Chapter 2: Sago's Loss.

Sago, the history instructor hung in her roost, still wide awake even as slight shafts of sunlight filtered into her niche, 10 feet below the grate. She loved to be awake when the sun rose. She would watch the small spot of focused sunlight as it grew in intensity and became brighter and brighter. Mentally she would fly up, through the shaft, out into the sky and simply reflect upon her life. Today she traveled back to when she had been young and pretty, full of life. On this day of the year she had met the bat that she eventually fell in love with and became her mate a few months later. The entire colony had been thrown into an uproar. "Scandalous", the older females had tittered as they watched the two who had become almost inseparable in the months leading to their joining. Sago had laughed it off. She knew that the old ones were really just jealous, angered that they weren't hadn't had whatever quality had made her so desirable.

When the two had first met, she had been amazed at her luck Semri was the kind of bat who was 'gifted with good genes' as some might say. During the mating season he was constantly hounded by females. But he would have none of them, and would politely turn them away. Sago, who had always thought herself to be plain had never taken part in such things, thinking that there was no way in hell that any male, much less Semari would be interested in her. But it was he who sought her out. It went on from there, and the two remained a pair for years. They never had children, as Semari had decided to invest in Sago's dream of acting as history teacher for the colony's youth. But then a sudden illness snatched the very breath from his chest. One day he was alive and laughing, by the last, he was an empty shell, his mind gone. His last words were. "Teach them well." A single tear fell from her eye.

Suddenly she heard a rustle of wings. It was Shiva. This was the third day in a row that she had come to her roost. Sago guessed that something was not right in her home but felt compelled to hold her tongue. The child's eyes were bright and fierce, smoldering, as if a great bonfire burned inside her skull. The child began, "I know it's late but I need to talk to you." Sago sighed. Well a few hours of missed sleep wouldn't kill her. She shifted over on her perch, making room for Shiva to land. Shiva was silent for several seconds, composing what she would say. "I was thinking about yesterday's lesson in the Timestream chamber…" "Did you like it?" Sago interrupted. "Yes. It was a bit vivid perhaps but it got the message across. I doubt that any of your students will forget this one anytime soon." Shiva continued. "I couldn't help thinking about what Shade said. I felt his emotions throughout the presentation. I felt anger and betrayal. Loss. Fear. And I couldn't help but remember what he had said at the end. He cursed the humans. I think his judgment was skewed in this respect." "How?" Sago asked.

Shiva looked into her teacher's eyes. She searched. There was no anger, only genuine curiosity. She had tried talking to some of the other students, which turned out to be an exercise in futility. They all had been influenced by Shade's emotions and by the stories from years back in the nursery roost that most of them became openly hostile at her suggestions. She'd received more than a few cuffs for speaking out. But Sago…she seemed to be less rigid in her thinking than most. "I think that if Shade had been able to communicate with the humans maybe the entire incident could have been avoided. I remember that Shade had mentioned that the promise was a lie- maybe it wasn't. I think that we've allowed our anger to cloud our eyes and have delayed the Promise indefinitely." Shiva's voice faltered as she looked at Sago whose face was unreadable. Finally she spoke. "Who else have you told this?" Shiva felt her stomach drop. Sago's angry with me. "I-I've only told Aries. No one else." Sago suddenly saw the expression of fear on the child's face. Not just fear. It was akin to desperation. Sago breathed in deeply, feeling years of fatigue suddenly catch up to her. "I'm not young any more Shiva. Times have changed.

The colony has become volatile in some respects. The elders are fighting to keep control of the colony's social structure. The youth are fleeing in mating pairs to start other fledgling colonies elsewhere in the city. They are afraid of upstarts like yourself, afraid that your ideas will make the colony disintegrate even further…" She paused and looked at Shiva who's ears were plastered back flat against her head. She began "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" She looked up at Sago who was smiling tiredly. "However I do agree with you." Shiva's eyes filled with gratitude. Sago yawned and stretched. "I'll help you as often as I can; although I may not be able to do much physically, logistically I am without value. If it is possible to make contact, I will be glad to act as a liaison of sorts. But only after I get some sleep. We can talk about this tomorrow."

Shiva dropped from her perch and spiraled down from Sago's roost. She dove down into the colony's main chamber, which was really the lobby and platform area for an ancient subway system that had been used by the humans long ago. The invention of the Maglev train system had changed all that. Now the old system had stripped and than abandoned for nature to retake. Shiva hovered in mid air, considering for a moment. She wasn't going to go back to her parent's roost, as her father's temper had developed a hair trigger as of late. His name was Damoclesm, and he had been part of the Draconian hit squad during one of the wars against the birds so many years ago. Their task was simple, eliminate all of the leaders of the owl army faster than they could be replaced. Once they'd gone after Boreal's advisors, they'd been set up and attacked. Now he was one of the few survivors. He was a large bat, with fearsome claws and teeth like daggers. She dimly remembered a time when he had been a loving caring individual.

Pain had changed that. Along with his memories… Frankly she didn't care. No parent should But she did know of one place she could turn. One person rather. She turned and flew down one of the old subway tunnels, following the dimly glowing emergency lights, trying to keep her eyes open as she went farther and farther in. Finally, at the last section of open track, next to steel blast doors which had been lowered when the station had been shut down she saw what she had been looking for. It was a supply closet , the door of which was partially ajar. She squeezed through the opening and reverted to her echo vision. Inside, behind a collection of mops and buckets, hung Aries. He sighed. "What took you?" Aries shifted over for her to land.

She hung upside down from the perch, shivering as the cold tunnel air stole the heat from her body. "You're cold." Aries remarked. Shiva looked at him, saying nothing. The pair hung from the key hook, conflicting emotions rolling through their minds. Shiva shivered violently once more, her teeth chattering. Aries gently wrapped his wing around her body, closing it tightly. "Thank you." Shiva murmered, relaxing in his embrace. She felt the beat of his heart ratchet up a couple of notches. Still got it. Shemused, unable to keep a smile from creeping across her face.

Shiva felt Aries's heart slow and realized, as his chin settled against her shoulder, that he was asleep. Soon her eyes closed and she fell asleep in his protective embrace. And before her mind completely locked down, she reflected on the fact that she felt safer sleeping with this bat, in a cold subway tunnel than when she was with her parents. "He's just a friend…Just…"