"What'd I tell you?"

"I believed you, but...This..."

It was like something out of a dream; so abstract and mystic, yet shrouded in a beauty like none other. The stars came in billions, and the inky blue sky stretched out over the rocky landscape, only stopping at each horizon. Right above the flock of owls, cloudy streaks of purple Milky Way ran across the dark background, adding even more surreal beauty to the already otherworldly sight.

"Approaching the Half Spire, Tytos," Nyra alerted them. "Prepare for landing."

She stooped her starboard wing down, and the others followed suit. The somewhat jagged flat surface of what was now a small plateau drew closer as the Tytos spiraled down towards it. Once upon a very long time ago, the Half Spire was just like most of the other stone pillars brushing the skies in this rocky landscape, but eons of wind and water had burdened it too much, and the top half of it had long since fallen and crumbled away to join the rest of the earth.

Finally, the small band of Pure Ones landed, and now that they hadn't any concern of looking where they were flying, they could admire the spectacle as much as they pleased.

"Nice night for a bit of stargazing, no?" Nyra agreed with their thoughts. "But I'm afraid the pleasure of doing it will have to wait. This is all part of the test, and now that we're all here, it's time for the second trial: wayfinding skills. The stars aren't just pretty to look at, you know. There are certain celestial bodies and constellations that point in certain directions across the earth, and knowing which ones point where is crucial to navigation. Yes, we owls can also sense the earth's magnitude itself with our own gizzards, but it is the stars above that are the most reliable tool we can use for wayfinding. Now, to begin...Who here is able to locate the Little Raccoon? It's quite prominent this time of year."

The Little Raccoon? Ginger hadn't ever heard of THAT constellation. But she wasn't about to give up out of only ignorance, so she began searching for a shape in the sky that at least resembled a raccoon to some extent. She might just get lucky and be the first one to-

"Well, that's it right there, just to the east of the zenith point."

Vaygar had been the first one to point it out.

"Excellent. And if you were to follow in its direction, at least during this time of year, which way would you be going?"

"North-north-east," he finished. "Now, if you wanted to go straight north, then-"

"Alright, Vaygar, that'll do. Don't want to give it all away right off the bat, do we?"

"No, your Pureness. We don't," he deflated. Ginger raised a wing.

"Permission to speak, Ginger."

"Uh, to finish what he was about to say, wouldn't you have to follow the North Star?"

"Correct, soldier...But what if you wanted to go south?" she challenged.

"Uh...Well..." she guessed. "Wouldn't you just...fly away from it?"

"You'd follow the Southern Cross, is what you'd do."

"Well done, Vaygar. Now, where lies the Big Raccoon?"

"Right in there," Uklah, pointed out. "Just in between the Sea Serpent and the Golden Talons."

"Nice work. Now, if you wanted to keep west, until you reached the Canyonlands, or even, say, the Beyond, which constellation would you follow after?"

"Well, that's an easy one," Phillip remarked. "Lupus. And no matter the time of year, he always points to where he's from."

"Yes, that's absolutely right, Phillip. Now, here's a kicker...Say we were to assemble on Cape Glaux en masse to get to the Ga'Hoole Tree. Which stars would we have to stay in between in order to keep the course?"

"The tip of the Whale's fin and the Eye of Glaux," Kludd answered, seemingly intrigued by the idea Nyra had proposed.

"Ah, so you HAVE been doing your homework on this, have you, Kludd?" she remarked. "Alright, then, allow me to make things more interesting. Say you wanted to get not to the Great Tree, but to the Northern Kingdoms. Which PART of which constellation will guide you there?"

"Well...The North Star is part of Great Ursa, so...Erm...His paws?" Phillip guessed.

"Hmm...That would take you too far east, but you were close."

"His Head!" Uklah guessed.

"That's it, right there," the Ablah General called out. "That's take you right up on through the Ice Narrows and into the Everwinter Sea. Now...Say it's daytime, and there are no stars to guide you. How would you be able to tell which way was which, then?"

Ginger thought for a moment, and then a light switched on in her head.

"The sun, your Pureness!" she responded. "It rises in the east and sets in the west, so depending on it being closer to sunrise or sunset, you'd be able to determine east from west easily."

"Not bad observation, owlet," she praised. "However, let's say, in this scenario, that it's high noon, and time is of the essence, in your mission. You've only about half an hour to spare to decide which way you should go, and it could be a matter of life and death. How do you determine your direction in such little time?"

"Uh..."

