Something I've been wanting to do. With the Ga'Hoole movie released, my idea came to fruition. Here you go.
Ga'Hoole Origins: Strix Struma
"Come on Boron ol' buddy!" The young Barred owl Lucan shouted behind him to his Snowy owl friend as they raced over the icy cliffs of their island in the Northern Kingdoms. "Not gettin' tired are 'ya?"
"Tired? As if!" Boron replied as he sped up his flight, evening out beside his pal. "I'm just getting warmed up!"
"Then I guess you won't mind catching up to this," Lucan folded his wings and dived to the earth, without hesitation.
"Why you little-" Boron spluttered as he followed suit. His weight wasn't carrying him as far as his friend. In fact, Lucan looked like he was falling a little too fast. By Boron's calculations, he wouldn't be able to pull up before hitting the rock structures at that speed. "Lucan! Pull up! Quick!"
"Oh relax would 'ya?" The Barred owl unfolded his wings, caught the air in his feathers and soared ever higher, just inches before hitting a sharp chunk of rock. "You worry too much my frosty friend!" He said as he flew up next to the snowy. "Keep your feathers on. I'm not about to let a bloody stone kill me. I'm too amazing a flyer for that!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you fool. Let's just get back."
"Get back to who? The others? Or Barran?"
"Y-you be quiet about that!"
"Why? Did I touch a nerve? Or does someone just so happen to like the pretty snowy that everyone's after?"
"I do not!" Boron seemingly shrunk, his feathers sticking closer to his body, simulating the owl form of blushing.
"Oh Glaux in Glaumora, you do! Oh it's way too obvious for words!"
"Think what you want, I'm going home!" Boron descended through the cliffs, trying as best as he could to get far ahead of the Barred owl.
"Oh come on, what's so embarassing?" Lucan had caught up in no time. "We're old enough for mates now aren't we? And what's wrong with wanting to go for Barran? She's beautiful mate!"
"I know," Boron said awkwardly, "but there's a million owls who'd like to be with her. What makes me any different?"
"Alright Boron. Let's land and I'll show you."
"Huh? Alright." The two birds landed on an icy perch. The two locked eyes.
"Close your eyes."
"Why?"
"Close your eyes."
"O-okay," the white owl shut his eyelids, listening to the wind as it blew through his feathers.
"Now think about Barran," Lucan ordered. Boron did, he imagined her, bright in his mind, her feathers glistening in her mind. "Now tell me, what does your gizzard feel when you think about her."
"I-I-I dunno."
"Try."
"I guess I feel like, I want to be her mate. I want to listen to her voice and sing along with it. I want to fly with her, to be next to her."
"And that's what makes you different." Boron opened his eyes. "Those other owls only think about Barran's looks when they think of her. Not one of your thoughts even moved close to her appearance. You love the owl inside her, her personality."
"Wow," The young snowy stared at his best friend for a moment. "You know, most of the time, you're a really rude jerk. But you're...deep."
"Whatever white wings," Lucan got his fun-loving demeanor back, tagging his Snowy owl friend on the back as he took off. "Last one back home is a rotten Ga'Hoole nut!"
(...)
The two owls landed back in the entrance to the cave which led back to their small little community. The caves were rooted deep in the mountain, creating many cracks and crevices that acted as hollows for the owls of the Northern Kingdoms. Many owl families lived there, a small owl town had been made out of that mountain.
"I've got to go, my mum and da will be-oh," Boron looked back at Lucan with regret. He had forgotten about Lucan's parents, who had fought in the battle of Little Hoole not two months ago, and had never come back. In fact, only two survivors from the battle were in their midst from that battle. Barran was one of them. And the other was one Boron had yet to meet. "I-I-I...sorry."
"It's alright," Lucan replied with a smile. "I've got to go too, Struma's expecting me." With that, he soared above Boron, heading to who knows where.
Struma? Who's that? Boron pondered. He blinked quizzically, then proceeded down the cave, toward his home.
Strix Struma was a Spotted Owl of impressive lineage. Her ancestors and close family were no doubt, spectacular military officers. She herself was nothing to frown at. She had fought bravely in the battle of Little Hoole, becoming one of the legends of it. After the battle, she and her new friend Barran had been sent to this village to recover from the battle's trauma. They were both still very young at the time. Battle had wrought them horribly. They were no doubt best friends by then.
But Struma had met someone else at this owl village. Someone she seemed to share a deeper connection with. Something she couldn't get with Barran.
And here he comes now, Struma thought from her crevice in the cave wall. The Barred owl Lucan was gliding towards her on strong wings. His eyes reflecting her form as he approached. She couldn't explain it. From the moment they had met, they'd hit it off. He'd been such a charmer.
"Good evening my lady," she remembered the Barred saying to her as he bowed. He certainly knew just how she had been bred. She'd been raised knowing full well that her ancestors were great, respectable people, and before her military training, she'd expected this treatment from nearly everyone. It had given her a warm bit of nostalgia to see someone giving her such consideration.
