Confusion is the only word that described how Shade felt. Mating with Marina, my closest friend and now mate. When they were just friends, Shade felt very close to Marina, they'd faced death together, discovered the truth about the bands, and most recently, saved the sun. Shade never thought he would mate with Marina, and the thought sort of disturbed him. Although, ever since he had woken up from his early hibernation, Shade couldn't help but notice a new king of attraction to her, an attraction he couldn't really explain. He liked the unexplained feeling, but every time he thought of the word " friendship", his liking quickly turned to uncomfortableness.
However, he was pretty fortunate that he got Marina, it seemed many of the young Silverwing males found Marina to be a very attractive young bat, and competition for her attention was often. All the attention she got from everyone did make him jealous, and Shade thought he had almost complety lost her attention.
But now he would be getting a lot of attention from her, more than any bat would get from her. Shade couldn't help smiling over that thought.
He also had to admit that Marina was indeed a very fine young bat, she had an amazing body, and fur so luxurious and warm. Shade did indeed have himself a very attractive mate. But, attractive or not, he still couldn't see himself mating with her. After all, mating was something that seemed all mated couples always looked forward to, it was like the ultimate moment of love and romance expressed to each other. The feeling of mating was also a very pleasurable one. So, why couldn't Shade accept that and look forward to it. He hoped it would all come together in time.
"There you are!" Shade looked up to see his father Cassiel flying down to greet him. "Your mother told me of your opportunity to tell your big story in the echo chamber, quite an honor, especially for a young bat."
"Yeah it is, I might just be one of the most famous Silverwings to ever live." Shade said.
"Maybe." His father replied, and then he playfully nudged him, "I also hear you have got yourself a very fine young mate. I told you Marina was smart enough to choose you as her mate."
"Yeah, pretty amazing isn't it?" Shade said, trying to sound positive.
"Your mother and I are very proud of… well, you don't sound very positive son. When Ariel asked me to be her mate I was so overjoyed I could have flown across the entire world." Cassiel said smiling. Then he put his mouth close to Shade's ear. "And believe it or not, your mother wasn't half bad herself, she had looks that kill!" "Still does!"
Shade smiled a bit, "Yeah, Marina's pretty fine. Hey dad, did you enjoy…mating with mom?"
Cassiel stared at first, then smiled, "Well, I don't think I can really go into detail, but it was special, and believe me, if you're nervous like I was, you have nothing to worry about, I enjoyed every moment of it."
"Yeah but if mom was your friend, weren't you at all kind off disturbed by the thought.
"Off course I was, but I loved your mother, and since me being a very foolish bat, I didn't want to do anything foolish to hurt our relationship, so I just played along with it. And I think your mother was a little scared too." But in time, it passes." Cassiel said.
"Well, I hope so." Shade said.
"Don't worry, it will." Well, I better get back to my roost, got to get plenty of sleep for tomorrow."
"Yeah, me too, Marina waiting for me at our roost."
As Shade approached Marina and his roost he could see Marina there. She smiled at him, "There you are, and I just finished our roost."
"Great." Shade replied.
"Are you ok, you seemed a bit crazed out back there?" Marina asked.
"Yeah, I'm alright, I just need to get some rest"
"Yeah, me too." Marina said as she wrapped her wings around him, pressing her body onto his.
Shade wrapped himself around her," Sleep well Marina."
"Sleep well…honey." Marina said giggly.
End of part 2