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it?”
    “I can’t believe this is the right ending.”
    “Shade, everything fits. The light of day, free from owls, the Humans helping us. The whole Promise.”
    “I know, I know,” he said testily. He’d thought it throughhimself, over and over, like chewing on a stone until it had worn away to dust, to nothing. “But even the sun’s not the same. It’s brighter than this. You saw it with me, you remember.”
    “It was too painful to look at outside. This way we get to enjoy it. Shade, why would the Humans go to all the trouble of making this place for us?”
    “Come on,” said Shade, “I’ll show you something else I found.”
    He led her skimming over the treetops, and realized he felt happy for the first time in nights. He was so glad just to have her beside him, all to himself, the way it used to be, traveling somewhere together. The journey didn’t last long, though. The forest, he’d realized when he’d first explored, was extremely long, but relatively narrow. Set into the cliff face, above the tree line, was a long window.
    And behind the window were the Humans.
    Shade roosted with Marina, just above the window so they could hang down and take a good look inside. There were five Humans: two standing, the others sitting. All of them wore white robes. Beyond the glass, they were only a few wingbeats away. He remembered seeing Humans, long ago, in the city cathedral, praying. He’d admired them so much, their size, their power. Here they seemed even more formidable.
    The room was quite dark, and light washed over their faces and bodies from various gleaming metal surfaces. A couple were speaking to each other; Shade could see their mouths move. Even if he could hear them, their words would be meaningless to him. The others were looking out the window. Shade knew that from their high vantage point, most of the forest was within sight.
    “They watch us,” said Shade. “Maybe they study us.”
    “Maybe,” said Marina, noncommittal. “So what?”
    “That’s the Man.”
    He jerked his head at the Human Male standing in the centre of the room, tapping at some kind of machine. He was tall and gangly, with an untidy black beard, and one eye that always seemed half-closed.
    “What do you mean, ‘the Man’?” Marina was saying.
    “Remember Goth telling us about him? When he and Throbb were in the fake jungle? He said there was a Man who watched them all the time and flashed lights in their eyes and stuck them with darts.”
    “You don’t know it’s the same one.”
    “No, but—”
    “Okay, let’s say he is. Any Human who tries to capture Goth and keep him locked up sounds good to me.”
    “They’re keeping us locked up, Marina.” She was silent for a moment, and when she spoke, her voice was impatient. “Why do you even bother thinking about Goth? He was a liar; he wanted to destroy us and your whole colony. For all we know, he made the whole thing up. Maybe there was no fake jungle, no Man.”
    “Goth and Throbb were banded too. And the Humans came looking for them in their flying machine. I almost got hit by one of their darts, remember?”
    “Of course I remember,” she said, annoyed. She sighed. “They’re not flashing lights in our faces, or sticking us with darts. Arcadia’s been here two months, and nothing bad’s happened to her. Everyone seems pretty happy, don’t you think?”
    “Very happy,” he muttered. He looked at her intently. “Don’t you feel like a prisoner at all?”
    “You’re so suspicious! Isn’t it enough they’ve made this place for us?”
    He felt ungrateful, but he couldn’t help himself. “No, it’s not. I want to know
why
they’ve done it.”
    “How’s that going to happen? You want them to walk through that glass wall and talk to you?”
    “That would be nice,” Shade shot back. “If they’re so smart, why don’t they explain everything to us, once and for all. For all we know, maybe they’re just collecting us. Maybe they want