the young tom continued padding through the meadow, trying to find a place to sleep
for the night. it hadn't snowed since he came to peaceclan, so there was no chance of
that happening again. he scanned his surroundings in search of an abandoned cave, or
even a squirrel he could catch. kaos was beginning to get hungry.
he ran through the forest for a bit longer, until he finally saw it - a cave! it was inside
a hill a bit bigger than peaceclan, and the cave looked as if it had been carved into
the hill with great care.
he was about to step in, when something hit him in the face - hard.
he fainted.
when he woke up, he was back at peaceclan. everything was quiet, as if the whole
clan had been told to hush. suddenly, kaos saw someone standing in front of him.
it was his parents. they were smiling.
"kaos." his father spoke first. "why did you leave your home?" he asked gently. kaos
shook his head. "i didn't feel like i belonged. i feel.. like there's something wrong
with me." the young cat explained, looking at his parents with his eyes shining.
"oh, my darling - there is nothing wrong with you!" his mother exclaimed. both
her and kaos' father's outlines were glowing. "you are perfect, just the way you
are. and i promise you, nobody thinks you don't belong. whoever does is a fool."
at this, kaos ran to his parents and fell into their embrace for a minute or two.
then, they faded, and kaos woke up - he was in peaceclan after all.
otterglow came into the apprentice den just then. "kaos!" she cried, running
over. "we were worried sick about you!" she hugged him, and didn't say anything
else that evening.
kaos apologized to his adoptive mother, and she would just smile at him, as if
he hadn't done anything wrong. "you shouldn't apologize." she'd say.
---
a moon later, kaos was a full warrior of peaceclan. his parents' words had done
great work, empowering him with faith and confidence in himself. now, his
clan valued him and, although he knew he could be annoying sometimes, he
also understood that he was loved by those he truly cared about.
and that was all that mattered.
