Chapter 4: Chaw
Soren was reading in the library, Ezylryb by his side, both were absorbed by different types of books. His teacher would rather gain knowledge by reading vast quantities of books, such as The Book of Great Weather, which would explain in great detail each and every one of the natural disasters that had hit any of the Guardians of Ga'Hoole that would have lived to tell the tale.
Soren on the other hand, would be captivated by most of the legend books, such as the Battle of the Ice Claws, which he could not stop reading and re-reading. He still had trouble believing that the one who had written his favorite book was sitting a few meters away.
He was reading about a secret fighting art, mostly lost by this time, as the one owl who had ever practiced it was dead, killed by a Hagsfiend a long time ago. No-one had been able to decrypt the coded messages inside the book, which is why the art was lost. A lot had tried, none had succeeded. The book interested him a lot, it was filled with images that were not significant to anyone of the Tree.
O*O*O*O*O*O*O*O
Pellimore was also having a good time at the library, trying to learn reading and writing with her friends. The owl teaching them was the one named Digger, who had been kind enough to spare some time to the young owls, mostly looking to "educate the future generation of Guardians" as he had put it.
"Look! There's Soren!" an owl whispered quietly.
A few of the owls, among the females, including Pelli, giggled as they looked over to him. Pellimore was most likely trying to blend in her new friends, as most new people would do. The others, however, were sincere, which kind of confused her, they completely lusted for Soren. His concentration was not broken, however. Their attention suddenly turned towards Ezylryb, he frightened most of the Young Owls, due to his talon. His furious glare would run through everyone, at the exception of Soren, the Band and the older owls.
"I think you have some fans, Soren" Ezylryb said, playing with Soren's mind as he usually would. It had become an occupation of his, finding it fun to trouble the lad.
His concentration was broken, mostly due to the fact that he would always listen to anything his Mentor would say. Soren thought about his friends, probably out practicing, like most other owls would at this time. The Weather Chaw would usually come back early, explaining Ezylryb's presence. Pelli and the others were not assigned to a Chaw yet, while Digger was taking a break from field work.
"Kind of annoying..." Soren said, with a small laughter to his Mentor.
"That's life, lad! You live, you love, you die" he said with a quick smirk, it was life as a perfect owl would picture it, but no such person existed. Ezylryb returned to his book on that note, exempting Soren from hearing that part.
It is impossible to reach perfection, you can get close, even to the point of grabbing it, but it will never be yours to keep. No-one will ever reach perfection as a global attribute. That is a prediction that our ancestors knew and lived through.
Pelli got up, disrupting Digger's teaching himself did not really bother as his reading class was not obliged, but suggested to owls new to the Great Tree. She marched towards where Soren was, intending to get lessons from him.
She saw Ezylryb wink to Soren and both let out a quick smirk that did not escape Pelli's glare "There is a meeting I need to attend, Soren. Please continue without me" he said.
What? Soren thought, apparently chocked about Ezylryb's sudden leave. Perhaps he was counting on him to scare all the females away, we will never know. Although, his leave did bring more attention to Soren, not only from Pelli herself, but from the others also.
"What are you reading Soren?" she asked as she reached him.
"An old book I found, filled with images and encrypted sayings" he replied quickly, not thinking about anything he was saying, but rather concentrating on Pellimore herself.
"Sounds interesting... Are you attempting to break the code?" she said with a great deal of knowledge, one that Soren did not think to be possible in an owl new to the Great Tree.
"Of course. Although, many have tried, but none have succeeded" he said , looking down at his book, perhaps to avoid Pellimore's blazing glare, the one that would not leave their target.
"Perhaps you will be the first" she said and moved around Soren to have a better look at the images lying on the pages. "Could you possibly teach me how to read, and write?"
"That is for Digger to teach you, I shall not take his place" he said, looking towards Digger, at the other end of the room. He was still attempting to teach the younger owls, but they seemed to lack of concentration, he would probably end the lesson soon. "I have a parliament meeting to attend to" he added and got up, grabbed his book, taking his leave towards the Parliament in all its glory, leaving Pelli at the table.
Perhaps I will be in the same chaw as him... she thought to herself, secretly hoping it to go as she would enjoy it. That would mean entering the Colliering Chaw or the Weather Chaw. It could be both too, but she strongly doubted that she would be good enough to be double chaw'd. She could hardly imagine being recruited in the Chaw of Chaws, the elite, of the elite, of the elite.
"Pelli! What did he say?" she heard as Ayanna came running to her side.
"Not too much, he was just reading an encrypted book" Pelli replied with a quick sigh, obviously disappointed at the conversation she had had with Soren.
"Where did he go?" her friend said.
"He had a parliament meeting, apparently." she responded, taking Soren's lie for reality.
Ayanna nodded and walked back to Digger, whom was still teaching the owls, despite their lack of motivation.
Glaux.. I will get Chaw'd soon, please bring me luck and let me enter the Colliering Chaw! But not the Weather Chaw, Ezylryb scares everyone, he does not look like a proper teacher She prayed to her god, a common way of reassuring an owl on something that stressed or made them nervous greatly.
In fact, they would be assigned to their respectful chaws tomorrow night. That would stress a lot of young owls. Therefor, Soren had been assigned to give a welcoming speech to the future Guardians. That would probably make them feel at home and convince them that the chaw that they had picked for them was the right one.
A parliament meeting was about to take place, the one that takes place every so often, depending on how much un-chaw'd owls the tree has. The ones attending would be; Boron and Barane, Ezylryb, Soren, Digger, Gylfie, Otulissa, Twilight, Elvyanryb, Bubo and few others that the King had invited.
No-one would truly know in what chaw an owl would be placed in, they would all deliver information about the owls and gather some from the others. After a smooth discussion, a decision would be made and the owl would be placed in the decided chaw.
Hope you guys like it up until now, I'm doing my best but there is not a lot to work with in the book. Except that normal "dates" between Pelli and Soren were usually reading lessons! I find it quite odd, but understandable, considering the fact that Soren was always at the Library, with his Mentor, Ezylryb. Next Chapter will probably include the Parliament meeting (A short part) and some discussion between Pelli and Soren about Ezylryb.
Golden