Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of the Guardians or the book series
Soren yawned as he stretched his legs after a good day's sleep. He chuckled at the sight of Digger still snoozing, his tongue hanging out in content. At the mouth of the hollow, he noticed Twilight and Gylfie looking at something off in the distance.
"Great Glaux, that's a huge fire," Twilight muttered.
"I know, you can see the flames from here," Gylfie added.
Soren walked up beside them to see the tiniest sliver of the mainland. Around it, the afternoon sky seemed to almost dance as clouds of smoke rose into the sky.
"I feel sorry for any creature caught in there," Gylfie mumbled.
"Me too," said Twilight.
The owls got up and crept from their hollow out onto a branch and took off for the dining area. There was acorn porridge with steaming cups of milkberry tea, roasted Tree Slugs and braised mice. But as Soren headed for his usual spot with his friends, a voice scratched the air.
"Over here, boy. Both weather and colliering chaws eat it raw with the hair still on." It was the unmistakable voice of Ezylryb. He turned around to see the grizzled Screech along with Bubo and Elvan.
"What?" Soren beaked the word in disbelief.
"You mean you haven't heard?" Otulissa was suddenly beside him.
"Heard what?" Soren said, not sure if he really wanted to know.
"We're having our first colliering exercise shortly."
"You've got to be kidding. We can't just fly into a forest fire."
"Oh, but we are" she said, trying to sound nervous herself.
"Gather round and eat up, young ones - and all the hair, mind you." It was the fat old blind snake named Octavia, who had served as Ezylryb's nest maid and companion for years. Unlike other blind snakes whose scales varied from rose to deep coral, Octavia was a pale greenish-blue. Soren took a spot next to Martin, the smart little Saw-whet who had asked the question in colliering practice about the need for fresh coals. Soren realized that there was more room a the table that he was accustomed to, for it looked as though that the other young owls had wilted from anxiety. Even Ruby, Otulissa, and Shard, seemed to shrink a bit. Tension hovered in the air.
Ezylryb fixed the youn owls in the amber light of his squinted eye. "Eat up, young'uns...every single little hair. You've forgotten what raw meat tastes like with the fur, as you call it. Poot here can tell you what happens when ya fly into a storm or fire with no ballast in your gizzard."
"No need, boss. If I told them what could happen, they'd never want to leave the tree again." Poot was a Boreal Owl, just like Grimble, though younger and more natural-colored.
"Now don't go scaring them, Poot," Octavia said as she waggled the end of her tail disapprovingly.
It was not even dark yet, but the weather, or in this case, colliering chaw owls were already on the takeof limb. They gazed nervously at the distant inferno.
"now, anyone know why we are here?" Ezylryb turned to the colliers-in-training. A silence fell upon them. They pulled their feathers tight to their sides.
"Don't worry," Ezylryb chuckled. "We're not flying yet. Not until later. But I want you up here because you're going to see how fire changes thing - the wind, the clouds. You might need this knowledge later when you're flyin' into a storm. But right now, there's a fire burning over there across Hoolemere. A great fire." He bobbed out on the branch toward the water. "So later, we'll cross the sea. Then we'll fetch up on some high cliffs on the other side to get a better look. We're going to camp there for a day or to before we fly in."
For another hour they observed the unique behavior of the clouds on the far side of Hoolemere. During which they had learned about pressure differential, thermal inversions, and convective columns.
By the time the last sliver of sunlight was out, they were dismissed to take a short nap. They would be awakened at tween time, the time between the last drop of sun and the first shadows of twilight, and then take off across the Sea of Hoolemere.
"Are you nervous, Ruby?" Soren said as they made their way back up from the top limbs for their naps.
"I'd be a fool not to be," replied the rusty-feathered owl.
"But you fly so well."
"Not to mention," Martin added, "That both of you are twice my size."
"What's to fear the most?" Soren asked.
"Crowning," Shard answered quickly. "When the fire leaps from treetop to treetop. Flying through it is almost impossible. You can never tell where the dead falls might be."
"Technically, the fire does that" - Otulissa had caught up with them - "because the flames climb in a fuel ladder as they call it."
"Yeah, and think of me," said Martin. "I'm the one flying close to the ground for the smaller embers. One of those crowning things, and I'l get sucked straight up a fuel ladder."
"We all have to spend time ont he ground, not just you," Soren said. "It could happen to any of us. You don't have to be little." Martin cocked his head and blinked. He did not look convinced.
Altough they had yet to be in an actual forest fire, each member of the chaw had a type of coal or ember they were in charge of gathering. Ruby, being the best flier, would seek airborne embers that were dispersed to the highest parts of the thermal draft columns. Soren, shard, and Otulissa were assigned a midway position on various sides of the convection column. And little Martin was on ground work. But, indeed, they would all have to do a certain amount of groundwork.
