"Ready and rearing for training, General Ma'am!" Vaygar announced as the young Tytos lined up before her, Ginger having unfortunately found herself standing next to Kludd.

"Excellent. Now, before we begin, I would like to remind all of you, should the need be, that young Ms. Wingren has only just started training with us, and I will not tolerate any of you ridiculing her novice skills. Understood?"

"Loud and clear, General Ma'am," the Grass Owl nodded.

"Wouldn't dream of it, General Ma'am," Uklah chimed in.

"Understood, General Ma'am," Phillip breathed.

"Yes, General Ma'am," Kludd answered flatly. Nyra gave him a strange look as she scanned over him

"And furthermore, once she really gets down to business, you best all watch your tail feathers for her; she shows exceptional flying skills for one her age. Who knows? Maybe as good as you, Vaygar, if not better," she teased.

"Time will tell, General Ma'am," he answered.

"How old is she, exactly?" Phillip inquired curiously.

"Everyone, announce your ages. Including you, Ms. Wingren," she ordered them in response to the question. "That'll make things quick."

Uklah, Phillip, Vaygar, Kludd and Ginger all answered in order from left to right.

"Eleven."

"Twelve..."

"Also twelve."

"Thirteen."

"Uh...Same as Uklah..."

"Good. That's settled. See, she may be a tad younger than most of you, but she is just as apt as any other young owl. Now, first order of the night is that you all assemble in the target range, and you know what to do once you get there. I need tend to business concerning the Academy in the Canyonlands, so one of you will have to take over for me and demonstrate to Ginger how things work with that, am I clear?"

"Yes, General Ma'am," Uklah confirmed. "Erm...Which one of us is to be appointed?"

"You explain verbally, and Kludd will give a live demonstration."

"Understood, General Ma'am."

"I trust you'll all refrain from gleeking about during my brief absence," she told them all. "Ginger. Tell me when I return whether everyone was actually training or not. You're new, so I trust you."

"Uh-"

Before she could ask anything about it, Nyra had already turned tail and started flying out of the training grounds. The newcomer turned to face the two other Tyto Albas.

"So...I haven't been in this part of the training area yet," she explained. "She said so herself; just...show me the ropes, I guess."

"Gladly," Uklah grinned. "Now, you see those rows of red target marks painted on the wood slabs by the wall?"

"Those?"

She pointed with a wing at the supposed objects; they lined the wall, and formed columns extending behind the front ones.

"Those slabs are a bit weaker than they look. What we've gotta do is fly at them, then stretch out legs out and pounce on 'em. We gotta see how far they break through."

"We break them?"

"If you've been doin' it for long enough, you can get as good as Kludd. He can clear THREE of those from front to back in one strike. Kludd! Show 'er!"

"Oh...Well, with pleasure," he answered, suddenly seeming a lot more confident than he was the first time they'd met.

He spread his wings and charged at one of the columns of targets, seeming at first like he was going to ram into them head first. But just when he was about to bash his skull into the painted wood, he flung his open claws out, then smashed through to the other side of the target, and then through another, and one more behind it before stopping himself on the last one, pushing himself off and back onto the stony ground with a showy flip.

"Do I have to do the flip thing?"

"No, he's just showing off," Uklah teased him. "Give it a go with the column next to his. Speed up, claws open and legs stiff with you make contact. And don't stop yourself on the first one; you saw what he did there. Try to break through at least the first target and the one behind it. Got it?"

"I think so."

"Give it a shot, mate."

Ginger aligned herself with her target, stepped back away from it as far as she could, then ruffled her feathers and puffed a breath.

She spread her wings, began a dash towards the target and began to flap, lifting her flailing legs up off the ground before kicking them behind her. It wasn't long before she was flying full-force at the slab she intended to break.

Then, before she could collide with it headfirst, she swung her legs out and spread her talons, and her open feet met the wood.

There was a crash and a crack, and splinters flew about as she penetrated the first target, then braced for impact with the second. Another crash followed, and then, all of a sudden, the Barn Owl was stopped right in her wake, her entire body sprawling itself against the third obstacle.

