Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of the Guardians or the book series.
After the events of the previous morning, the owl family had finally woken up and began their nightly routine. It was one night away from a full moon. By then it would be a complete moon-cycle. When Kludd, Soren, and Eglantine had first awoken, they were greeted by the sight of a freshly killed mouse that their father had brought. Their mother had torn the small animal apart into three equal pieces. Eglantine was already old enough to eat meat with the fur and bones. "The whole bit", as Noctus had called it. For young owlets, there were ceremonies related to what they ate. When the three owlets had hatched, they were first given their First Insect ceremony. After that it was the First Meat ceremony. Finally, it was the first Fur and Bones ceremony, which was what Eglantine had now completed. Soren's cut of the mouse contained the stomach. He could taste the blade of grass that it had eaten before its untimely death.
With their gizzards grinding, Soren and Kludd were ready to start their first branching lesson. Outside of the hollow, Noctus and Kludd stood side by side on a branch close to the mouth of the hollow. While Soren prepared, Marilla, Eglantine, and Mrs. P watched eagerly.
"Now, as I was saying…" Noctus was trying to say. But before he could finish, Kludd hopped of the branch and flapped as fast he could, aiming for a lower branch closer to the hollow.
"Look da! I'm gonna be the best flier!" As he said this, Kludd landed uneasily on the lower branch. Noctus sighed. He gracefully lifted into flight, and silently glided down to the branch, and faced his son.
"You have strength, Kludd. But owls make the best hunters for one reason alone..."
"Yeah I know, their silent flight," Kludd cockily answered. "And by the time I have my talons out –
"The mice will have run away, and you and your hatchlings will go hungry." Noctus interrupted. Kludd knew what he was talking about. He meant that Kludd had not yet perfected silent flight. How could his super-sensitive hearing have not heard it? He had remembered to preen his feathers. Preening kept a bird's feathers in check and repaired any damages. After collecting enough oil from a gland at the base of the tail in its beak, a bird would comb its feathers until spick and span. This also kept the edges of an owl's wings softened, allowing them to fly silently, without alerting prey. As Kludd went into a state of self-pity Soren walked up, wearing his toy Guardian helmet.
"Da! I'm ready!" he exclaimed.
"Well, young Guardian," Noctus churred. "I don't think your first branching lesson will be that dangerous." He said, pulling the helmet of leaves off of his son's head. He put a reassuring wing on Soren's shoulder as he walked him to the edge of the branch.
"Now," Noctus began. "it's not about how much noise you make in the beginning, you just need to stretch your…" Before he could finish his sentence, Soren had leaped off of the branch and silently glided down to the tree limb below him.
"…Wings. Well done." Noctus said proudly. Showoff. Kludd thought.
"Beginner's luck," He said out loud. Without warning, Kludd jumped off, flapping wildly. This made each wing-beat clearly audible as Kludd drew closer to the branch that Soren was perched upon. Noctus looked on in disappointment. He was clearly struggling out-do Soren.
As Kludd landed, he accidentally snapped off a branch that plummeted far to the ground below. Kludd breathed heavily, imagining what would happen in that was him falling. Glaux forbid.
"You know Kludd, I helps to picture where I'm gonna land," Soren said reassuringly. "Come on, I'll race you!" He said excitedly.
"Okay then, go!" Kludd quickly yelled as he took off as fast as he could. Before he could eve blink, Soren had already reached the branch Noctus was perched on.
"You had a head start!" Kludd accused.
"No I didn't!" Soren shot back.
"Enough," Marilla interrupted. "No more fighting. Noctus, let's get the boys inside, it's time to go hunting."
"Can we go with you on the hunt?" Soren asked, his voice laced with enthusiasm.
"Not tonight," Noctus said. "But when the time comes, at least you'll have the helmet for it." He said, placing the helmet on Soren's head.
As the young owls treaded back into the hollow, Marilla sighed and turned to her mate.
"Noctus, I know Soren is a bit of a dreamer. Do you worry for him?"
"Oh, I worry for both of them. It seemed like yesterday they were just hatchlings, and now they'll soon be grown and leaving the hollow," He sighed "I just want them to be prepared."
She quietly churred. "They'll be fine. Now come on." Without another word, they lifted off into flight and were gone.
Back in the hollow, Soren, Kludd, and especially Mrs. P, noticed Eglantine was beginning to convulse and gag.
"Eglantine, are you alright?" Soren asked, concerned for his sister. However, she couldn't answer, for whatever that was caught in her throat prevented her from speaking.
"Oh it's alright dear. If it wants to come out, let it." Mrs. P reassured in her usual raspy voice. After another a minute of croaking and hacking noises, Eglantine spit out a compact, dark and wet object. It was a pellet.
"Wow, Eg! That is nasty!" Soren said, half-laughing.
"What an accomplishment," Kludd churred.
Eglantine stared down at the little wet blob, shivering and apparently shaken by what had just happened.
"What is it?" She asked in a shaky voice.
"It's your first pellet," Mrs. P said proudly.
"First?" Eglantine asked, "Y-you mean there'll be m-m-more?" Soren churred to himself. When he was Eglantine's age, he had acted almost the same way; terrified.
"Don't you recognize it Eg? It was the mouse you ate. It's all fur and bones now," Mrs. P said. She was marveling at the pellet. Blind Snakes prided themselves on working for owls, whom they considered the noblest of birds. Meticulous, the Blind Snakes had great disdain for other birds that they felt were less clean due to their unfortunate digestive processes that caused them to eliminate only sloppy wet droppings instead of nice and neat little pellets, which the owls yarped, or spit up. Although owls did digest the soft parts of their food in a manner in a similar manner to other birds, and indeed passed it in a liquid form, for some reason they were never associated with these lesser digestive processes. All the fur and bones and tiny teeth of their prey, like mice, that could not be digested in the ordinary way were pressed into little pellets, just the shape and size of the owl's gizzard. Several hours after eating, the owls would yarp them up. "Wet Poopers" was how many nest-maid snakes referred to other birds. Of course, Mrs. Plithiver was much too proper to use such coarse language.
"There's nothing to be scared of," Mrs. P continued. "Every owl yarps up pellets. In fact, I think I still have your brothers' first pellets. She said, gesturing towards Soren and Kludd with her head. The two brothers cringed with disgust and embarrassment. Mrs. P had shown Kludd's first pellet to Soren when he was Eglantine's age, and it was not a pretty sight, having been kept and preserved to the point at which it had decomposed slightly. As Mrs. P slithered away, ignoring Soren and Kludd's begging, Eglantine followed almost forgetting to excuse herself for the rather loud belch she had made when she followed the blind snake.
"Kludd, you wanna go out and try some more branching?" Soren whispered, wanting to have more fun outside.
"What? So you go out there and show off again? Kludd asked rhetorically. "No thanks."
"Oh well, maybe you're right." Soren said in a teasing manner. "Maybe we should just, I don't know, stay inside and play "Battle of the Ice Claws" again? Before he knew it, his brother was already outside of the hollow.