Soren could not help but think about how different this flight across Hoolemere was from the time he had crossed it to the Great Tree nearly three months ago. He remembered how the blizzard had raged, how the entire world had turned had turned into a swirling white, and the sky and water had melted into one indistinguishable mass. Tonight the air was clear, the sea below calm with barely a white cap to ruffle the blueness. Seagulls dipped in the last rays of sunlight. The silvery glint of a fish leaping to escape a larger fish sometimes flashed above the water's surface. Yet as they drew closer to the opposite shore, the air did seem different. and altough owls, like most birds, did not have much of a sense of smell, the air seemed tinged with an acrid odor.
They landed on the ridge of some high cliffs. Ezylryb was already pointing with his three-taloned foot to some clouds just beyond where they perched. "We call them Ga'Hoole clouds. You know why?"
Otulissa raised a talon. "Because they are the shape of the seed found in Ga'Hoole's fruits."
"Right on the mark, missy," Ezylryb said.
Martin gave a little sigh. "She never stops, does she?"
It was clear that Martin was very nervous. More nervous than the others. Soren felt bad for him. He was the smallest owl in the chaw. It had to be scary. "Dont worry. You're going to be all right."
"That's kind of you sore, but you do realize I'm the first Saw-whet to ever join the colliering chaw?"
"They must think you're special," Soren reassured.
"But what if I'm not?" Martin said, a squeak desperation creeping into his voice. "I might become one of those airborne embers."
"All right now, we camp hear and wait until the fire is safe for penetration and retrieval," Ezylryb spoke up. Elvan and Bubo shall take over from that point. I'll remain here and watch the weather. Do as you're told and no one will get hurt. Ruby and Poot fly top-layer. Elvan and Otulissa at mid-layer. Below them will be soren and Shard, who will cover martin on the ground. Bubo and I will be ready if anyone needs help. You are to watch out for each other."
A little while later Ezylryb announced that they would be taking off for the next ridge. He had already flown several reconnaissance flights with Poot. He now arrived back on the ridge.
"There's a possible temperature inversion at the east end of the valley. We're not sending any owl down there. Temperature inversion trap smoke, and then do you know what can happen. when the smoke starts to rise?"
At first nobody answered, then the old Whiskered Screech spoke again. "I think Soren might have the answer,"
How does he feel I have the answer? Is this what it means to be marked? But Soren didn't feel that he knew the answer. So he proceeded tentatively. "I think that it means when the smoke rises there could be a change in the air." Ezylryblooked straight at him. The light from his yellow eyes did not burn now but seemed to illuminate Soren's entire brain. He felt surer, more confident, but mostly he could now envision the invisible air. "The air would rise and turn then circulate upward and when that happens, I think the fire will burn harder."
"Exactly!" boomed Ezylryb. "And how do you know this, lad?"
"I see it in my mind. I can imagine it. I feel something, I think in my gizzard, about the movement of air and heat."
"Very well-put." Ezylryb turned to the other owls of the chaw. "There are many ways to learn - through books through practice, and through gizzuition."
"What's gizzuition?" Shard asked.
Ezylryb began to speak but kept his gaze on Soren. "It is a kind of thinking beyond the normal reasoning processes by which one immediately apprehends the truth, percieves and understands reality. It can't really be taught, but it can be developed by being extremely attentive and sensitive to the natural world."
Soren blinked. Mabye I AM something in this ol owl's eyes.
It was now time to move to a ridge closer to the fire. The chaw lifted into the air, each owl flying close to his or her buddy. They were not halfway there when they saw the thick smoke, almost white against the night, rolling up, and then the tongues of flame dancing against the night. Ezylryb began a steep banking turn. Bubo and Poot arrived shortly with fresh voles and mice in their talons, some still squirming.
"Eat light, with all the hair!" Ezylryb barked.
"Why does he always call it hair?" Matin said quietly.
"They say he come from the Northern Kingdoms, and they have odd ways of speaking," said Shard.
"But hair? What's hair?" Martin persisted.
"Well there's fur and there's feathers - mabye it's something in between," Shard guessed. "I think hair is the thick fur found on man, but only at the top of his head. Primates, too."
"Strange customs," Martin muttered.
Less than an hour had passed when Bubo flew down from his higher perch. "Prepare to fly!"
The owls stood on the thin granite lip of the ridge, their talons hooked over the edge. They spread their wings, and Bubo gave the command. "Now!" They lifted off - first Bubo and Elvan, then Ruby and Poot, next Otulissa, Shard, Soren, and Martin, and last, as a rear guard, Ezylryb.
