The New Light of Hope Book III: Enemies From Beneath.

Chapter XVIII: First Catch.

The next day.

CreamFur:

Date: July 18th, 2019.

By this point in time, I had fully recovered from my incident, but now had permanent scars on my muzzle for the rest of my life and had slight pains in which I would have to do mouth excersises to regain my strength for. In addition to all of this, I resumed with my training with my mother, StealthHunter, helping me out along with my trainer, SageEyes, in order to help me learn better hunting strategies for when I became a hunter so that way I would try and not make the same mistake again.

That afternoon when my mother and I went hunting to test my skills and see how I had improved. As we were training, I caught the glimpse of what looked like the trail of a squirrel and its scent trail was still strong too. Out of instinct, I decided to follow the trail to see where it led to. "I think I found something." I told my mother and we both followed it.
The scent grew stronger and stronger the closer we got to it before we came to a stop. A large grey squirrel stood near a tree as it ate an acorn. "Carefully sneak up on the prey but don't let it see you when you're about to strike." My mother instructed, I listened to her this time and did exactly what she said. Once I was close enough, I made my move and with great force used a killing bite. "Amazing work, Cream!" My mother exclaimed afterward. I looked at the squirrel and then looked at my mother, she gently nuzzled me with pride glowing in her purple eyes. "I'm so proud of you, Cream." She whispered. "Y-You are?" I asked with curiosity and uncertainty. She quickly replied: "Well, of course I am! You're my daughter and I'm always proud of you and your siblings no matter what happens! I will always be proud of you and your brothers and sisters. And so will your father."

I felt all warm inside and I had a good feeling about myself and my family. Flustered, I faced my mother and said: "Thank you, mom."

StealthHunter: "Anytime. Come on, let's head back home so you can show everyone what you caught."

"Okay." I picked the squirrel and we headed home.
…
When we returned and I showed everyone my catch, I caught a glimpse of my father, sitting alone and looking tired and unsettled with his surroundings. Was something troubling him that was making him uncomfortable that we didn't know about? Curious, I made my way towards him to figure what was wrong. "Is everything okay?" I asked him; he looked at me and then zoned out for a brief moment until he replied: "I'm good. H–How was your hunting practice?"

Cream: "Good, actually. I actually caught a squirrel today."

Chief ArrowHeart: "Good job."

Cream: "Are you sure you're okay?"

Chief ArrowHeart: "I'm fine, young one."

Without another word, I just walked away, hoping that he was okay. But then I decided: No, I'm not just going to take his words for granted. He needs help and I'm going to make sure that he gets it.
And so, I went to fetch my mother and NightStone to check on him to see if he was really okay or not.

He was in his den, laying down on old, dry, crusty bedding that usually made comfort in his nest. "Father…?" my voice trailed away as he turned around to look at us; he was so tired that he could hardly even stay awake. He only replied with a soft groan as he rolled back around. My mother decided to try and talk with him–she entered the Den and placed her paw on his side. "Is everything all right, ArrowHeart?" She asked him in a raspy voice. "I'm fine; don't worry about me." He replied to her in a hushed, horsed voice.

StealthHunter: "Dear, you're obviously feeling sick and you are tired but can barely get any rest on such dry bedding like this. Just please tell us what's wrong."