7
"Sylph!" shouted Dusk, "I did it! I did it!"
"Slow down, Dusk," said his sister, "What are you blabbering about?"
"The Regiment! I've gotten in!"
"You got into the Tree Bark Regiment? How?"
"Their leader, Shadow, over heard some of the colony talking about how I helped bring them here. He thought my special abilities could help the regiment!"
"Too bad," Sylph turned away, "I don't trust them."
"What?" Dusk was stunned. He thought the regiment members were great.
"Look how they treated our brother! I know he made a few mistakes, but Shadow almost broke his neck!"
"Because they almost got killed by birds!"
"Whatever. Do what you like, but I still don't trust them."
Later in the day, a regiment member came to Dusk. He was much bigger than any other chiropter he'd ever seen and towered over him.
"You the new recruit?" he asked.
"Yes," said Dusk, looking up.
"Name's Tark. Shadow assigned me to you. He wants to make sure that you know all about the regiment. A member's no good if they don't know how to make a helmet," Tark tapped the nutshell on his head, "Come."
He led Dusk to the lower parts of the tree where the Tree Bark Regiment dwelled.
"Look," said one the members, "It's the new guy. Shadow says he might be able to help us out a lot!"
Dusk felt pride swell up in him. He barely knew this chiropter, but he had already heard of him apparently. So had many others, he learned moments later.
There was a lot of chattering around Dusk.
"Ignore them," said Tark, "They haven't seen a new member for a while."
Tark took Dusk lower in the tree. Finally, they stopped by a very small chiropter, barely older than a newborn. Seeing him and Tark together was like seeing a pebble and a boulder next to each other.
"This is Grif," said Tark, "He is our second newest member, our medic, and our helmet builder. He will help you build a helmet."
He left and Dusk was alone with Grif.
"Hello," said Grif, "Grab a shell."
Dusk turned to the side, where stacks of nutshells were placed by size.
"Which one?" he asked.
"Whichever one fits you,' said Grif, "I recommend the second stack."
Dusk pulled one of the shells out of the stack and placed it on his head. It fit comfortably.
"Bring it over," instructed Grif.
He pulled out a shell filled with sticky tree sap and put a stick in it.
"Use the stick to apply the sap to the helmet to keep the thorns in place."
Dusk used his sails to hold the stick and placed tree sap in areas where he thought thorns might be placed.
"Good," said Grif, "Now place the thorns."
He put another shell out, this one filled with thorns.
Dusk put thorns on the areas where he had put sap. When he was done, Grif took the helmet.
"Very good," he said, "Now for the final step. I'll do it."
Grif took a thorn and started stabbing the sides on the helmet with it. Once he got two holes opposite of each other, he strung a strong, thin vine through them for a strap to keep the helmet on.
"Congratulations," said Grif, "Your helmet is finished. Go speak with Tark. He's a few branches above us."
Dusk put on his new helmet, feeling more excitement than ever.