She stretched her legs down to search for the ground, and when she finally felt her claws brush against stone, she pushed herself off to examine what she'd done. Two of the target slabs were behind her, and right in front of her was a third. It was cracked in the middle from the impact, and the mark branched out like a spider web, but it still held strong enough to keep itself from collapsing.

"So...Is that, like, two and a half?"

"Hey, you might not be able to read, but you can certainly count," Uklah answered. "That's two and a half alright; great for a newbie, if I ever saw it. In fact I can barely get past the first one without having my entire self crash, and I've been here for a good eight moons."

"What exactly is a 'moon'?"

"The time it takes for the moon to go from new, to full, to new again. There are twelve moons in a year."

"Oh. So, they're just months?"

"That's another word for them, yes."

"Ah...Okay."

"Alright, everyone! Do your business here so we can move on to the next regiment!" Uklah ordered.

She and the other two Tytos did the same to the other rows; Vaygar and Phillip displayed similar strength, with each of them successfully breaking through two of the targets, Vaygar almost breaking through the third, similar to what Ginger had accomplished. Phillip wasn't quite as robust as the Grass Owl, but his attempt was nothing to sneeze at.

Uklah, however, had been very right about her lack of physical strength; she broke through one, then collided with the second in an awkward manner. Kludd held in a snort of a laugh at her sorry attempt to look strong, but all Uklah responded to him with was a roll of the eyes.

"Alright, we're movin' on to the next course, Ging'. Can I call ya Ging'?" she asked the newcomer.

"Huh...I like it."

"Great! Now, let's go. Nyra said it herself; we show you the ropes."

...

"Well, here are the ropes!"

"Oh...You meant actual ropes."

The five Tyto owls now stood before six long ropes hanging down from the ceiling, each of them made from strips of fox skins weaved together.

"So...What do we do with these?"

"We climb to the top."

"That's all?" Ginger made sure. "Sounds easy enough..."

"Don't get cocky; it's harder than it looks, trust me. The leather does give you a good grip, but your feet aren't holding you up on the ground. You're pulling yourself up with just your own strength; nothing to rest your feet on unless you give it up and fly back down to start again. First time I did this, I could barely pass getting up off the ground."

"Any tips?"

"Well, I don't suppose you've ever climbed trees, have you?"

"No. Just branched in them."

"Well, here's a piece of advice; you don't just use your talons, you use your beak. Keeps you from fallin' backwards. Just go from side to side to balance things out as you go up. Grip to the left, then to the right, and try to keep your beak grabs in sync with your claws. Got all that?"

"I think so."

"Let's see what you can do. Kludd, give us a quick demonstration here, why don't you?"

He nodded, a smirk across his beak, then approached one of the ropes, grabbed the bottom of it, tugged on it to test its strength, then pushed himself off the ground with his free set of talons and quickly grabbed the rope beneath his first grip, grunting a bit as he opened his beak and bit it around the leather. Using the same technique Uklah had described, he began to scale the rope, rising higher and higher until the top of his head nearly reached the very top. And when once it was just inches away from hitting the stone roof, Kludd pushed himself off, spreading his wings and spiraling down around the rope until he neared the ground, opening his talons and landing with all the poise and grace of a swan. Ginger nodded and whistled at the sight of it, impressed. Kludd might be odd, but he was definitely good at what he did.

"Alright, we're up. Let's go!" Uklah called to her, already making her way to the ropes.

Ginger made the same approach as Kludd; grabbing and tugging the end of the rope to make sure it was secure(why it wouldn't be was a mystery to her, but she figured that she might as well check) and when she found that it was, she hopped a bit on the foot still on the ground to find a good place to put it to give herself a strong enough boost.

When she found the right place and position, she bent that leg some, then sprang up into a jump, swinging her foot up and grabbing hold of the rope just above the first. She leaned backward, threatening to fall back onto the floor, but managed to jerk herself forward in time to prevent the collision and bit into the rope with an open beak.

I did it!

She watched as the other owls climbed up the ropes.

...Now what do I do?

She was a bit wary of removing either of her feet, fearing that the other one might end up taking on too much weight and collapsing, causing her to fall. She looked around at the other Tytos again; they were all doing just that, placing one foot above the other and moving their heads from side to side to ascend the ropes. Ginger rolled her eyes at herself. If they could do it so easily, who was to say she couldn't?!

