A/N:This is just another short warrior's drabble. It may be short, it may be long. Depends on what you think. Anyways, hope you like it.
Light
It was light out. The sun was peaking over the mountains, shedding a brilliant light over the forest, making my eyes blink. I opened them to a new world. I wasn't sure where I was. But I could feel my mother's soft fur rubbing against me, and her warm, milky scent surrounding me. My brother and sister were close by, play-fighting.
I opened my eyes to a world that was filled with trees, fallen leaves, a blue sky, and a warm den. This was my home, along with my brother, sister, and my mother. Mother had told me that my father left us long ago, before we were born. She said he would not have been able to take care of us, as he was ill himself.
My mind flooded with questions that day, when she told us. But her voice had been filled with sorrow, and I could feel that she wouldn't say any more about him. So I kept those questions to myself. Until now.
"Mother, can you tell us about our father?" I asked when she brought us a mouse to eat. She herself ate nothing, and watched us eat with eyes that were dull and wary.
Her gaze flickered a little, and she stared at me in shock, then sighed. "I suppose it would have only been a matter of time," she murmured softly. "You're father, he is up there now." Her tail pointed at the sky, and all of us looked up. The only thing we could see was the sun and a few clouds. I stared at her in confusion. "Every time a cat dies, they must travel to the sun," she explained when she noticed it. "There, they are given the choice to roam in the forest as a spirit, or stay in the sky and become guardians of the moon."
All of us gazed at her in awe, and a quiet breeze shifted through the forest, as if adding to effect. I could almost imagine my father watching over us, his gaze as proud as if he were still here.
"Why did he leave us?" Floe, my sister asked. She was a pretty brown-and-white tabby with blue eyes like her mother. My brother Steel was a dark gray with amber eyes. I on the other hand, am a tortoiseshell.
Mother licked Floe tenderly and replied, "he died an honorable death." I noticed that her whiskers had begun to tremble. Without thinking, I placed my paw on hers and smiled at her gently. She smiled back and licked my ear. "Your father was brave and spirited. He never once thought of just himself. He did all he could to protect us," she explained. "But then something terrible happened." Her blue eyes darkened as she spoke. "He was...killed by a sickness. It took him over, until he could hardly move. He didn't want us to watch him suffer, and so, he left."
We were silent as we reflected the end of her story. I bowed my head, wishing with all my strength that it would have been me that the sickness took instead of our father. I was nothing to be happy with. I was smaller then my brother, and I wasn't as skilled a hunter as my sister. I felt useless.
Suddenly my mother's eyes flashed with rage when she gazed upon me. "You are not useless!" she spat.
I stared at her in shock and began to back away. How could she have known what I was thinking? Were my thoughts that obvious? Or was she fighting some inner battle?
Her neck fur began to lie flat again, and I took a step forward. Mother looked as though she were about to swing at something, so I stayed a couple of feet away. I didn't want her to feel any more pain by letting her hurt me.
"I'm sorry," I whispered. Steel and Floe were asleep now, curled up into tight balls. A cold wind rushed through the trees, battering at our makeshift den. I shivered against it.
"No Light," mother sighed. "I should be the sorry one. I wasn't thinking about you, I was thinking of how much you look like your father." She paused for a moment, then added, "you remind me so much of him."
I looked at her with wide eyes and began to settle down beside her. I wanted to comfort her in a way that my brother and sister could not. I knew they would some day leave her to find their own homes. But I was the one who would stay home with his mother.
"I will always stay with you," I murmured through a yawn. I pressed my muzzle into her shoulder and purred.
Mother purred along with me. "May the sun Light your path," was all she said before falling asleep.
