Strom shook his head slightly as she mentioned her mother. His father, her mother... Stars, can't anyone do a decent job of loving their kits? Though Littlestream... Littlestream had always loved them, even if Starlord never had. Besides, maybe if Starlord hadn't been the cat he had, Strom never would have found the other cats that had filled his place - the friends he'd fought beside, and the one beside him, every step of the way, even when he felt like he didn't deserve her.
"He's dead and gone," He said softly. "Nothing that he was matters anymore. Neither of them deserved our trust, and neither of them will ever get it."
A slight smile touched his maw, and he reached forward to gently butt his head against her shoulder as she had just a moment ago. "But I trust you to the lakes and back."
His smile faded a moment later, one of his ears flicking back slightly as his eyes traced the leaves nearby, their dark edges and veins clearly visible in a small beam of bright sunlight. "I just... hope you can trust me." The memory of that day came back. The day he'd found out why his father had never come by, why he'd abandoned them for good. And his promise. The opportunity to show that he did trust her, that he could trust her. "I... wasn't the only one he left. I have more than a few brothers and sisters scattered over the Clans because of him." He grimaced as he murmured, "Too many cats' hearts broken because of him."
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