"May I show you to a place for you to stay?" He had said, still keeping his head low in a bow. "I would hate for one such as you to have to scrounge for anything less than a perfect nest." He'd been true to his word. He'd found her a crevice that was so secluded, so private. It had a nest that was laid with the softest of linings and down. Almost as if he'd expected her and Barran's arrival. Yes, she and Barran shared arrangements. The village was too small for them to have different quarters. But they wouldn't have had it any other way.
Still, the area was beautiful. He'd been so sweet to show her such a place. And it didn't stop there. He had visited her every day afterward, often asking if she was alright or if he could get anything for her. To put it simply, he had been flivling (The owl form of flirting) like there was no tomorrow. And she had to admit, she was smitten with him as well. Normally, she wouldn't have wasted her time on such trivial things as relationships. But there was something about this Barred Owl that simply needed to be recognized.
"Good evening once again, m'lady," Lucan said to her, bowing as he so often did whenever he approached the beautiful Spotted owl. "Anything you need? Food? Water? Someone to do this for you?" He said as he ran his beak through her face feathers, preening her. She didn't resist. He'd done this a few times before, and she'd let it happen. It may have been an aggressive form of flivling, but she loved it even more.
And once again, they had the most lovely conversation. Strix Struma spoke more of her battles at Little Hoole. From the battle itself, to her own personal battles of overcoming the challenge of being alone, with no friends during her weeks of training.
Lucan too, described a battle he had been in. This surprised Struma. She'd never taken him for a soldier. Neither did he, apparently. He had barely had any military training, and the battle itself had just been a small skirmish, but he had apparently impressed a lot of people. He had come out without a scratch, and there was a reason for that. He'd fashioned his life after the Legendary Lyze of Kiel, who had actually fought alongside an uncle of his. No one knew where Lyze was then, but some say he lost his warrior's spirit in the final battle. It was a sad day when a proud warrior lost the will to live.
Then, in the midst of everything, he spoke six words that forever horrified her.
"I'll be leaving soon, my dear," Struma nearly yarped. She had spent so much time with him, actually beginning to find a deeper connection with him, and all of a sudden...he was leaving her?
"What?"
"I think this time of my life is over. I've lived in this retreat for far too long."
"But where would you go? Is there anyplace you could go?"
Lucan paused, almost as if he was carefully thinking about what he would say next. "When you were a hatchling, were you ever told the tales of the Ga'Hoole Tree?"
"Of course, that's a tale every owlet has heard."
"Well, I'm thinking about heading there. It's a journey worthy of my bravado."
"What? But it's just a tale? Isn't it?"
"Maybe. But word is, Lyze of Kiel has gone there as well. But that's not the only reason I'm going. I find that legends are only as real as you make them. I always believed that the tales of the owls who mend the broken, make strong the weak, and all that pallava, were true. Now, I'll prove it, by becoming one myself."
"Wow," Struma said, her eyes gradually moving to her talons. She didn't know what to say. But then something came to her. Something she thought was crazy, and something she might regret later. "Take me with you."
"I'm sorry what, m'lady?"
"And no more of that 'm'lady' bit. I think we've known each other long enough, Lucan. Call me Struma!"
"S-s-sorry?"
"Call me Struma."
"A-a-alright, Str-Struma. Might you tell me what you just said?"
"I want you to take me with you. I don't want you to go through such a journey alone. Besides, you'll need a navigator in the Southern Kingdoms. And I can do that for you."
"Are you sure m'la- I mean Struma? It could be perilous, and we may never come back."
"I'm quite prepared to take that risk." And for the first time ever, Strix Struma moved toward a male, and preened him. He preened back, lovingly. They wrapped each other in their wings, forever bonded.
(...)
The journey was long, and just as Lucan had said, it was perilous, Strix Struma wrote in her hollow at the Great Ga'Hoole Tree. She was an old owl now, but still hadn't lost that spirit that Lucan had fallen in love with. They learned more of each other. Their hopes, their dreams, their closest secrets.
And when they finally did reach the Great Tree, they found it in a desperate battle. A group of rogues were trying to take the tree for their own. The two jumped into the battle fearlessly. The details of that battle, are not important. Just know that it was a battle that claimed the life of a person who had done nothing but hope all of his life.
Lucan.
The Barred had died for the tree he had sought for. Never to become a guardian, never to have his dreams come to fruition.
As the flame of his life was slowly snuffed out in his mate Struma's wings, her tears, wetting the feathers of his face, he took his talons up to her wing, and oh so slowly ran them through her feathers. He looked at her face, locking eyes with her one last time. He took one last peaceful breath, and died in her wings.
I write this now, not to mourn for this owl Lucan, nor to teach anyone such a lesson to appreciate what they have. No. I write this now, as a last farewell to my lovely mate, whom I miss every day.
Strix Struma put down her quill and stared out her port hole. Today may be her final battle. The battle between the Guardians and the Pure Ones in this siege was coming down to its final point. She would be leading her Strix Struma Strikers into the battle of their lives. For some, this would be their first battles in a Ga'Hoolian squad. A young friend of hers, Otulissa included.
She sighed one last time, looked back at the tale she had recounted on that old parchment paper, and left her hollow.
She never returned.
The End.