"Topaz! Wake up, sleepyhead!" Topaz heard a voice calling her name. It slowly brought her back from the dream world to the living world.

"Huh? Wha?" the young owlet mumbled sleepily, opening her eyes to a familiar white face framed with light orange looking down at her. At first she couldn't place who this owl was, but a glance at the luminous black eyes told her. "Diamond!"

"Yep! I figured I would visit for your First Meat On Bones ceremony, and for Quartz's First Fur ceremony." Diamond beamed down on her sister, seeming to savor the sight of her family. She was the eldest of the siblings, but she was from a different brood, and was the only one who had survived. She was two years old, and was living on her own, yet she did not have a mate.

"I- I'm so glad you came!" Topaz stammered joyfully. "I haven't seen you for so long!"

"I am glad I came too," Diamond murmured. She cast her gaze downward, and Topaz caught a flash of melancholy in her eyes before it was gone, and replaced with joy.

Topaz tilted her head questioningly, but did not pursue her curiosity. She stared after her sister as she greeted Jack and Jill. The three owls were churring and chatting. They were deep in conversation, so Topaz went over to the edge of the hollow and peered out.

There was an orange glow behind the trees where the sun had just set. The sky was dark and already sparkling with stars. They twinkled at Topaz in a friendly way. The young owlet sighed. She wished she could be up there with them, without being afraid of falling. The wide expanse of the sky was a great and terrifying thing.

"Excuse me, Topaz." Topaz was startled by the voice of her father. "We are going hunting with your sister, to find food for your and Quartz's ceremonies."

Topaz moved out of the way, bumping into a frustrated Agate. He's probably annoyed that he wasn't allowed to come hunting too. All three siblings looked up at their parents and sister, watching them disappear into the trees.

"Sooo... any of you want to play pretend?" Quartz asked cautiously. Agate often teased her for playing this game.

"What do you want to pretend?" Topaz asked. She was not in the mood to play, but she wasn't in the mood to be pestered by her sister either.

"Well, we could act out the War of the Ember, or we could pretend to be badgers and raccoons-"

"Come on Quartz, you know Mum doesn't let us play raccoons. She says that game puts bad ideas in our heads. And badgers is just weird," Agate grumbled.

Quartz glared at him. "As I was saying, before I was interrupted, we could play squirrels, or deer, or rabbits, or Guardians-"

Quartz was interrupted once more, this time by Topaz. "I like playing Guardians!" she said. "It is fun to imagine being in a tree so huge, and bringing justice to the kindoms."

"I'll be the king," Agate declared.

"I could be a student in the navigation chaw," Topaz suggested.

"I'll be the boring Ga'Hoolology ryb." Quartz let out a giggle. "And I'll make you bury pellets!"

"Ugh! I won't! I'm the king, remember?"

"Kings have to do chores too!" Topaz scolded Agate.

They turned their heads as Diamond, Jack, and Jill entered the hollow. Their beaks were clamped shut around a squirrel, a large vole, and a rabbit.

"Were you playing Guardians of Ga'Hoole?" Diamond asked.

Agate nodded as if he were ashamed, and Quartz and Topaz exclaimed in unison, "Yes! It was fun!"

Quartz explained who all of them were. "I was a Ga'Hoolology ryb, Topaz was a student, and Agate was a grumpy old king." Topaz churred at this.

Jack put a wing around Agate, setting the rabbit he was carrying on the ground. "You know, not all kings are grumpy. In fact, almost none of them are. And Quartz, why didn't you be queen?"

"I wanted to make them bury pellets!"

"Ha! Okay, then."

Diamond set the vole down. "Well, shouldn't we start the ceremonies?"

Jill nudged the vole, rabbit, and squirrel into a pile. "We'll start with Quartz, because she is younger." The older owl took half of the vole, because it was Quartz's favorite, and removed the bones. She gave it to Quartz.

Quartz's face was a mixture of disgust and excitement. She picked at her food with her beak, trying to find some suitable way to eat it.

"Er- Quartz- just swallow it." Topaz tried to help the younger owl. After a few more prods, Quartz picked it up, tipped her beak back, and swallowed it. She shivered.

"Fur feels weird!"

"Yes, but don't you like it?" Jill asked.

Quartz thought for a moment. "No, it's strange and tickly!" Topaz shook her head.

While Quartz had been eating her half of the vole, Jack had been preparing Topaz's half of the squirrel. He knew Topaz liked squirrel, and had taken extra care to find the perfect one.

Topaz looked at her portion of squirrel, and tried to heed her own advice. But she couldn't help but give her meal a few quick prods before swallowing. "It really doesn't feel any different than my First Fur ceremony."

The adults nodded. They began to eat their meals, and talked with the owlets until late into the sunrise. Even after the owlets had gone to sleep, they continued to chat on the branch above the hollow.

***

Topaz was restless. She hadn't been able to go to sleep, not after yarping her first "real" pellet and feeling completely and utterly disgusted about it. To her, the day seemed to rumble on like a lazy old badger who did not want to walk.

Topaz tucked her head under her wing. Soon getting too hot, she took it out from under her wing and rested it on her shoulder blades. From her viewpoint, she could see the heart-shaped faces of Quartz and Agate, and she could see their chests rising and falling softly.

This gave her an idea. If she couldn't go to sleep, she could try to practice her listening. She knew Barn Owls were very good at this. Jack had taught her something about how to move her head, ears, and facial disc to catch the most sounds.

She tilted her head and expanded her facial disc, trying to move it just right to hear her siblings' soft breathing. No, that way didn't work. She tilted her head the other way.

It worked! She had picked up some trace of sound. She tried to find the sound again.

"Listen- I've heard rumors..." What was that? It wasn't Quartz's breathing. It sounded like Diamond's voice! But why would she be talking about rumors? Topaz kept listening.

"What kind of rumors?" That was her father's voice.

"Well, I don't know if they're true, and I don't want to worry you, but-"

"It's okay. You can tell us, Diamond." This time, Topaz heard Jill's voice, soft and soothing.

She must have persuaded Diamond, because she continued, "Um...so, in the Shadow Forest, things have been happening." Her voice sounded grave, and full of that melancholy Topaz had caught before. Diamond inhaled deeply to go on. "A few nights ago, in the middle of the day, a chick's mother went missing. Then, later, my neighbor's fledgling son was gone. And more owls have reported things like this too, when asked."

"That's terrible!" Jill exclaimed.

"And it's not all. All of the owls in my area of the forest have heard trees falling, great trees that have been standing for decades. Trees that have never before shown any sign of falling sometime in the near future."

"Do- do you know why?" Jack asked.

"No, I don't know why, or how, but I do know this." Topaz leaned closer. "I know that whoever has been doing this, they aren't going to stop at Shadow Forest. They will continue, to Silverveil, to The Beaks, to Ambala. Whoever is doing this, I have a feeling they are more powerful than we can even imagine."

All Topaz heard now was the deathly silence of the air, although the day was normally full of sound, and her own heavy, shocked breathing.

Author's Note
Finally something referring to the prologue! How do you like this sort of cliffhanger?

I have been thinking about doing an oc rating book for Guardians of Ga'Hoole. It would be helpful if you gave me your opinions on that subject.

I always appreciate voting and constructive criticism! If you see any errors or typos, please comment.

Bye for now!