Guardians of Ga'Hoole 08 - The Outcast

close the name was to “Soren.” Indeed, once over the initial shock of his face, she saw a great resemblance to Soren in the young’un.
    “But how did you know my name?” Otulissa asked.
    “I heard it first in a dream. And then a scroom came to me.”
    “A scroom?” Otulissa said. Her voice was taut. “What did she look like?”
    “She was old. A Spotted Owl like yourself. I met her in the spirit wood.”
    “In the spirit wood,” Otulissa said softly.
    “Yes, she said that we should wait for you. She said your name, Otulissa, and I remembered the name from my dream.”
    “Why were you waiting for me?”
    “I think you were supposed to take me here to Beyond the Beyond. But you never came.”
    “I am sorry. I had doubts. And I think I was frightened, young ‘un.”
    “Yes, I was, too,” said Coryn.
    And so here we both are, thought Otulissa. Now what? And she swiveled her head as if scanning the air for her old mentor, the scroom of Strix Struma.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Who’s the Teacher?
    H e has fire sight, ma’am.”
    “You know that for a fact, Gwyndor?”
    “Yes, I seen it meself when I did the Marking ceremony for his father. I could tell that he was seeing things in the fire. I tried him a few more times and could tell then, too. He saw the whole bloody history of his parents.”
    “Poor dear.”
    “And guess what else he saw?” The two owls huddled closer. They had been traveling now with Coryn and the MacDuncan clan. Coryn was roosting below with the yearling Hamish in a small cave. But Gwyndor, knowing of the superior hearing skills of Barn Owls, took no chances. He had found a ledge far from that cave. One could never be too careful around Barn Owls. So pressing even closer to Otulissa, he whispered directly into her ear slit. “He has seen the Ember of Hoole.”
    Otulissa felt her gizzard still. Is this a surprise? she thought. When she had read that last canto from the FireCycle that dawn, after the scroom of Strix Struma had appeared, the meaning of it had come to her in a whole new way, a new light. It seemed to be talking about another owl, not Hoole at all, as she had always thought. But someone else. The words of the canto came back to her.

So bring him back with flames of gold
    Bring him back with burning fire
    For he reads what flames have told
    And his will is Hoole’s desire.
    He shall not cease his endless flight
    He shall fly on through days and nights
    Though an outcast in despair
    He has a gizzard that is so fair.
    He shall return at summer’s end
    With a coal in his beak
    A shadow king no more
    Tempered wise and brave for war.

    Could that someone else be Coryn, son of Kludd and Nyra, son of tyrants?
    “Does he know what his visions mean?” she asked Gwyndor.
    “I don’t think so. I think he sees things but he cannot always fit them together. I was talking to the gnaw wolfHamish, and he said Coryn thinks that he has come here for an education.”
    “Well, he certainly has, and I am to be his ryb, as we say in the great tree.”
    “Coryn doesn’t see it that way,” Gwyndor replied.
    “What do you mean?” She narrowed her eyes.
    “Well, first of all you must realize that the lad knows little of the legends of Ga’Hoole. The Pure Ones forbade such things.”
    “Yes, I would assume so. That would explain his ignorance.”
    “But he is not completely ignorant of them. He apparently has heard some fragments of the Fire Cycle and such. He knows a little about Grank, the first collier.”
    “Oh, dear,” Otulissa sighed. “A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.”
    “Yes, it can. Coryn seems to see himself in the role of Grank.”
    “What?” Otulissa seemed flabbergasted. “Has he ever done any colliering? Ever retrieved a coal?”
    “Not that I know of. But, you see, he really sees himself as a teacher.”
    “ For whom?”
    “A little Burrowing Owl back in The Barrens who he believes is the true heir of Hoole.”
    “Where does he get these yoickish ideas?” Otulissa was genuinely perplexed.
    “I don’t know, but I only tell you all this because you’re going to have to go carefully with him. Remember he believes that he’s to become a teacher.”
    “But he also believes that the scroom of Strix Struma sent me to help in some way.”
    “Yes, that’s true.”
    “How do you suppose we begin this entire undertaking? I mean, Gwyndor, do you believe that he is the heir of Hoole?”
    “I am not sure. But I know that he saw the ember in