Grace

First Friend

Gliding through St Aeglious, Grace surveyed the area, on the look out for potential threats. After her recent run in with the "guardians", she'd come to realised that – if perhaps she still resented the Pure – she wasn't any more fond of the supposed heroes from the tales told to her by her parents.

Time passed and yet no enemy owl could be seen within these deserted lands, and so she descended, landing carefully on the sharp, rocky ledges that jutted out of the stone walls of the canyon lands which made up the Pure territory. Looking from one side to another, she checked the area, listening, watching. She could sense movement nearby.

She tensed, waiting for whoever it was to reveal themselves.

Her gizzard relaxed as she recognised the owl wandering around close by. Kludd. Certainly not an enemy of the Pure.

She wondered what he was doing, ducking and craning his neck and body, scratching at the rocks and the earth, clearly searching for something.

---

As it were, it was food that was on Kludd's mind.

There were days when even he was sceptical about the decisions made by the Pure. For one, St Aeglious made a miserable place of residence, barren and devoid of life... and especially the sort that he could eat. His gizzard growled at him ungratefully, not appreciating the efforts he was putting in to find something edible. It was as if all rodents had vanished from this place; he hadn't spotted a single mouse within this territory since the moon had risen. Huffing in annoyance, he lifted off the ground and continued flying.

It was then that he caught sight of a very familiar owl.

'Of course, it would be her,' he cursed his luck. The stupid owlet was everywhere these days – or almost everywhere -, it seemed. And granted, he was the one who had ordered her to patrol the lands, but he had never told her to stalk him wherever he went. If anything, she should have been stalking the bloody Guardians!

There seemed no way of getting rid of her. He couldn't very well just hand her over to the Guardians so they might have another weapon amongst their ranks. Killing her, he thought, was a waste. And though he was many things – bad, as well as good – wasteful, he hoped, was not one of them. To free her, would only allow her to join the Guardians. So that was a no.

With no solution to his problems and an empty stomach, the metalbeak flew on.

"Why don't you try worms?" an oddly optimistic voice suggested. "If you're hungry enough, anything will taste great."

He turned around, confused.

Surpassing him now, as she flew ahead, the owlet from earlier lowered her voice. "Besides, it doesn't seem as though there's much choice here. I haven't seen any mice myself."

"Why would you care, or know about this place?" Kludd retorted, "you're supposed to be on duty, not snacking in flight. Besides, I know this place far better than you – I've been here much longer. Just because your weak senses haven't found you a single mouse, doesn't mean that I won't." He said stubbornly, refusing to accept that his attempts were in vain. That said, as much as he hated to admit it, he hadn't seen any mice thus far either.

"I am on duty," she responded confidently, "I'm just good at multitasking, unlike some owls." One of Kludd's eyes twitched at her sass. "Besides, just because the two of us don't exactly get along, that doesn't mean I have to leave you alone to starve. Though, I don't suppose the Pure care much about each other," she trailed off on a bitter note.

Indignation made Kludd's blood simmer. The Pure brought him in to their home. They showed him something beyond his miserable life, always second, always the weaker son. They gave him power and made him into something, someone. And now here he was moulding new owls into something special, and this was how he was treated. With absolutely zero respect.