I admire the GoGH book series for many reasons, the adventures, the details, the world it's set in, but above all I like the relationships the characters make with one another and the thoughts and emotions put into those bonds. Perhaps one of the most interesting bonds I've come to really appreciate has been Coryn's with Otulissa. From their first meeting to how she trains and teaches him to all the way when he becomes king, I admire the way the two interact with one another, so I decided to incorporate it into a fic where Coryn sees Otulissa like an older sister. The title for the story is Latin by the way for "My Older Sister".
I own nothing. Guardians of Ga'Hoole and all its content belong to Kathryn Lasky. I don't own the cover image either.
Enjoy the story!
Dawn is the thief of the night. Night is where the nocturnal creatures become awake and alive while the stars come up to play. Yet, once the sun rose over the horizon and brought forth all its bright glory, exhaustion swept across the world of darkness while a world of light dweller became awake.
One such creature at the Great Tree refused to be pulled in by the siren song of slumber the sunlight trickling through the entrance to his hollow brought. His mind was in too much turmoil to allow tiredness to come forward. The young king Coryn had been suffering from insomnia for a good deal of the moon. His brain just kept refusing to slow down for the day and allow him to sleep.
His foot was absent mindedly flicking the pages in the book that he had yet to read. The Chronicles of Hoole had become quite the talk around the branch over the past few nights at the great Tree and everyone was all buzzing about the newly discovered stories. Under permission of himself, the Writer's Guild would be copying down the books to create more for the library, and under request, the guild had asked the scribes to do a shorter version for younger readers.
Otulissa had been commissioned to take notes of the story for the shorter version, but a sudden mission to the Owl Kingdoms had left her work unattended. He had stepped in to help, but quickly realized how difficult the task was. He was required to choose specific parts and write them down and decide which would be best to add. The book itself was very long and some of the words had been smudged, making to difficult to decipher. It didn't help as well that the book was incredibly fascinating, so choosing which notes to use was a hard call to make.
The entire assignment made him feel incredibly exhausted just by looking at it, and yet very impressed on how Otulissa was able to accomplish it all and not once let out a word of complaint. Of course, the Spotted Owl did have a natural talent for impressing him.
The words on the pages seem to blur as his mind began to focus on the first time he and her had met. He had just been looking at the volcanoes erupt and lap at the sky in the Beyond when she had appeared. He had mistaken her for his violent and sadistic mother and had tried to hide, only to get wedged painfully between sa crack in the cliff. She had helped him out and after a slight misunderstanding and freak out, befriended one another and she had begun to teach him things that the Great Tree had taught her.
The edges of his beak curved up in a smile as he kept remembering the times they spent together before he had become king of the Great Tree. She had taught him the basics of colliering and ember retrieving, but he had already known it deep in his gizzard and had performed above and beyond her expectations. She had been one of the few, earliest owls to ever show him kindness, a thing he would forever be grateful for. After the murder of his best friend Phillip by the talons of his own mother just to initiate him into the tyrannical Pure Ones, her generosity and gentleness was like a soft, cool breeze on a scorching hot day. It broke down all the pain and stress built up inside of him and made him feel at peace.
She was the best mentor any owl could ever have. She was kind, yet firm in her teachings and didn't hesitate to help him out if he didn't understand something. She had treated him with something no one other then Phillip had shown, with love. He admired her so much, she was his compass that guided his path and the wind beneath his wings that kept him form falling. If it hadn't been for her, he was sure he wouldn't never found his way the way he did with her help.
He blinked in surprise when he felt a sudden coolness touch his lower eyelids. He discover his vision had become blurry with tears. He slowly brushed them off his lower eyes and watched the small droplets glint in the early morning sunlight before dissolving into the wood floor. It was late, way late. His vision turned to the halfway finished project before going towards the scraps of parchment paper, ink jar and quills beside it for taking notes.
A sigh escaped his beak. He knew he had to finish it by moon's end, elss it be late. As he resumed scribbling on the paper after analyzing the pages, his thoughts still remained stuck on Otulissa. He couldn't stop thinking about all the kind things she had done for him since she met him. The least he could do is finish this assignment for her while she was away.
His eyes lingered a while longer on the pieces paper beside the book. The gears in his mind kept turning, until it was like a spark had come alive in his brain. He quickly snatched up a blank piece and dipped a fresh quill in ink before setting to work on his little'side project'.
By the time Otulissa came back home, it was midday and she wanted nothing more then to just collapse in her nest and sleep for two to three days straight. But still, even through her exhausted mind, she knew she had to complete her writing assignment for the Press Guild. She swerved into a banking turn as she headed towards her hollow where she resided, accompanied by her man books and pieces of paper with information on it.
To her surprise when she came in and perched in the entrance, her entire hollow, once cluttered with messy piles of books and scattered papers was now completely organized. To her astonishment, the Chronicles of Hoole book she was researching and making notes on lay neatly near her nest and besides was a straight pile of well-written notes.
Her eyes caught sight of another paper, one out of place, but upon approaching, she saw it had been tacked neatly on one of the twigs of her bed. As she came closer to it, she instantly recognized the neat cursive handwriting.
"Dear Otulissa,
The entire research notes for the shortened version of the second volume of the Chronicles of Hoole have been completed, sorted and organized chronologically, so you don't need to work on it when you get back. I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of straightening up your hollow as well, seeing it as the cluttered state it was in. I thought it might be nice to come home to. Considering you've done so much for me, I thought I might do something for you for a change.
Sincerely yours, Coryn."
Otulissa stared at the note, the so-very-thoughtful note, and felt a deeply overwhelming feeling of gratitude and thankfulness come over her for the young Barn owl.
"Coryn, you're something else," she thought to herself as she gently picked up the note and cradled it to her heart.
Sigh, I love doing platonic, fluffy things like this. I do admire the relationship the two of them have and I do think Coryn would have some feelings like this towards her.
Hope you enjoyed reading. Please leave a review and feel free to check out some of my other stories. Sincerely, v.t.7
