Timber

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She felt invisible. It was blatantly obvious to her, and everyone really, that her brother was the favorite of the clutch. Pine, the first nocturne born from her parents, was favored by her mother over her and her skydancer brother, Forest. Her parents were proud scouts for the Glass Shatter Clan. All she wanted was to grow up to be as strong and agile as they were. She wanted them to be proud. She knew she was stronger than her brothers and she wanted to prove it. Every day she would push herself just a little further: climb the tree a little higher, run a little faster, fly a little farther. Her brothers saw it as play, she considered it training. Exhausting every muscle, at night she would come home physically drained. Her parents performed their clan duties at night, and therefore slept during the day. As tired as she was from her day's activities, she would greet them before they left and ready herself to show her parents just how strong she had become. But, Dread was always at her mother's side and her mother only had eyes for Pine. Her other children went unnoticed. Forest didn't mind, but Timber began to resent being ignored.

One day, after a particularly intense training session of running up and down snowbanks, Timber decided she was fed up. They would look away from their precious Pine, if only for a minute, to watch her. She would prove to them that she was worthy of their affections, too. She would climb to the very top of one of the tallest trees that bordered their nest. They would be proud of her then. She just knew it. While her mother fawned over her brother, Timber began the ascent. Her muscles strained and her body threatened to collapse from the overexertion. She just kept pushing herself. It was mind over matter. She would make it to the top and they would see. The promise of victory kept her pressing forward, even when her paws began to go numb and the world around her began to spin. She was just so tired... gripping the trunk tighter she kept pushing on.

The next thing she knew, she was on the ground. In one moment, she was pulling herself up the mighty branches and in the next she was laying on her back in the snow. She attempted to lift herself and felt a sharp pain in her left wing. She couldn't remember the fall. She didn't hear the sickening thud and preceding crack as she hit the frozen, rocky terrain below. Her mother had. She was the one to scoop up her daughter and rush her to the clan's healer. She stayed by her side as the wing was mended and placed in a splint. She held her daughter as she cried when the healer told her that the pain would eventually go away, but the damage was permanent. She would never be able to fly again.

In the days that followed, Timber watched as her mother became more protective as a result of her fall. Not of her, but of Pine. She wanted to spare him the same fate. At first, Timber was enraged. But, she eventually came to peace with it. There was no impressing her mother. There was no way to force her to pay attention to her daughter. She had spent so much of her energy trying to gain someone else's affections, that she never thought of herself. With a deep sigh, she let go of her resentment. She let go of the built up anger and bitterness toward her mother, of the pain and embarrassment of her disabled wing. She was determined and she was strong, even without the ability to fly. She didn't need anyone to be proud of her. She was proud of herself. It was time to break her ties with this clan and move on with her life. It was time to find her new home.

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