WARRIOR: ALDERHEART [wip]

alderheart of riverclan

Clan and family have been the centre of Alderheart's world for the longest time and that has not changed as she has aged. She gives a high priority to the needs of others much of the time, though would never claim to be entirely selfless. Certainly, she believes that protecting the most vulnerable members of her clan is important but if Alderheart was really pushed she does not know if she would clan before her loved ones. She hopes that, for whatever time she has left, she is not forced to make such a decision.

Alderheart is, for the most part, warm and compassionate. When her sister, Quailstep's, health faltered it was Alderheart who stepped forward to raise her niece and nephew. This contributed in no small part to Alderheart's overall motherly persona. Similarly, should her clanmates ever find themselves overwhelmed or exhausted by their kits, Alderheart is content to watch other them for a time, leaving their parents to rest. Secretly, Alderheart has spent her warriorhood yearning for a mate and kits, neither of which she ever found. Hence she sees little burden in helping her clan's queens, glad she is able to care for kits in some capacity, doubting that she will ever able to have kits of her own.  In fact, Alderheart spends much more of her time aiding queens in the nursery, as opposed to other warrior duties, as she has gotten older. Not to say she isn't still a capable warrior, but she prefers this more nurturing way of life to hunting and patrols. Still, if she is called upon, Alderheart does her duty to her clan without question, time and time again.

Generally, her demeanor is a calm and reassuring one However, she does not take kindly to her clanmates squabbling pointlessly like small kits and, should an argument break out, Alderheart is the first to step in. Whether with a firm swat from her paw or some stern words, Alderheart is not shy about reminding her younger clanmates of the importance of cooperation. Nor, should she disapprove of other warriors decisions, is she afraid to give them a piece of her mind. Always, however, her desire to intervene and to speak as she sees fit is a result of caring about her clan and her clanmates. Very rarely does she speak out of spite and would seldom do so flippantly.

Alderheart is prone to feeling lonely and regretful. Not everything in her life has gone the way she may have liked it and having lost so much of her family, over time, has been hard on her. However, that is not what she regrets the most. She wishes that she had found the time for a family of her own, for kits, for a mate, for something more than what she has had. Perhaps, she wonders, it is what all warriors wonder as they approach their retirement to the elders' den - that they should have striven for more than what they had. Alderheart knows that she has had a lot of happiness in her life and that that is nothing to sniff at but she still pities herself sometimes for the things that she has not done.