A Journey of a Lifetime, Sort Of
Blossom of Silver Moon and Stars woke when the sun rose from the crest of the hills. Yawning, she sleepily stumbled out of her little den, thoughts of yesterday racing through her head. Oakstar had banished her without a thought of how she would cope for herself, she wasn't even a quarter moon old yet!
Blossom faced away from the forest after a long glance and journeyed once again away from the sun. After a few hours of steady paced walking, she spotted something different. A river.
Picking up the pace, she made it to the flowing blue ribbon that cut through the moorland. Her thirst was too much for her to bear so she lapped up a few cold drops, it was pure, fresh water, not the water in puddles of snowmelt she found. It was leafbare according to her mother and it would be over in a couple moons. A shallow dip in the sandy bank told Blossom that there was a possible spot for a den there. She headed further downstream, careful to pick up any strange scents that may threaten her. Belly growling, she curled up on the sandy floor of the dip and fell asleep till the next day.
Days of dull, boring travel continued, Blossom finding berries that tasted ok and eating them to quiet her rumbling belly. Once she found a dead rabbit and pawed through it, found a soft piece, and used her teeth to rip it out and eat it. It wasn't easy to digest the stringy meat since she was still supposed to be drinking milk from her mother. The thought of Poppysun brought grief crashing down on Blossom, some nights, stars twinkled above her and she would remember that they both shared the same sky. Her wings required grooming every few days and slowed her down. After about a half moon of trekking through the moorland and a forest, Blossom found a forest with open areas everywhere, somewhere where winged cats could hunt and fly without trees hitting them, but still have shelter for prey, from predators, and at night. She would stay a little bit away from the forest until she could hunt, fight, and fly.
A mouse scuttled past the little bush which she called home now. With a quick pounce, Blossom leapt onto it and bit it's throat, just like how Poppysun showed her. It had been a moon and her hunting skills had improved, she had fought a fox but it was half starved and was very weak. Now her main goal was to learn how to fly. She'd watched birds flapping their wings in a steady rhythm and tried it herself a few times. Climbing to the top of the hill, Blossom charged down it for the fourth time that day, angling her wings so it would catch the winds. This time felt slightly different from her other attempts. Her paws lifted a few mouse lengths off of the ground and she stiffened with shock. Readjusting her wings, they now caught the wind to let her land slowly. She glided down gently as if by instinct and stumbled when she hit the ground, twisting her paw at an awkward angle. "Mouse dung!" she exclaimed, cursing. Slightly limping as she made her way back up the hill and into her den, Blossom plopped into her little nest of leaves and ferns. She licked her paw for a bit, then curled up and drifted into sleep, the adrenaline of her first liftoff wearing off.
An annoying robin perched on the branches above her head as Blossom woke to the sound. Growling, she slunk out of her den and out into the dawn light, glaring at the bird. The thing simply flapped its wings and fluttered off, chirping the whole time. Luxuriously stretching, Blossom figured it was time to do a little bit of hunting before trying to fly again. Later, she came back to her den proudly holding a mouse in her jaws. Time to fly! She thought.
Rushing down the hill with her wings locked in position, a Blossom smoothly jumped and lifted off, going higher than before and staying airborne for a longer time. Yes! This is amazing! She cheered in her head. Flapping her wings by instinct, she soared a few fox lengths above the ground, exhilarated by the flight. Flapping around a bit more, Blossom landed gently on the landing pad she had made. I've gone so far, she marveled at how far she'd gone from weak, helpless kit to a young cat that was learning to fly and could hunt for herself. I'll work on techniques tomorrow, she added silently to herself before drifting off to sleep on the open clump of ferns and moss that was her landing pad.
The following days were mainly of a Blossom learning by herself how to swoop, fly upwards, control her speed and altitude, and other skills that were essential to master flying.
Yes, yes, I know. The chapters are pretty short compared to my other story but it'll take a turn for a more interesting tale later on. Hopefully.
