Shade soared over the moonlit surface of the pond he used to drop pebbles into when he was a newborn, smiling at how small it seemed now that he was older. When he was young, the body of water had looked gargantuan to him, and incredibly deep, too. Shade zipped up into the air and did a somersault before falling backward and diving under the pond's shimmering surface. He skimmed along the bottom, surprised to see that one of the pebbles he had kicked into the water as a newborn, a small purple one with white flecks, was still there. The sight of it brought a grin to his face, but it wasn't long before it melted away. It not only reminded him of his careless youth, but of all of the time he had spent being alone.

He abruptly flew out of the pond and began heading toward Tree Haven to see Marina and Griffin before they went to sleep, then suddenly stopped, remembering that they would be out a little longer; bats were no longer banished from the daylight. Shade dove back down into the forest to search for his mate and his son, the two creatures that his entire world revolved around, his loneliness forgotten.

Griffin finally caught up to the tiger moth he had been chasing and closed his teeth on it. The insect's wings battered his face until he jerked his head backward and crunched down on the flailing body. It had been a while since he had gotten to enjoy one of those.

"Nice catch!"

He swallowed the rest of the moth and looked up to see Luna roosting on the nearby branch of an old, thick oak. Griffin flew over and roosted next to her, unable to help returning her broad smile. "Thanks. Have you already eaten?"

Luna opened her mouth and rolled out her tongue to imitate vomiting, then erupted into a fit of giggles. "I think if I eat another mosquito I might just explode."

Griffin pulled a serious face. "You'd better be careful, then; we don't want a mosquito to accidentally fly down your throat."

The Silverwing closed her mouth quickly, trying to keep a straight face, and failing only a few seconds later. After recovering from her last burst of giggling, she took a deep breath and sighed, still smiling.

"You tired?"

Luna shook her head. "No, I want to watch the sun rise."

"Again?" Griffin said, feigning disappointment at her response.

Luna pushed him playfully with a wing. "Yes, again! C'mon, I don't want to miss it."

Griffin lit from the branch with Luna, spiraling upward around the oak tree. They roosted on one of the uppermost branches where one had a good view of the horizon.

"Any second now," Luna whispered, her gaze locked on the spot where the first sliver of sun always appeared.

Shade roosted beside Griffin, a spark of excitement shooting through him when the top of the silver circle peeked over the horizon shyly. He had seen the sun rise before, many times actually, but it wasn't the sun itself that filled him with joy; it was the simple fact that he was allowed to see it. No owls patrolled the skies at dawn, searching for unwary bats who had forgotten what time it was. The colony could feed for a longer period of time, though many bats still returned to their roosts before the sun rose, some out of fear that the birds would go back on their word, others merely out of habit.

"I could stay here forever, Griffin," Luna said softly, her eyes never leaving the horizon, "just watching it. I could watch it rise a million times and it would never be any less amazing than the first time I had seen it."

Griffin spread a wing and curled it around her, drawing her close. "I know, I could do the same thing."

Luna laid her head on his shoulder. "I don't want you to go."

Griffin sighed. "I don't want to go either. I'll only be gone for a couple of months, no longer. I promise."

"You sure?"

"That's how long Chinook said it would be."

Luna buried her face in his neck, murmuring, "It seems like a really long time."

Griffin nuzzled her cheek. "I'll be back before you know it."

Shade left the pair to talk in privacy, remembering how he had felt when he had had to leave Marina for Stonehold.

"Have you decided on a name yet?" Griffin asked, combing her fur with a gentle claw.

Luna removed her face from his neck, a small smile on her lips. "What did you say your dad wanted to call you if you had been a female?"

Griffin smiled back. "Aurora."

"Aurora," Luna echoed. "I like that name. Aurora..."

The two bats looked back toward the rising sun, watching it for another few moments and listening to the trills of the morning birds' songs.

"What if it turns out to be a male?" Griffin whispered in her ear.

Luna pressed her forehead against Griffin's, her soft, dark eyes looking directly into his. "Then we'll name him Shade," she said.

Marina greeted Griffin and Luna over the raucous chatter of the colony as they flew through the knot hole into Tree Haven. "Hey, you two!"

"Hey, Mom."

"Hi, Marina."

Marina clicked her tongue when the pair roosted next to her, frowning at her son. "Griffin, have you suddenly decided to stop grooming yourself? You're completely filthy!"

Griffin groaned as Marina pulled him over to her and began licking him clean. "Mom!"

Luna laughed and moved closer, helping Marina comb the dirt from his fur. "She's right, Griffin; you can hardly see your stripes."

"Whoa, you're right." Griffin had looked over his shoulder to see that the swaths of bright fur he had inherited from his Brightwing mother were almost the same shade as the rest of him.

Shade watched the three bats laugh together and hold each other close, and he could never remember being happier than he was now.