“Bats,” Cerys whispered. She crouched low beside James as she peered up at them.

“By your keen powers of perception,” Ridley said in a hushed voice, “should I suppose that you are used to such creatures or terribly afraid of them?”

“It depends what kind they are,” she replied.

Ridley shook his head and looked around more carefully.

“Bats are Peter’s favorite animal,” Bayani chimed in, keeping his voice soft. “What kind are those ones, Peter?”

Everyone looked at Peter, who scowled at being under so much pressure.

“How should I know what kind it is? We’re not on earth, so these aren’t Earth bats. This is a different world, so all the bat species would have to be different.”

“That’s the most I’ve heard him say yet,” James commented.

“He can get vocal if it’s a topic he’s interested in,” Cerys told him.

“Star bats,” Nashtra said. Then everybody look to him. “Do you see the faint sparkle that they have?”

“Is it bioluminescence?” Cerys asked. She looked to her brother, knowing that he was fascinated by bioluminescence. He only shrugged and looked away.

“I can show you more if I can catch one, Nashtra added. He reached out to one of the sleeping bats with both hands, gently grabbed it, and pulled it down. It squirmed in his hands, shrieking, but he soothed it and rubbed its back gently.

He stepped closer to Peter. “See the way its claws shine? And the webbing seems to sparkle. They like places as dark as they can find, so usually sleeping in trees under the moonlight is not dark enough for their preference.”

Nashtra went on telling Peter about the star bats, until Cerys called out, “It looks like something else caught one of those bats!”