Guardians of Ga'Hoole 08 - The Outcast

he watched Kalo striding toward a molehill, he thought them downright pretty. And she looked so elegant as she walked. Her tail didn’t drag at all on the ground like most owl tails would have. And just the way her shoulders set was something special. It wasn’t, however, simply how Kalo looked. She was smart. Oh, why, oh, why do I have to leave everything nice behind and go beyond? To Beyond the Beyond!
    Kalo came back as Coryn was in the midst of all these thoughts.
    “It’s grosnik,” she said as she lofted herself onto the rock beside him.
    “Grosnik? What’s that?”
    “You’ve never heard of grosnik?” She blinked.
    “No.”
    “Well, there were only baby moles in the nest. We don’t eat baby anything. We call it grosnik.”
    “Oh, you’re talking about standards!” Coryn replied.
    “Yes, standards. But ‘grosnik’ is the word used for forbidden food—at least among Burrowing Owls.”
    “My best friend, Phillip, told me about such standards. You see, his father once had to kill a baby fox when they were starving to death.”
    “Oh,” Kalo said and was very quiet for a moment. Coryn hoped that she didn’t think poorly of him because he had had a friend whose father killed a baby. “Coryn, I know so little about you, really, except where you came from and who your parents were.”
    “Isn’t that enough?” Coryn looked down at the dead mouse clamped beneath the toes of his talons.
    “Not really. I don’t mean to pry. But this is the first time you have ever mentioned a best friend. And why must you leave us tomorrow? Why must you go to Beyond the Beyond?”
    Coryn sighed. “I am not even exactly sure myself, Kalo.” He didn’t want to tell her about his fire sight. It was such a freakish thing. He didn’t want to scare her in any way. “You know sometimes that you just have to do something. You might not be sure why.”
    “Like you had to bring the egg back to us.”
    “Well, yes, but I knew that was the right thing to do. It was simple.”
    “Simple! Are you yoicks? There was nothing simpleabout it, Coryn. You were incredibly courageous.” Coryn felt a delicious quivering in his gizzard. “You must know that this is the right thing to do.”
    “Yes, yes. That’s it,” Coryn said. “I wouldn’t dare do it if I thought it was wrong. If I thought it was grosnik.”
    Kalo churred softly.
    “Why are you laughing?”
    “It’s just that grosnik is usually a word meant for food, forbidden food, but I know what you mean. You wouldn’t do it if you thought it was against your standards.”
    “Yes, that’s it,” said Coryn.
    “But, Coryn, would you tell me about your friend, Phillip?”
    “It’s a very sad story. Are you sure you want to hear it?”
    “Yes, Coryn, I am your friend. That is what friends are for, to share the sad stories as well as the happy ones.”
    So Coryn told Kalo about Phillip, and together the two young owls wept in the moonlight.

CHAPTER ELEVEN
Listening to Legends
    T he last thing the family of Burrowing Owls told Coryn before he left the following evening was that he should be careful of the Pure Ones.
    Then Harry had said, “I have heard rumors, however, that Nyra has been killed.”
    “What?” Coryn had said.
    “Yes, her scroom, or some say it was a hagsfiend, was spotted in the southwest corner of Silverveil near the border of the Shadow Forest.”
    It was all Coryn was able to do to keep from bursting out laughing. He had never told the Burrowing Owls, not even Kalo, of his ruse. Apparently, it had worked better than he ever dreamed.
    And, indeed, there were rumors!
    The northerly winds had continued to build and it had taken several days of very slow flying to reach the edge of the Shadow Forest. He had found what he thoughtwas only an empty hollow in a fir tree. But now as the sun rose high in the sky, he could hear the voices of a family of Great Horned Owls talking.
    “They say a hagsfiend of Nyra was spotted over by Cape Glaux.”
    “Cape Glaux? I thought it was just in the southern part of Silverveil.”
    “Well, there was another rumor that her scroom was in Ambala.”
    “Hagsfiend, scroom—there are rumors all over the place. The important question is: Is she dead or not? Hagsfiends can’t lead armies. They can just scare owls, but they have no real power.”
    “At least not anymore,” another owl added.
    The conversation was fascinating. The dry wood of the tree was a perfect conductor for the family’s every