The tom had never once given a thought to being a father. It had never even crossed his mind. And by the time that Birchkit was born, he still could not believe that the tiny bundle of fur had come from him. He knew it was real but it never quite felt like reality. Over the moons, he had Maplespring had remained consistently close. Since apprenticehood, the she-cat had helped him to grow and stood by his side as they navigated such an ugly reality underneath the claws of the Dark Forest. Always, the she-cat had been a spark of light and brought him both hope and reassurance; she made him feel like he could be himself.
Even so, that confidence did not seem to translate over into parenthood. Lavenderdrop was lucky that if he was going through this, that Maplespring was at his side, yet it didn't dissolve the lump in his throat. He'd managed to catch a tiny sparrow. It was an underwhelming meal for any cat but Birchkit was impossibly small. Being rather average sized and limber, with long legs, being next to a kit made him feel overwhelmingly large. As he padded toward the little bundle of fur, his eyes grew wide to stare down at Birchkit. Immediately, the sparrow fell from his maw. A nervous chatter bubbled up from his maw, "Hello there little kit. I brought you a sparrow. Do you like sparrows? I suppose you might not have had one before since we mostly eat rabbits... but anyways it's very good. I hope you like it." He clammed up immediately after, staring down, waiting for any sort of a response.
How could such a tiny thing be so terrifying?
