Author's Note: This is my second time around writing offspring for Andros and Ashley. Shadahw is not the young woman in "Child of Space", but an entirely new character who just kinda dropped into one of my "Opposites Attract" fics. This is a revision of the original, which had a little too much tell and not enough show.

Shadahw's Tale
by Selma McCrory
Copyright 1999

He was sitting on a concrete ledge at the back of the building, hunched over as if to hide the fact he was crying.

Shadahw slipped next to him, and he looked rather embarrassed, at the same time trying to hide his tears. She stuck out her hand. "Hi, I'm Shadahw Hammond."

"Mark Harris. You know, you're the first person I've met who had a last name."

"They're not much needed here," Shadahw replied. "The only reason I have one is that my mom's from Earth."

"Is that why they sent you to find me?" Mark said. "Because they figured I'd talk to you?"

"I sent *myself*," Shadahw said. "I didn't have a chance to go to Earth this year. It's good to talk to another Terran."

"Didn't go to Earth this year?" Mark echoed. "What do you mean?"

"Every summer - that's Earth's summer, not here - Mom and Dad always toom me and my brother to Earth. Mom wanted to make sure we were always in touch with her part of our heritage. But just before I left last year, I got accepted as a Ranger. I got to go to Earth, but our vacation was cut short since I had to start training, and now I can't go back until I retire. I have to rely on Mom and Dad telling me about what's going on."

"Ranger? You mean Power Ranger?"

"Yeah," Shadahw grinned. "Power Ranger. Mom was one of Earth's Rangers, Dad was a Ranger for here- KO-35. They met when the two teams kind of merged with each other, fell in love, got married."

"So, where do you live- on Earth, I mean."

Shadahw grinned. "Angel Grove, where else?"

"Oh, yeah. The home of the Power Rangers."

"Yep. I grew up with four of the current ones. Of course, they have no idea I'm a Ranger... but then, they don't know that I know that they're Rangers."

"Who are they?" Mark sounded suddenly excited.

Shadahw shook her head. "Can't tell you that. It's against the rules."

"But the last Ranger team revealed their identities...."

"It was a desperate move. If they did win the battle they were in, the world wouldn't need Rangers anymore. If they didn't, it really didn't matter if half of Angel Grove knew who they were. If Mom were here, she could tell you how desperate that day was - they really didn't have much other choice."

"It was worth a try," Mark shrugged. "Hey, how come nobody notices you're from outer space?"

"We don't tell them, it's as simple as that."

"Shada isn't a typical Earth name. And your hair's weird too."

Shadahw ran a hand through her hair. "The hair's simple. Everyone assumes I dye it, except for the stripes, or dye my hair so that I have brown streaks. And as for my name, everybody takes one look at it and assumes it's Welsh or African or something else weird. They're too busy panicing over the spelling to inquire too closely. Most everybody I know on Earth calls me 'Shaw' anyway. It's not like a shadahw - a type of flower - exists on Earth."

"Oh. I hadn't thought of that."

"Hey, you should see my Dad's hair. People on Earth look at it oddly sometimes, but nobody ever asked him about it."

"I noticed how weird peoples' hair is here."

"Mutations. Somewhere when my ancestors were leaving Earth to go to their first colony, they aquired this mutation. It's not like mutations don't happen all the time anyway. This one's actually quite rare."

"Oh. And speaking of Earth, when can I go home?"

Shadahw patted him on the shoulder. "Tomorrow, with us, me and the rest of the team. That's the other reason I'm happy you're here."

"You want to go home."

"Yes, I suppose that's right. I want to go home."

-end