User blog:WildloughRhulain/Streamrunner

Warriors are seldom born, instead becoming the way they do through trial. As the strongest weapons are forged in the greatest fires, such is a true warrior forged with the greatest hardships and suffering, then tempered with experience. This is the story of such a warrior. This is the story of Jadrin Streamrunner.

CHAPTER ONE

My story begins in a small holt by the River Moss, a comfortable little cottage just north of the ruins of Saint Ninian’s church. The second of four kits, I was born in midsummer to Radlar and Brookflash Streamrunner. When I was old enough to understand, Mum told me that Skipjack, my elder brother by two seasons, had been just as excited as they were over my birth. I still remember her words: “Jadrin, I thought your brother might get jealous because now he had to share me and your father with you, but when we told Skipjack ‘you have a younger sister;’ he jumped up and cheered. The second thing he did, he took the chair near our bed and asked ‘Could I please hold her’; your father wrapped you up in your baby blanket and passed you to him. Skipjack couldn't take his eyes off you. The minute he cuddled you; you reached a tiny paw out of the blanket, reached up to him and gently patted his nose. He smiled at you and that did it. Your brother was putty in your paws from then on."

Mum was right. Skipjack and I were extremely close. Where one of us went, the other would go, too. My brother enjoyed carrying me around on his shoulders; he taught me how to use a sling and he started teaching me how to swim when I was little less than a season old. Our parents had worried about me learning to swim at such a young age, thinking, “Shouldn’t Jadrin wait a couple more seasons before she learns?” However, his reply was, “She could fall into the river, so she needs to learn how to swim. A kit’s never too young to learn.” Though anxious, Mum and Dad knew my brother was being rational and consented to his plan under the condition that he stayed with me and made sure I was safe; a condition both of us readily agreed to.