Username: SkyWishes21
Cat Name: Alder
Clan: Eclipse Clan Rank: Warrior
Gender: Tom
Age: 62 moons
Prompt:Parenting on his own wasn’t exactly something Alder had ever planned for his life. Certainly he’d been a loner for quite some time, but he’d wanted to have you know, a mate who didn’t up and leave him with their kittens unexpectedly. Not even died, just left.
So of course their little darling Blossom was going to notice as he paced side to side and muttered under his breath while Mama continued to not show up.
“Dad?” Blossom asked, wide kitten eyes glimmering up at him sorrowfully. “Dad, where’d Mom go?”
Alder did his best to keep the bitterness out of his voice as he responded to his daughter. “Mom… left. I don’t think she’ll be back.”
A frown crossed Blossom’s face. “Are you sure they’re not dead?”
“Positive.” Alder snorted, his face a scowl. “Absolutely positive. They ran off like some sorta -” he descended into muttering curses under his breath.
Blossom looked up at him with sad, wide eyes. “So... does that mean you’re the only one left?”
“Sure looks like it,” he said, softly. “Why don’t you get some sleep? It’s getting late, kiddo. I think I’m gonna take you out hunting tomorrow, okay?”
“Okay.” Blossom drooped, and Alder could tell she was upset about Blizzard leaving them. She was a tough little thing, always had been, probably always would be. Alder was proud of her. Why couldn’t Blizzard have felt the same?
There was no sleep coming to Alder that night as he kept watch over his darling kitten. He kept one eye on Blossom as she slept, shoulders shaking from the weight of losing a mother, and his other eye out towards the forest. He hoped beyond all hope that Blizzard would come to their senses and come back. It was doubtful though. Blizzard was a stubborn idiot.
*******************
“C’mon dad! Let’s go hunting!”
Alder’s eye cracked open. It was barely dawn, the warm orange glow illuminating the den he and Blossom had made in an abandoned twoleg den.
“Blossom, it’s too early for this,” Alder groaned, rolling over. “Five more minutes?”
“No, dad, you promised!” Blossom gave him a pleading look. “Please? I’ll catch a bird this time!”
That was a tempting prospect. Alder had spent the past two moons after Blizzard’s disappearance teaching her to hunt, and although Blossom had caught many other kinds of prey, she still hadn’t caught the bird she so wanted to catch. Alder wanted to be there for her.
“Okay, okay!” Tiredly, Alder stumbled to his feet. Blossom had quite a lot of energy, and it almost took all Alder had to keep up with her as she scampered out to the woods they’d been living in.
“Now wait here,” said Blossom softly, her nose pricked in the air. Alder watched as she assumed a hunting crouch, a rather skillful one thanks to his teaching. A rush of pride filled his heart as she stalked forwards and leaped into the bush.
There was a crunch and a snap, and moments later Blossom came bounding up to Alder with a bird in her teeth. It wasn’t the cleanest of kills - the little thing was ruffled in all sorts of places - but she’d caught it!
“Good job, kiddo!” said Alder, beaming. “Your training has paid off.”
Blossom dropped the bird and pranced around, bouncing like the little kitten she really was. “I did! I caught it! I caught it!”
She darted over to rub up against Alder, purring against his chest happily. “You’re the best dad ever!”
A genuine smile crossed Alder’s face. It had been a while since he’d felt this happy, after all. Blizzard had certainly made him happy, but they were long gone.
“And you’re the best daughter I could have ever had,” murmured Alder back, his heart light. “Now come on, let's eat breakfast!”
“Yay!”
***************************
Blossom was twelve moons old now. Alder had watched her grown from a rambunctious little kitten dealing with the loss of a mother to a bold molly with a proud smile and a smirk on her face that mean she owned the world, or at least the hearts of all the cats who’d tried to pursue her and failed.
That didn’t mean he wasn’t a part of her life. Blossom came to him asking for advice and stuck with him. It was strange for Alder to be such an anchor in another cat’s life, especially since he’d lived a life on his own for quite some time.
So when one evening Blossom approached him with a worried look, Alder was quick to worry.
“Hey, kiddo, what’s up?”
Blossom gave him a peculiar sort of look, shimmery eyes and a slight frown. “Dad, I… I wanna go look for Mom.”
Oh. Spikes of anger shot up through him, but Alder pushed them down. He had to be nice for Blossom after all.
“Why do you want to look for that cat?” he asked, barely hiding the contempt in his voice.
“Maybe they’ll want to come home if they see how awesome I am?” suggested Blossom weakly. “Really, I just want to know who my Mom is. Is that too much to ask?”
Alder considered this statement. He was furious with Blizzard for taking off like that with no warning, wanted to tear them a new one and add another scar to that collection. But at the same time, Blossom had never had the chance to really meet Blizzard.
He let out a sigh. “Okay. But only if I come with you. I don’t want you getting hurt, and Blizzard and I are going to have words.”
Blossom nodded. “Thanks, Dad. Should we go tomorrow or say goodbye first?”
“Let’s say goodbye.” A choice he probably wouldn’t have made before Blossom and Blizzard, but it was a good one. A very good one. “Tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow,” Blossom agreed, leaning against Alder. “Tomorrow. And then the quest to find Mom begins.”
