Chapter 14: Chaws, Rybs and Battle Claws (Oh My)
After the enlightening eye-opener that was given to me by Daniel, I had said my goodbyes, and I quickly returned to the land of the living. It appeared that Mirah had not come back from her mission to aid the burned owlet, so I relegated most of my attention to the piece of paper beside me. I began to draw away, creating tiny pieces of childlike art. I wasn't the greatest artist, not in the slightest, but I had fun. In the first of the ten panels I created, I drew myself atop a cliff, kicking Soren's brother off of it with the strength that even Leonidas would be proud of, while Soren comedically proclaims to the Heavens, "What have you done!?" (Am I a terrible person for imagining that?).
In the second, I made an equally amusing scenario where we were all currently engaged in a race across the Nevada Desert, and the first person to get to California gets a million dollars (I think it's a stolen plot from a movie, I don't care). Twilight and Digger were too busy bickering with one another to realize that everyone else had already started the race, and Daniel was preoccupied with trying to woo Gylfie's heart, while the elf owl coyly giggles at his shenanigans. Out of the four of us that were still in the race, I was lagging behind Cato, who was tailing Soren pretty close. Matthias was nowhere to be seen. Once we had made it to civilization, we decided to forget the race and chill inside a local casino at Las Vegas. Once we got inside, we had actually found that the screech owl had already given up on the race, and was playing a slot machine. We had caught him in the midst of the machine that was spitting out tens of thousands of coins. The coins kept piling up and up, until they reached the ceiling of the establishment. Then, he says "Um, did I do something wrong, guys? I think I broke it." The painfully bad quality comic ended with that dumb quote.
I wanted to make one more "comic", but I heard the sound of someone's footsteps coming up to me. I tried to hide the paper behind me, yet I was too late, as someone snatched the paper from my talons. I looked up, and I saw the shit-eating grin on the screech owl's face.
"Alex, I never knew you were an artist." He said, and I shook my head at him, waving my good wing in front of his face, telling him to stop his observation. "Oh, come on, Alex, this isn't particularly bad or anything. It's pretty decent, especially for someone who probably has never seen a piece of paper in his life before. Although, I don't know this language you're using. Definitely not Hoolian, that's for sure."
While I wanted to disagree with that statement, I begrudgingly accepted the compliment. I knew that Matt wasn't a good liar, (he always has that awkward straining face whenever he did, and I always called him out for it), and refusing the compliment would land me directly in the danger zone.
"Who's this?" He pointed to the first panel, with the image of me Sparta kicking the deadbeat brother off the cliff.
"Kludd." I silently mouthed the asshole's name, and he smirked at the amusing sight.
"Alex, you are a troubled individual." I roll my eyes at the understatement of the year. "You're lucky I don't believe that he can save him. Otherwise, I'd be a little, uh… pissed off, is that how you would say it? I'd really like to, don't get me wrong, but a real older brother would have stayed with his sibling no matter what. That's what Nylan would have done, it's what I would have done."
You know someone is deeply below the shit on your heel when a guy like Matthias says that there's no hope for them.
"Anyways, enough of that depressing stuff. I wanted to talk to you about what's going to happen once you get out of this cramped infirmary. You know we're all training to become Guardians, right?" I shook my head, I mean they're really doing that? Was finding them just not good enough?
"Yeah, judging from your reaction, you had no clue. The truth is, I wanted to do this because of you. You made me realize that apathy will only breed more apathy. I don't want anyone else to live in a world where the youth are kidnapped because scum like the Pure Ones think that we're just fodder for their armies, slaves to be controlled. I want this world to be peaceful, and if that means that I have to become a Guardian, I'll do it."
So, he did this because of me? If you told me a couple months ago that I was going to be a positive influence in someone's life, I'd have never believed you.
"Alex, this was a big decision in my life that I made. Know that I'm not forcing you to do anything that you don't want to do. If you don't want to-" I shushed him with a wing, already knowing what my answer was. This might have been hard for him, but it wasn't for me.
I'm going to be a Guardian, even if it kills me.
"Does that mean that…?" I nodded, and then he suddenly jumps up and tackles me to the ground. The air in my lungs was temporarily pushed out of my body, I clearly wasn't expecting the little puffball of joy to "assault" me. "You really mean it?!" I gave him my signature sarcastic face.
"This is amazing! You're the best, Alex! So, how about tomorrow night, before I go to practice, I'll tell you all about how this place works, and I'll even get you started on writing Hoolian, how's that sound?" Matthias was rapidly running out of oxygen to speak, so I nodded immediately.
