Chapter Text
When the new desk was built in what felt like an eternity, Digger and Twilight wasted no time flying out on a clear frosted night. The weather was getting better every day as spring arrived. Even the Sea Of Hoolemere seemed to calm itself on behalf the two owls. But that didn't stop them from worrying they might be going into to the mission too late. Although their wings flapped in excitement, there also was a stiff silence between them.
Digger may be a bit aloof, but he wasn't dumb. The burrowing owl had noticed twilight acting strange around him. Was it truly the flint mop? It had been Twilight who was the one that braved through it. Was it the mission? Was he sick? Did Twilight not want to be friends anymore? The last one hurt too much to dwell on. Owls in the desert are usually are not the most social creatures but Digger had been orphanized. He didn't know what he would do without his circle of loving friends.
“The beaks” Digger shuddered.
That's when he realized Soren and Gylfie had to fly through here. A place that wasn't truly scary until it was too late. Still, it wasn't the most dangerous thing they had done, but this wasn't the desired first mission of the year they had been hoping, for either. Even if they didn't want to admit it, both Digger and Twilight felt the ridiculous urges to look around. More specifically, to gaze at their reflection in the lake, to taste the sweet juicy meats, and to sleep in the comfiest of hollows.
“C’mon, we must find them, before we can do anything else, really.” Twilight grumbled mournfully, assuming the burrowing owl was sharing his same thoughts and temptations. Digger didn't ask to be protected, Just like Twilight didn't ask for Digger to let him sleep in his burrow all those seasons ago before becoming guardians. The odd friendship was built from compromise and compassion. Both equally similar and unique.
“Search and rescue operations at your service!” Digger said, a little too cheerfully.
He hoped no one would need to be rescued. They watched the sun rise in the valley horizon, still flying over unreal landscapes of beauty with no plan on stopping. Occasionally exchanging glances or comments, but mostly in that same silence. Wings ached from lack of use in the winter but it was a good ache. It just felt right, even if everything wasn't. whilst Digger secretly hoped Twilight would at least open up to him on the trip to their destination, but he didn't.
“...”
------
The full day arrived bright. With the energy they had left in them, Soren and Gylfie were a little surprised to see Quartz actually came back with the healing remedies like she claimed she would. No words were exchanged while she tended to Gylfie, who was still slightly shaking but submitted to propping her tiny let on a pebble so Quartz could apply leeches and then the moss. It was the moss from the beaks. Gylfie could tell by the almost delirious soothing it offered.
Again, these owls has been through much worse, but never had Gylfie felt so personally violated since the night she was snatched as a defenceless hatchling and taken to St Aggies. It brought back feelings she thought she had forgotten about. Feelings of powerlessness, of hopelessness, fear and submission.
While Soren did not have a valid reason to be as scared, he was incredibly distraught and irritated. An owl diving and catching something was of course not unheard of and in fact completely natural, but never had he seen an owl dive attack a hollow, not to mention there own hollow. Not even st. aggies patrol or the pure ones would perform such a feat. They would much rather waiting out for the victims to become vulnerable or come to them. This barn owl was going to take her chances not to mention risk her own feathers to kill whoever might be in her hollow. A hollow that was near empty. What if it had been Duskshine herself who came with and Quartz had attacked instead? His gizzard twisted in nausea as Duskshine’s sister tended the bloody leg with the moss and leeches. She then wrapped it in clean leaves.
“Thank you” Gylfie tried to sound as numb as possible but it wasn't working.
It was obvious she was still very upset. Soren contemplated preening her, but didn't. First of all, he hadn't quite learned the logistics or had much practice with it. That made him a bit sad. Secondly, Quartz seemed incredibly disturbed by their relationship. Not like he cared a lot about that, but for most owls, preening was usually done in private. Also Soren wanted his first time doing romantic things with Gylfie to be just that; private. Preening had been the only thing they had not done as friends, really. Was it selfish and stupid? Probably. Would hardly make any difference anyways? As the little owl was far too livid to feel affection right now. Soren did however, stand at his mate’s side. Their soft breast feathers pressing up against one another. A warm reminder the elf owl would never truly be alone.
“I saw the strangest thing on my way here.” Said Quartz, trying to break the awkward silence.
“Oh did you? Soren had to force himself to care. His gizzard-tuition had told him this owl would be tricky, but he didn't expect her to be such a menace.
“Coming from someone who resides in The Beaks, I'm not The surprised in the slightest.” Gylfie replied as sharp as she ever could.
“The beaks is not all bad! When you live here your whole life, you get used to it's enticing beauty”
“Yeah, and then, you never leave.”
“Yes, well, anyways, I don't see much other kinds of owls around besides tytos. And I swear to Glaux I just saw a great grey and a burrowing owl.
“Twilight and Digger!”
Gylfie and Soren were afraid to exchange glances, but they did.
“Soren, please..”
But gylfie didn't know what she was asking for anymore. She frowned and felt the cold return the minute he stepped away from her breast. Quartz gave them another funny look.
