Leafstorm barely felt anymore. The family that he had lived for was falling apart, yet there was nothing he could do to prevent it. Disaster after disaster washed over the young tom until his fur was streaked with gray and his eyes held a deeper look. He was a laughing young warrior no longer, weathered by the worst and starving for the best. His once-lustrous pelt hung ragged and tangled off of his skinny frame. His elbows and ribs stuck out. Leafstorm, once so strong and optimistic, was breaking apart.
Now the battered warrior was lying on his side in a patch of sunlight, eyes closed. He was so still he almost looked dead, but his flanks were rising and falling slowly with every breath he took. The only way someone could tell that he was awake was his torn ear, which twitched as Birdflight padded closer. With a quiet, tired sigh Leafstorm opened his eyes and smiled painfully, pushing himself into a sitting position. He seemed to be painfully aware of his appearance, and he hurriedly tried to groom himself before Birdflight set the squirrel down. His stomach growled- he had been eating very little, nothing more than half a mouse every day so the queens could still live comfortably -and his poorly-groomed fur fluffed up slightly to show his embarrassment. "Hi Birdflight." His voice was rough and scratchy, but he managed to force it into a cheerful tune. His whiskers twitched as the younger she-cat spoke. "Of course- we haven't spoken in a while, now that I think about it. I'm usually on both the afternoon and the dusk patrol, and Blizzardstar has me guard the camp at night occasionally, which is probably why you don't see me around so much." His smile became more genuine when she offered to share the squirrel, but he pushed it away with one paw. Queens came first. "You should eat it all- you certainly deserve it more than I do. You've started staying in the nursery, right?" He mewed, trying to change the topic smoothly. He didn't want her worrying any more than she already was; her entire family looked exhausted. The sad passing of Orchidfeather had been enough to send the whole clan into yet another state of mourning.
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