Guardians of Ga'Hoole 06 - The Burning

asked.
    “Puffinflockin-in the nocken.”
    “Puffa whata?” Twilight asked and then snarled, “Hey, beat it!” as another small puffin crashed into his left wing.
    “Puffinflockin-in the nocken is the night the pufflings take their first flight out over the ocean. But they often smash into things or crash-land.”
    “Yes, so we see,” Soren said and made a mental note: Puffins are such awkward fliers themselves they should not be teaching any bird how to fly.
    “The Ice Narrows!” Gylfie cried out. “Straight ahead.”
    “Oh, I’m glad someone knows where we’re going!” Dumpy cried out cheerfully. “Come along, my Little Dumpette. Follow Papa, and Papa will follow these very smart birds.”
    A few minutes later, they were crammed into one of the many ice nests that pocked the sheer frozen walls of the Narrows. Puffins nested in the cracks and rocky holes that they were so good at finding in the ice-sheathed walls of the Narrows.
    They are also very good at fishing, Martin noticed. “Will you look at that!” he said as he perched on the edge of the nest and looked straight down at Dumpy’s mate. She had just come up with a mouthful of fish and was proudly lining them up in a row on the floor of the nest.
    “Oh, Tuppa! Lovely, my dear, just lovely,” Dumpy said. “Such a mate I have!” He gazed at her with love in his eyes, and then at the fish with equal adoration.
    “Now, Dumpy dearest, how did our Little Dumpy do on Puffinflockin-in the nocken? Many crashes?”
    “Oh, yes, many. So many!”
    “Oh, good!” Tuppa lofted herself lightly from the floorof the ice hollow and waggled her bright orange feet gleefully.
    “Pardon me, madam.” Digger stepped forward. “But I am curious. Why is it good if your child crashes a lot when learning to fly?”
    Tuppa froze on the spot. Then her beak began to clack loudly and a tear leaked from her eye. “Now, now, dear!” Dumpy came over and patted her.
    “What did I say?” Digger asked. “I didn’t mean to hurt her feelings.” By this time, Tuppa had thrown herself onto the floor of the ice nest. Her immense chest was heaving with sobs.
    “It’s nothing,” Dumpy said.
    “Nothing!” Tuppa squawked and in a flash was back on her feet delivering a swat to her mate. “You call it nothing? Our only child leaves home and you call it nothing?”
    “Leaves?” Digger asked.
    “Yes. When a young puffin learns how to fly, it flies away. That’s it. Gone!” Tuppa began to sob again.
    “I can’t wait,” Little Dumpy said. “I’m not scared at all, and I keep telling Ma that I’ll be back. I’ll come back and visit all the time.”
    “That’s what they all say!” Tuppa sputtered. “But they don’t, do they? Do they, Dumpy?”
    “Nope. Too dumb to find our way back to the birth nest,” Dumpy senior replied.
    It appeared to Soren that Tuppa was still trying hard to blink back tears when her eyes suddenly flew open in alarm. She was peering into a corner of the ice nest. “What is that thing over there…that…that pile of dirty feathers?”
    “Oh, dear,” Gylfie muttered.
    “Let me explain.” Soren stepped forward. “That is an elderly Burrowing Owl. She is not at all well, and we are charged with delivering her to the Glauxian Sisters on Elsemere Island.”
    Tuppa took a step closer to Dewlap and peered at her. She walked around her as if to examine her from every angle. Suddenly, she plopped down next to the pile of dirty feathers. “Bring me that smallish fish, Little Dumpy.”
    “What do you mean ‘smallish’? Is that what you call a small fish? Smallish, and a big one ‘biggish’?” Little Dumpy asked.
    “Just bring it, for crying out loud!” Tuppa squawked.
    “All right, all right. Don’t get your feathers in a twist, Ma.” Then under his breath he muttered, “I can’t wait to get out of here.”
    Little Dumpy brought a fish to his mother, and Tuppabegan to feed it to Dewlap, all the while making cooing noises and giving the old Burrowing Owl gentle instructions on how to eat it. “Yes, you little sweetie. Headfirst, that’s how we do it. Yes, eyeballs and all—that’s the tastiest part. Can’t miss those eyeballs. Yummy in the tummy.” Tuppa looked up at her mate. “Can I keep her, dear?”
    “She’s not a baby, Tuppa,” said Dumpy.
    “In the name of ice, she’s not even a puffin, Ma. Even I can tell that!” shrieked Little Dumpy.
    “But look how sweet she is, and eating the eyeballs, too,”