by Alex Rey
“What’s the problem with me going outside right now?” Leyoht asked.
“If you did go outside without eating first, you would grow tired very easily. If you don’t have enough energy inside of you, it will be hard to survive in the outside world during these cold times. That’s why I’m surprised that your father goes out to get us something to eat once he wakes up. It’s very brave of him.”
Another pause coming between the two, Sahemawia took a look down at her feet as she continued on her explanation. “When I was your age, I tried to sneak through my parent’s hollow as well as I could. Fortunately for me, I was caught and stopped just in time. If I weren’t caught in time, there’s a chance that I wouldn’t be here with you right now.”
Shocked by these words, Leyoht nearly took a step back in fear. A tear nearly escaped from his eye when Sahemawia clarified, “The world is much more dangerous than you may think, Leyoht. If you aren’t prepared for what’s ahead of you, you most likely won’t survive.”
These words sparked a gust of silence to blow its way into the hollow as thoughts of dread entered Leyoht’s mind. He couldn’t understand the same world which had given so much could have also taken away everything he had once known. Holding back his emotions, Leyoht gave a massive sigh.
In his storm of dismay, Leyoht’s thoughts were interrupted when the sound of claws scratching against wood stung his ears. Along with it was brought the scent of blood and fur. Turning his head, he took sight of his father at the edge of the hollow with a lemming in his beak.
Panting, Ulpheir removed the lemming from his beak when he mumbled, “I told you I would be back as quickly as I could.” As another series of panting passed, he continued, “You can both have this.”
“Thanks,” Sahemawia praised as her mate laid the prey on the hollow’s floor. She noticed the blood from the lemming seeping a scarlet stain into the floors on which she walked.
To help put an end to this leaking, she lifted the lemming off from the ground as droplets of blood continued to drip onto her floor. Slightly disgusted by the dead animal’s appearance, she closed her eyes as her beak made its way through the lemming’s flesh.
Hopping over by his mother’s side, Leyoht exchanged glances between the deceased lemming and his mother’s gaze. Anxiety rushing through his blood with a jolt, he nervously whispered into his mother’s ear, “Once I’m finished eating, then can I go outside?”
A momentary smile flashed upon her face before Sahemawia gave a quick nod and replied, “Sure.”
In sheer and utter excitement, Leyoht joined his mother as he also buried his beak into the rich, rodent meat. With each swoop of his beak making its way into the meat, Leyoht’s face would come back with streaks of blood painted around his beak and some of the newly-acquired feathers on his face.
As he inhaled the meat that he had been given, a storm of questions blazed through his mind. Does the world outside this tree feel different? Is it different at all? The stories his mother had told him through the past few days had suggested to him the outside world would have had a great difference as a whole when compared to his hollow tree.
Once he had finished eating, Leyoht made his way over to the entrance of the hollow and peered down to the ground. A great sense of giddiness entered his head when he realized how high he was. How am I going to get all the way down there?
As ideas to bring himself down began to flood his head, Leyoht flinched when he heard his father ask, “Do you want me to take you down there?”
Without taking so much as a single glimpse toward his father, the owlet asked, “You can do that?”
“It’ll be slightly hard—but I will be able to do it.”
Twisting his flexible neck until his gaze turned directly behind his own back, Leyoht replied with a small moan to his voice, “Yes. Thank you!”
“I’ll need you to step aside,” Ulpheir explained as he gently pulled Leyoht away with his leg. Without another word, his wings gave a great flap as he shot himself off into the air. Once in the air, Ulpheir’s talons were flexing for a reason which found Leyoht slightly perplexed.
Within heartbeats did Leyoht take sight of his father flying towards him. In confusion, he fought the urge to run away from his father when he felt talons wrapping around his chest. Feeling Ulpheir’s talons wrapping around his chest, a shock of surprise spread into his spine when Ulpheir explained, “I’m just going to safely drop you off.”
With a few more flaps of his wings did Ulpheir gradually float down to the white ground. As so was done, he continued, “When you’re ready to come back inside, just yell for us at this spot. Either your mother or I will come to bring you back inside.”
As he gave a nod of sympathy, Leyoht noticed his father shooting himself into the air once again. Instead of flying directly into the hollow, Ulpheir made his way through the sky and pushed himself into a journey with the clouds.
As the sight of his father slowly faded away, Leyoht noticed his feet growing numb. It was then when he realized the ground beneath him was much colder than the ground on the inside of the hollow tree. Why is the ground so cold? he silently asked himself as he waddled through the white ground.
Leyoht felt discomfort scratch at his feet with every step he took. Through the numbness he carried, he noticed a peculiarity about the ground he had been walking through. Stopping in his tracks, Leyoht turned himself around to take sight of a small series of markings in the white ground—each one identical. He peered down at these markings to notice something familiar in the shape that they possessed.
“Did I do that?” he murmured in question to the marks. If so was the case, why did the marks show here and not in the hollow tree? The fact that the hard ground inside the hollow tree never showed any familiar markings while the white ground had done so hadn’t caused a great sense of confusion to flare up in Leyoht’s mind.
