Special Notes: I made a few minor changes to the first part of the story, but enough that it slightly changes it. So I posted both part 1 and part 2 here. If you don't want to read part 1 again, just scroll down to where you left off and start reading part 2. The working book is also located at http://www.wattpad.com/user/Wolfshire I may not post every part here or even in order, so the link above is an option if you want it. The book above is going to be the official book, when it's done. So, you can follow the book in the correct order as it is written. Weird, but I've discovered that the way I've been posting here, as I write the story, is a huge trend of how books are being written now. I guess people want to watch the book being written instead of waiting a year or more to see their favorite stories. Also, I've listened to everyone's advice and I get it, so I'll keep posting that little mischief maker, Zam. Chapter 1 - Cody [Planet Dara Major] The boy's perception of the world was limited to what he could immediately touch, taste, hear, smell, or see, and sight was limited to what he could understand. Dart ships moved past them, just above the level of the street, and left gusts of warm air pushing against his face as he was pulled along by the woman. The ships moving through the busy city really meant nothing to the boy, they were just another frightening object that invaded his small world. He was four years old. The boy ran to keep from falling, though he had done that several times already. The woman pulled at his arm to lift him up each time he fell. She was agitated, more than usual. He had learned to know when she was mad and would stay in the small room that was his sanctuary and play with his toys. The woman always seemed to be mad and he didn't know what he was doing wrong to make her mad all the time. He would play with his toys and wait until he thought the woman wasn't mad any longer, then inch his way out to the kitchen where she would be sitting at the table they ate their meals at and lay his head in her lap. "It's not your fault," she would say and give him a hug and the world was right again for a short time. The world never stayed right for very long and the woman would be mad again and he would wait in his room and play with his toys. This time the woman didn't hug him when he put his head in her lap. Instead, she threw a pile of paper and envelopes on the floor and got up to pace back and forth in the kitchen. The boy waited under the table, sitting and watching the woman. Something was different this time and he didn't know what to do. The woman was crying and talking to herself about things the boy couldn't understand. The woman reached a decision and pulled him out from under the table. She put his shoes on and tied them, and then his coat, and grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the door. She placed her hand on the doorknob and paused for a moment. "You stay right here," the woman instructed him and went down the hall to his room and returned a moment later. She pushed his favorite stuffed toy into his arms and opened the door. He held tightly to his treasured stuffed animal, an old ragged stuffed eagle the woman had gotten him from a second-hand store. The boy would hold the eagle's wings out and run around the room making cawing sounds, but now he just held on to his dearest toy. Something wasn't right, he sensed it. The woman tugged at his arm and he ran to keep up with her pace. The woman pulled him along streets he had never seen before. She would often take him with her to the store to get the food she would make for dinner, but this wasn't the way they would usually walk. The boy didn't know where they were. His legs were tired and he was afraid he would fall down again when she finally stopped at a corner. He thought they were waiting to go across the street. The traffic was heavy and ground cars moved beneath the air cars that crowded the skies above. The boy wondered why the cars in the sky didn't fall down. The woman knelt in front of him, she was crying. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she said. "It wasn't suppose to be like this, he died and there is no money, I'm sorry.” The woman hugged him and adjusted his coat, zipping it up and pulling the collar further up around his neck. She pulled his arms tight around his stuffed toy and looked him in the eyes. "You stay right here," she said. "Do you understand? Do not move from this spot, someone will help you." The boy was crying but didn't know why, only because she was crying. He nodded and she stood up and without looking at him again she walked away and disappeared around the corner of a building. He stood there and didn't move. He was crying and waited but she didn't come back. Where did the woman go? What did he do wrong? The people walking by stared at him and everyone was a blur through the tears in his eyes. He waited. Another woman knelt down and tried to talk to him, then another woman and then a man. A crowd was gathering around him. He didn't know what to say, he was just supposed to wait here and not move. The boy was afraid now, so many people were standing around him trying to get him to talk. The crowd parted and a tall man, dressed different from the others stopped in front of him and looked down at him, it was a policeman. The boy didn't know how he knew it was a policeman, it was just one of those things you knew. A car pulled up next to him, it was different than all the other cars and there were lights flashing on top of it. The policeman grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the car with the flashing lights. He tried to fight back, he wasn't supposed to move. The woman wouldn't be able to find him if he moved. The policeman was too strong and dragged him to the flashing car, he dropped his stuffed animal and tried to pick it up but the