Chapter 2: Relief

Or will it... Soren thought to himself. He then took up even more speed so that it could be enough to launch him in the air without him needing to flap his wings for a few seconds, at the least. At the very last second, Soren curved around the small owlet to protect him from any damages from the fire.

He took the full blow which was still a lot. He spread his wings wide as he escaped the fire, with major wounds to his wings but escaped nonetheless. The little owlet appeared alright, aside from a few black marks on one of his wings.

Soren looked towards the camp and saw that everyone, including the chaws, were there and yelling various sentences of encouragement and relief. He barely managed to transport the owlet to the camp and landed in the middle.

There was a considerable amount of people around him, he could not tell who it was as the fire had temporarily blinded him, he had had to look at the fire to choose the right moment to protect the owlet.

"Good one Lad!" He heard Ezylryb yell, he could distinguish his voice after hearing it multiple times in the midst of battle, where hearing is an impossible task.

"This owl might need some attention" was the first thing Soren said. Even though he most definitely needed more attention, his wings burnt.

"You need attention" Someone said, seeing that he would not ask for help himself until the owlet would be okay.

"I'm.. Fine.." he responded, shakily. The pain from his wings was a whole lot, though he did not feel it, he had eyes only to the owlet.

"No you're not, now follow me" the mysterious owl said. Soren left the owlet to the others, knowing that he was going to be safe. That was all he wanted for the moment, preserving the owlet's life. That was a Guardian's job, wasn't it? To protect the innocent. And that it what Soren had done, endangering himself in the process.

The owl led him to a squadron of owls along with a few nest-maid snakes that had been brought along to help prevent even the worst cases of wounds. They seemed to all be panicking at the sight of Soren's Wings. They were burnt all over, including a few dark spots near the edges, where the blast had been at it's worst.

"I'm fine, I'll just have some trouble with flying" Soren said, a few of the owls gasped in fear, he was, after all, the Chaw of Chaws' leader, none could replace him amidst the battlefield.

Mrs P, whom had been brought to Ambala by Soren himself, approached him "Soren... You probably will not be able to fly for a while." she stated.

Soren lowered his head in disappointment and let out a sigh. Pretty much all the owls were staring at him with wide eyes to that point.

Suddenly...

"Let me pass!" It was a female voice. The owl was apparently trying to get pass the huge crowd that had gathered near Soren.

She finally made it to him, and panted for awhile until Soren initiated the conversation "Are you not the owl I saved earlier?"

"Indeed I am, I couldn't help but to thank you for what you have done... I probably would have died in there if it wasn't for you." she had been to scared to move at first. There was a possible pure-one menace along with a blazing fire around her.

"It was my pleasure to help you, it was my duty" he said, shyly.

"I'm Pellimore by the way... But everyone calls me Pelli" she said, with a quick smirk to Soren. Some of the surrounding owls had left by then, but some of them were still starring narrowly at the Chaw of Chaws' leader wings.

"I'm Soren" he replied softly, he appeared to be admiring Pelli's self confidence he stared around at everyone looking at him "Shall you come to the Great Ga'Hoole Tree with us?"

"Of course, I have nowhere to go now... My home was destroyed and I doubt I will ever find my friends again, they all fled towards Kuneer Desert"she said, without any tears, or sniffle, nothing.

Her strength greatly impressed Soren, he had rarely seen a female owl that would not react to loosing her home and friends to a forest fire, most of them would be crying right about now.

"We shall leave when the Search and Rescue Chaw give us the go, we need to be sure that we can't save anymore owlets." he said quickly, it was pretty obvious but he did his best to pursue the conversation.

"Of course... Sorry about the scratch too." she then turned her back and left towards the main camp, where Ezylryb was, yelling out commands to the chaws. She was probably going to try to help out evacuating the owlets, though, she would most likely be denied, due to her lack in training. Lyze would assign her to transporting the owlets.

*****Back at the Great Ga'Hoole Tree*****

Soren was sitting at the nest-maid offices, where injured owls would usually gather, his case was a particular one. First, he was the Chaw of Chaws' leader, and the Great Tree needed Soren to be on his top shape at all times. Second, his wings were burnt pretty badly, the snakes said that it would take several weeks before he could fly again.

He would have to keep a bandage on his wing for that whole time, which would be a minus to Soren's morale. The leader would, of course, still attend parliament meetings and spend the majority of his time assisting Ezylryb in his classes, along with teaching young owlets how to read and write. He was particularly looking forward to reading a load of books in his Teacher's company, he could also partly enjoy Otulissa.

*****Dining*****

Pellimore was sitting in the dinning hall with a few of her new friends along with other new owls. The shading always made the King's table emit a beautiful reflection towards the other tables, no one really understood why, not even the His Majesty himself. Perhaps, Glaux knows those of great valor.

Pelli could not take her eyes off of Soren, the mysterious owl who had saved her. She did not know in what Chaw he was, or even his experience, all she could figure out was that he must be someone of considerable importance within the tree to be allowed to sit at the King's table.

She pointed out Soren to one of her friends, the one named Ayanna "He is the owl who saved me from the forest fire in Ambala" she told her.

Ayanna was about the same height and age of Pellimore, she was another Barn Owl "That's Soren... You're lucky to have him rescue you" she said with a quick giggle.

"How come? How is he special?" She said while admiring Soren, while he laughed with Digger, probably to one of those crude jokes that would often be told at their table.

"What you don't know him? Or anything about him? Where have you been living!" she said, mocking Pelli's ignorance on Soren.

"Not really, he just... Rescued me.." she said hesitantly, perhaps fearing to be mocked again.

"Okay, he's a Guardian for first. He also happens to be double chaw'd, which means that he is in the colliering chaw along with the Weather Chaw. Next would be that he saved the Great Tree numerous times along with his best title in my opinion... To be the Great Leader of the Chaw of Chaws, the Great Ga'Hoole tree's Elite Fighting force" she said in one quick breath, and took some long breaths to recuperate.

"Anyways, he's dreamy... A lot of Owls in the Tree would like to claim him as her own, but he is pretty cold with anyone aside from his group of old friends." Ayanna continued.

Pelli looked confused, never had she heard an female owl lust for a male so badly, Soren was a normal owl after all, he had only accomplished great things. But aside from that, normal. She did want to get closer to Soren, perhaps to thank him, perhaps to gain new friends, we shall soon know. It was kind of disgusting to her.

There we go... 3rd chapter, finally :)

Golden