After taking a short time to stare at these strange markings, Leyoht lifted his chilled feet from the ground. His own two feet sank into the icy, white crystals—which caused his ears to vibrate with the sound of a small crunch slipping between his toes.
With four more steps did he find himself stopping in his tracks; it was the minimum amount of steps he needed to take. Once so was done, Leyoht twisted his head backwards to see even more indentations marked into the ground. The sight flashing in his eyes, he thought triumphantly, So I was doing it!
His moment of triumph soon came to an end when his sharp ears took hearing of a strange, faint noise. A short pause of silence was broken when the sound of footsteps pounded through the ground. Curious to know what was going on, Leyoht strode off into the direction from where these noises were emanating
A short series of footsteps brought Leyoht to find a nest in the middle of a small crater in the ground. Sitting in the nest was sighted an old male snowy owl—the likes of which gave off an austere appearance. “Hello!” the old snowy greeted with a smile on his face. “You must be Ulpheir’s son—Leyoht—right?”
Jerking his eyeshot over to the old owl’s gaze, Leyoht asked, “You know my father?”
With a nod of his head, he replied, “He and I were friends back when Ulpheir was only a bit older than you are now. You should ask him sometime about an owl named Mikto; that’s me.”
Changing the subject slightly, Leyoht asked “Do you know what this white stuff is on the ground? It’s so cold and weird!”
“That’s snow,” Mikto explained. “You’ll see a whole lot of it in your life. It comes from cold, frozen water flakes that come from the clouds. Once millions of them fall from the sky, they’ll pile up on the ground. Once it gets too warm, they’ll all melt away.”
“I hope it gets warm sometime soon. I can barely even feel my feet!”
A hint of sorrow going pushing against his chest, Mikto sighed, “I hope so, too—but I wouldn’t count on it. The snow just came here not too long ago. Once it comes here, it usually stays around for a while. But as you get older, you’ll want th
ere to be snow on the ground. There are times of the year where it becomes way too hot.”
As he let out a sigh of slight disappointment, the sound of a screech sounded through Leyoht’s ears. In complete awe, he began to hop around Mikto’s nest when he asked, “What was that?”
“I don’t know, but it sounds like somebody’s in trouble.”
Taking a moment of thought, Leyoht’s shoulders gave a shrug when he bravely stated, “I’m going to see what’s going on.” Without another word, he left Mikto behind as he made his way toward where the screech had released itself.
His freezing feet running through the myriad number of snowflakes on the ground, Leyoht peeked his way over a hill of snow to see something tall perching off in the distance. Crouching below the hill was a group of owlets—each of whom seemed to be cringing away from the tall object.
Making his way down the icy hill, Leyoht felt confusion form in his head when he asked, “What’s going on?”
“Over there,” a girl pointed with her beak. “My mother’s told me about those things! I’ve heard that some of them are very nice, but most of them are very bad!”
As Leyoht exchanged quick glances between both the tall creature and the frightened owl in front of her, he suggested, “Maybe it’s a nice one.”
“But what if it’s not?” asked a male owlet, suspicion drawing from his voice.
The thought of this creature being a pessimist struck fear into Leyoht’s blood. The images in his head would have shown more clarity if he could have seen the full picture of this creature’s outside details. The only thing he could have made out of this figure was a tall, lean figure.
“What are we supposed to do if it’s so dangerous?” Leyoht challenged the frightened owlets.
Not finding the any sense of the disdain he held in his voice, the same female owl beside him whispered, “My mother’s told me that if I see one of them, we’re supposed to slowly back away from them.”
Turning her head gaze toward her other friends, she whispered, “Once I start moving away, I want you all to slowly follow me. Make sure you’re not spotted!” In response to her whispers, each owlet—except for Leyoht—gave their heads many quick nods as they kept their focus on the owl’s body. Once the other owlets took sight of the girl’s body move around the hill of snow, they slowly crept their way around the hill of snow.
As the others slipped away from his sight, Leyoht took a look over at the creature in front of him. Although the words the other young owlets had spoken to him hadn’t caused any spark of horror to flare up in his mind, a rush of worry suddenly stopped him from making his way toward the creature.
A hole buried itself into Leyoht’s chest—growing larger by every second.
…most of them are very bad!
But what if it’s not?
As he kept these words in a silent repetition, Leyoht began to wonder if these owlets spoke the truth. Is that—whatever it is—really as bad as they say?
He could faintly remember hearing what his own mother had told him about creatures with much individuality—who could use their surroundings to their own advantage. The question now was whether or not this creature he had been staring at was the same creature his mother had been talking about all those days ago in the hollow tree.
After taking a glance at the creature in front of him, he looked back over his shoulder and decided to make his way toward the frightened owlets. When he poked his head around the hill of snow, each of them presented expressions of relief washing over their faces.
Without hesitation and without showing so much as a single fraction of any remaining fear on his face, Leyoht informed the other owlets, “The creature didn’t do anything to me!”
The sound of these words vibrating through their ears, almost every one of the owlets turned their gazes toward the objective nestling. Leyoht heard a shallow male owlet whisper, “Are any of them bad, Roseti?”