"Why not?" I soundlessly said.
"Cool!" He cheered, and hugged me once again. I didn't want him to skip out on sleeping, but given my current situation, I couldn't really tell him that he should get some rest. Matthias looked around the room, and visibly moaned in displeasure. "Oh, uh, fiddlesticks!? I'm sorry, Alex, I think I have to go now. I'm not really allowed to be in here right now, so… see ya?" I waved goodbye to the screech owl, who reciprocated the action.
I sigh and rub my eyes with my good wing. His boundless amount of energy sometimes gets the better of me. Now that I no longer had to worry about him, seeing as how he must have went to bed, because a small portion of the sun's thin beams of light had penetrated through the cracks of the tree, illuminating the infirmary. Now I could continue with my third panel of my dumb comic. I grasped the pencil in my talons, and I started to draw about another adventure our gang would have in the land of the free. I didn't stop until my limb got sore, and I began to follow the calls of the sleep siren, eventually pulling me into the dreamscape.
—
As the nights went by, I was getting stronger and stronger. Night number four, I was able to leave the infirmary by myself, although I could not hope to reach the lower or upper levels without the direct assistance of others. Since I didn't want to be a burden for anyone, I insisted that I would venture out into the world when I was well and ready. The last thing I'd want people to do was to treat me like an invalid.
It was going to be a challenge, but hard work makes the dream work and all that. Besides, it wasn't like I was alone in this. I had all of my friends with me, and I was even starting to make new ones here at the tree.
Matthias and I were currently walking our way down to the library (Take that, Mirah, I was going to make it in six, not seven), and he was gauging how much I knew about all of the different classes and teachers that the Guardians had.
"So, if you were tapped for Coilering, what other chaw would you have to be tapped for?" He questioned, and while it took some time for the answer to pop into my brain, I did manage to quietly say the right answer.
"Weather Interpretation, right?"
"Correct, and who're the rybs for those two chaws?" Ryb was just another, more respectful word for a teacher, and chaw was the owl word for class. It's weird, but in this world, everything was. I was just more or less used to it by now.
"Doesn't Ezylryb teach Weather Interpretation?" He nodded. "Is it… Elvisryb that teaches Coilering?"
"It's Elvanryb, not Elvisryb. That sounds kind of stupid, don't you think?"
"It is not! Elvis is a way cooler name than Elvan." Elvan was the one that sounded dumb and reminded me of an elf on Lord of the Rings.
"Okay, before we get into yet another argument on what one name is better than the other, we're moving on. What's the thing they leave in your hollow if you're tapped for Ga'hoology?"
Shit, I forgot! Uh, was it the coal, or was it the feather? Crap, just blurt out the first thing that makes logical sense.
"Is it a dried caterpillar?" I asked, unsuringly. Unfortunately, my answer was wrong.
"Nope, that's Weather Interpretation. It's not surprising that you didn't remember something like that, to be honest. Most owls seem to agree that Ga'hoology would be the last thing they'd want to be tapped for."
"Well, do you want to dig up dirt and worms with your bare talons for the rest of your life?" I sarcastically replied, and he shook his head.
"I understand that it's an important job, keeping the tree healthy and alive. But I don't think I could do that. I'd rather be helping people, than a plant. It's a very humongous, and grand plant, in the most basic of terms, but still, it's a plant."
"Isn't the ryb also a bit on the loony side? Like, she's not nearly on the same level as Digger, yet I think I heard some owls complain that she wasn't, you know, a hundred percent with them. Do all burrowing owls end up going insane at some point in their life?"
"That's just rumors, Alex. Don't believe everything that someone that you don't know tells you."
"Alright, so what else do you got for me?" I asked, as we finally arrived at the library. It was a large sized hollow, and as expected, it was almost chocked to the brim with an assortment of scrolls and books.
"Do you want to practice writing everyone's names again?"
"Do I have to?" I groaned at the thought of writing in the foreign gobbledygook language known as Hoolian.
"Yes, Alex. It's pretty much a requirement if you want to be a Guardian. No legend ever told of the silver owl who was illiterate, and doodled on paper instead of learning Hoolian on it."
"Fine." I muttered, and he brought out another piece of dirty brown parchment from a pile on Ezylryb's personal desk. "Is he going to be okay with us using his little collection?"
"Um… maybe? What's the worst thing he can do to us, poke us to death with his toe stub? Squint really hard into our skulls?"
"I don't know, man. Does it snow in the Northern Kingdoms?" I jested. I had recently learned that the kingdoms up north were notorious for always being cold and frozen at pretty much all times of the year.
