The Capture

girl!" A long shree call streamed from his mother's throat. It was the shree of pure happiness. "Adorable!" Soren's mother sighed.

    "Enchanting!" said Soren's father.

    Kludd yawned and Soren stared dumbfounded at the wet naked thing with its huge bulging eyes sealed tightly shut.

    "What's wrong with her head, Mum?" Soren asked.

    "Nothing, dear. Chicks just have very large heads. It takes a while for their bodies to catch up."

    "Not to mention their brains," Kludd muttered.

    "So they can't hold their heads up right away," said his mother. "You were the same way"

    "What shall we call the little dear?" Soren's father asked.

    "Eglantine," Soren's mother replied immediately. "I have always wanted a little Eglantine."

    "Oooh! Mum, I love that name," Soren said. He softly repeated the name. Then he tipped toward the little pulsing mass of white. "Eglantine," he whispered softly, and he thought he saw one little sealed eye open just a slit and a tiny voice seemed to say "hi" Soren loved his little sister immediately.

    One second, Eglantine had been this quivering little wet blob, and then, minutes later, it seemed as if she had turned into a fluffy white ball of down. She grew stronger quickly, or so it appeared to Soren.
    His parents assured him that he, too, had done exactly the same. That evening it was time for her First Insect ceremony. Her eyes were fully open and she was bawling with hunger. Eglantine could hardly make it through her father's "Welcome to Tyto" speech.

    "Little Eglantine, welcome to the Forest of Tyto, forest of the Barn Owls, or Tyto alba, as we are more formally known. Once upon a time, long long ago, we did indeed live in barns. But now, we and other Tyto cousins live in this forest kingdom known as Tyto. We are rare indeed and we are perhaps the smallest of all the owl kingdoms. Although, in truth, it has been a long long time since we had a king.
    Someday when you grow up, when you enter your second year, you, too, will fly out from this hollow and find one of your own in which to live with a mate."

    This was the part of the speech that amazed and disturbed Soren. He simply could not imagine growing up and having a nest of his own. How could he be separated from his parents? And yet there was this urge to fly, even now with his stubby little wings that lacked even the smallest sign of true flight feathers. "And now," Soren's father continued, "it is time for your First Insect ceremony." He turned to Soren's mother. "Marella, my dear, can you bring forward the cricket?"

    Soren's mother stepped up. In her beak she held one of the summer's last crickets. "Eat up, young'un!
    Headfirst. Yes, down the beak. Yes, always headfirst -- that's the proper way, be it cricket, mouse, or vole."

    "Mmmm," sighed Soren's father as he watched his daughter swallow the cricket. "Dizzy in the gizzy, ain't it so?!"

    Kludd blinked and yawned. Sometimes his parents really embarrassed him, especially his da with his stupid jokes. "Wit of the wood!" muttered Kludd.

    That dawn, after the owls had settled down, Soren was still so excited by his little sister's arrival that he could not sleep. His parents had retired to the ledge above him where they slept, but he could hear their voices threading through the dim morning light that filtered into the hollow.

    "Oh, Noctus, it is very strange -- another owlet disappeared?"

    "Yes, my dear, I'm afraid so."

    "How many is that now in the last few days?"

    "Fifteen missing, I believe."

    "That is many more than can be accounted for by raccoons."

    "Yes," Noctus replied grimly. "And there is something else."

    "What?" his wife replied in a lower wavering hoot.

    Eggs.

    Eggs?

    "Eggs have disappeared."

    "Eggs from a nest?"

    "Yes, I'm afraid so."

    "No!" Marella Alba gasped. "I have never heard of such a thing. It's unspeakable."

    "I thought I must tell you in case we are blessed with another brood."

    "Oh, great Glaux," his mother gasped. Soren's eyes blinked wide. He had never heard his mother swear before. "But we so seldom leave the nest during broody times. Whoever it is must watch us." She paused. "Watch us constantly."

    "Whoever it is can fly or climb," Noctus Alba said darkly.

    Soren felt a sense of dread seep into the hollow. How thankful he was that Eglantine had not been snatched while just an egg. He vowed he would never leave her alone.

    It seemed to Soren that as soon as Eglantine ate her first insect she never stopped eating. His mother and father