Chapter 5

Shade's Colony

The dawn chorus was singing in the distance, as Shade escorted his new friend flew through the forest towards his roost. Rachel felt her heart pounding with excitement and yet, a part of her also felt somewhat nervous and a bit little concerned. Will Shade's colony allow her to stay? Will they let her join their migration to Hibernaculum? Or will they reject her to fend for herself in the world? Rachel's mind was overwhelmed with so many questions that she could not even begin to comprehend.

Shade looked over his shoulder to check up on her, and he noticed her puzzling nervous look. He slowed down a little to fly beside her. "Don't worry, Rachel," he said with a reassuring sympathetic smile, "I promise you... everything is going to be alright. My colony will accept you and let you join our migration. Once they've accepted you, we will teach you everything we know and you are gonna have the experience of a lifetime."

"But Shade, how can you be so sure?" Rachel asked him, still nervous, despite his encouragement. "How do you know whether they'll let me stay or leave me in the woods with nothing?" Shade just continued to give her a warm, sympathetic smile."I don't. It's all in a leap of faith." Those words sank into Rachel's heart and she knew right then and there that Shade was right.

Within minutes, they reached a massive hollow oak tree, which Shade and his colony call it Tree Haven. Rachel gasped, her eyes widened in amazement. It was the biggest hollow oak tree that stood on the edge of a small cliff that hovered over a lake. It was the most incredible thing that Rachel had ever seen.

"Wow!" She breathed, followed by an amazed chuckle; her lower jaw dropping a little. Shade couldn't help but snicker at her reaction.

"Welcome to Tree Haven," he announced.

Just in the nick of time, before the sun rose, the two teens landed at the entrance of the hollow oak tree and entered through a tunnel. As they went deeper inside the tree, the young Goldwing was even more amazed of how truly massive Tree Haven looked on the inside. It was a lot bigger and much more hollow on the inside than on the outside... literally. There were so many Silverwings everywhere. Some were roosting and some were flying around.

Shade couldn't help but laugh at her reaction once more. "You should see your face," he smirked. Then she smiled back at him as she simultaneously elbowed him as if telling him to shut up teasingly. But their little friendly teasing moment was immediately cut short after they heard curious muttering from above.

Rachel had never seen so many Silverwings in one place, and they were all in different shades of blue, green, and purple. Shade's colony stared at her and she bit her lower lip a little. Anxious and nervous, she felt the colony gaze. 'Oh boy,' she thought to herself, 'everybody's staring at me. My heart is going to burst! I don't like getting this attention.'

She can hear the Silverwings whispering to each other, most likely wondering who she was. What was she and where she'd come from! They have never seen such a strange-looking, yet majestic young bat like her before. Especially a bat with gold-dusted wings. The pups were rather curious and tried to get a closer look. Their mothers,however, were more guarded, mostly because they were not entirely sure whether or not this strange young bat was a threat. But even they had to admit that they have never seen anything like her before.

"Who is she"

"What sort of bat is she?"

"I don't know."

"Where did she come from?"

"I've never seen her before."

"Look at her wings, they're beautiful."

"Shade, you're home." The two teens looked up and saw two adult Silverings flying towards them. One adult was female. The other was a male.

The adult female had lavender purple fur, velvet purple wings, bright green eyes, and an orange mane that wrapped around her head like a lion's mane. Rachel wasn't entirely sure, but she had to assume that she was Shade's mother.

The adult male had sky blue fur, light yellow eyes, a creamy white mane, navy blue wings matching his goatee, and no head hair. Rachel looked around and saw no other Silverwing males inside Tree Haven, and so she had to imagine that he's a guardian of some sort for the colony.

The adults both landed right by Shade and the female embraced him in a very protective hug, squeezing him tight as any mother would. 'Yep. Definitely Shade's mom.' Rachel thought as she chuckled, finding this moment between a mother and her son to be very sweet.

While Shade was being suffocated by his mother's embrace, the male Silveringwing turned his gaze at the Goldwing, looking surprised like the other Silverwings.

"Thank Nocturna, you're back." Shade's mother breathed. She let go of her embrace but kept holding onto his shoulder as she continued to have a worried look on face. "I was so worried sick about you, Shade. I was just about to send Mercury out to find you and I -" his mother stopped in mid-sentence as her eyes trailed off and gaze at the strange young bat with the gold-dusted wings standing before her. Shade followed his mother's gaze.

"Who is this young lady?" She asked with both concern and curiosity.

Shade hopped over to the Goldwing's side, wrapping his wing around her shoulder as he introduced her to his colony. "Mom, Mercury, I'd like you to meet a new friend I've made while I was out hunting and exploring. This is Rachel."

"Hi," she gave them a friendly hello and waved, still feeling a bit nervous. Mostly due to the fact that she was anxious about her social abilities and meeting new folks.

The adult male, known as Mercury, walked up to Rachel and studied her more closely. Then he sniffed her hair to pick up her scent. "What sort of bat are you?" He asked.

