Fleetheart lifted her head towards the night sky, but saw the same scene that she had been seeing since that day. She returned the deputy's gesture, rubbing her whole body against his.

"But I suppose you're right," she said. "I... I can only try."

Whitetail turned and rubbed the medicine cat on the cheek. "And you will succeed. Now, we should get going back to our camps. You know we cannot breathe this thicker ash in for too long."

"You're right. We should go... and thank you for that."

She quickly tapped him on the back with her tail as he hopped off the ledge of the rock, leaving her the last one there.

She closed her eyes and looked towards the sky. But before she even started praying, she opened her eyes again to the blackened scene before her. She glanced back down at her paws, the white patches of her legs dotted grey and red.

She shook her fur and hopped down from the rock as the ash began to slowly thicken. She knew the area would be lightly covered by morning.

"Heavyclaw's going to need help getting the fake-clawed thundersticks to the entrances again. Looks like I'm in for another long night."