"Wait, wait, I know this one!" Vaygar announced. "At high noon, you point a stick up at the zenith, then you keep track of which way the shadow starts to head in as the sun ever so slowly travels across the sky. Whichever direction the shadow goes in is east, as the sun will have started inching more westward."

"Wow...I'm impressed that even you know this, Vaygar," the white owl marveled. "I don't believe any sky maps or star charts would have given you that information. Where did you learn this, young Tyto?"

"Survival handbook; found it open on a desk in the library 'bout a moon ago, so I decided to skim through it."

"Hmm...So THAT'S who lost my page," Uklah noted. "Didn't you consider that someone might have been reading it?"

"Haven't you ever heard of a bookmark?" he retorted.

"Alright, young owlets, that will do," Nyra told them. "Now, that's all said and done. I'll allow a half hour break before we resume."

She left the group of trainee owls to their own business, unfurling the scroll of parchment on her talons again, letting the quill fall out and adding onto the scoreboard.

-Kludd: 6
-Vaygar: 9
-Ginger: 7
-Phillip: 4
-Uklah: 4

Vaygar had stolen the lead from Kludd, and Phillip and Uklah were tied for last. Nyra didn't show it, but she was actually finding what she thought'd be a tedious task with a lot of arguing going on in the end quite entertaining. Hagsmire, the young owls didn't even know she was keeping score, probably. Oh, the moment they found out she had been...Their reactions to such would be absolutely priceless.

She churred softly, moseying over to the opposite side of the Half Spire from where the group was situated to let them get along without her 'dominant presence.'

"So, Vaygar," Ginger addressed. "Are you, like, into this sort of stuff with the stars and constellations?"

"'Into it'?"

"You know, is it your thing?"

"Oh. I guess you could say that," he answered. "They're almost as bright in Shadow Forest as they are here."

"Where's that?"

"To the far west; borders the Beyond."

"And what's the Beyond like?"

"Well, the entrance to there from the Owl Kingdoms is pretty desolate. It's Dire Wolf territory, and the Sacred Watch guards the Ember of Hoole in the volcanoes."

"The 'Ember of Hoole'? What's that?"

"It's a long story. Legends and things. You'd have to ask Uklah."

So, she turned to the other leia, who'd been standing by listening to them.

"I'd have to teach you to read," she answered her. "Then you'd be able to read the legends for yourself. In a nutshell, the Ember of Hoole is extremely powerful, but if it falls into the wrong talons, it can spell doom for all owlkind."

Ginger whistled in awe.

"Even the ones on the mainland?"

"Potentially."

Her eyes widened at the thought.

"So, some of these constellations you guys were talking about," she continued. "I've, uh...actually never heard of them. Like, who's Glaux?"

Saying this, she got the attention of all four of them.

"...You don't know who Glaux is," Kludd said flatly.

"She's from the outide, Kludd, you don't know what they teach over there," Uklah reprimanded before answering Ginger's question. "Why, He was the first owl, he was. Gave birth to the entire owl race from just two eggs he crafted from nothing but dust. And now, He watches over us from the stars."

"Really?"

"Well," Kludd chimed in. "That's what the Sacred Glauxian Texts say. Personally, I'm skeptic, but, like, whatever...I guess He's cool."

"Egh. He never believes anything unless he sees it for himself," the leia remarked, rolling her sea green eyes. "So, we still on for my hollow after this?"

"Oh, yeah. The sooner I can read, the better."

They both chortled.

"Heh...So...Tell me. How bright are the night skies out where you come from?"

"Not anywhere like this. Too much light pollution coming from the city area."

"So, there are humans near where you live?"

"You can see the buildings in the distance from my old hollow opening."

"Ever see a human in real life? None live anywhere near here, so I'm curious as to how dangerous they actually are."

"Just this...one time, we saw one stand at the base of our tree and stare up at us. 'Birdwatching,' my dad said he was doing. I don't think he meant any harm to us, but my mother ended up hissing down at him to see if he'd go away."

"Why don't you invite him up for tea and cakes the next time you see 'im?" Vaygar teased.

"Splendid idea, Vaygar," she drawled. "I suppose we should waltz around the city streets while we're at it and strike up a conversation with every passerby."

Now all five of them were guffawing, and they each thought up their own ridiculous situation with owls interacting with humans in ways that owl should NEVER interact with humans, just for the humor of it. They were having such a grand time, they didn't realize how much time had passed until Nyra called them back into training.

"That's enough chitchat, young owls, back to the events!"

Once they'd exhausted themselves of laughs, they reassembled and took off after the Ablah General back to the Pure One palace.