so proud of you, Breezepelt," she murmured. He started to protest, but she went on. "No, really. I am. And I feel so lucky I got to know you these past few moons. You're my brother, not just by blood, but in every way that matters. And whatever Clan I'm in, that will never change."

"Well, good," he meowed with a soft smile. "Because I wasn't going to let you get out of being my sister that easily either."

Hollyleaf didn't know what words could possibly convey how deeply she cared for him, so she just brushed her muzzle against his. "We'll still see each other at Gatherings," she meowed softly. "And at the border. This isn't goodbye."

He shook his head. "No, of course not. We're meant to be in different Clans, but we'll always be kin."

"Of course," she purred. And she gave his ear one last lick before pulling back. "Thank you," she meowed. "For everything."

"And the same to you," Breezepelt replied. He looked back towards WindClan camp. "You should get going," he meowed. "I can hear the dawn patrol waking up. It'll be easier to go now, before they see you."

Hollyleaf nodded. "Tell Onestar I–"

"I'll tell him," Breezepelt cut her off. "Now go."

Taking one last look at her brother, she darted off across the moors towards the forest. Towards ThunderClan. In what felt like the blink of an eye, she was crossing into the thin strip of forest in WindClan's territory, and then she was at the border. She hesitated a moment before crossing the river. If she did this, it couldn't be undone.

But as she lifted her paw to step over the border, nothing she had ever done had ever felt more right. She set one paw into the water, and then the next, and in a moment, she was setting foot onto ThunderClan territory once again.

And Hollyleaf was home.