policeman hadn't noticed and pulled him away. He was trying to tell the policeman that he dropped his toy but the policeman ignored him and pushed him into the car. A man and a little girl, standing in the crowd, were watching the boy being taken away. The little girl pulled away from the man holding her hand and ran over to the dropped stuffed toy. She grabbed the stuffed animal and ran to the policeman and tugged on his leg. The policeman stopped and looked down at the little girl. She handed the stuffed toy eagle to the boy who took it and hugged it tightly. "Come Cassi," said a man. "It's time to go." The man that had been holding the little girl's hand picked her up, turned and walked away. The boy watched the little girl being carried by the man, she waved at the boy from the man’s shoulder, and then was gone. The policeman closed the door and he curled up on the seat crying softly into his stuffed toy. "What are we going to do with him?" the Officer driving the car asked his partner. "I heard that House Sparrow has orphanages for their homeless children," replied the Officer in the passenger seat. He glanced at the boy crying into the stuffed animal in the back seat of the police ground car. "You know we can't cross House boundaries, Lord Hawk would have us skinned if he found out we took someone out of the territory." "Maybe we can just drop him off at the border and let him wander into Sparrow Provence." The Officer driving the car flipped the emergency lights on to hurry a cargo ship blocking the road. The ship's cargo chief was on the ground directing a crew off-loading some crates. At the sight of the police flashing lights, the cargo chief made a rude gesture and shouted an insult at the police suggesting that the Officer's ancestors were flightless mammals. The Officer had heard the insult before and always thought it didn't make much sense. The Daraians weren't mammals, but they were flightless nonetheless, having lost their wings through evolution hundreds of thousands of years ago. "Just take a different road," his partner suggested. "It isn't as if we know where we are going to take this little bird." "I have an idea. The Priestesses at the temple have been taking orphans in, let’s take him there." The Officer turned the vehicle around and accelerated down a side street, narrowly missing several people. The pedestrians jumped out of the way but didn't have the same courage as a cargo jockey to insult the passing police car. It was never a good idea to press your luck with a Hawk Provence police or you might find yourself on a transport to a ten-year sentence on a mining colony. "I want to go home," a small voice said. The Officer looked over his shoulder. "Well now, the little bird can chirp, where's your mother, boy?" asked the Officer. "She said to not move," the boy said. "She went somewhere." "Yep, that's what I thought," said the Officer. "You've been abandoned and the sooner you figure that out the better." "You're a natural with children, I can't understand why you don't have any." "He's just lucky I don't put him on a transport to a mining colony." A large angular building loomed ahead and the Officer turned in to the driveway leading up to the building. They passed gates with ornate iron statues of two birds of prey looking down in judgment on any who entered. "He can't be more than four or five years old," said the driver. "Give the poor kid a break, he just lost his whole world." The Officer pulled up to the entrance of the temple, got out and opened the back-seat door. "Come on kid, time to find you a new home." The boy climbed out of the car, his stuffed toy eagle clutched in his arms. The Officer took the boy's hand and led him up the stairs to the temple. Worn statues of more birds of prey with sightless eyes stared into the distance. "Do they frighten you, boy?" asked the Officer. The boy shook his head, "No, they are sleeping." The Officer had never heard anyone say that before, most people were afraid of the Temple's guardians. They reached the top stair just as the door opened and a Priestess emerged, her robes flowing like feathers over her slight frame. The Officer was much larger than this Priestess, but she struck a chord of irrational fear through him. The power she possessed rippled on the air and spoke of ancient knowledge that defied all the technological advances of the Daraian race. "Have you found another lost bird, my son?" said the Priestess. The Officer dropped his eyes, "Yes, Priestess." The Priestess dropped down to a knee and looked the boy in the eyes. He was large for his age, sandy hair, and deep brown eyes. That's odd, thought the Priestess, such light hair on a Daraian. She looked up at the Officer who was trying to look anywhere else but at the Priestess. "I suspect that he is not full Daraian," said the Priestess. "Though, he doesn't have the features of any of the other Major Worlds, perhaps one of the Minor Worlds that I am not familiar with." The Officer couldn't imagine there being something the Priestess didn't know, but he just grunted and accepted what she said. The Priestess looked at the boy's stuffed toy, an eagle, that too is unusual, most of the children preferred a toy of their House Bird, there was no House Eagle on Dara. The Eagle was considered the most sacred of birds and no one had dared to take the name of Eagle. She smiled at the boy. "Is your eagle hungry?" The boy's eyes lit up and he nodded eagerly. "Oh, yes please, he is very hungry." The Priestess stood and offered her hand to the boy. He looked at the hand for a moment and then placed his small hand in hers. "What is your name?" asked the Priestess. "Cody," the boy replied. She led him to the door where she paused for a moment and looked back at the Officer still standing on the top step. "I expect to see you on worship day," she ordered. "Yes, Priestess," the Officer mumbled.