“I'll be right back.” I'm sorry Gylfie. I love you so much. Soren ripped from the hollow, choked up on frustration that he first mistook for needing to yarp.
Now as time pressed on in the full daylight. Circling the mysterious landscape of the beaks became more and more annoying. Finding his friends was more important than any mission would ever be. Soren flew in silence, and listened desperately for any sounds or signs of his friends. It wasn't like them to be this quiet! He glided down to the bank of the lake, once again in revulsion. If they were out there, he hoped they were still flying, even if that meant it would be harder to find them. At the same time, he needed to be at Gylfie’s side. The lake sparkled and he ripped his head away. Taking off back to towards the forest kingdom of tyto. It was going to be another long exhausting day.
None of this was going according to plan and that bothered Twilight more than the disturbing beauty that surrounded them. But it did surround them and at this point, the search and rescue partners had been gliding around in broad daylight in one of the worst places possible. They could feel their gizzards becoming dull and their eyes straining in the bright clear sun. It would be a long time before one of them would be the first to speak, as it always went with Twilight and Digger. Either that or they were racing to say what they wanted to say first and try to win the argument. All in good nature though.
Just one rest at the lake...surely we we won't miss much.
It felt like it was the lake itself putting these thoughts in their head. And here they thought mighty powerful Guardians Guardians of Ga'hoole, would not be so easily tempted by such foolery. But there they were. A tired owl is a tired owl, regardless of skill or rank or species. They sulked with sore muscles, still blaming the flint mop.
“What's that I hear?” Asked digger. He cocked his head the way Soren did when trying to listen in on something.
“My stomach. I’m famished”
“No silly! It's a distant rustling noise.”
“Oh Glaux! We got crows at 4 ‘o'clock!”
Digger remembered thinking: Could this be real?. Being mobbed by crows once was plenty enough. They already knew what to do in this situation, but they didn't have enough owls to do it! The crows were tremendously noisy, awkward flyers compared to their nocturnal cousins, although somehow they were catching up quickly.
“We need to fly better than we have ever flown before!” The great grey called to his best friend and took the lead. The mob of crows was still a couple hundred yards away, like a angry black cloud. They turned sharply on their wings and flew in between tree trunks, through networks of branches. The beaks wasn't exactly as dense with trees as one might of hoped. Every tree kept a ugly perfected distance from each other. The broad daylight didn't exactly make it easier to hide.
“Wait Twilight!” Digger huffed, flapping as hard as he could just keep up, remembering to pull his wings in when cutting between the trees. “Slow down for a second! Look!”
Coming from the other direction, above them, was Soren! All three owls came to an abrupt mid-air halt, fanning out their wings and catching air in front of them.
“You are both okay!” Soren called from above, cheerful and relieved.
“Not for long!” Twilight called.
But as he spoke, soren had already spotted the terror that was approaching. The flock seemed to move in a crazed zig-zag pattern, until they got a view of the single barn owl floating above the treeline and began their descent towards him.
Soren quickly squinted and thought great glaux not this again. but he couldn't blame the crows. Owls had no right flying in broad daylight. This was a time of the day for different part of the circle of life. They were in a sense, trespassing. Frustrated, Soren dived through the canopy of cedar and birch. A few small branches scratched his wings on his decent but he was reunited with his friends again.
“It's really so good to see you again Soren!” Digger cheered and then pleaded,
“But, we have nowhere to hide!”
“Don't worry. I do, but I must warn you. you are not going to like it. Cmon.”
Digger and twilight exchanged glances before taking the side-back of Soren’s flight. They flew faster and more graceful towards quartz’s hollow. Slicing the cold air with graceful synchronized swoops instead of treading it frantically like crows meant they were quickly out-running the mob. By the time Soren pointed out the hollow in which he explained to approach carefully, the crows were a couple hundred meters back.
The greying white face of quartz poked out and she shrieked, “You lead them here?!”
“Quartz, these are my other friends. We are a band, the four of us. And nothing will separate what we have.” Soren explained nobly, but then frowned when he saw Gylfie’s look of anguish behind the barn owl. He was half-hoping Gylfie would agree and say something about them being a family. Instead his gizzard jumped at the not-exactly-lie not-exactly-truth. He was so used to calling Gylfie his friend, it still felt weird to say “mate” out loud. Maybe he wasn't ready.
“friends don't bring crows along!” Quartz huffed and stepped aside so they could enter the hollow as quickly as they could. The hole was obvious made for barn owl size and nothing more. This obviously wasn't a problem until Twilight tried to enter last. His attempt to enter was perching on the edge of the hole as one normally does,(unlike a certain barn owl) but the great grey underestimated his epic size and with his talons included in the mix, his torso was sure as stuck.
“Glaux!” was all twilight could say while wiggling his neck frantically. It was the only part of his body he could wiggle for now.
“Try to move backwards.” Digger quickly advised.
Suddenly the great grey let out a terrible hoot, almost like a barn owl shriek. Everyone panicked because Twilight never lost his cool in stressful situations.
“They-Ah!- they are pulling my tail feathers!” He explained.
