CHAPTER 2

NOA - Winter 2332

When his mother had declared the boy stable, he'd taken what she handed him from the boys belongings.

It had been a small device, and very unusual. So for fear of escalating the situation further, he'd taken it outside the village. Ignoring the many questions thrown his way - he'd suffered enough of them from Soona and Dar as it was. He needed more information before they spoke further, and something told him this held the answers.

Atop a smaller hill, Noa sat and played with the small device for several moments. Until he found a small crevice in it. His fingers stroked it firmly for a moment until he had squeezed it and a voice echoed through the valley. "Hello, Noa."

Noa dropped the device and leapt back. Mae? It couldn't be! He stared down upon the device, fear rising in his chest. What on Earth? "If you've gotten this. It means I'm dead," Her voice echoed out of the small device. "What you have here is called a tape recorder. I'm leaving it as a warning to you. And hopefully... Ben got to you safely."

Noa stood there for a moment, and with great hesitation re-approached the tape recorder. Ben, so the boy was named Ben. He crouched to the ground and held up the device with a shaky paw. "I don't know where to begin. I know you have no reason to trust me. And after all that's transpired in my time away, I don't blame you." Mae paused. "But I have made a horrible mistake."

Again, the master of birds sat on the hill. He didn't trust Mae, but something in her voice told him to listen. "Shortly after I left. My people made contact with more humans - from a far away place called Fort Wayne," Her voice cracked. "When they came to us, we believed it to be in peace. The leader's wife was pregnant and he spoke of a new union between us. He brought promises of peace and even a safe sanctuary far from the apes."

Noa tensed, already having some idea where this was going. "It didn't take him long to turn. He raided our settlement... Killed so many. Intending to take our "book" and make contact with others like him. People who want to seize power and make our world worse," Noa's brow furrowed. "We destroyed it to prevent that. But he spent the last five years trying to get communication back online. He worked us like slaves to do it... Killed his own wife for defying him."

The chimp's eyes closed, such senseless violence. The type of violence that reminded him of Proximus Caesar in the worst way. "I will be a slave to no man. So I'm taking his son, Ben. And I'm rigging a bomb today," She paused. "I hope I take as many of the bastards with me as I can and that I can tell you all of this myself..."

Her voice cracked again, as if she had known it to be a suicide mission. Noa looked to the stars deep in thought. In the end, he had been right and wrong about Mae, hadn't he? She served her own self but in the end... She'd done the right thing. Known when her species had done wrong.

Perhaps he played some part in that.

"But if not, I'm going to leave this with Ben. I know you don't trust humans. I'm not sure after all of this I do either," Mae admitted quietly. "But I've told him about you. He knows you're a good person, just like I do... Please, get him somewhere safe. Away from that barbarian who calls himself his father. He deserves better than this hellhole."

There was a pregnant silence for what seemed like an eternity then. But when Mae spoke again, it was the words he'd hoped to hear nearly five years ago. "I'm so sorry, Noa, for everything. If I had just read the signs before..." She choked. "You were right, you were always right."

And with a soft click, her message ended. Leaving Noa in complete silence to intake what he'd learned. Mae was dead, having tried to prevent horrible humans from gaining power. That much he knew, or she'd have been with the boy.

The boy...

On one hand, Noa knew the trouble that came with him. But if he had been wounded in such a way, no doubt by the humans of this "Fort Wayne", they thought him dead. They'd left him to die. Which meant they had no reason to believe Ben was alive and with the Eagle Clan. What's more, if they hadn't already attacked it was clear Mae hadn't told as soul about Eagle Clan.

A paw rested on his shoulder, as he turned to find Soona had followed him. He should have known, stubborn as she was that she'd want to know just as much. "Moses?"

"With your mother," Soona grunted. "Do you believe her?"

Noa was silent as he looked down at the tape recorder. It was several moments before he answered his wife. "I do," He managed. "Which leaves what to do."

Soona looked silently at her mate for a moment. Before making motions with her arms. "He is so little. He will not survive on his own," Soona explained in all honesty. "And who knows how long it would take to find other humans..."

