AN: IT'S SUMMER VACATION TIME WOOOOO! I'm so happy that these damned exams are finally over. For those who care, they went very well and I'm quite happy with the results (Above 90% in everything) so yeah, here I am. I'll be writing a lot more than I used to… Get ready!
Chapter 8: Steel
Soren was walking to the cafeteria, thinking over the events of the past day. Why had he asked Pelli to fly with him? Despite the obvious lack of company that he had suffered while injured, he saw no logical reason on why he asked it. It troubled him truly, there was a weird feeling coming from his gizzard. He thought that he had mastered the feelings but this new one was… Different. He did not know what to make if it and decided to put it away for now.
He finally arrived at his destination and saw that the band members were scattered in the room, on different tables and chairs as the table reserved for the parliament members was gone. He proceeded to sit at a table filled with rookies and a particularly amused Twilight. He seemed to be teaching some things to the other owls.
"Yeah you just block with a low strike, offence is defence, you know?" Twilight said, and then turned to Soren, looking at him with expectant eyes "And here is the man of the hour! Welcome to our humble table, Soren!" He said getting up and pulling the chair for him to sit on.
Some of the other owls at the table looked at him, their gazes steady and watchful "Hey everyone" is all that Soren could say without looking like a fool, he was kind of intimidated by those eyes.
Those made Twilight laugh a little and sit down for himself "How about you tell us a story Soren?" He asked and smiled to the amazed gazes of the owls.
And so he did, he told them of the time that he escaped from the St-Aggies Orphanage with Gylfie and everything, going really deep in the story's details.
Soon, all the owls, including Twilight, had left to their hollows, leaving Soren to eat alone as he had not had time to eat due to his storytelling. He looked around and saw Pelli coming towards him from the far end of the cafeteria, that brought a smile to his lips and he kept on eating.
Suddenly, the table was full again. Full with members of the Soren fan club, including the infamous Ayanna. He looked around to try and find Pelli's gaze, but she was already gone. He groaned and looked at the girls who were all laughing hysterically. He meant to get up, but two pairs of wings made him sit back down. He looked up to his shoulders and saw two of Ayanna's henchwomen smiling awkwardly at him. He could have easily gotten up and outmatched their strength, but he did not want to risk offending the girls.
How did I get myself in this mess? He asked himself.
"Hey girls, what are you all up to?" was the only thing he thought of saying.
They finally quiet down and Ayanna spoke up "Oh, well we just felt like talking with you Soren" She said and smiled flirtatiously.
"Well, what's it about?" He answered quickly, getting a little nervous.
"We think that Pellimore is not who you think she is" They started saying, and immediately caught Soren's attention "We think she might be the enemy"
His laugh was true and instantaneous, what an absurd idea! "And where does this weird idea come from?" Soren said, still chuckling at that.
Ayanna started whispering "Don't you see? Why do you think she escaped the Pure One attack unharmed?"
"Girls, I've seen Pelli fight off an owl that had escaped my vigilance, and the enemy regretted it badly" He made it sound like she had been the hero, even though he had saved her at the last second. Everything to remove this weird idea from these girls' minds.
"Who's to say she wasn't in league with the owl?" She said, acting and seeming clever.
"Who's to say she was?" Soren added, gazing straight towards Ayanna.
That quick answer seemed to misbalance her a little. She fumbled for words but eventually just lowered her head. Soren subdued the girls who were pushing him down and said, "I don't want to hear any more, this is not worth my time" and left towards the cafeteria exit.
He tried to spot Pelli, and perhaps warn her of the incidents that just happened, but she was nowhere to be found. After some more looking, he decided to go to her hollow and perhaps find her there. So he moved through the different hallways of the great tree until he finally reached Pelli's and some other owls' hollow. He knocked and was answered by a male great grey owlet who told him very hesitantly that Pellimore was still out and should be coming back soon. Soren decided to sit on the ground and wait for her to come back, after allowing the owlet to close the door behind him.
The next morning, Soren woke up on Pelli's doorstep, but still no hints that she had come by. He thought that she would have talked to him if she would have passed. He started to worry a little.
Nothing to panic about, she could have slept at someone else's hollow for the night He reasoned, but even so, it still worried him a little.
He decided to head to Twilight's hollow, ask if he'd seen her.
The great grey was not very happy about being waken at this early time, he told Soren to go back to bed and that he had not seen Pelli at all, at least since lunch time. Our favorite barn owl's worryness level started rising little by little as he asked more and more people for the location of Pellimore. No one in the great tree had seen her! Could she have run away because of Ayanna's goofing around? He dared not consider that option. The outside was a dangerous place these days, especially after that Pure One patrol had been intercepted by Soren, they had doubled, if not tripled the intensity of their searches.
He figured that he would wait until after his class for worrying, Pelli would be bound to have come back after that, as it did take a few hours.
-Soren's Class-
"Straighten your wing a little Ephian" he told the young owl that was complaining because he was not flying straight.
They were flying around the great tree and Soren was trying to teach them how to interpret the weather, even though it was nearly just about flying as some of the owls still had problems with it. The sun was rising slowly, bringing a nice orange reflection from the water to their own eyes. Some could only keep gazing down at the water and not at the clouds, so Soren was thinking about ending the session early.
"Stay focused everyone!" He called out in vain.
He looked up to the sky himself, and saw a few dark clouds surrounded by some fluffy white ones. This would mean some isolated rain, it could be troublesome, but it would mostly just require them to be a little careful during the next day or so. He did see that the system was a quite long one, as he did not see the end from where he was. "Form up!" He yelled out. Immediately, the others formed up in a clumsy formation that would usually be the wedge, but now looked like the defensive square. Soren gave out an amused sigh, teaching these kids wouldn't be easy, but it would be quite amusing.
"Back to the tree!" He said and moved in to land on the wood platform.
As soon as they landed, the owls thanked him for the class and left towards their own hollows, at which they would pass the night and get some rest.
Soren, on his side, started looking for Pellimore once more. He had not seen her during the whole day and it was truly worrying him now, he had even asked the search and rescue ryb where she was and received no positive answer, only that the last time anyone had seen her was at the cafeteria the day before. He decided to call a late-night parliament meeting to tend to this matter, an owlet could not be left on its own in the wild, and they needed to send search teams, or at least warn the tree of the disappearance.
As soon as the parliament members had sat down, ready to begin, Soren got up and started explaining the situation about Pelli's disappearance.
"You see, since late yesterday, Pellimore has been nowhere to be found and trust me I have searched a lot and asked the whole Ga'Hoole tree…" Soren started and explained the entire situation, leaving out but the details about his fan club and all the jealousy surrounding it.
"Your concern is understandable Soren, but we cannot risk sending more patrols then we already do, especially after you got attacked" Boron started, "We will mention her name to the Guardians of Ga'Hoole and ask of them to return if they hear of some news" and with that, the late-day meeting was dismissed, all the parliament members were meant to return to their hollows and get a good night of sleep, but not Soren.
He went to the top of the tree to think, and the more he thought about it, the more he became hesitant. He needed to find the person that Pelli was the closest to in the tree besides himself; perhaps they would know of something related to her disappearance. He thought and he thought, but he did not remember who could be very close to her, not Ayanna, she was mad at her, she probably wouldn't have told her where she was going. Not her ryb, he had already asked for information. The only possible answer was…
CALE! The great grey from her hollow!
AN: I wonder where Pellimore went… Will she be back? Who knows. I do but I ain't telling. That's that. Quite weird chapter, I put it together in a few days, so it might be a little funny :P I'll be putting more stuff out soon, be ready. For now, off to a date!