"Ha, ha. Very funny, but seriously, I don't think the old man would mind. If he personally vouched for believing in our story, he's probably not a bad guy. He's just…"
"Weird?" I finished for him, and Matt slowly nodded in response.
"Yeah. Anyways, let's just get started before I have to go, okay?" He turned the subject around, and I grabbed another owlish pencil from his desk, and walked to a nearby table. I started off with what I knew the best, which was my own name. When I was done, Matthias silently stares at my handiwork.
Is it good? It's probably shit, isn't it?
"Eh… that's not as bad as when you first started, but… can you do it again? Your x is a little bit too funky, and the e's, well that's really screwed up. No offense." I groaned in irritation, before retrying. My second attempt at writing my own name was thankfully better than the other. It might have helped that I didn't rush through it.
"Is this good?" I asked, and Matt gave me a wing's up.
"Uh-Huh. Now, let's move on to Cato's." He said, and this time, I made sure that I wasn't taking any shortcuts like how I do when I write in English.
"That reminds me," I let go of the pencil for a second, and I looked at Matt. "Has Cato been tapped yet? I know he's not quite as on board with this whole thing, but…"
"No, he hasn't. But you have to remember, I was tapped early for the Healing Chaw because... I wasn't really good at anything else." He gazed down low to the ground. "Is that bad?"
"Not at all. But, aren't you at least a little good at blacksmithing?" I inquired the screech owl, who reluctantly shook his head.
"Not really. I basically had Bubo hold the hammer for me while I kind of took up the role of a supervisor. And, while I wanted to be with Barran in the Search and Rescue Chaw, I don't have the strength for it." He peers back up at me and smirks. "I think you'd be incredible for that Chaw, don't you think?"
"Matt, I have to rescue myself first, before I can rescue other people. If I keep getting messed up in every fight, I'd just be a liability."
"That's a load of racdrops, Alex!" He suddenly snaps at me. "You saved me, you saved Soren and Gylfie."
"Grimble did, Matt. Look where that got him."
"I know, Alex! You kept telling me that he could still be alive, but he's probably… dead. But you're not! You're still with us, and…" He looks around the room. "Listen, I talked to Daniel about this. He told me that if it wasn't for you and him, I'd probably still be picking flecks for the Pure Ones."
"Daniel was the one who watched over you guys, not me. Matt. The legends saved you from losing everything you had. If I can't save myself from this," I unwrapped part of my bandage on my leg, the injury still relatively fresh and red, with a small row of stitches that kept the skin in place. "How am I ever going to save other people? How am I going to save you guys?"
"Alex, just stop. It doesn't matter if you get hurt or not. What matters is that your gizzard, your heart and head are all in the right place. I'm sure that they'll teach you how to fight properly, just…" He comes up to me with teary eyes. "Stop thinking that you're no good at anything. There's too much talent in that brain of yours to be wasted on stupid shit like that."
I kindly smiled at the screech owl. "You said shit."
"I know I did, Alex. I guess I know who to thank for that, don't I?" He wipes the tears in his eyes, and grins.
"Does the T go like this?" I picked up the pencil and started to write out the crow's name. "Or like this?" I show him my penmanship, and he rolls his eyes in disapproval.
"Glaumora above, no! That's not at all what it's suppose to look like!"
"Well, since you're the frinking expert, why don't you show me?"
"I will! Here, look at my name." He yanks the pencil out of my talons, and puts down his name on the paper. "Now, just try to copy that."
"Okay." He gave me the pencil back, and being the eternal wisecracker I was, I knowingly screwed up most of the letters in his name, and his face was the absolute best.
"Alex, come on! This is worst than when I practiced writing my name with my family! And I was just six nights old!"
"Whoops, sorry bout that." I lightheartedly apologized. Somehow, the second time around, I had managed to screw up his name even more.
"Dude! Are you having a laugh!?" He frustratingly exclaimed, and I chuckled in amusement at his decreasing amount of patience.
"I don't know, are you?" I sweetly asked the screech owl. I could have sworn I saw a vein that was ready to burst in his head.
"That makes no sense at all!" He growls, and I couldn't stop the eminent churring from happening. This was just too good to be real. "Are you trying to be the next Digger?"
"If I was, I'd be living in the clouds, Matt, while I spouted off about how 'these generations of Strigiformes don't appreciate my vaunted wisdom!'"
"You are one huge jerkbird."
"And you are half the size of me, tiny man." I smirked, bracing myself for the tirade to come.
I missed messing with him so much.