"Smart humans."

Soona nodded her head in agreement as Noa continued to look to the stars. "He will heal here," Noa replied. "We can decide what to do after."

Soona nodded, though she didn't seem too fond of the idea. Humans had been nothing but trouble, and the last one they trusted... Well, Noa tried to remind himself this was a toddler. Mae had been young, but at least twenty - maybe a little younger. "As long as Fort Wayne stays far away," Soona asserted. "I will not risk my family again."

Noa gently rested his forehead against hers. Eyes filled with reassurance he wasn't even sure he should give. "We will be fine, my love," He managed. "We will figure this out."

He had no idea just how hard the road ahead would be.

ELIJAH - Winter 2342

"Happy Birthday!"

Eli groaned as Moses leapt on top of his sleeping form that morning. Of course, the ten year old was up this early - just as the sun was rising in the sky. Eli hardly counted himself as a morning person, but he still gave a small smirk as his little brother stood over him. "Mo, no offense but you weigh a ton," Eli told him as he hopped down. "Thanks though."

The young chimp gave a small look at his stomach. "Are you calling me fat?" He teased. "I'm telling mom!"

Eli rolled his eyes as he carefully removed his fur tunic from a nearby hook. Pulling it over him and sticking his tongue out. "Getting mom to fight your battles for you?" He teased back. "Come on, bro."

"Boys!" Soona's voice interrupted from the doorway. "No squabbling. You'll be late to lessons this morning."

Oh right, "lessons", even on his birthday he couldn't get out of the ape equivalent to school. Eli stepped over to his mother and gave her a customary forehead touch before replying. "Sorry, mom. Late night," He admitted with a small smile. "Is dad upset?"

"Hardly," Soona replied gently. "Happy birthday, Eli."

Eli smiled, Soona had taken longer to warm up to him for good reason. But after they'd gotten past their initial differences, he'd found that he couldn't have asked for a kinder - or fiercer - mother. "Hey mom! Since it's Eli's birthday do you think dad would take us to see the eagle nests?" Mo piped up from behind him. "I'm finally old enough to make the climb!"

Eli chuckled at his brother's enthusiasm. They were both still several years from their bonding ceremony, but he understood his feelings. Their own father had climbed higher than any ape before him - and any ape still. Which meant that he could take them places few apes, let alone humans saw.

Noa had taken him when he was about Mo's age for his first excursion to the Eagle nests. As a human he wasn't as good a climber so they'd had to find a creative way up. But he remembered fondly what a sight to behold it had been."Maybe we should ask what your brother wants to do," Soona offered. "It's his day after all."

Oh lord. Eli hadn't even thought about how he wanted to spend his birthday. The apes didn't spend them with cake and parties like most humans did. Usually they were more small, intimate affairs in the family. But he did always get a gift, a custom they had adopted from humans long before the Simian Flu.

As they descended the staircase he let his mind wander. "I think dad should take you by yourself your first time. Or mom," Eli admitted. "It's a special moment. I already experienced my first climb."

Mo looked at him with an eye roll, taking an apple from a nearby basket. "Fine, I'll ask him later," he replied. "So what do you want to do then? C'mon! Make it something fun."

Eli took an apple as well and contemplated several minutes before biting into it. "Mom, do you think dad would take us hunting?" That made Mo's eyes widen in excitement. "I know Mo's a little young. But I'm fifteen now."

His mother looked over from her work on a small piece of fabric thoughtfully. "You know how your father feels about you traveling too far into the woods," She explained, not for the first time. "You're only fifteen today. Don't rush to grow up so fast."

It was fair, given how Eli had come to be with him. When the Eagle Clan had gone deeper into the woods following everything, they'd found bands of wild "Echoes" lived and roamed. While they seemed to be of the sub-human variety, there always remained the fear some could be simply hiding it like Mae had.

