Dove was born alongside his siblings, Heath, Teasel, and Phoebe, to Lake Colony’s Junco and Briar. Now that the war with the Web Colony has settled, they acted quick to make a family. Although the two of them definitely have different parenting styles in mind, they’re joint in the belief to raise the litter with love. Briar’s wish for her kittens to grow up resourceful and learning new things extended to Dove wholeheartedly, and he took on the role of a curious, knowledge-seeking kitten. Lake’s name as a creative, “party colony” certainly helped in fostering Dove’s artistic mind, as he was constantly finding new ways to express himself. As for his siblings, Teasel mostly kept to himself with a grumpy front, Heath was a very anxious, shy cat, and Phoebe was bubbly and funny. Dove found it hard to connect with Teasel, so mostly stuck to Heath and Phoebe.

When he was a bit older, Junco and Briar’s litter were joined by four kittens shared between Bat, Pike, and Parsley - these kittens were named Thyme, Minnow, Darter, and Carolina. Dove was a little reserved when it was time to meet them, but soon warmed up to his new denmates. Although he wouldn’t reach out to them often, he would be happy to talk to them if they approached him first.

It was around this time as well that Dove was putting the pieces together that it wasn’t easy to be taken seriously at his age. The older cats would smile and entertain him (especially when he was exploring or looking for the answer to something), but the empty nods and smiles made his skin itch. He thought jumping to a huge conclusion would cease the amused entertainment, but it only made it worse. When he told the adults that a predator had broken into the camp - his evidence being paw prints that were far bigger than his own - his hypothesis was proven to be very wrong (they had in fact been cat prints). After that, the adults seemed to trust his theories even less, and his conclusions were simply brushed away or chuckled at. So Dove was determined to never be wrong again.

As the winter storms worsened, prey and other resources became scarce. Briar and Junco seemed worried about the tight rations of the large Lake Colony, especially when it came to feeding the four of them. The storms were unforgiving. It was a stressful time in the Colony, and Dove felt it no differently. Soon after him and his siblings became six months old - it was a weird time to grow up, with how high the tensions were. His parents as well as Anise, another Lake Colony cat who often babysat the kittens, tried to keep their minds off of it. Dove enjoyed Anise’s company - she didn’t talk down to him or aim to just amuse his theories. She really did seem genuinely interested in what the kittens had to say. As they got older and the snowstorms were replaced with heavy rain, Anise would spend more days outside of camp, but still always made time for them.

Soon after spring came, a cat named Cirrus from the neighboring Fire Colony arrived in their camp. He told them about a belief called Valenism. Dove listened, but wasn’t so impressed by what he had to offer. In all of his observations, his exploring and theories, he’d never entertained the possibility of…gods. Maybe it was a convenient explanation and scapegoat for some, but he didn’t care. Some of his colleagues shared his disinterest, but others were more taken.

adulthood

Around when Dove turned a year, he was out on the stepping stones on the lake exploring his latest theory on something or other with Anise. As he hopped from one rock to the other, a root jutting out of the water tripped him and he fell head-first, cutting his face on a sharp rock. It was bad. He could’ve fallen into the water in his sporadic pain-adrenaline mix, but luckily Anise was there. She was completely freaked out for him - she dragged him back, acting like he was a kitten again who she needed to take care of.

Briar and Junco were understandably worried about him - especially Briar, who had been a bit of an overbearing mother when him and his siblings were young. Anise was distraught over the accident, and convinced herself that she should’ve been able to stop him. Dove was just worried about recovering well, especially since he might not be able to see in that eye again.

As he healed, and even after he was able to take the bandages off and adjust to his new scar, an anxiety he’d never really experienced before overwhelmed him. It was hard for him to make decisions soundly. Even when he had moments where he hunted well, or impressed cats, Dove would be nervous to do the same thing the next day. He was convinced that he’d never be able to do it better, and that fear paralyzed him. Part of his feelings of inadequacy came from the silly nature of the incident, and his frustration that he couldn't prevent something as simple as it.

With a bit of prodding, he talked with Skua, another Lake Colony cat, about the anxiousness he was experiencing. They told him that they went through similar things when they were his age, albeit about different things. Don’t trust how you feel about yourself past sunset, they chided him. They also gave him some advice about his fears, and although he appreciated it, he found it hard to take it to heart. It was just a hard obstacle to get over. With some help from his siblings and advice from Anise, he started to work on developing a healthy balance between his work and relaxing. Dove definitely has a long way to go, but he’s learning.