Guardians of Ga'Hoole 13 - The River of Wind

Guardian at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
    RUBY: Short-eared Owl, Asio flammeus, member of the Chaw of Chaws; a Guardian at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
    EGLANTINE: Barn Owl, Tyto alba , Soren’s younger sister
    MADAME PLONK: Snowy Owl, Nyctea scandiaca , the elegant singer of the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
    MRS. PLITHIVER: blind snake, formerly the nest-maid for Soren’s family; now a member of the harp guild at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
    PELLI: Barn Owl, Tyto alba, Soren’s mate
    PRIMROSE: Pygmy Owl, Glaucidium californicum, Eglantine’s best friend
    OCTAVIA: Kielian snake, nest-maid for many years for Madame Plonk and Ezylryb (also known as BRIGID)
    DOC FINEBEAK: Snowy Owl, Nyctea scandiaca , famed freelance tracker once in the employ of the Pure Ones, now at the great tree; Madame Plonk’s companion
    Characters from the Time of the Legends
    GRANK: Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis, the first collier; friend to young King H’rath and Queen Siv during their youth; first owl to find the ember
    HOOLE: Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis, son of H’rath; retriever of the ember of Hoole; founder and first king of the great tree
    H’RATH: Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis, king of the N’yrthghar, a frigid region known in later times as the Northern Kingdoms; father of Hoole
    SIV: Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis, mate of H’rath and Queen of the N’yrthghar, a frigid region known in later times as the Northern Kingdoms; mother of Hoole
    KREETH: Female hagsfiend with strong powers of nachtmagen; friend of Ygryk; conjures Lutta into being
    Other Characters
    NYRA: Barn Owl, Tyto alba , leader of the Pure Ones; Coryn’s mother
    STRYKER: Barn Owl, Tyto alba , a commander of the Pure Ones under Nyra
    GYLLBANE: courageous member of the MacHeath clan of dire wolves; her pup, Cody, was maimed by clan leader Dunleavy MacHeath
    BESS: Boreal Owl, Aegolius funerus , daughter of Grimble, who was a guard at St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls; keeper of the Palace of Mists (also known as THE KNOWER)
    Blue Owls
    STRIGA: Blue Snowy Owl, Nyctea scandiaca , a former dragon owl from the Middle Kingdom seeking a more meaningful life (also known as ORLANDO)
    TENGSHU: Blue Long-eared Owl, Asio otis , qui master and sage of the Middle Kingdom

A peek at THE GUARDIANS of GA’HOOLE Book Fourteen: Exile

    O tulissa had not gone to Coryn’s hollow for the conference. In addition to her other duties, which were many, she had temporarily taken on the job of chief librarian when Winifred’s, an ancient Barred Owl, arthritis had kicked up. So while the Band had been discussing the Harvest Festival with Coryn, Otulissa was minding the library. This was a job she loved, for it afforded her the opportunity to further her research on a weather-interpretation project she had been pursuing since her return from the Middle Kingdom—windkins and the system of air known as the River of Wind that flowed between the Ga’Hoolian world and the Middle Kingdom. Otulissa’s powers of concentration were great. She did not hear the clutch of little owlets giggling over a joke book nor did she hear the owl approaching the desk where she perched. It was actually the desk of Ezylryb, the late distinguished ryb, scholar, poet, historian, and, once upon a time, great warrior of the tree.
    “Ahem.” The owl cleared his throat. Otulissa’s head jerked up from her labors. The blue owl, the Striga, perched before her.
    “Oh, so sorry. I was quite absorbed here,” Otulissa said.
    “I didn’t mean to disturb you.”
    But you did , thought Otulissa. She had little tolerance for the indiscriminate use of words. Wouldn’t it have been better to say simply, “Sorry to disturb you”?
    “What is it, might I ask, that absorbs you so?” the Striga asked.
    “I have for some time been immersed in a study of weather and air currents. I am a member of the weather-interpretation chaw.”
    “Oh,” the Striga said with a jovial note in his voice. “I approve!”
    Otulissa blinked. She did not quite understand. “Approve of what?” she cocked her head to one side. What in the name of Glaux is there to approve of? And why should you be the one doing the approving? But she, of course, said none of this aloud.
    “I approve of the practical studies such as weather.” He swung his head slowly around. “But not the inessential, the frivolous, the, how should I put it? The heretical texts.”
    “Heretical?”
    “Yes. You know, the anti-Glaux books such as those the young owlets