Eli hadn't forgotten that he'd come here to get away from a tyrant - his own father. And if word got out that he was living in the Eagle Clan they often worried it could land the man at their doorstep. "But I do want to learn, mom," He explained. "One day I'll be an adult - I'll have my bonding. I'll need to know how to hunt."

Soona looked at him with soft eyes and patted his chest. "And you will, when your father thinks you're ready," She explained. "Now go along now, your lessons will start any minute."

Right, when he was ready. How many times had he heard that before? And yet, he simply followed the bouncing step of his little brother out the door and pushed it aside for the moment. "Hey Eli!" He found his thoughts interrupted by a male voice. "Wait up! We can walk together!"

His friend, Knox, was a tall and slender chimp about his age. From what he understood, Noa and Knox's brother, Anaya, had been childhood friends. So when he had first come to the colony, Knox had been quick to welcome a playmate his age and befriend him. Eli was always thankful for his kindness, especially in those formative years.

"Morning Knox," He pointed out as he slowed to a stroll beside him. "I see you're running late too."

A small snort erupted from the teenage ape. "Of course! Lessons are so boring anyway," He admitted rather bluntly. "You know my brother says they didn't even put much pressure into it until that whole Proximus incident? In his day, most apes didn't learn history."

Eli laughed lightly. "You can thank my dad for that. He met an ape named Raka who convinced him we needed an "education"," He explained honestly. "Besides I think it's interesting. The stories of Constantine the First, how we tamed the first Eagles."

"Nerd."

Eli elbowed his friend lightly as they laughed and made their way toward the council hut. It was there that their lessons took place with his grandmother, Dar. She was getting up there in her years, but to Eli she was a sight to behold. As formidable as her former mate and extremely knowledgeable. It was an irony that he was the least close with her as far as his family was concerned.

But he understood her reasoning to some degree. Mae's actions has killed her husband, and nearly wiped out their clan. She had lost so much in that year before he was born that the fact she accepted him as her kin at all was a blessing. But he knew that while she'd never admit it, she held some unrest in her heart about Eli - it was the way she looked at him when she thought his back was turned that told him that.

"Oh! Happy birthday by the way," Knox finally noted as they entered and took their seats near the back. "What did they get you?"

Eli shrugged and was about to answer when Dar entered, now aided with a cane. The group of young chimpanzees straightened a moment as she commanded their attention. A warm smile on her face as they always was. "Welcome back," She noted. "I hope this winter season has treated you all well. Today, I have been instructed to teach you all of the history of "Echoes"."

Eli straightened again as every eye in the room turned to him. While Eli was technically human, he was regarded legally - by Eagle Clan law as an ape. But it didn't make the topic of his species any less awkward. "I don't know what you're all staring at. Elijah is not an Echo," She explained cooly. "Echo, we use to refer to a more feral creature. Elijah, biologically is a human. A more developed and intelligent form once believed extinct."

A small chimp girl in the front raised her paw. "But Ms. Dar. My daddy says humans are extinct," She explained. "No one's seen one who talks since Eli came."

It was true. It had been ten years since then, and when Eli had left his human group it was on the verge of crumbling. With little to no evidence of other baseline humans, Eli could very well be the last. A feeling which made his stomach sink. Dar's look of empathy did not go unnoticed, but Eli knew he couldn't hide the fact that it was true. No matter how hard he tried.

She decidedly replied: "We will talk about the humans at a later date, Stella. Today, we're learning about Echoes," She pointed out. "Now, who can tell me when the first Echo was spotted in our boarders?"

Eli hoped that was the last of it.

"Your grandmother says she worried about you after your lesson today."

Noa usually came to pick them up from them, or so Eli found. But it was unusual for him to send Mo off ahead while the two of them talked privately as he did. He shrugged his shoulders with a small intake of breath. "It's nothing. I know she didn't mean anything," he pointed out. "The little ones need to learn about Echoes. It's important to understand."

"You know that's not what I meant."

Eli did know, but he also didn't want to worry his parents. Yet he could see the concern in Noa's eyes as he waited for an answer. "I've faced that kind of stuff all my life, dad," he explained. "I made peace with being different a long time ago."

