Guardians of Ga'Hoole 14 - Exile

tired quickly. So Fritha came often to read aloud to her. They took particular pleasure in reading from the books that they had airlifted to keep safe from the Striga. Kalo, who had settled in the tree with her mate, Grom, her daughter, Siv, son, Bruno, and younger brother, Cory, also came and read to her. Kalo’s favorite book was The Queen’s Tale .
    It was a morning late in winter, one of those days that seems to teeter on the cusp of spring, when Kalo was reading to her that Otulissa suddenly interrupted.
    “Did I ever tell you, Kalo, about the time I went to the Northern Kingdoms and spent many nights in the great retreat of the Glauxian Brothers? It is located on the island where Hoole’s egg was sequestered and he hatched out…” Kalo was enthralled with the Northern Kingdoms.She couldn’t believe that Otulissa had never mentioned this trip to her before.
    “You’ve been there?”
    “Oh, yes. I speak fluent Krakish, you know.”
    “You do?”
    “Yes, I had a very…” She paused. “A very dear friend there. His name was Cleve. He was a prince, actually.” Her single eye twinkled.
    “Was?”
    “Oh, probably still is. So kind. So gentle,” she said wistfully, and adjusted the bandanna over the place where her eye had been. The bandanna was not jeweled, but it was lovely, made from a piece of embroidered silk cloth. Mags had given it to her as a gift.
    When Kalo finished reading, she had intended to go back to her hollow but instead turned and flew to see Coryn.
    “Coryn? May I speak with you?”
    “Kalo, you never have to ask. Please come in.”
    “Has Otulissa ever mentioned an owl in the Northern Kingdoms named Cleve?”
    “Cleve of Firthmore?”
    “Yes, that’s the one.”
    “She hasn’t mentioned him to me directly, but from the Band I have heard about him—him and Otulissa.”
    “Him and Otulissa?”
    “Yes, Gylfie thinks they were in love, but I guess they had differences.”
    “Well, maybe those differences aren’t so great anymore,” Kalo said in a musing tone of voice.
    “What are you thinking?”
    “I think maybe Otulissa needs something more than what we can give her right now. She is languishing in that garden of hers. Yes, it is lovely, but spring is coming and she needs to get out and fly around a bit. And you know, I think she’s a little bit frightened to try flying with one eye. Her wings weren’t injured but it’s almost as if there is some connection between her missing eye and that wing. She drags it around.”
    “Yes, I know what you mean. I noticed it, too. What are you suggesting?”
    “I think we need to get Cleve. We need to go to the Northern Kingdoms and bring him here to visit an old friend.”
    Coryn blinked. This was a very good idea. Why, it was only the evening before that he had been looking in the flames of his grate and he had seen something that intrigued him in the fire. He had had strange intimations that there was a reason to go to the Northern Kingdoms. Perhaps not only for Cleve. No, something more sinister.But the shapes in the flames were vague and fleeting. Still, he would go. And perhaps it was not a good idea to take the Band. He would, of course, tell them his plans but the tree was still recovering from the battle on Balefire Night. It would not do for them all to leave at one time. He could go with Kalo, and perhaps Kalo’s mate, Grom.
    And so it was decided that he and Kalo and Grom would leave in the next newing of the moon, a few short nights away. Ruby would also accompany them since she had been to the Northern Kingdoms before, but few others would be told, especially not Otulissa. This was to be a surprise.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
An Old Friend
    S he’s up there in the garden. Just fly straight up.” Matron, the burly Short-eared Owl who was head of the nursing staff, directed.
    “Yes, ma’am. I thank you so much!” the Spotted Owl said. His speech was tinged with the Krakish burr.
    He flew around the tree until he came to what was called the starboard side crotch, where another trunk branched off from the main one. It was his first visit ever to the Great Ga’Hoole Tree and he marveled at the array of subsidiary trunks that split from the main one and loomed toward the sky like a maze of radiating spires soaring into the night. The tree was truly as remarkable as he had heard.
    Cleve had been intrigued when he had learned of the hanging garden that Otulissa had cultivated in the lower part of the canopy in the soil