Guardians of Ga'Hoole 10 - The Coming of Hoole

up and paced back and forth several times across the entrance of the cave. “Does the lad know that he is a prince?”
    “No. He thinks he was orphaned, or thought so.”
    “Think? Thought? What do you mean?”
    Grank told him how Hoole, unbeknownst to any of them, had met a female gadfeather. He then told him about the attack in the cove and how Hoole was convinced that this gadfeather who helped save him was his mother.
    “But you say she flew away.”
    “Flew away before I had time to really see her. But Hoole is certain that she was his mother.”
    “And you?”
    “I don’t know, Fengo. He could be right. The boy has firesight. Did I tell you that?”
    “No, as a matter of fact you didn’t. Is it as good as yours?”
    “Far better. He drains every fire he’s around of any image I might see. He had been practicing this during the day when most owls sleep. It’s not that he’s sneaky in a malicious way. It’s just that he has this overwhelming curiosity, and I suppose in some sense he wants to protect me. So he goes off on his own. Taught himself to fish on his own, basically.”
    “Hmmm, sounds like an interesting lad.”
    “Oh, he’s more than interesting, Fengo.”
    “You mean he’s…”
    Then Grank cut Fengo off. “Yes, that is precisely what I mean. I believe he’s the one, the one who can retrieve the ember and not be overwhelmed by it as I was.”
    “But how will he learn how to catch coals, colliering? Certainly not from me. I don’t understand why you want him to be with me. Not that I object, mind you.”
    “Oh, he’ll learn colliering all right, like he learned how to fly—with little or no instruction. He’s a natural. But from you, he can learn the way of the wolves. From you, he can learn compassion for animals different from himself. Had we remained in the N’yrthghar, I would have had him live with a polar bear. I want him to gain empathy with land animals, legged animals.”
    “It won’t be easy. He flies, we run. I don’t know whether he’ll understand. I can see the lad’s quick, but…”
    “He’s more than quick. Anyone can be quick. It’s his depth, his feelings for things. The way he reads the telling fires is extraordinary. He doesn’t just read them. It’s as if he lives them. They radiate within him. That is why I am almost convinced that it was his mother, Siv, that he saw first in the flames and then at the cove. If he lives with you for a while in this cave and smells the scents and breathes the air that you breathe and gnaws the bones that you gnaw, he will begin to sense the real essence of wolves’ lives. He will not need to be a wolf. He will become one not in his shape or body but in his mind. And when he travels with you, although he shall be flying, he will feel the fall of every footstep you make as if he is running. His beak will seem like fangs, his feathers like fur. This is his genius. And with his genius, he will learn lessons in compassion that we cannot begin to imagine. I know this, Fengo. He is an extraordinary owl.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN
What Hoole Saw
    H oole was fascinated by the new country. He had been sleeping in the cave with Fengo for fourteen days. When they had arrived, the moon had been full but now it was half dwenked. He had adjusted his schedule to Fengo’s and often went out with him during the day when he hunted for small game like the cinder shrews that could be found in the warm ashes of the volcano. Or the soot rabbits that hopped about. He would fly overhead while Fengo padded along on the ground. Every night he would ask the wolf when they would be going on a caribou hunt. He was tired of the little scrawny animals that plied their way around the perimeters of the volcano. He was impatient to see the large four-legged animals that were almost the same size as the dire wolves. And most of all, he wanted to see the moose, which were supposed to be immense. Grank called them the polar bears of the Beyond. Fengo’s answer was always the same. “You’re not quite ready, but soon.”
    What Fengo meant by “not quite ready” was that Hoole had not yet had a significant fire vision, the vision that would transform his mind if not his body into that of a wolf. It was understandable. The volcanoes had been in their quiescent phase. Only a few small eruptions had occurred. No real flames scorched the sky. Grank, though tempted, resisted making a forge fire, much to Theo’s chagrin. Theo entertained himself with