Noa nodded his head, but the concern in his eyes didn't die out. "Still, you shouldn't have to feel different," He explained. "You've been here nearly all your life."

It was true, after all, Eli had come to them as "Ben" at five years old. He barely remembered his life before Eagle Clan with the exception of that horrible night. But it didn't change that he looked different, he couldn't climb as high, or run as fast as his peers. And god knew he wasn't nearly as strong.

He may have had the heart of an ape, but he was still a human. "I'll always be different, I won't ever be Mo."

Noa gripped his eldest son's shoulder tightly, and with a look of fire in his eyes. Corrected him. "You are as important to us as Moses," His voice was firm. "You are our son. Human, ape, it does not matter."

Eli did have an honest question in response. "Then why can't I hunt like other apes my age?" He asked. "Or go out to the boundary lines with my friends?"

The Eagle Clan leader's brow furrowed at his question. His eyes betrayed a certain pain that obviously still existed in his subconscious. "It's too close to where we found you. If humans found you, if they found you..." Noa's voice trailed. "I would never be able to live with myself."

And Eli knew that was true. Noa's family was everything to him - and he hoped he was included in that. After a moment, however, his father spoke again. "But you are right. You are fifteen now. Old enough to learn," He explained. "We would not go far. But if you really wish to learn to hunt, I will take you."

The teen beamed with excitement at his words. "Really? But mom -."

"Will know you'll be safe with me," He explained. "Nowhere near the danger zones."

Ok, now they were talking. The boy rubbed his hands together in anticipation. But also knew he'd have to wait, which he was fine with. As they continued their walk, however, Eli did have one thought. "Hey dad?" Noa peered over at him. "If no one's seen a human since I showed up why are you and mom so afraid of them spotting me?"

Noa looked as though he didn't want to answer his questions. Had he touched a nerve? Or had they been keeping things from him and the other children? Noa motioned for him to follow him and they took a path to the side of their home. With only a nod from Noa to instruct Mo to go inside. No doubt this was a talk that the ape wanted to have with his eldest son alone.

They trudged up the path a short distance until they came upon the same hill Noa had come to ten years ago. "Eli, tell me. What do you see?"

Eli scanned the area, but could only see uncharted forest. As far as the eyes could see. "... Forest?" He asked curiously.

Noa nodded. "Lots of forest, even further than any of our clan has traveled," Noa explained. "Just because we haven't seen a human who can talk doesn't mean they aren't out there. Hiding."

He paused before noting. "I needn't tell you how dangerous a place the world can be. When you came to us you'd been "shot" by your own kind," He pointed out. "I keep you and your brother here and safe for a reason. I want you to grow to adulthood. There will be plenty of time to see the outside when you are older. For now, it is safer with the clan. In the territory we know."

Eli nodded his head, at least somewhat understanding. He knew that Noa did travel outside the territory, it was no longer forbidden these days. But he only knew of the adult apes or the young adults doing it. And perhaps there was a reason for that.

Even Noa had never seen the outside world until he was eighteen, on the eve of his bonding day.

Eli had, but he'd been so young he only remembered flashes. And what he did remember wasn't good - it was awful. "Do you think when I get out there, there'll be more people like me?" He asked honestly. "Good people. Not one's like... Adam."

Adam was his biological father, but he would never call him his dad. He had only one dad as far as he was concerned, and he stood beside him right now. Noa's answer was equally honest. "I don't know," Noa replied. "I have only ever known you and Mae. But I would hope some survived..."

"Yeah, me too."

They stood there silently again for several moments until Noa patted his back. "Come now. We should get home," He explained. "You still have not received your gift."

As Noa turned to leave, Eli watched the forest for just a moment longer. His own questions still ringing in his head.

A/N: Woo, long chapter I know. The chapters in this are liable to be long. I plan to do longer ones set in the past too - I suppose it will flip flop between what snapshots/moments/events are most important. But I wanted to establish the "Echo" vs "Human" mentality especially here. Hope you're all enjoying!