Guardians of Ga'Hoole 13 - The River of Wind

frolicking in the colors that washed the night.
    “Like banners! Like the tails of the qui,” Ruby said as she caught sight of the undulating waves’ light.
    “More beautiful, I am sure,” Mrs. Plithiver spoke, and tilted her head toward the shimmering, shifting lights of the night sky. It was as if she could sense every drop of color.
    “Pelli!” Soren cried out as he spotted his beloved mate, and behind her in the folds of color that swayed in the sky, three young owlets flew. “Da! Da!” It was Bell, who rushed ahead of her two sisters.
    “Da!” she shreed, then turned to the blue owl. “Striga, you came back. You came back.”
    “Of course I did, little Bell.”
    Although tired, the returning owls joined the othersand wove themselves through the pulsating banners of color for the rest of the night until the dawn crept over the horizon.
    “Death of night,” Soren said to himself.
    “What’s that, dear?” Pelli asked as they headed back to their hollow.
    “Oh, it’s just an expression of the sixth kingdom. They don’t call it twixt time and tweener or First Black, but death of day for night and death of night for day, or sometimes the hatch of night. I like that.”
    “Oh, yes,” Pelli replied thoughtfully. “They see it as a kind of cycle that goes in a circle.”
    “Yes, they speak that way. The wheel of life is another expression.”
    “Wheel…I saw a wheel once, or part of one, I think. Trader Mags brought it shortly after I first came here. They say it just goes around and around in endless circles. Seems rather pointless, doesn’t it? Wheel of life. I can’t imagine.”
    Soren shook his head. No, she could never imagine. In his gizzard, he felt the dimmest tremor as he thought of phonqua and the blue owl who had saved his dear little Bell. The three B’s were already sound asleep. He peered out the port of their hollow. Pink-and-orange light streaked the morning and the Sea of Hoolemere glitteredfiercely. It all seems rather…rather …Pelli was looking at him. She sensed what he was thinking.
    “Rather tawdry and cheap, isn’t it, after the delicate colors of the Aurora Glaucora?” she said.
    “My thoughts exactly,” Soren churred. “It truly is the death of night, isn’t it?”
    “But night will return—just like the wheel of life,” Pelli said.
    “Yes, like the wheel of life.”
    “Mum,” a small voice called. “Can I have a drink of water?” It was Blythe.
    “Me, too,” said Bash. “I want one, too.”
    But Bell slept on peacefully, dreamless and simply content, safely tucked into the soft nest made from Mum’s and Da’s downiest feathers.

THE GUARDIANS of GA’HOOLE
    Book One: The Capture
    Book Two: The Journey
    Book Three: The Rescue
    Book Four: The Siege
    Book Five: The Shattering
    Book Six: The Burning
    Book Seven: The Hatchling
    Book Eight: The Outcast
    Book Nine: The First Collier
    Book Ten: The Coming of Hoole
    Book Eleven: To Be a King
    Book Twelve: The Golden Tree
    Book Thirteen: The River of Wind
    Book Fourteen: Exile
    Book Fifteen: The War of the Ember
    A Guide Book to the Great Tree
    Lost Tales of Ga’Hoole

OWLS
and others
from the
GUARDIANS OF GA’HOOLE SERIES
    The Band
    SOREN: Barn Owl, Tyto alba, from the Forest Kingdom of Tyto; escaped from St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls; a Guardian at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree and close advisor to the king
    GYLFIE: Elf Owl, Micranthene whitneyi, from the desert kingdom of Kuneer; escaped from St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls; Soren’s best friend; a Guardian at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree and ryb of navigation chaw
    TWILIGHT: Great Gray Owl, Strix nebulosa, free flier; orphaned within hours of hatching; Guardian at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
    DIGGER: Burrowing Owl, Athene cunicularia, from the desert kingdom of Kuneer; lost in desert after attack in which his brother was killed by owls from St. Aegolius; a Guardian at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
    The Leaders of the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
    CORYN: Barn Owl, Tyto alba, the new young king of the great tree; son of Nyra, leader of the Pure Ones
    EZYLRYB: Whiskered Screech Owl, Otus trichopsis, Soren’s former mentor; the wise, much-loved, departed ryb at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
    Others at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
    OTULISSA: Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis , chief ryb and ryb of Ga’Hoology and weather chaws; an owl of great learning and prestigious lineage
    MARTIN: Northern Saw-whet Owl, Aegolius acadicus, member of the Chaw of Chaws; a