A white kitten peered from the breadbasket. Her blue and green eyes caught sight of her brother, Stoirm, scampering out of the kitchen. She leapt off her perch and trailed after her wild sibling. It was her first time to venture outside of the monastery, so the sights and sounds were quite overwhelming. The unnamed kitten darted through the robes of the passing monks and almost ran into the angry goose, which was still recovering from losing its tail feathers. The tiny feline spotted her brother's silver coat brush past the dark robes of the monks, who were loading their cargo onto a boat for their journey. She chased after him, while nearly avoiding the sleeping abbot's wolfhound, Hogan.

Storim curiously leapt into the boat unnoticed. The unnamed kitten reached the sandy grounds of the beach just when the boat was being cast off to the sea. Her brother peaked over the edge of the boat, meowing to his sister. She frantically jumped into the water, but she quickly scrambled out and shook off the seawater from her fur coat. There was no way to reach Stoirm.

Then the kitten found a rocky ledge just above the sore. If she was quick enough, perhaps she could reach the boat in time. She charged from the ledge and shot a glance back at her brother, his sea blue eyes stared anxiously back at hers. The little kitten clawed her way up the rocky side and pondered when to jump. She waited until the wooden boat was in view below her and then she took a great leap of faith and plummeted down.

Too late! The tide pulled the boat away, and the young kitten plunged into the murky water. Stoirm tried to jump after her, but a monk caught him and cradled him in his sleeves.

The traumatized kitten shrieked and batted the waves furiously, desperate to keep her head above the water. Seaweed got tangled on her legs and claws while the muddy green sea scum began staining her white fur.

Suddenly she saw her mother, Kella, yowling on the ledge. She urgently paced back and forth, trying to find a way to reach her kitten, but to no avail. Soon she found Aidan, bidding his brothers farewell at the shoreline.

Kella swiftly rushed over to him and frantically tugged at his white robes with her claws and teeth.

"OW!- Bloody hell! Kella? What's wrong old girl?" Aidan cried out, as he felt her claws dig into his ankles.

Kella tugged hard on his robes and led the way. Aidan staggered after the cat only to find something shrieking and kicking above the waves. He waded through the water and grabbed the struggling ball of fur. Aidan peeled off the soggy seaweed to find a small shivering kitten.

"Ah, so this is what the fuss was about; don't worry Kella, I've got her," Aidan said to the mother cat.

As the monk headed back to shore, he could hear the poor kitten let out a pitiful meow. Kella followed close behind as he fetched a bowl of water and rags. The monk put the shivering kitten on one of the desks in the scriptorium. It weakly opened its mismatched eyes and gazed up at the monk as he slowly washed off the sea scum from her fur. At first, the kitten flinched and batted at the cloth, then tried desperately to shake off the mud herself. But she soon fell exhausted and collapsed again.

"Now, now, little one, just let me clear away this mess for you," Aidan smiled, and gently stroked her with the rag. The kitten began to relax and purred as it brushed up against the monk's robes, staining them in the same muddy sea green scum. Aidan began to notice patches of white showing up on the kitten's fur. For a moment, he imagined he was erasing her color.

By the time he was finished removing the mud off of her, the kitten appeared to be whiter than snow.

"Whiter than white. Heh, I guess that's what I'll call you now, Pangur Ban," Aidan smiled, while scratching under the kitten's chin.

He set Pangur down to be reunited with her mother. Kella licked at Pangur's fur to smooth out patches that stuck out like splintered wood. She grabbed her kitten by the scruff and carried her to the baskets near the fireplace. Pangur, on the other hand, couldn't take her eyes off of the strange man who saved her.