Hello! Before I start, there are some rather important things about this story that weren't in the summary:
1 talon = 2 inches
This story has a major OC in it that is a humanoid magical character.
If you are interested in history, or are taking AP World History, consider this a crash course. This story will delve very deeply into human history and nature – and hopefully present it in a memorable and interesting manner.
This story aligns itself with the book series, not the movie (although I do want to see the movie!). The plot starts right before The River of Wind. It will end at the end of the series.
I do not own Guardians of Ga'Hoole. Or many of the passages within this story, although I do go on tangents and change the series' plot somewhat. The further you go, the more it changes.
And lastly, I do not own World History textbooks!
Let us begin!
GUARDIANS OF GA'HOOLE: Unraveled
Chapter 1: The Ball
It was fascinating, Otulissa thought as she gazed at it, tilting her head this way and that so she could observe it better. Around her, owls chattered and churred, admiring Trader Mags' wares, while they milled around the brightly-lit and festively-decorated Great Hollow.
Otulissa, however, stayed in place, enraptured by the little 3-talon-wide ball that glimmered a reddish, brownish gold color (A/N: think auburn) in the candles' flickering light. This glowing color, so similar to that of her own plumage except it caught the light much more, was what had attracted her in the first place and now that she looked closer, she saw that it had many other uncommon characteristics.
"Ah, that'un be an interestin' bauble there," Bubbles, Trader Mag's assistant, nodded sagely.
"Where did it come from?" Otulissa asked, still entranced.
"Surprisingly, not a castle." Bubbles ruffled her black feathers uncomfortably.
"Then where did you find it?"
Bubbles coughed and then glanced at the Spotted owl. Well, it wouldn't look too bad if she left and asked Trader Mags … Otulissa probably wouldn't even notice she had gone. The magpie shook her head as she walked away. Otulissa had never shown such interest in their offers before; if anything, she had shown the utmost contempt. Bubbles knew she wasn't terribly smart, but she also knew Otulissa's inexplicable behavior was unusual to the point of ethereal. Well, whatever, she decided. It certainly wasn't her business.
"What?" Trader Mags squawked when Bubbles came up to her. "Can't you see I'm busy trying to organize this?" She gestured to the large variety of cloths she was putting up as a display.
"Otulissa found sommat she likes," Bubbles replied. "That ball you found."
Trader Mags' eyes widened. "Here," she ordered. "Try to put these in some sort of order, and quickly."
"Yes, ma'am," Bubbles responded, bobbing her head as Trader Mags flew over to Otulissa purposely.
"Taken an interest, I see," Trader Mags said by way of introduction.
Otulissa just nodded in response, lost in the questions about the sphere in front of her.
"It's a rare artifact. Found it by a pool in the Shadow Forest. It caught my eye." The way it's caught yours, Trader Mags added silently, almost disturbed by how focused the Spotted owl was on the ball.
"It's most unusual," Otulissa remarked. "What is it made of?"
Here Trader Mags shifted just as Bubbles had. It was not good business to not know about what one sold, but in truth she had no idea.
"It's not any material I've ever seen."
"I'm not sure," Trader Mags admitted reluctantly. "But it must be valuable if no one has ever seen it, let alone knows what it is."
"Hmmm," was Otulissa's only response. "It looks a little like silk with those delicate strands that are shrouding it, but the strands aren't organized the way they would be in a piece of fabric. They don't seem to follow any particular pattern." Otulissa picked the ball up and turned it, noting how the strands flowed easily over the surface as a gentle breeze swirled around the hollow. "I believe," she continued slowly, "that I would like to study it."
Trader Mags let out the breath she didn't know she'd been holding. Surely this was a moment to celebrate! Otulissa, the owl with no interest, the one with disdain for Trader Mags' business, the being that had made a point of not trading anything, had come down from her isolated perch.
"Well, if you have any of those glass swirls, I would be quite happy. Difficult to find, those are," Trader Mags said, barely able to conceal her excitement.