In response to this whispered question, the owlet named Roseti snapped, “Of course they are! My mother has always told me how much the humans have hurt us.”
At the sound of the word humans, a flash of familiarity spread through Leyoht’s mind. I knew that’s what that thing was! he silently assured himself as Roseti continued to argue with the others.
“What’s your name, anyway?” Roseti asked as she walked up to Leyoht.
His train of thought came to a crash when he responded, “Leyoht.”
A short pause occurred before Roseti broke the silence by explaining, “The three boys are Jsaleor, Ramil, and Plenot. The other girl’s name is Behinlo.” She pointed to each of her friends with her beak as she introduced them to Leyoht.
“Are you new here?” Roseti asked somewhat suspiciously.
Hesitating, Leyoht confusedly responded, “Well—it’s my first day being outside from my home.”
“It’s my fifth day being outside of my home,” Roseti remarked with a slightly loosened look on her face.
Their conversation was obstructed when a bigger owl—who appeared to have already learned how to fly—crept up to them. Almost every spot on his body was covered in fluffy, white clouds of feather. His large appearance frightened nearly half of the owlets he stood over.
“What are you all doing here?” the older owl sneered. Starting himself on a slow pace, he gave a temporary orbit around the younger owlets.
“We were—just talking,” Roseti replied as she took a nervous look toward Leyoht.
“I have a question for you all,” the older owl continued. “If we’re all the same age, how come I can fly and you can’t?”
This question sent a blaze of many more questions to form in Leyoht’s mind. When he took a look at the owl in front of him, he noticed that there were great differences between the amounts of feathers their bodies contained.
While most of the feathers on Leyoht’s body sat upon small patches of white on his face, the larger owl in front of him was almost entirely covered in feathers. Simply by taking quick examinations on his wings could Leyoht tell their wingspans must have held a great difference.
Before he could make any objections, Leyoht took notice of the larger owl lifting his wings into the air—much like his own parents had done. As he gave a great flap, the larger owl quickly found himself floating through the sky as he made a random pattern in flight.
Having understood true reason, the younger owlets below this antagonist were well-aware of his shameful lies. From the moment they had laid their eyes upon his body, they were able to discover no owlet their age could have grown the kinds of feathers covering this larger owl.
As a thirst to rectify their flying opponent landed upon their tongues, the young owlets patiently waited for the larger owl to come back down to the ground.
Once the boastful owl finally made his way down to the ground, he took a scornful look toward the younger owlets. “Mouse-tails,” he remarked with a smirk surpassing his face. At the sound of his taunt, each of the owlets gave a great chorus of gasps.
For an owl, to be called a mouse-tail meant they were unable to survive in the harsh world surrounding them. It was a great insult for any owl who knew or thought they could grow up to thrive against the world’s challenges. The idea of being called a mouse-tail ebbing through their minds, each of the young owlets felt remorse enclose their minds.
As the large owl made his way toward the young owlets, each of the young ones cringed away, shrinking all the while. Fear pulsated through their minds with thoughts of their powerful enemy turning his emotional taunts into physical torture.
While Leyoht backed away from the larger owl, he took notice of the other owlets surrounding him. Each of them held looks of emotional pain upon their faces; some of them were even sighted with tears streaming from their eyes. This sight caused a knife of sorrow to pierce through Leyoht’s startled heart.
I have to do something! Leyoht exclaimed silently. The sight of the other owls in pain was far too much for him to bear any longer. He held bac
k an array of tears as every one of the large owl’s steps echoed into his ears.
Unable to hold his tongue, Leyoht slowly removed himself from his frozen state and pushed himself toward his opponent. At the sight of this, every one of the owlets behind him placed shocked looks on their faces.
“Leyoht—what are you doing?” Roseti asked, alarm flushing back the color on her down.
As the antagonist took sight of Leyoht making his way toward him, he snorted, “I’m still surprised that you were afraid of that little human! Only a mouse-tail would be afraid of them!”
Leyoht suddenly pointed at the bully with an outstretched talon and allowed Alar to speak through his beak: “Are you sure that’s not your problem?”
Once these words made their way into the owls’ ears, a moment of hesitation was brought into place. Such a moment was broken when the older owl exclaimed, “Of course it’s not my problem!”
“If you’re not scared of the human, then why don’t you walk up to it?” Leyoht noticed as the large owl’s muscles tensed in both his wings and legs. His shoulders gave a hunch as parts of his face started to quiver. Just before too much emotion could have been shown upon his face, he hissed, “I’ll see you later.”
With these words, the owl turned his back on the younger owlets and hastily strode away from them. With every step he took, his legs remained stiff—as if they had been dipped in ice. Leyoht tried not to chuckle at such a ridiculous sight.
“Leyoht, that was amazing!” a voice behind Leyoht complimented. Within a heartbeat, every owlet who had once been behind him now made a ring around him. Their voices blocked out all sound—such voices made only complimentary remarks toward Leyoht.
--
After a long time of mingling between Leyoht and the other owlets, it soon came time for them to eat. Leyoht could feel his stomach churning with hunger as he made his way toward his parents’ hollow tree.
