Three days had passed since Ginger had been appointed leader of the trainee squadron, and she and Kludd had just gotten back from their planed outing at the oasis of the Mirror Lakes. She was flying into the entrance to the base, Kludd alongside her, and the two of them met Nyra in the middle of the Main Hall. Ginger took notice of the fact that she had two owls behind her; one very large and white with black speckling and soft, motherly yellow eyes, and the other two being robust Pure One soldiers, complete with helmet and battleclaws.

"How'd it go with the scuppers, owlets?"

"Man..." Ginger huffed. "Those are STRONG. Good thing Kludd knew a thing or two about them, or I might have been blown into the water."

"Ha! Well, you don't master riding currents overnight, so you two keep at it; they strengthen the wings well."

"Aye, General, Ma'am," Kludd saluted. "Alright, Ging', I'm headin' over to my quarters. You wanna tag?"

"Go ahead of me; I'll meet you there."

"Cool," he nodded, a light pink tinge showing beneath the white feathers of his face. "See you then."

He spread his wings and headed to his own stone hollow. Ginger was curious about the three other owls behind the Ablah General.

"What's going on here?"

"Ah, yes. We wanted a word, young Ginger. Gort and Tonk have returned from their expedition into the outside; I sent them out around the same time I did Jatt and Jutt, just in the case things went...awry, so to speak. They found him trying to tread water, and had to pull him out. They brought him to the Academy for Orphaned Owlets in the Beaks to get him patched up. This here is Finny; a pit guardian at the Academy. She looks after several groups of owlets there."

The Snowy Owl stepped forward to greet the young Barn Owl.

"So, you're the young owl from the outside, are you?" she smiled, her voice sweet and happy-sounding. "Well, it is a pleasure, dear! Nyra was just telling me about how you snagged your win in the trials she held for you trainees. Liking it here so far?"

"Sure am," she nodded. "I can't say I expected all of this to happen two weeks ago, though."

"I'm sure it was a surprise. But anyways, we came to ask you about the owlet we found."

"Uh...Me?" she questioned, not sure how she was significant in this matter. "Why me?"

"Well, young Miss Ginger...So he claims, he was looking for...You."

"What?"

"Gort, Tonk, bring the child forth," Nyra commanded.

The two helmed owls stepped aside, revealing the owlet standing behind them.

Ginger's gizzard turned to stone upon the sight of him, in sick denial of who she was really looking at.

The Barn Owlet was none other than her own brother, Felix!

She stood there unmoving as he eagerly came to meet her, wings open.

"I knew it!" he exclaimed, hopping up and down before flinging his fledging wings around his sister. "I knew I'd be able to find you!"

His gesture and words finally made her come back to her senses, and she realized that this was very real. A rush of horror went down her spine, just for a brief moment, before it was overtaken by a far more powerful surge of energy.

Rage.

Blue eyes burning, she opened her own wings and, with a livid hiss, shoved Felix away from her. Nyra could have sworn she saw the leia's eyes shine with a spark of scarlet.

"HOW DID YOU FIND ME!?" she hollered, not an ounce happy at their reunion.

Felix was undeterred by her fury.

"Mom and Dad went out looking for you, and they couldn't find you anywhere, so a few days after you went missing, I decided to go look for you myself, and it was storming when I tried to go out, and then a HUGE gust o' wind blew me away, and I was carried to the ocean, and I fell in! I thought I was gonna die, but those two guys swooped down and rescued me, and now I'm here, and so are you! And now we can go home and-"

"I'm not going ANYWHERE WITH YOU!" she denied. "YOU'RE THE REASON I LEFT IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

"Eh...What?"

He was confused. What did she mean by that?

"You're a LUNATIC and you don't even realize it! You drove me to lashing out at my own parents! I had to leave because I put ALL of you in DANGER, because of YOU!"

Now Felix was beginning to shrink back.

"But...But what about Mom and Dad?"

"What about them!? I'll tell you what about them! Why did you LEAVE them! You went out to try and find me even though you can't even FLY!? You IDIOT! Now they have NO children! And it's YOUR fault! What do you think you did to them!? What do you think you did to ME!? You drove me out, and now HERE WE ARE in the South Pacific Ocean, THOUSANDS of miles from the U.S. in a place that humans never found, with a bunch of other owls living here! How do you expect us to get back home!? And even if you did, you would NEVER get me to come with you! Ever! You want to know why!? Because this IS my home now! I'm NEEDED! I'm APPRECIATED! I'm not DRIVEN to madness by you being a NUTJOB anymore with the things you do! If it weren't for YOU, I'd have never left home at all! And I..."

She faltered for a moment, the sheer anger in her gaze slowly fading, and being replaced with a look of sudden realization.

"I...I'd have never been found by the Pure Ones, and...I'd have never gotten here, or given the chance to...join them, and make all of these...Huh."

In a weird way, Felix had also paved the way for her to come across the Tytonic Union in the first place. The owlet cocked his head curiously, seeing that she was suddenly a lot less mad at him.

"...Well," she shrugged. "I guess you did...ONE thing right. I guess I should at least thank you for that."

Now the naïve smile returned to her brother's face. He was very pleased with what she'd just said.

"I, uh, might be able to go back home if anyone else is going out looking for owls again anytime soon," he suggested. "Uh, hey Mrs. General Nyra ma'am, when are there gonna be anymore trips back out there?"

"Hmm...Well, since neither group technically came back 'empty-taloned,' I wasn't planning on it anytime soon...But I'll see if I can arrange another expedition into the outside within the next two months."

"That's great!" Felix cheered. "So, uh, where are you staying, Ginger? Wanna bunk?"

"OVER MY DEAD BODY."

"Oh dear..." Finny fretted. "Erm, perhaps, Felix dear, I could return you to St. Aggies until we arrange something for you? Oh, besides, you haven't met all the other owlets there yet; I'll put you in my groups, and tend to you all from there, alright?"

"Owlets my age?"

"Oh, yes, indeed. Lots of them. I'm sure you'll be kept entertained."

He beamed at this proposal.

"Okay! Can we go now?"

"I was going to head back there now anyways," the Snowy Owl smiled. Gort and Tonk presented the carrier that Felix had been riding in; it was a weaved basket-like structure, complete with a nest lining the inside of it. The Barn Owlet hopped right back into it, Finny flying up and taking it by her thickly feathered talons, sending gusts of air flying with the beats of her large white and black wings, then finally flying off. Ginger was free of him again.

"...What are the odds?" she marveled. "What are the odds that the very thing I'm trying to escape finds me ALL THE WAY out HERE?"

"Not zero, apparently," Nyra pointed out. "...I think Kludd is waiting for you. Care to join him?"

"Oh. Right. Yeah, I don't wanna keep him waiting. I'll, uh, see you for training tomorrow."

"So you will," the Ablah General nodded. She watched the young owl fly off to meet her other party, astounded by the mainlander's swift devotion to the Union. She'd only been training with them for three days, and she already decided that this was her new home? Phillip and Uklah especially took some time to get used to everything, but this? This was amazing steadfastness from any owlet, if she'd ever seen it. And without a doubt, it meant good things for the future of the Pure Ones.

...Now there goes a soldier in the making.