"I don't have any," Otulissa sighed. What do I have? She quickly took an inventory of her possessions, looking at what she could trade. She had to figure this ball out! "I do have a collection of stones, some from the volcanoes in the Beyond."
"From a volcano?" Trader Mags perked up.
"Let me get them." Otulissa regretfully tore her eyes away from the ball and went to her hollow, promptly returning with a few of the gems.
"I believe these will do quite nicely, dear," Trader Mags almost cooed when she saw them. They were so bright! A light green that shined in the lights and sparkled. She might just keep them for herself…
"So it's a deal?" Otulissa wanted to get to work cracking the ball's secrets.
"A deal it is," Trader Mags responded, and the transaction was finished as they both shook talons and bobbed their heads in a gesture of respect to the other, the customary ending to any trade.
With delight, the birds left with their spoils, each believing they had gotten the better bargain.
"Hello, Otulissa," a voice greeted her. Otulissa looked away from the ball again to see Soren in front of her.
"Hello," she replied. "I was just heading to my hollow."
Soren noticed the item in her talons and his eyes widened in astonishment. Otulissa never traded with Trader Mags, a bird she scorned to the utmost. "Found something?"
"Yes, and it's absolutely fascinating!" Soren bent down and observed the ball that seemed to fit in Otulissa's talons perfectly as she chattered on.
"What is it?" he wondered aloud.
Otulissa's face fell; she hated not having an answer to any question. "I don't know, but that's why I'm taking it to my hollow to study! I'm sure it has the most interesting properties, things we've never seen or maybe even heard of before-"
"And you're missing the rest of the night?" Soren asked as he looked at Otulissa. "There's going to be a dance with the song Madame Plonk has been working on for-"
"Of course!" Otulissa exclaimed as she began to leave. "Excuse me, but I really am anxious to get started! Good light, Soren!" With that, Otulissa left and Soren shook his head in puzzlement at his friend's newfound focus point. Well, that was Otulissa for you. Unwilling to leave a puzzle unsolved or a question unanswered.
Otulissa hurried up to her hollow, taking the air-way and landing slightly awkwardly in her hollow due to the ball in one of her claws. Setting it on her study table, she pulled out a piece of parchment, a quill, and some ink, and looked at it thoughtfully.
"What are you?"
A good scientist always observes firs, so Otulissa made her standard observational chart. At the top, she neatly printed, The Sphere ("The Ball" sounded so unrefined).
Box 1: Sight. Goldish-brown in color, delicate strings covering the ball's surface, moving constantly whenever some wind blew by them. Spherical.
Box 2: Smell. Otulissa sighed. Owls didn't have much of an olfactory sense. Bringing the ball – sphere – close, she breathed in.
Nothing. Just the regular sylvan smell that it would have gotten from sitting by a pool in the Shadow Forest where the scavenging Trader Mags had found it.
Box 3: Taste. That was an experiment Otulissa was not about to do, seeing as judging by the smell, the sphere wasn't any type of food. She blinked. I should add that to the 'negative logic' list. "Not food," she muttered as she wrote it in the designated column.
Box 4: Sound. Placing the fur over her hollow's opening, Otulissa set the sphere on her desk. She stood in front of it, and, closing her eyes, strained her ears.
Once again, nothing. Otulissa frowned unhappily when only silence met her ears.
And the last box, Touch. Gingerly, Otulissa picked the sphere up and gently ran her talons over it, scared of damaging it in some way or other. It didn't really have much of a texture. It wasn't hard, instead giving underneath her talons, but it couldn't be classified as soft. It was…fairly firm. The silk-like strands enclosing the object (if it wasn't entirely made of them) were smooth, with some sticking up a little beyond the sphere's surface. She hefted it up and down a little and quickly made note that it was surprisingly heavy.
Determining that this was all there was, Otulissa sank onto her perch with another sigh and felt a headache coming on as she looked at the notes that covered barely a third of her parchment.
How in Glaux's name am I going to find out what this ball is?