They had not flow very far before they felt the heat on their bodies. They had anticipated the heat, but not the noise. A monster roar raged in their ears. Soren had never heard anything like it. Bubo and Elvan had prepared them for everything but this noise. They knew about the temperature, as well as the violent updrafts, the so-called cools spots, and the dead falls. They even knew about the most dreaded trick fire could pull - fire-blinking. This happened when a fire, raging with all its deadly beauty, actually transfixed an owl so that it couldn't fly. It went yeep and, with its wings locking, the owl lost its insticts to fly and plummeted to the ground. Or if the owl was already on the ground, it would simply stand with its wings hung still and motionless. But no one had told him about this noise.
"You'll get used to it," Elvan said. "It's always a shock at first. There's really no way to describe it." He had yo shout over the roar of the fire. Below, a sheet of flame lay flat against a hillside. Thermal drafts came up like slabs of rock. Martin, Shard, and Soren were sucked up at least twenty feet but as they passed the hill they felt a terrific coolness before dropping another thirty feet. Soren realized that it was only cool compared to the heat they had just flown through. Bubo now circled back. He had been flying far out in front. "good ember beds ahead. Perfect for all of you."
So this was it, Soren thought. This was when they became true colliers. Just then, like a shooting star, something red whizzed by.
"Beautiful catch, Ruby," shouted Poot.
"What a natural that Short-eared Owl is!" Elvan gasped in amazement
Ruby began began to wing off toward the coal buckets that Bubo had set up on the ridge. The buckets made in his forge, with bits of kindling in the bottom already lit, would keep the coals hot.
"All right, Marin going in!" Elvan called out the command. The little owl began a tight spiraling plunge to the ground. "Cover him, Soren."
Soren would fly cover until Martin returned with a beakful of cinders, and then do the same with Shard. Elvan actually carried the very small cinder pot in his talons. Martin was supposed to not only collect cinders but report back on the larger coals that Soren, Shard and Otulissa were to retrieve.
Soren hovered above with a careful eye on his little friend. He was getting used to the noise. Indeed, not only was he getting used to it but within the thunderous roar he could seek out smaller sounds, like the sound of Martin's hearbeat, which grew rapidly as he descended. As Martin's heart raced, soren hoped with all his heart, gizzard, and soul that the little Saw-whet Owl would be all right. He could now see that Martin was on the ground.
He kept his focus on Matrin, who was now just a little smudge on the ground. a cloud of smoke temporarily obscured him and Soren flew lower. There he was. and he was coming up fast.
"He's comin' in loaded!" Bubo slid in next to Elvan.
Martin was with them not a second later. Cinders poured from his small beak, and he deposited his cargo into one of Elvan's buckets. His face was sooty but his eyes dance with a light as bright as the fire. "I did it! I did it!"
"That you did, young'un." Bubo flew up and tousled Martin's head feathers with his talons as they hovered.
"I can't wait to go back," Martin said.
"Hold on there," Elvan reminded. "First, your report."
"Embers the size of pellets down there."
"Excellent," Elvan said before flying off to confer with Buboand Ezylryb.
"Wow Soren, there's nothing like it. I wasn't scared at all. And it feels intoxicating to grab the cinders in your beak."
"That's what I've heard," Shard flew up. "But be careful, they say you can get drunk on them."
"Now's the time, Soren. You're going in! Elvan ordered.
Soren pitched into a spiraling downward twist. He felt himself buffeted by a sudden fierce updraft, but he had gathered enough speed to bore right through it. Then he was on the ground. Charred skeletons of trees clawed the night, and scattered about were the coals like hot glowing rocks. They were told to work quickly yet not rush. A steady pace is the best pace, Bubo had said. How had Martin, who was so little, done it and found cinders perfectly sized for his beak? Great Glaux, how embarrassing it would be, Soren thought, if he could not find any embers, and came back empty-beaked. Bubo and Elvan had tried to emphasize that no one should be embarrassedd. Oftentimes in the beginning a young collier did not find a suitable coal. there was no shame in returning empty-beaked. But Soren knew there was.
suddenly, Soren heard a terrible cracking sound. The flames turned a stand of trees just in front of him into one immense torch. He looked up and saw the crowns of other trees igniting. Crown fire! He began to feel a mighty pull on him. Was he going to be sucked up? The last thing on Soren remembered thinking about clearly was himself reaching for a pellet-sized ember just three feet away, and then he spread his wings...
Well then, another much-anticipated chapter out of the way. Took me a lot of brainpower for this one. P.S. If you're a code Lyoko fan, and you decide to read my fanfic about it, please review. Don't forget to review on this one, too.