Thanks to Through Another's Eyes, Willowfur, and World of Make Believe for reviewing! I wrote this chapter on an aeroplane while I was half-asleep... Looked back over it later, and it was HORRIBLE. So I tried to improve it without altering the storyline terribly.

DISCLAIMER: I really, really don't own Warriors. Not even a tiny part of it.

Eleven

Holly was glaring. "I sincerely hope, for your sakes, that there is a simple explanation for why there is a Twoleg among us."

Pine, apparently baffled at seeing Holly so animated, responded with a wide-eyed, "Um."

"What is it?" squeaked a young kit, prodding the Twoleg kit with an outstretched forepaw. In reply, the Twoleg kit turned, gave a gurgle of delight, and roughly patted the kit several times on the head. The kit gave a squeal of astonishment and ran to hide behind his mother.

Chicory responded to her mother in a low voice in order to avoid all of the eyes, which were in any case distracted by the Twoleg kit. "She's lost her family. Me and Pine were kind of wondering... if..." -she was mumbling by now- "...if we could... help her find them."

A hiss came from somewhere behind Holly. Chicory peered behind her to see Lilac rapidly whispering into Beech's ear.

She's loving this, Chicory thought sourly. Every heartbeat she has gossip to spread.

"But that's fluff-brained!" Beech exclaimed, jerking his head up. "We can't possibly account for a Twoleg!" He spat the word.

"Hmm." To Chicory's annoyance, Heather didn't seem pleased with the idea either. "I'm not sure." Her eyes narrowed. "Have you considered finding food for this kit? My guess is that Twolegs don't eat mice and rabbits... And by the moon and sun I'm not giving up my share, even if they did."

Even Pine looked uncomfortable. "I don't know, Chic," he meowed out of the corner of his mouth. "I know there's nothing wrong with her, but... is it really worth it?"

Before Chicory could turn to her brother and argue the point, some cat yowled, "Get rid of it!"

Lilac repeated the words. "Get rid of it! Get rid of it!" she caterwauled, and before Chicory had time to even process that it was her own sister yowling, it was a chant.

"Get rid of it! Get rid of it! Get rid of it! Get rid of it!"

The wailing sound started up again. The Twoleg kit apparently didn't like the yowling - she had begun to cry out, her face turning bright red with the strain and her eyes screwing up.

Chicory was in despair. It had all gone wrong - they were supposed to accept the Twoleg's differences and move on with the journey, not drive her out!

"We shall leave the kit here," decided Heather loudly to the general masses. "It will work out for the better."

But frustration with every cat, especially Pine, who was being so unhelpful, made Chicory bold.

"Do as you please." Her voice shook horribly, and she could only address Heather's paws. "But I'm staying with Chrysanthemum."

A pawstep behind her, Pine groaned and buried his head in his paws in shame. "Oh, Windflower, don't let her do this!" Chicory heard him mumble.

As for Heather, she was completely thrown. "...Chrysanthemum?"

"Um, yes." Chicory's mew had been reduced to a petrified squeal. "That's... what I'm calling her."

For a full twenty heartbeats, there was a stunned silence, save for Pine muttering ashamed prayers to the stars.

And then; "You're crazier than a fox in a fit!" cried Holly quite hysterically. "What do you mean by this? You can't stay with this... this thing-"

"Her name's Chrysanthemum," interrupted her white-furred daughter in a murmur too low for her to hear, wondering if Holly realised how hypocritical calling her 'crazier than a fox in a fit' was.

"-alone, with no-one to protect you! You'll die, you'll starve, you'll..."

"Come up with more stupid names?" suggested some cat dryly. "Chrysanthemum. Honestly. I feel for any kits you ever have."

Chicory ducked her head, and mumbled, "Chrysanthemums are beautiful flowers," with a glance at her own Chrysanthemum. The Twoleg kit had since stopped yelling, and the scarlet was receding blotchily from her face as she stared, red-eyed, at Chicory. The pale striped she-cat broke the eye contact quickly.

"Er... she won't be alone." A new voice spoke up. "I'm staying too. I'll stay with Chicory and Chrysenthenom-"

"-Chrysanthemum-"

"...Um, that. I'm going to stay."

Chicory had corrected the tom's voice automatically, but now she realised who was speaking.

No... she cursed internally. That's really, really not supposed to happen!

But she was too embarrassed to say anything, so she was forced to watch Ivy's mother fret and fuss, threaten and and cajole, in a typical mother-like way while her son reisisted all efforts and insisted on sticking by Chicory.

"How good am I, right?" whispered Ivy as he swaggered up to her, having finally been released from the clutches of his mother. "I just gave up everything for you and that Chrysenther-what's-her-face. Now that is true dedication.

Too altogether depressed to argue, Chicory simply gritted her teeth and meowed, "Let's just shorten it to 'Chrys', right?"

"Gotcha." Ivy pressed himself against Chicory's flank and licked her ear.

Okay. I may not have the energy to argue, but I have the energy to pull away from that.

Glancing around, Chicory saw that many cats were already getting ready to take their leave. Lilac was already trotting away, tail high in the air, as though she couldn't care less about leaving her flesh-and-blood brother behind, possibly forever.

Forever.

All at once, the enormity of what she was giving up hit Chicory. Her mother, her sister, her friends... Chicory's gaze lingered on Heather, who seemed to be contemplating her, head tilted to one side. But there was sadness in her eyes. Chicory wanted to go up to her, say something, but she held back. Heather's eyes said more than words ever could.

Why am I doing this? Chicory wondered. Is it even worth it? Only a Twoleg kit... But as she looked back over at Chrysanthemum, she knew that she could never abandon her. The pull of an almost maternal instinct was too great.

It made no sense. Twolegs had flooded the loch. They were her greatest fear - but here she was giving up her family for one.

"Pine?" Chicory distracted herself by calling to her brother. "You coming with... us?" It took a great deal to wrench out the 'us' - she didn't like referring to herself and the tortoiseshell tom that way. She could almost taste Ivy's smugness.

"Hmm?" Pine blinked. "Oh... yeah, I guess so."

Chicory nodded. At least Pine would be there with her.

Without warning, a flash of fur careered into Chicory and pinned her to the floor with tortoiseshell paws.

"Holly?" Pine's mew was a gasp of guilt.

Chicory shrank into the ground as she realised that her mother's eyes were popping. "You are no longer my kits!" she snarled.

"Mother, no!" The words rose to Chicory's lips without her even realising it. She wanted nothing more than to struggle free and run away, but that might only make Holly even angrier. There seemed to be no stopping her when she got as furious as this.

"You have disgraced your father's memory by allying yourselves with what killed him! You have disgraced me!" Despite her words being aimed at both Pine and Chicory, she was still glaring at only Chicory. As she said this, she backed away from Chicory, arched her back, and spat at both of her kits - or ex-kits. "You are no longer my kits!"

And with that, Holly turned and charged away through the darkening Twolegplace, her silhouette occasianally being thrown into sharp relief as she ran through the discs of light the miniature suns cast. A few cats, including Lilac and Heather, broke away and streaked after her, calling her name.

Their cries soon faded.

That was when Chicory broke down and howled in misery, not caring how loud she was or how many cats she disturbed.

There were no more words.