"Don't worry, dear. They're inside the den. And Cirruspelt is out gathering herbs. I told him not to go by himself, but he insisted."

"Well..." Flamewind trailed off.

"What?" said Trufflepaw.

"You know Squirrelchase wouldn't usually be sleeping at sunhigh."

"I know that," Littlecherry snapped. "But she's still healing. She'll start being more active as soon as she gets her strength back!"

Alarm flared inside Trufflepaw. He nearly bounded off, leaving them standing there.

Has she gotten worse already? Please don't take her, Starclan! He pleaded in silent prayer.

"Try to go calmly, now." Flamewind, a gravely injured Thunderclan warrior, weakly stretched out his paw.

"You don't want to scare her if it's close to her final moments. But Trufflepaw, you're very brave for coming back," the tom murmured.

Trufflepaw saw bite holes on Flamewind's flanks and between his ribs and as he stepped around the warrior. One of his eyes was also slashed open, grotesquely pulverized and weeping. As Flamewind breathed in and out, a painful-sounding rasp from his throat accompanied his chest falls. Trufflepaw grimaced.

"It would do you well not to look at Flamewind's eye for too long," Littlecherry reminded him.

"Yeah." He nodded, glancing away.

Cirruspelt had said that Flamewind had a punctured lung. So he couldn't hunt or run, or climb a tree without overexerting himself.

That's why he'd been left behind with the others. Instead of leaving to find new lands with Antlerstar.

In many ways, Trufflepaw could understand why Antlerstar had done what he'd done. Cats were dying here.

If you stayed, the chance of losing your life was more than the chance of keeping it. Especially if you'd been around for the initial bought of whitecough, and then rampant greencough.

As if his clan being killed off by the wolves wasn't enough.

"We'll come with you."

That was the last thing the young tom heard before the darkness inside the den swallowed him up.

Trufflepaw's tail-tip trailed the earth, and the stuffiness harrowed in on him all too soon. He feel the despair that tainted the air. It almost turned it red.

Trufflepaw leaned over Squirrelchase, his mother. Little Rainbowkit was curled in a ball beside her. You could tell from the overpowering sickly scent that both of them were ill.

Squirrelchase's foster kit had whitecough. His chest rose and fell with each fitful breath.

His birth mother had been killed by a wolf.

And now this.

Squirrelchase's ears were flattened to the side, as if she were uncomfortable. She pulled Rainbowkit closer in her sleep.

He could see the yellow-white pus of an infected wound peeking between the herbs slathering her injury.

A wolf did this to her. He pictured their undulating gums under the moonlight. Their hot, sour breath that smelled like iron and carrion.

The sound of bone snapping between their falcate fangs rang in his ears. The sound of gnashing teeth as a clanmate's flesh was stripped from their fallen bodies. His hackles rose.

Trufflepaw's breath fell upon Squirrelchase's ear, and she stirred.

"Trufflepaw." She reached out with a paw. "My son," she muttered.

Squirrelchase tried to lift her head, but her neck stayed slouched to the side. Her head wobbled as she struggled to focus her gaze.

"I'm sorry. I know you told me to stay with Thunderclan."

"Come closer, my kin. Please listen," Squirrelchase rasped. Her voice sounded like nothing more than a fleeting whistle of air.

Trufflepaw obeyed and stooped closer.

"You are a lover, not a fighter."

Yeah, I know. And I've failed my clan for it.

I'm going to lose her after this talk, aren't I? That's why she's telling me to listen. His eyes stung.

As well as Garlicpaw. As well as the whole of Thunderclan!

"What did I even gain from coming back if you're just going to die?" He sobbed.

Trufflepaw knew he looked pathetic. And the entire time, he hated it.

He hated that Antlerstar and Garlicpaw could be so composed in the face of leaving their kin or clanmates behind. And he couldn't. It was impossible!

