I have only just finished the sixth book so don't be critical and don't tell me what happens!
A beautiful spotted owl started to close her eyes. Today had been a long and terrible day; a day of fighting. The owls of the Great Tree had just had a huge fight against the sinister group of all barn owls, the Pure Ones, led by Kludd, the blood-thirsty owl that was the brother of the spotted owl's friend, Soren. It was a long battle, and there was much bloodshed, but the owls of the Great Tree had won, after Twilight had killed Kludd.
Fortunately, while the small number of the Great Tree owls was vastly outnumbered, Gylfie, the spotted owl's friend, had come with reinforcements from the Northern Kingdoms. She shook her head and cleared her thoughts. She didn't like to think of the battle, it made her feathers tremble. If she thought about it anymore, she thought, she could possibly go yeep, a condition that happened to an owl when they were terribly confused or going mad. The spotted owl felt like it right now.
But these thoughts faded away as she got lulled to sleep by Madame Plonk's "Night Is Done" song, which was soothing and put almost all of the owls of the Great Tree to sleep. She ruffled her feathers grumpily as she heard the incessant, annoying snoring of Twilight. She was sharing a nest with Soren, Gylfie, Digger, and the rest of the Chaw of Chaws. Twilight in particular was the noisiest sleeper.
While she tried to count mice in her head, she heard a ruffling of feathers similar to hers. She saw Gylfie, who was glaring fiercely at the great gray. Her grip on the nest was tight and she looked really agitated. It looked like she would swoop down and score him with her sharp talons any second now.
"Gylfie, are you awake?" She whispered. She saw the elf owl nod.
"If he gets any noisier I think that I'll claw out his feathers one by one," Gylfie growled. "But I'll look on the bright side, tomorrow is a better day. I'm sure that I will get through tonight as I would any other night. But for some reason, I can't sleep tonight…I think it has to do with tonight's battle…" She shivered and shook her head.
The spotted owl could easily sympathize with the elf owl. The fight was very frightening, especially when the Pure Ones were armed with Fire Claws, which were Battle Claws that had little pieces of coal at the tips. It could make even the strongest owl with the strongest feathers cry out in pain and break into flames. It was a scary battle that was for sure.
Suddenly a sharp voice pierced the air. "Otulissa, Gylfie, shut you're frinking beaks! Can't you see that we're trying to sleep here?" It was Soren, the barn owl whose brother was Kludd, leader of the Pure Ones. He was particularly cranky at night.
Otulissa shook her head with dismay. Soren always said dirty words, thinking that it was okay to do. It was such an atrocity to say such words! Although Otulissa, the spotted owl, had said the worst word in the owl kingdom, "sprink" quite a few times.
The spotted owl changed her mind as she heard Gylfie say, "Well, sprink to that! Twilight is causing a ruckus here and I can't even sleep!"
Another barn owl, Soren's sister Eglantine, ruffled her feathers with annoyance. "But you always get to sleep! Why is it this particular night that you are restless?" She shook her head and curled back up to sleep.
Soren nodded. "She has a point, you know. Gylfie, you are the heaviest sleeper I have ever seen. You are always the first one to go to sleep, and I should know since I shared a nest with you guys for quite a while now."
Gylfie shook her head. "Well, Twilight must be extra loud tonight. I just can't seem to sleep tonight, that's all." She curled up and tried to sleep, her shoulders humped angrily. Soren had never been this mean to his best friend. They had always agreed or left it for someone else to deal with, never fought over it unless sensibly debating.
Otulissa shook her head. She must be going yeep with the memories of the battle. She finally started to sleep, a combination of the song sang by the lovely Madame Plonk and thoughts of her beloved Strix Struma, who was her idol that had earlier died. And when she thought of Strix Struma, her heart ached as it formed into thoughts of Cleve. Her Cleve. She sighed and drifted off to sleep, dreaming of someday when she would meet up with Cleve, the handsome prince.
And the Great Tree was silent for the rest of the day.