Copper Rose Rain
By: Dappledkit
Prologue
Flash Fire
The pitch dark blackness of night was slowly beginning to fade as an old, grizzled masked owl walked through the great tree. His feathers, which were all shades of brown, black, and white, were tarnished and destroyed from years of flying into forest fires without hesitation. His gait was nice and slow, proving that he had nowhere important to be at such a late hour. After all, the milkberry harvest had only ended the day before and all of owls, young and old alike, were being slow to get back into the swing of things at the tree. Sampson knew that he should have been back in his hollow, preparing to sleep the day away like any sensible owl would, but something was keeping him awake. Something deep within his gizzard told him that there was something important going on that he needed to know about. His very being was telling him that something was about to happen.
The only question was... what?
In his thought, the old ryb nearly missed the sudden noise of talon's meeting wood as Gali, one of the many messenger owls, flew through the great hollow. He slowly twisted his head towards the owl and smiled at the golden brown short-eared owl. She was one of the few owls he trusted when news reached the Great Ga'Hoole tree, and because of that, he was almost always ready to listen to what she had to say. Yet, today was not that kind of day. Instead, he tilted his head in a light nod and went to continue on his way towards the next chamber, his mind wondering what had brought him into this large hollow, of all places.
"Wait! Sampson!" The young messenger called out, flapping her wings in protest as the old owl began to walk away from her. "I have... an urgent... message.. for you." She was out of breath as she spoke, probably because she had flown a great distance in order to get to the tree on time. "There is a forest fire in the Forest Kingdom of Tyto. The Weather-Interpretation and Coillering Chaws are needed pronto." Her voice trilled lightly as she rattled off the orders she had been given without hesitation, and although she knew Sampson hadn't been paying full attention to her, he would know immediately how important this message was. "There are plenty of owls that have gotten out of the fires safely, but I don't know how many more are in trouble. You may need backup."
Sampson nodded, as Ryb of the Weather-Interpretation chaw, he would have to be the one to waken his students from their peaceful slumber and tell them that there was work to be done.
He was not looking forward to that.