She hesitated a little, trying to find the right words before answering his question. "Oh, well… I uh, I'm-"

"She's a Goldwing," Shade cut in. He then noticed that her left arm was banded. He quickly grabbed Rachel's arm, raising it in the air to show everyone her band. "And look, she's got a band just like Frieda."

Then all of a sudden the entire colony began to mutter in both puzzlement and amazement. Rachel's heart was pounding harder and faster, as she felt her anxiety increasing. 'Shade, what are you doing?' She thought anxiously, still not liking all this attention. Then she quickly made him let go of her arm.

Shade's mother and Mercury both stared at her, surprised and shocked by what they had just heard. Shade, on the other hand, felt a little sheepish about what he just said, starting to wish that he hadn't said that out loud.

"A Goldwing?" Mercury began, stroking his beard in puzzlement. Then he started to circle around Rachel until he was standing right next to Shade and his mother. "I don't think I've ever seen an actual Goldwing before. Nor have I ever heard of one. Have you, Ariel?"

He turned to Shade's mother, who's name was Ariel, but she only shook her head in response; for she was just as puzzled as he was. "No, I haven't." she added. The two adults then turned to Shade with a stern, yet curious expression on their faces. "Where did you find her, Shade?"

"Well, I found her out wondering at a human's campsite and I thou-"

"You went to the human's campsite?!" his mother stricted, grabbing his shoulders. Apparently, she is one of those overprotective mothers. Then Mercury stepped in with concern. "Shade, don't you know that place is dangerous? Not only does a human and her cat camp there every once in a while, but the owls also patrol that area. I should know, I've been there."

Rachel's eyes lit up, finally realizing why Shade got all jumpy back at the campsite. "So that's why you were urging me to come home with you, Shade!" she exclaimed. "Because the owls were patrolling the campsite. You were leading me to safety."

"Is that true, Shade?" his mother asked him, looking stunned. "Is that why you brought her here? So she would be safe?"

"Well… Yeah," he replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm sorry, I didn't have a lot of time to explain."

"It's alright, Shade. You were just looking out for me. In fact, that's the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me." Shade blushed a little, smiling.

Then Ariel stepped in, looking concerned about this Goldwing's well-being. "Young lady," she began, "tell us where you came from and why you two were at the campsite?"

Rachel didn't want her to get mad at Shade even further, so she took a deep breath and decided to come clean, "I'm from the human city, born and raised in human captivity." she answered. "And I left my colony to join another colony on their winter migration."

The Silverwings gasped and muttered, looking shocked. Ariel and Mercury were more surprised to hear that she was from the human city. "You mean, you had never been outside the human world?" Mercury asked, astonishingly. Then Shade stepped in at her defense.

"That's also why I brought her here," the young Silverwing explained, "She's never migrated before, Mercury. She's never had any experience in the Northern forest. This is her first time here."

"That's why I'm here, to gain experience." she added. "I was told to find a colony of Silverwings who live near the campsite, and that's where I met Shade. He told me I can join your migration… if you'll have me."

The two adults looked at each other, and then Mercury stroked his beard while in deep thought. "I'll inform the council of elders about this and see what they think." With that, he spread his wings and took off to the elders' roost.

While waiting for Mercury's return, Ariel walked up to Rachel with concern. "Is it true," she asked, "You have no experience?" Rachel shook her head in response.

Ariel's heart sank with pity for this poor young girl. 'Oh, you poor dear.' She thought. No experience. Nowhere to go. Lost and alone in a world she's not familiar with. She glanced at her son and then back at his new friend. Then, like any other loving mother, she wrapped her right wing around the young Goldwing's shoulder in comfort and gave her a warm sympathetic smile. "Don't you worry, Rachel. Everything is going to be alright. You'll see."

Rachel and Shade gave her a warm smile in return. "Thank you Mrs. Silverwing." said Rachel.

"Please, call me Ariel."

A few moments later, the three bats heard wings flapping, and looked up to see Mercury returning from his meeting with the councils of elders. "Rachel Goldwing," he announced, "I have just spoken with the council of elders. They wish to speak with you now."

She nodded and turned to Shade while she spread her wings. "Alright, let's go Shade." But just as she was about to take off, Mercury stopped her in her tracks. "I'm afraid Shade cannot go with you up there."

"Why not?" she asked him with a puzzling face.

"Only the adults are allowed to go see elders," he informed her. "I'm sorry. But I'll be happy to be by your side while you meet the council."

"Okay," she responded, feeling a little disappointed. Then again, the ways of the Silverwings are a lot different from the ways of her own colony. Plus she was still new to the Northern forest, so she realized, in order for her to migrate in this forest, she will have to honor and respect their ways.

She turned to glance at Shade, looking a little worried what the council of elders might say or think of her. But the young Silverwing only smiled and gave an encouraging gesture to go on and see the council. "You got this, Rachel," he reassured her. "I know you do." She smiled, turned back to face Mercury, and took a deep breath, inhaling her confidence. "I'm ready."

HIYA GUYS!

That's Chapter 5! I hope you are all enjoying this story so far. Now that Rachel has met the Silverwings, she now has to meet... the council of elders. And I think we ALL know what's gonna happen when she does. Hint, hint...

Stay tuned for Chapter 6!