It wasn't that he wanted to never feel negative emotions- He just didn't want those emotions to swallow him up like this. He couldn't stop shaking, and he couldn't stop to listen. Even if his own dying kin was telling him to!

Please don't take her yet, Starclan! Just a few more moons, please! He begged while gasping for more air. Shaking and looking a fool, just like Garlicpaw probably thought of him.

Squirrelchase grabbed his cheek with a paw and steadied him.

"My brave, beautiful son. Who stayed back for me. Who turned away from a brighter future in order to keep helping us..."

Her eyes became fleeting for a second, as if she were thinking about what she wanted to say next.

"You should have went with our clan. But I won't scold you for staying. I know why you didn't," Squirrelchase went on softly. Her eyes were shimmering with emotion as well.

"You love your kin, Trufflepaw. You put your love for other cats above your clan."

"And that is not wrong in the act of such a noble deed," Flamewind rasped his agreement with a sad smile.

Trufflepaw had forgotten they were there.

"And Trufflepaw? Thank you for coming back and helping with the hunting." Littlecherry said in her old quavering tone gratefully.

Trufflepaw hadn't offered to hunt for them yet, but he knew that the elder was entitled to that. He was the youngest of them, after all; and had no life-threatening injuries or ailments himself.

"It's nothing, Littlecherry. But mother, what can we do? I can't lose you."

Inside the medicine cat's den, there wasn't enough body heat to keep his mother and Rainbowkit warm; unless they were brushing up against one another. His voice shook slightly as he nestled into his mother's neck-fur like when he was a kit.

Trufflepaw sort of did feel like a kit in doing so, but he couldn't feel any sort of qualms to care- even in front of his two watching clanmates.

"Cirruspelt will do his best. But.. there's no promises for any of us."

Trufflepaw frowned into his mother's soft fur again. This morning and yesterday had been an emotional blur. He remembered thinking he was going to leave with his clan all morning.

But I couldn't do it... He hugged his mother tighter, and she pulled him closer with her tail, wincing.

Squirrelchase then breathed despairingly, attempting to stand and swaying on her paws.

"I have to give my son his warrior name before I die. Whether that be tonight or tomorrow, no cat knows so I must... do it now. Because he deserves it."

Trufflepaw slid from his mother's bony flanks, shocked. Rainbowkit mewled indignantly. It sounded more like a feeble squeak. Trufflepaw grabbed him.

"But I'm sure Cirruspelt can save you! He's a great medicine cat. I'd rather wait for my warrior name." Trufflepaw protested while his other two clanmates sorrowfully avoided his gaze.

Flamewind and Littlecherry rushed around his mother to support her. Their breaths intertwined in the dark, frigid air.

"Plus it's still a moon and a half away, remember?" He didn't want his warrior name if it meant his mother died.

"He leads with his heart more than his head," Flamewind murmured. "And there ain't a darn thing wrong with that."

"Trufflepaw, this is your last chance to get your warrior name. Even if it's not.... In the usual circumstances." Squirrelchase paused for breath.

"I suspect that I'm going to die either way, and very soon. But to me it's okay. I just want you to live on and share all the love that you have with another cat one day. Find more friends or a mate, and put all that yearning into something that's important to you. Wherever you go-..." she trailed off.

That much talking had taken the breath from his mother's lungs. She recuperated with her jaws slightly parted for air, shoulders slumped.

Trufflepaw awkwardly flattened his ears. He hated seeing his mother standing there thin as a skeleton. It hurt.

I can't be excited for my warrior name like this.

Why did the world have to take her so soon?

This can't be happening. I still haven't accepted it.

Is that even a possible thing?

"Starclan.

I, Squirrelchase, call upon my ancestors to look down upon this apprentice. He's trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code and I commend him to you as a warrior in his turn."

Littlecherry licked his mother's cheek. Somehow she looked more lively and healthy than Squirrelchase did now. And she was an elder- with greencough.

"Trufflepaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend the cats you love and cherish, even at the cost of your life?"