She loosened the grip on her left foot and tightened the right one, balancing the weight out. Then, as swiftly as she could, released the grip and moved it up over the tighter-holding talons, while at the same time letting her beak go, tilting her head the opposite direction and grabbing hold of it again, eyes shut tightly.

No crash followed, so she pried them open to see how she'd fared, and to her delight, she'd done it.

So, eyes wide open this time, she KEPT doing it.

The young Barn Owl rose higher and higher, and all the while she found herself climbing up faster and faster. This wasn't so hard, after all! So, knowing that she had it down pact, she kept going up, and up, and up, until...

"Ack!"

She hit her head on something, and looked up to see just what it was.

Oh, not again...

Just like with her first private training course with the Ablah General, she'd failed to note just how high she'd risen, and conked her head on the stone ceiling.

"You alright?" Phillip asked, having witnessed the scene.

"Yeah, fine...Ugh. I need to look up more often."

"Well, that's all said and done," Uklah remarked as she caught up with the other owls to the top. "Now just push off, spread your wings and glide down!"

She let go first, spiraling slowly down to the stony earth again, port wing tilted toward the rope. Ginger and the others followed suit, and once they'd all planted their talons on solid ground again, Vaygar gave his input on the newbie's progress.

"Gotta say, I wasn't expecting this much from someone so new. What's your secret, eh?"

"Well, it's...not much of a secret. When I was younger, I watched my parents fly in and out of the hollow all the time, and I was able to pick up some of what they did in the air. Practiced a lot with my wings and tail, even before I'd fully fledged. And when I did, I was able to incorporate what I'd taught myself into my First Branching Ceremony. With what I pulled off that day, it might as well have also been First Flight; spun an upward spiral around our spruce tree when everyone was least expecting it."

"You did?" Uklah marveled. The reason behind her premature skills was plausible, but no less incredible.

"Impressive," Kludd acknowledged, nodding.

"Still rough around the edges, though," Ginger admitted. "It's, ah...hard to get in over my head when I hit it on the ceiling so much."

"Ha!" Vaygar burst out. "Well, you'll get there. Hey, if you're lucky, maybe someday, you'll even be qualified to lead a whole squadron of owls, like myself."

Ginger nodded and grinned, but the moment didn't last long; she and the Grass Owl realized how quiet it'd suddenly become, and they looked away from each other to find all the other trainees staring at him skeptically.

"...Leader?" Uklah repeated not sure if she'd heard Vaygar right. "What makes you think your our quote-unquote 'leader'?"

"Well, I speak for the group, don't I? Besides, if it weren't for me during night flight practice, you'd all get lost, which is why Nyra always makes ME the lead owl in formation. Clearly, I'm at the top of the pile."

"And you think that makes you our 'leader,' does it?" Kludd challenged. "Give me a break; you wouldn't know how to lead if you read all about it."

"I've read into it," Uklah mused. "Hey, maybe I should take on the position."

"Says the owl who can barely break through one target," the rusty owl retorted, to which she was clearly offended.

"Well, at least I've half a brain to take it on, unlike SOME birds. What make you think you're so high and mighty?"

"Because I am!" he claimed. "I'm the oldest. I'm the strongest, and I'm the best on the field. You're all just too proud to admit to it, I think."

"Look who's talking," Vaygar snapped back.

"Ah...What about me?" Phillip chimed in, a bit hesitantly, though. The three looked at him.

"You? The caboose? Leader?" Kludd awed, not sure if he could imagine such a thing. "What have you got to consider yourself qualified?"

"...Common sense?"

"Can we drop this?" Ginger finally asked them. "I don't think this is necessary right now."

They all turned to face her; Vaygar squinted at her, almost curiously, Uklah simply cocked her head in anticipation, Phillip's gaze grew wider, and Kludd's bright, fiery amber eyes narrowed at her.

"So..." he drawled. "You think YOU'VE a place to tell us what to do, now?"

"N-no, I just-"

"HA! Come ON; you've barely been here for a day, and you think YOU can LEAD us? That's yoiks! Stark-raving yoiks!"

