Guardians of Ga'Hoole 03 - The Rescue

Her name was Alto Cumulus.”
    “Thank you for that information,” Otulissa said curtly. “Now may we proceed? Martin, will you please answer the question?”
    “The wind spirals inward and this way.” The little Northern Saw-whet spun his head almost completely around in a counterclockwise motion.
    “Very good, considering you’ve never flown in a hurricane,” Poot replied. None of them had, as yet, except for Poot.
    “We might not have flown in one yet but we’ve read all about them, Poot,” Otulissa said. “Strix Emerilla devotes three chapters to hurricanes in her book, Atmospheric Pressures and Turbulations: An Interpreter’s Guide.”
    “The most boring book in the world,” Martin muttered as he flew up on Soren’s starboard wing.
    “I’ve read every word of it,” Otulissa said.
    “Now, next question,” Poot continued. “And all you older owls shut your beaks. Which is your port wing and which is your starboard?”
    There was silence. “All right. Wiggle the one you think is port.” Nut Beam and Silver hesitated a bit, stole a look at each other, and then both waggled their right wing.
    “Wrong!” Poot said. “Now, you two have to remember the difference. Because when I say strike off to port, or angle starboard, you’re going to fly off in the wrong direction if you don’t know.”
    Soren remembered that this was difficult for him to learn when he first started flying in the weather chaw. It took Ruby, the best flier, forever to learn port from starboard, but they all did—finally.
    “All right, now,” Poot said. “I’m going out for a short reconnaissance in the opposite direction of Ruby. I want to cover everything. Soren and Martin, you’re in charge here. Keep flying in this direction. I’ll be back soon.”
    Poot had not been gone long when a definite whiff seemed to wash over the small band of owls.
    “I think I smell gulls nearby.” Otulissa turned her beak upwind. “Oh, Great Glaux, here they come. The stench is appalling,” Otulissa muttered. “Those seagulls! Scum of the avian world.”
    “Are they really that bad?” Nut Beam asked.
    “You can smell them, can’t you? And they’re wet poopers on top of it all!”
    “Wet poopers!” Silver and Nut Beam said at once.
    “I’ve never met a wet pooper. I can’t imagine,” Nut Beam said.
    “Well then, don’t try,” Otulissa snapped testily.
    “It’s hard to believe that they never yarp pellets at all,” Nut Beam continued to muse.
    “My sister actually had a friend who was a wet pooper, but they wouldn’t let her bring him home. I think he was a warbler,” Silver announced.
    “Oh, Glaux, here we go again,” said Martin.
    “I think maybe I’ve met one once,” said Nut Beam.
    “Well, it’s not something to be proud of. It’s disgusting,” Otulissa replied.
    “You’re starting to sound like a nest-maid snake, Otulissa,” said Soren, and laughed. Nest-maid snakes were notoriously disdainful of all birds except owls because of what they considered their inferior and less noble digestive systems due to their inability to yarp pellets. All of their waste was splatted out from the other end, which nest-maids considered vile and disgusting.
    “They give us a lot of good information about weather, Otulissa,” Soren said.
    “You mean a lot of dirty jokes. You can find good information in books.”
    Poot was soon back with the seagulls in his wake.
    “What’s the report?” Martin asked.
    “Storm surge moderate,” Poot said, “but building. The gulls say the leading edge of this thing is at least fifty leagues off to the southeast.”
    “Yeah, but I got news for you.” At that moment, Ruby skidded in on a tumultuous draft and a mess of flying spume. She was accompanied by two gulls. It was as if she had come out of nowhere. And suddenly Soren felt an immense pull on his downwind wings. “You’ve been talking to the wrong gulls. It’s not just a storm with a leading edge. It’s a hurricane with an eye!”
    Hurricane! Soren thought. Impossible. How has this happened so quickly? No one except Poot had ever flown a hurricane—and these young owlets! What ever would happen to them?
    “It’s still far off,” Ruby continued. “But it’s moving faster than you think and building stronger. And we’re very near a rain band. And then it’s the eye wall!”
    “Eye wall! We’ve got to alter course,” Poot exclaimed. “Which way, Ruby?”
    “Port, I mean starboard!”
    “The eye