Hidden

A small boy lay on the ground between his parents, staring up at the sky. The little family was just relaxing in the sun, watching the clouds floating by.

"What do you think that cloud looks like, Kane?" the man asked, pointing up at a fluffy cloud.

"A house!" Kane shouted excitedly, "What do you think, mommy?"

"I think you're right," the woman smiled at her husband and son. Kane was a tiny picture of his father, both had short cropped jet black hair, and strong facial features. She was glad Kane wasn't old enough to notice that he looked nothing at all like her.

"What about that one, Kane?" the man pointed to a cloud to the left, "I think it looks like a tree."

"No," Kane looked thoughtful, "maybe a bird?"

"Maybe," the man shot his wife a pointed look, "What do you think Gwen?"

"hmmm... maybe a bird-shaped tree?" Gwen replied and Kane giggled. "Do you agree, Danny?"

"I guess," Danny nodded.

"I want to go above the clouds someday!" Kane said excitedly, "Like a bird!"

"But you don't have wings, you need wings to go above the clouds," Gwen said.

Danny shot her a look that said "why did you say that".

Kane, oblivious to the conversation of his parents, asked, "Can I have wings Daddy?"

"Wings are dangerous," Danny commented, "Kane, why don't you go inside, I think it's about time for your nap."

"Aw, Daddy, do I have to?" Kane bemoaned.

"Yes, and you're getting a haircut after dinner," Danny said. He glanced at Gwen who was making a point to not look at him.

"When you wake up, you can help me make dinner," Gwen commented, "but you need to take a nap now."

Danny watched as Kane slumped his shoulders and walked down the hill to the house. Once Kane was out of earshot, Danny turned to his wife, "Why did you bring up wings?"

"I don't know," Gwen replied, staring intently at the sky.

"And I've noticed you've let his hair get long," Danny commented, "Gwen, what's going on, you know what could happen."

"If he doesn't know, how can it happen?" Gwen repled, "and I meant to cut his hair, I just haven't gotten around to it."

"You don't understand how it works do you?" Danny asked, frusterated.

"How could I, I'm not like you," Gwen argued, "Besides, your hair is significantly longer than Kane's, and you haven't had any problems."

"I'm an adult, Gwen, I've had over 25 years to hone my skills," Danny reached over and touched her shoulder, "Kane has no such benefit, his hair is long enough right now that he could have his first flicker at any time."

"I don't understand," Gwen forced herself to look at Danny, "Don't you have to be taught to change? Sometimes I wish you would talk to me more, there's so much I don't know about you."

"It's too dangerous," Danny said gently, "I don't want you or Kane to get hurt."

"I don't want your protection," Gwen contended, "I want to know you. Tell me about your people, please."

"What do you want to know," Danny asked, resignedly.

"How about things that will help me with Kane," Gwen prompted, "There are so many things he does that you take as normal, but utterly confound me. I took him as my son, I at least deserve to know about him."

Danny lays back and stares at the sky, "I learned of my wings at 4 solstices,"

"You mean two years old, right?" Gwen asked, "that's really young!"

"Not really, the ground clans allow their young to change almost immediatly after birth."

"Wow, so it really is pretty much instinctual," Gwen commented, surprised.

"It is an impulse that we must learn to control, almost like humans and bathroom training. I could glide by age 3, gained nearly full control by age 4, take off from the ground at age 5. I publicly demonstrated my control and joined the clan at the age of six. Babyhood is all about learning control."

"Kane certainly does not have control, he is so impulsive, I don't know how to deal with it."

"Heh," Danny laughed, "Falling four feet out of the sky because you impulsively changed to common form mid-air cures impulsiveness really fast."

"Do you think we should let him learn control the normal way?" Gwen wondered.

"I don't know," Danny sobered, "I don't know what happens to children who grow up without ever changing. It has never happened before that I know. I had hoped that we could raise him like a normal human child, I had hoped that he would never have to know the pain of being different."

"Danny," Gwen touched his face, "we cannot keep Kane hidden forever. Some day he will realize that he is not like the others, it would be better that he finds that out from you than from someone who hates him."

"You are always right," Danny responded, "but, can we keep him innocent of the turmoil for a little longer?"

"Cut his hair before dinner," Gwen smiled, "And tonight, I want to learn everything about your heritige."

"Ok," Danny smiled back. He got to his feet and pulled Gwen to her feet as well. "Shall we head to the house and make sure Kane is actually taking a nap?"

"Sure," Gwen replied, slipping her and into his as the two headed slowly toward the house.

"Daddy! Mommy! Guess what!" a shout eminated from the house.

"I guess he's not sleeping," Gwen commented wryly as they watched Kane emerge from the house.

"Daddy! Mommy! Look what I can do!" Kane shouted.

Danny and Gwen looked on in horror and facination as Kane transformed into Raven form just as a neighbor woman walked up to the gate.

"King save us!" the woman shrieked, "Gwen, I've known you all my life... Oh my..."

Danny and Gwen just stared in shock as the woman ran off down the path. Gwen recovered first, "Well, it's a good thing she's pretty out of shape, it's going to take her a while to tell anyone," she commented wryly.

Kane shook a bit before managing to change back to Common form, he looked up at his parents, and could tell by the look on their faces that their was something wrong, "Did I do bad?"

"No," Danny sighed, as he scooped up Kane, "you did good, lets go inside."

Danny silently to the little boy's room, and placed him on the bed. Stroking the boy's jet black hair, he sighed again, "We're leaving soon, I need you to pick three toys to take with you and put them in your pillow case."

"Ooh, where are we going?" Kane asked, excited as he headed to his toybox to pick out the toys.

Danny shook his head, at least Kane was excited about the change. Danny grabbed the blankets off Kane's bed and dumped all of the boy's clothes in it and stuffed it in the pillow case. He held the case open for Kane to put in the three favored toys. He tied the case off, and handed it to his son. The two headed back out to the front room where Gwen was packing food.

"You two ready to go, Danny?" Gwen asked, tying off the bag of food.

"I know a place we can hide," Danny said, as he picked up the food bag, and watched as Gwen grabbed the bag of bedding. The three of them slipped out of the house, and headed into the woods. Never looking back.

The End.