His sneery voice hardened into a very amused, hearty laugh. Now it was Ginger's turn to glare at him.

"You know what? Why not? Nyra said it herself; I've got just as much potential as any of you. Might I be the new gal here? Maybe so, but that doesn't mean with a little more practice I can blow you all away to the backlines. ESPECIALLY you, Kludd. Afraid to lose face to me, eh? What if I justified those fears?" she mocked him.

THAT shut him up, and Kludd realized his terrible mistake.

"...And here I thought you weren't getting in over your head," Vaygar joked.

"Oh, like you're one to talk, Mr. 'Leader Buff!'"

"At least the rest of us can READ!" Kludd pointed out.

"Kludd, I'll slap you in your sleep for that!" Uklah scolded.

"This is going too far, owls," Phillip told them all, finally deciding to enter the ring. "If her Pureness hears-"

"If Nyra hears what we've been discussing, she'll know JUST how to solve it," Kludd interrupted him, pointing a talon at himself.

"Alright, that's it, no more Mr. Nice-"

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?"

The sudden outburst ceased all quarreling instantly, and all five young Tytos turned their gaze to where the voice came from. Phillip's warning had seen itself through; Nyra stood there, stretched tall and looking daggers at all of them. They wilfed at the sight of her; frinking off the Ablah General, even by accident, was always a bad thing to do.

But once she had everyone's full attention, she eased herself, though still looking cross.

"Might I ask just what this is all about?"

Ginger and Uklah exchanged nervous glances. This was definitely an embarrassing situation, and they both now realized how stupid and childish the argument really was.

Finally, Vaygar put his ego aside and answered her.

"Well, to put it simply, I said something that sparked a bit of debate amongst us."

"Concerning?"

"Ah..." he hesitated. "...Authority."

"Vaygar referred to himself as the group leader, and from there, we all challenged him," Uklah said for him, earning a distasteful look from the Grass Owl.

"Well, that's bold of you to assume, Tyto," Nyra scolded him. "I don't recall giving any announcement about it."

"Well, your Pureness, since you had me speak and lead formation for us-"

"Assume, yes. Note the first syllable. Anyone who 'assumes' something without merit is that first syllable."

Kludd caught on, and snorted in order to keep from laughing.

"Wipe that smug grin off your face, Kludd."

He immediately turned down the corners of his smile.

"Young Ginger. Did you take any part in this squabble?"

She lowered her head.

"...Yes, your Pureness."

"Don't be too cross at her, your Pureness," Uklah defended her. "She was only trying to break up-"

"Did I ask for you to speak, soldier?"

"...No, General Ma'am."

"Thank you. I must admit, I anticipated this to happen eventually. And now that it has, unless I do something about it, it will no doubt happen again...I'll have you all know, I've actually been considering putting one of you at the head of the squadron. It was the matter of deciding who, though, that I became stuck on. You all have vastly differing strengths and weaknesses, and having acknowledged the competition amongst you all, I believe now that I may have a potential way to decide on this."

"What have you decided, General Ma'am?" Vaygar asked her.

"Starting now, I will put you all through a series of trials, each testing your signature skills. The owl who gains the most victories, shows the greatest potential, and shows off the most well-rounded skills needed in order to effectively lead, will be made the head of the trainee squadron, possessing authority over you only lower than my own. All of the most important aspects will be brought to the table; speed, agility, strength, intellect, common knowledge, and given skills."

"Starting now?" Phillip affirmed.

"Yes. Now. Effective immediately. Formation, owls!"

The four Tytos formed a rhombus of themselves, Vaygar in the front, Uklah to the port, Kludd to the starboard and Phillip in the back.

"You. Ms. Wingren. Center."

"O-oh," she stammered, trotting to the center of the formation.

"Wings out!"

They all spread their wings, Ginger faltering behind somewhat.

"Takeoff!"

Nyra was already in the air, leading the five owls to yet another portion of the palace of the Beaks. Ginger staggered as she took off dryly, almost falling out of her position behind everyone else. Finally, she straightened herself out. Nobody said anything; they all just followed after the Ablah General.

Ginger sighed. This was going to be a long night.