Guardians of Ga'Hoole 02 - The Journey

want to see it again you can.” He gave a little wave, and then with his odd gait made his way back to his desk, stopping on the way to poke the small fire in the grate.
    Soren and Gylfie opened the book. Thank goodness there were lots of pictures but they had a go at the first paragraph.

The gizzard is a most marvelous organ. Considered the second stomach in owls and often called the muscular stomach, it filters out indigestible items such as bone, fur, hair, feathers, and teeth. The gizzard compresses the indigestible parts into a pellet. The pellets are yarped through the beak. [See footnote pertaining to identification of owl species through pellet analysis.]

    “I think we can skip the footnotes,” Soren whispered, hoping that Ezylryb wouldn’t hear. “This is boring enough as it is.”
    “Oh, I always skip the footnotes,” Gylfie said.
    “How many books with footnotes have you read, Gyl-fie?” Soren blinked in surprise.
    “One. It was about feather maintenance. But look.” Gylfie pointed with her talon to the next paragraph.

Volumes have been written about the physical processes of the gizzard. But rarely do we find much in the literature concerning the temper of this marvelous organ. This seems like a gross oversight. For do we not attribute all of our most profound feelings to the sensitivity of this muscular organ? How many times a day does an owl think, “Oh, I feel it in my gizzard?” When we feel a strong passion, or perhaps trust, or even distrust, this is our first reaction.

    “Well, that’s the truth,” Soren said. “There’s not much new in that. Hardly original.”
    “Hold on, Soren. Look what he says here.”

We do use our gizzards as our guide. Our gizzards, indeed, do often navigate us over treacherous emotional terrain. However, it is my considered opinion that the immature owl does not always know for certain his gizzardly instincts. Why do so many break the one rule their parents tell them never to break and try to fly too young, thus falling out of nests? Stubbornness. They have blocked out certain subtle signals their gizzards might be sending them…

    Soren looked up and saw Ezylryb staring at them. “Why do you suppose he’s having us read this, Gylfie?”
    “I think he’s trying to send us a message,” Gylfie replied.
    “What? Don’t be stubborn? Open up your gizzard?”
    “I don’t know, but it’s almost time for night flight exercises.”
    They closed the book and then backed out of the library, making short little bobbing gestures to Ezylryb. “Very interesting,” Gylfie said. “Thank you for the suggestion.”
    “Yes, thank you,” Soren said.
    Ezylryb said nothing. He only coughed a ragged hoot and plucked another caterpillar from the pile.
    “Great Glaux, I’ll just die if I get tapped for the weather interpretation chaw. I mean, can you imagine having Ezyl-ryb as your chaw leader? It’s just too creepy to even think about,” Soren said.
    “You know if you get tapped for colliering, you automatically have to take weather interpretation and fly with that chaw as well,” Gylfie said.
    “Well, who wants to get tapped for colliering and get their beaked singed, anyway?” Soren replied dejectedly.
    “You didn’t get it singed when you picked up the coal that you dropped on that bobcat.”
    “We were all picking them up when we were burying them.”
    “Yeah, but you flew with yours!”
    “That was pure dumb luck.”
    “Maybe, but if you do it properly you never get singed, and that’s what Bubo helps teach. It would be great to have Bubo as a chaw leader.”
    “Yeah, but if you get Ezylryb with him, I would hardly call that a bargain. I think Bubo only helps. It’s that other old owl, Elvan, who is the leader of colliering. I still don’t see why you have to do weather with colliering.”
    “Well, you have to fly into forest fires and pick up burning embers. And forest fires, they say, are like a weather system all by themselves. You have to know about the drafts and winds that the heat can cause. I heard Bubo talking about it the other day.”
    Soren decided not to worry about it.
    Just at that moment Digger came up. “Ready for night flight, Digger?” Soren asked.
    “Yes. And I’ve really improved. Much stronger, that’s what Boron says. Wait until you see me.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Night Flight
    T he night flight was always fun. There was never any special purpose to it. It really was mostly recreational. Boron liked to get all