I floated on a thermal thirty feet above it all. I heard their speeches; Jake's, Ax's, Marco's, Cassie's. If I was human I probably would have made a speech as well, but I was a red-tailed hawk. And so I would remain.
Cassie finished her speech in tears. She stepped down, next to Naomi and the rest of Rachel's family - Dan, Jordan and Sara -just as some depressing funeral march started up.
I spilled some air from my wings, swooped down and landed on the handle of the urn that was all that was left of Rachel. I perched there, in silence, for what seemed like an eternity before I started to speak. Private thought-speak, to the ashes contained inside the urn.
Rachel, I love you. I always will. I'm never going to forget you, 'cause, see, the memories are all still inside here. Watching you morph to bald eagle, flying with you on the thermals, us as Hork-Bajir that one time up near the ravine, me wanting so much to defend you from what David had become, listening to you sing 'Happy Birthday' to me, you wanting so much to defend me from crazy Taylor, morphing Deinonychus with you, visiting the Hork-Bajir home world with you, going up Marco's nose with you, it's all still in here and it always will be. It's all in here and now it's all I've got. But it's enough because a single one of those memories is enough to last me a lifetime. A part of me will always be with you, Rachel, and one day I will avenge your death. That is a promise, and I swear to you now I will keep it.
I'm going to stay as I am - a hawk. Don't argue, it's where all the best moments with you lie - the thermals, the wings, the freedom. Now I'll fly solo…goodbye Rachel.
I looked over at Naomi, Will you let me take her?
She nodded, still crying. I looked at Cassie, standing tall next to her. She nodded saying "Yes, Tobias. She would want it."
That was all I needed, their permission, I mean. I closed my talons carefully around the urn's handle and lifted off and caught a thermal up into the evening sky. I took her ashes, all that was left of Rachel, to an oak tree in a meadow that was my new territory. The oak was hollow, you see.
In some ways, because of Rachel, I was still a human inside, but I was a hawk on the outside. And so I would remain.