Dogwood

Background

A rogue's abandoned kit who Delilah raised with Whistlingwren alongside her own biological kits after the runt of the litter died. The three kittens were named after the fiercest creatures that Delilah knew, but Dogpaw in particular is worried that he would never be able to compare to her legacy.

How Dogwood Got His Name

Named by his single mother for the most dangerous beasts she knew, alongside his siblings Lynx and Bear. This is the story of how this soft-pawed adoptive son of a rogue earned the warrior name Dogwood.
Lynx's and Bear's mother Delilah never knew her own mother, nor any of her kin, for that matter. Children of the rogue group The Stones were kitted in Twoleg nests and expected to escape at their weaning and make their way, alone, through the hard streets back to their ancestral home. Delilah uprooted her life so that her children would not face the same hardships. Torn between rogue machismo and a deep, fierce love for her children, she named them for the most ferocious beasts she could think of and hoped that this would be enough to strengthen her kits' destinies.

Dog never knew his own mother. Abandoned on Thrushfur's doorstep one stormy night, he would not learn what depth lay in his mother's heart until he was fully grown. A smallish kitten, mostly fluff, with a soft heart to match, he was intimidated by his mother's gruff demeanor and huge stature growing up. She towered like a, well, bear above Lynx, Bear, and him, and she spent as much time standing guard outside the barn loft that served as their nursery as she did within it. Dog understood better the soft voices of Thrushfur and Whistlingwren when they played quiet games of moss ball and feather-chase than Delilah's high-energy play fighting.
When the kits turned six moons, Delilah could not wait to nose them out of the nursery and into the icy midwinter sun. Dog, now Dogpaw, was taken under the wing of Cherviltail, the small clan's herbalist and occasional warrior. She was more distant than her mother and sister, but Dogpaw saw himself in her quiet determination and steady paw. Dogpaw loved trotting behind her with a mouthful of starling or dock leaves like his namesake terrier. In turn, she taught him as much about healing scrapes and nicks as she did about stalking prey.
The dogwood tree blooms frothy-cream with flat blossoms in the spring. The tree's thin, low-branching trunk and its round, pleated leaves shade the soft grass below like an umbrella of white fur. Under the gently falling rain of early-summer dogwood petals, Dogpaw stood next to Bearclaw and Lynxtuft, his siblings proudly wearing their new warrior names like a wolf's pelt. Dogpaw glanced shyly at Celerystar, the stocky apricot warrior who was now turning towards him. "Dogpaw, I give you the warrior name Dogwood for your steady paw and open heart. May you care for your clanmates now as you have seen them care for you." Dogwood gazed out at the small ring of cats, his clanmates and kin: gentle Thrushfur, constant Cherviltail, and strong, protective, determined Delilah. Oh, Delilah. The cat who threw herself into the unknown for her unborn children, who named them for the clever lynx, the steady bear, and the loyal dog to guard their futures and give them the bravery of tooth and claw if they ever needed. His beloved mother.