Shade searched night and day for his four older brothers. Secretly, he knew they were alive somewhere. The only problem was, Windsling, having been momentarily blinded by the light and noise from the flying machine, had no idea what direction they'd been taken in. If only I knew, Shade thought to himself. His mind had been cluttered with if-onlies the last few days. If only I'd gone with them…If only they'd stayed…If only…If only… Of course, time passed and before long it was time to head to Stone Hold. Soon, common sense took over Shade, the same kind of common sense that made a lonely and expectant Ariel who'd been waiting patiently for her mate at Hibernaculum forlornly return to Tree Haven heartbroken. He was forced to abandon his search. It was a dejected Shade who traveled with the male colony to their roost.

All his life, Griffin had heard about how his father had never given up hope that his brothers were out there. Even though he knew it to be impossible, Griffin had to admit that there was a small part of him that somehow hoped he'd get to meet them someday. Three years had passed since he lost his father, he just had started a family, and his grandparents, thanks to their longevity, had been made chief elders at Tree Haven and Stone Hold. Surprisingly, even though Cassiel was the older of the two, he still wasn't the oldest chief Silverwing elder. That honor, at least according to recent memory, belonged to Frieda, who reigned over the females for the better part of fifteen years before passing away at the ripe old age of twenty.

Now, about ten wingbeats away from the cave mouth, he watched the ebb and flow of the ocean as the dawn chorus broke out. For weeks he'd waited for the messengers to return with news from his mate. "Okay," he muttered to himself, "this is a waiting for messengers to return with news of my family kind of situation. Stop that," he added, shaking his head to clear his thoughts, "you're just worrying yourself. After all, what's the worst that could happen? Well, they could have been intercepted by a Vampyrum. A Vampyrum who knew that they had news about the grandchildren of both the elders and held them captive and threatened them with death unless they agreed to rat us out."

As if on cue, three males came in from the left and banked toward the mouth of Stone Hold. "Rowan, Falstaff! Have you seen Luna?" he called out to them.

"Sorry, no." Falstaff answered as they roosted.

"What about you, Hector?"

"Actually, yes. She's doing well."

"And..?" Griffin asked expectantly.

"She gave birth to triplets. Congratulations, dad." He replied, stifling a yawn.

"Males? Females? How are they? C'mon, tell me." He begged anxiously.

"One male and two healthy females"

"What about the male?"

A worried look crossed Hector's face. "He is quite undersized. I hate to say it, but he may not survive."

"What are their names?"

"The females are named Aurora and Celeste, and the male's Shadow." He added, stifling another, bigger yawn.

Griffin was relieved that Luna had chosen those names, names he had wanted for his children to honor Shade. "Well, what are they like?"

"Oh, will you just shut up already, please?!" Yelled Rowan, as he opened a sleepy eye. "Can't you see we're tired? We need sleep! We just traveled hundreds of thousands of wingbeats!"

"Rowan…" Warned Hector.

"Can't we get just a little shut-eye without being harangued? I mean, honestly-" he continued ranting testily

"ROWAN! ENOUGH!" Grumbling to himself, Rowan finally wrapped his wings around himself and closd his eyes. Turning to Griffin, Hector added, "You'll have to forgive him. I'm sorry, and I hate to be rude, but we are tired, and do need some rest. If you still want, I'll be more than happy to answer all your questions tomorrow night." He added as he closed his eyes for the day.

Of course Falstaff and Rowan wouldn't talk to me about Luna, or anything else, for that matter. We were kits together and they still treat me like dirt. It's not like I returned alive and unharmed from the Underworld. I didn't bring Luna back from the dead or anything. He thought bitterly to himself. Why did I have to be descended from the same bat who survived being lost in a storm, returned to the colony with only a sound map and one other bat for company, figured out about the humans trying to destroy us, rescued hundreds of bats, AND helped fulfill Nocturna's promise? Listen to me. I must be more tired than I thought. Griffin continued as he finally allowed himself from rest.

The next day, Griffin found out all he wanted to know: how big they were, who they looked more like, their traits, etc. He apologized profusely to Hector for hounding him, but the six year-old bat was more than happy to answer any questions the younger one had. "Look, if you… wait." Hector started as he raced after an unsuspecting tiger moth, scooped it up with his tail and swatted it into his mouth. Returning, he stated, "Look, if you want to get to know them, they should be arriving any week now."

"How do you know this?"

"Let's just say that there can be advantages to being deformed and having a roost near the meeting place for the elders." He added with a grin as swiveled his exceptionally large ears.

Weeks came and went, and Griffin grew more and more impatient. Finally, not long before the frost came, he heard the rustling of wings and the voices of bats.

A/N: The females? Or his uncles? You'll have to wait until chapter 3 to find out.