Squirrelchase looked proud as she looked expectantly over at her son.

"I... do."

"Then I name you Trufflefur." Flamewind and Littlecherry purred in agreement.

"Why didn't you name him Truffleheart, though?" Flamewind asked meekly.

"Or Trufflepond, since his loyalty runs deep." Said Littlecherry.

"I wondered whether to put heart with his name or not. But either way it wouldn't matter."

Squirrelchase's eyes were shimmering like they used to now.

"Yours will surely shine through your fur more than enough for any other to see it."

Trufflefur bounded forward, carrying Rainbowkit by the scruff until he was purring beside his mother.

But then emotion seized his entire being, choking him up and dropping him into a pit of despair.

Please don't die. Not Squirrelchase. It's the only thing I'll ever ask for, ever again!

But the young tom was too scared to say it out loud.

Not long after came the thoughts of Garlicpaw.

I hope that by some crazy chance we'll cross the same skies again one day. Even if only in Starclan.

I could try to explain what happened, and we could tell each other our warrior names.

🌖 2 MOONS LATER 🌖

"I've finished eating. You ready to go?" Cirruspelt asked. He had two neatly-wrapped herb bundles wrapped up in front of his paws.

"I already told you," Trufflefur responded. "I'm not coming."

"Well, suit yourself." The calico medicine cat shrugged. His breath clouded the frosty air.

"I can't waste anymore time. I'd like to set out while the weather's still clear. May Starclan light your path, Trufflefur."

Cirruspelt picked up his herb bundles and scurried off, slipping through the exit tunnel. He was heading for the sunlit rise that Thunderclan had crossed.

Trufflefur quickly washed his paws and tidied up the fresh-kill pile. There was some uneaten prey bones lying around.

Cirruspelt was leaving because his job was done. He didn't have anymore injured cats to care for. They were all dead.

Instead, the medicine cat's future was with Thunderclan now. Beyond the horizon.

Trufflefur's wasn't.

The tom slipped out of camp and stalked toward Squirrechase and Rainbowkit's graves.
Flamewind had been the first to go. Then, Squirrelchase.

Littlecherry and Rainbowkit had passed close together; during a blizzard, after that.

Trufflefur laid down carefully just along the edge of Squirrelchase's grave. He dipped his head low, until it was almost brushing the frozen, overturned earth.

This is where he felt closest to her spirit. This is where, if he stood still for long enough, he thought he could hear his mother's voice whispering to him. He could almost feel her fur.

"Leave. Follow Thunderclan."

A soft mew lingered on the wind. But only when his head was bowed and he wasn't looking.

"You can't stay here for us, Trufflefur." Another, smaller voice added.

But he couldn't leave. He couldn't leave a cat that he cared about. Even if they were dead.

Even when the wolves came and chased him away from their graves, sniffing along the earth but finding it too frozen for the effort it was worth to dig up.

He stayed watching from the trees. Then he climbed back down after they'd left.

He kept coming there almost every day. Waiting for more of the voices.

But... they had long since went away.

He waited until the snow melted and Greenleaf brought with it the soft twittering of bird-song. Until fresh growth budded and unfurled, and fat, juicy prey began running between the oak trees again.

Wolves came more often now, particularly at night. Trufflefur learned how to keep his eyes and ears open. He stayed always within a fox-length of at least one sturdy tree. Always vigilant. Always checking the wind.

But one day, while he was finding his footing high up in a beech tree canopy near his mother's grave, something new happened.

Something different.

A blue-gray she-cat and her kin walked into the woods.

_________________
A/N: Thought-Provoking Questions:

Q: Did Trufflefur betray his clan by staying?

Q: What do you think about Trufflefur's choice to turn back?

Q: If you found Trufflefur relatable to yourself;
in what way? Do you like him more now?

Q: Am I supposed to bold the word 'Greencough' or 'Leaf-Bare'? Genuine question lol