The Capture

in flight. So once more the world spiraled. But this time there was a difference. It was Soren who was carving these spirals and loops.
    With his wings he scooped air, shaped it. There was not the desperate need for flapping and pumping now. Instinctively, he stilled his wings and rode the thermal updrafts, rising higher without even stirring a feather. He looked down at Gylfie, who was a few feet below him, catching the lower layer of the same updraft. Grimble was right. They knew exactly what to do. Instinct and belief flowed through the hollow bones of the two owls as they flew into the night.

    It had seemed that after being locked in the still air of the windless canyons and ravines of St. Aegolius, the two owls were encountering every kind of wind and draft imaginable. Soren had not known how long they had flown when he heard Gylfie call out, "Hey, Soren, any idea how we land?"

    Land? Landing had been the furthest thing from Soren's mind. He felt as if he could fly forever. But he supposed that the little Elf Owl might be getting tired. For every one stroke of Soren's wings, Gylfie had to make three. "No idea, Gylfie. But maybe we should look for a nice treetop and then ..." He paused.
    "Well, I'm sure we'll figure it out."

    And they did. Tipping slightly downward at a gentle angle, they began a long glide toward a cluster of trees. Once more, instinct took over as both owls in their descent began to inscribe tighter and tighter circles around the trees below. Each owl angled its wings slightly to increase the drag and then, as they approached the tree, they extended their talons.

    "I did it!" Soren gasped as he lighted down on a branch.

    "Aiyee!" squeaked Gylfie.

    "Gylfie, where are you? What's wrong?"

    "Well, except for being upside down, I think I am fine."

    "Great Glaux!" Soren exclaimed as he saw the little Elf Owl hanging by her talons with her head pointing toward the ground. "How did that happen?"

    "Well, if I knew how, it wouldn't have happened," Gylfie replied testily.

    "Oh, dear! What are you going to do?

    "Well, I'm going to think about it.

    "Can you do that hanging upside down?

    "Of course I can. What do you think? My brains are going to fall out of my head? Really, Soren!"

    Gylfie looked a bit ridiculous hanging upside down, but Soren certainly wasn't going to say anything. He wished he could be of more help.

    "If I were you, gal..." A voice came from another branch higher up in the tree.

    "Who's that?" Soren was suddenly frightened.

    "What does it matter who I am? Been in the same spot as your friend there once or twice myself." Soren felt the branch he was perched on shake. The most enormous owl he had ever seen alighted, then swaggered out toward the end. The owl, a silvery gray color, seemed to simply melt out of the moonlight, but he towered over Soren. His head alone, with his enormous facial disk, was almost twice the size of Gylfie. It was very difficult for Soren to imagine that this huge owl had ever been in the same situation as Gylfie.

    "Here's what you have to do," he called down to Gylfie in a deep voice. "You have to let go, just let go!
    Then quickly flap your wings up, an upstroke, hold it for a count of three. You'll come out right side up and then just glide down. Let me demonstrate."

    "But you're so big and Gylfie's so small," Soren said.

    "I am big -- right you are! But I am delicate and beautiful. I can float! I can skim." The enormous owl had lifted off the branch and was flying through the air, performing every imaginable flourish of flight --
    plunges, twists, swoops, and loops.

    He began a hooting song:

    "Flutter like a hummingbird,

    Dive like an eagle,

    Ain't no bird that's my equal!'

    "Good Glaux!" Soren muttered. "What a show-off."

    "Hey, when you got it you show it. When you don't, you usually don't know it." The huge owl lit down, obviously pleased with his wit and flying.

    "All right," Gylfie said.

    "Letting go is the hardest part, but you got to believe it will work."

    Belief again, thought Soren. That seemed to be the word that struck Gylfie as well, because in just that instant Gylfie let go. There was a little blur in the night -- like a small leaf caught in a sudden gust -- and then Gylfie was flying right side up.

    "Beautiful!" exclaimed Soren. In another second, Gylfie had alighted on the branch next to Soren.

    "See? Nothing to it," said the huge silvery owl." 'Course I didn't have anyone to coach me. Had to figure it out on my