Ambala and Jouzhenkyn

Part 2 (unedited),

A blue Brown Hawk-Owl - Ninox Scutulata - named Cigorua had shown up to work and discovered that this was the day they and their comrades had been worrying about ever since the first defection. A sage was in the Hollow of Unearthly Shame, the antechamber to the servants' quarters so named as to discourage dragon owls from approaching it, along with a cerulean Elf Owl who carried a pile of sheets of paper and a Tawny-Bellied Screech Owl - Megascops watsonii - who Cigorua recognized as the minister of protocol. They waited for the last few servants to appear, then finally began talking. Cigorua noticed that half of all the owls that worked here were present, even the ones that flew the Empress around in her glider. "I wonder what that took," they thought grimly. Cigorua somewhat zoned out during the first sentences of her speech, knowing full well that it was considered a privilege to have even landed the job and that respect was one of the first things expected of them, and simply not feeling like it was worth paying attention to at the time.
"The sages are announcing their plan to replace the Palace," Cigorua thought. "What will happen to us and the dragon owls?" Cigorua had been a servant at the palace ever since their third molt. If they were fired, would there be anything to stop them from continuing to live in the palace anyway?

The sage, a Snowy Owl with pinkish-silver stripes and bluish lichen-colored feathers, had been talking. "... kept the secrets of the plotting owls live with us." Cigorua thought their occupation was called and heard the end of that sentence, paying attention again. "We have consulted the Glaux in us and may pursue all of you who are guilty. I will speak of those owls before the sun even touches the horizon today. That will be the end of it," Sage Mya continued.
"What did she say?" Cigorua thought. They dared not speak.
"We have achieved much since the arrival of the papers," Mya said, alluding to the belief elder owls had that the continent lived in a time of shallow thought before Theo, "and we have advanced our insights. We are diverging from how we were in our isolation just as was feared. We had reason to fear, but the time is upon us now. The Theotic Oath is little more. Duehiin executed the instructions of the Theo Papers as the high steward faithfully for eight dozen years, but we will need a courageous owl - or snake - to enforce the texts that have been accepted afterwards."

Cigorua never pretended to know what the sages were talking about, and this time was no different. Listening to Mya, Cigorua wondered what the history of the Kingdoms before Theo had about them that made them irrelevant. They knew there had been seven councils before his, and they found themselves thinking, "If there were sage owls back then, surely their memories of the time would have survived. Unless, of course, Theo was the first owl with a lifespan greater than nature. I suppose I shouldn't have any trouble believing that, or should I?" Cigorua was sure that the speech they were listening to was of momentous importance and came from countless years of lore, but they were just too in disbelief to react like they cared.

Cigorua now noticed the Bay Owl who had walked in and perched in front of them at some point and was carefully looking at the rest of the servants. Sage Mya addressed this owl now, saying, "To call you Head Page Taya would now be a lie. Recognize this being before you as the fourth high steward!" Cigorua and the rest of the owls that made up the night servant shift bowed. Mya seemed to be anxious to leave as she passed the event off to the newly appointed steward by saying, "This will no longer be the Palace as created by Theo. Listen to her as we end this era. It will be difficult, but no more than it was for the H'Ryth to accept the fact."

Taya's feathers had been preened with frightening technicality. She must have been approached earlier, when she was chosen for the position. For her, this must've been a procedure. Her face seemed impossibly symmetric, with many of her very contours cut into the exact same shape, as though stamped from a metal template. Cigorua was attentive as she began, "The predictions from the Theotic times have been true. A war from abroad has touched our kingdom, and we have seen court owls regain their fiendish forms, just as was warned. In the wake of this, you may find it inexplicable that we are motivated to now disregard the Theo Papers' instructions. Far from being a cont-"

An owl had struck the side of Cigorua's head, and the shallow grunt they made went unnoticed. Cigorua's hearing was still blurry when the other owl held Cigorua's head with two talons and lifted Cigorua from the ground with its other foot. The owl carried Cigorua under the archway to the service tunnels, silent in flight. They lurched to the left and suddenly the owl heaved through one of the narrow ventilation slits in the ceiling. Cigorua's captor's wings brushed the walls, and the air moved by their flap bounced off the walls, whooshed through their feathers, and seemed to still Cigorua's gizzard.

Cigorua had frozen up, but as the owl pulled in its wings they impulsively thrashed against the talons. Then the sight of the caves fell away, replaced by daylight. Their captor flared to land, letting go of Cigorua and then pinning them to the ground again.

"Wo-oahhh! What's going on?" cried Cigorua. The Great Grey Owl above them, a disciple by the name of Hjren, said, "We apologize for the methods I used to bring you here. As an enabler of corruption, you nonetheless must repair your affronts to the population. You protected four dragon owl eggs in exchange for spare Sky Machine parts. You know what those dragon eggs became, don't you?"
Cigorua thought, "I'm being framed!"