“What?” Was all Quartz could say, looking beyond uncomfortable. No one could really muster to care when another owl needed it more.
“Are you all yoicks?” Gylfies eyes were fiery like bonk coals. Her three boys froze and stared at her. Even twilight, who's rear was currently being pecked viciously by sharp tiny beaks.
“Push him for glaux sake! We can fight them! No bird should attack another from the tailfeathers first. That's just bad etiquette.”
Twilight smiled and nodded while Soren Soren and digger wasted no time pushing with their shoulders against twilight’s face. Gylfie was a good third everyone else's size, but she wasn't just going to stand there and watch. Instead she also began pushing on Sorens leg, in hopes to give him extra pushing power. She looked at Quartz who begrudgingly took a few steps back and then head butted all of them. Twilight's body made a noise as he popped out and caught himself in a hover. It worked. The swarm of black crows were cawing in alarm as the five owls rose from the hollow as quick as they entered and began to puff up and spread their wings around the mob. They were outnumbered mathematically, but five predictors was one too many for simple scavengers.
“That's right! go on and get sore tail feathers from someone else you wet poopers!”
The band knew that Twilight would have started singing if he wasn't sore and tired himself. But he made a somewhat snarky comeback, and that meant he would be okay.
They all settled back into the hollow. This time, twilight approached the opening one leg at a time and shimmied in sideways. He grunted at the hollow in all its tininess and digger patted him with his wing.
“I should thank you stranger.” Twilight finally said, swiveling his head back and seeing that he wasn't injured. Important blood feathers could have been ripped out. Crows in numbers were strong, but not that strong. All was accounted for.
Quartz tried not to laugh. She was one apathetic owl.
“Twilight, Digger, this is Quartz. She's Duskshine’s sister, the one we came to deliver this message to.” At last, Soren untied the string holding a letter and held it up for quartz to read.
“hmmm” The barn said as she stared at it. “hmmmm” she swiveled her head in different directions and have the paper a good flick as if testing its consultancy. “Very interesting.”
“Soren, she can't read.” Gylfie finally explained. But to his surprise, Quartz didn't react defensively to her remark, in fact she gave them an honest, inquisitive look. Like that of young bright curious owlets who just arrived at the great tree.
“Oh. Of course.” He said gently.
“Would you like me to read it to you?”
“Actually no.”
“...”
Quartz ripped the paper from soren’s beak and placed it in front of Gylfie.
“I want her to.”
The hollow suddenly felt cramped with Gylfie giving Quartz a look quite opposite than the resentful ones earlier. What was this? What happened when he was gone?
“Very well then”
Gylfie cleared her throat and began.
“My beloved sister. In hopes that you receive this letter from the Guardians Of Ga'hoole and believe that it is truly I who wrote this, please know I have never looked down upon you. Mum and Da didn't always treat you right and for that i am truly sorry. You will do amazing things with your strength and your gizzard. Just try to pick your fights better. You don't know how important it is to know that I have family left. The pure ones are not family. They manipulate and for what purpose? Here at the great tree I've put to rest all these exhausting ideologies of purity. I am teaching many things about how our gizzards and our minds work. Yet there is still so much I am still learning myself. They know many things about weather and war, but also music and medicine. That is the amazing thing about this place. There is opportunity here. I hope one day you will join me. Maybe not wing-to-wing or even share a hollow, but at least see this amazing tree and fly with legends. I hope i get to tell you soon in person how much you matter to me.
All my love,
Duskshine”
A heaviness hung in the air. All the owls were one way or another, completely exhausted. They were closer now to night than day, but the sun rose high in the air. Twilight and digger felt to much like strangers to say anything. Gylfie had already said enough. So when Soren began to speak, it felt right.
“Quartz, your hospitality has been important to us, even when you could have easily kicked us out. But for our journey home, a good rest would be appreciated. We may fly over sea storms daily, but we are not accustomed to the beaks as you are. Just for the rest of today we will leave at sunset.” Everyone knew Soren was being a little too humble, but for survive in a cramped space with a hot headed stranger, pride needed to be thrown out of the knothole.
“You think so badly of the beaks because it likes to play tricks? I feel like it's the third time i've said it, the beaks isn't bad ones you toughen your gizzard up. Besides, I live on the border of the kingdom of tyto, not the beaks. My hollow may overlook the beaks yes but it is in a Tyto kingdom tree.”
Twilight wasn't the only one bothered by the space or lack thereof. She was trying to itch herself with her foot, as she complained, but seemed impossible with little room she had. The hollow would comfortable suit a Tyto couple, maybe with a chick or two. Nothing more.
“It doesn't seem like you spend much time here” Digger remarked.
“I haven't yet, Legs. I plan ahead. Now if you'll excuse me.” She wiggled herself to the opening of the hollow.
“Thats absurd. It's the middle of the day.” Digger remarked again.
“Some owls have places to be, even here, now.” suddenly she sounded much older. Before she flew off, she mumbled from the nearby branch,
“Stay as long as you need to. Don't eat anything in the beaks and don't go near the lakes.”