Gizzard Resisters (Guardians of Ga'Hoole one shot)

This was not a good way to welcome the night, Ezylryb thought as the chaw of chaws came back from the Northern Kingdoms without Gylfie. There was an emergency parliament meeting to discuss their missions. There was confirmation of the elf owl's whereabouts or lack of, as the case may be. There was also the uncertainty of whether or not they be getting the warriors needed for the upcoming battle against the Pure Ones. When Soren spoke, he was examined through the special gaze of a squinted eye, the eye that let Ezylryb see more than what lies on the surface, it was clear what unfortunate news bothered the lad more. It was almost tween time when the meeting ended.

At tweener high ranking parliament members had to eat with the leaders of St. Aggies, to discuss strategies, Ezylryb saw Soren, who he could tell was not of solid gizzard when he saw those owls eating with his mentor and left, an option the whiskered screech owl envied at that moment.

After tweener, there was a parliament meeting to discuss in more detail how to train the St. Aggies goons than they could while in the dining hall. Ezylryb found the whole thing appalling but growing up in a war, he knew the importance of an ally, any ally. He left the parliament hallow through the inner tunnels as opposed to flying out of the hallow. The young owl wasn't the only one with gizzutiton.

He also didn't walk up to the hallows but towards the entrance to the roots below the parliament, where he knew the band, Octavia and Eglantine often eavesdropped. To the whiskered screech owl's knowledge, they were the only ones that knew, and he was the only parliament member that knew that they listened in.

He saw the fresh but faint talon marks of a barn owl; he knew that it was Soren.

Once in his hallow, Ezylryb called to his nest maid snake, who was waiting for him. She turned her now eyeless gaze towards him, "can you go down to the kitchen and see if cook can spare us some milkberry tea and some tarts... and perhaps some of that vole he served tonight it was quite delicious, I have a feeling Soren will be coming here shortly. I noticed that he did not stay for tweener, and I don't blame him."

She knew not to question him; he always had his reasons especially when it came to the owl he viewed as his son.

Just as Ezylryb predicted, shortly after Octavia left, Soren perched himself on a branch outside his hallow.

"Ezylryb?" he called his voice sounding like he was bearly able to compose himself, "can I come in?"

"Of course, lad, you're always welcome here," he flew into the hallow and then he started to speak then stopped himself a few times. He was trying to figure out a way to say what he heard in parliament without saying that he was eavesdropping. Ezylryb planned on waiting patiently to see what story the not-so-youngin would come up with, but he could see that Soren's gizzard was not in a place to come up with anything.

"Where you got any information doesn't matter, what matters is how you respond to it," he told him as Octavia slivered in carrying the entire meal that Ezylryb requested. One of the perks of being a ryb, he thought to himself. "You missed tweener, you should eat," he gestured to the food, "I noticed that you weren't in the dining hallow, and I don't blame ya, I'd rather have not been there myself."

Soren's forced himself to take a bite of the tart. "I can't teach them how to fight! I just can't! I can't give them anything else that they can use to harm innocent owls!" the words tumbled out of his beak. "I know that I am a Guardian of Ga'Hoole and it is my duty to help owlkind in any way that I can, but I practically go yeep even thinking about teaching them how to use ice weapons!" despite his emotional turmoil he spoke with conviction, before looking away afraid of how his mentor would respond.

Ezylryb reached out his port wing and rested on Soren's comfortingly. "That's nothing to be ashamed of, Soren. You are a gizzard resistor, as am I."

He looked up, "I'm a what?" he stared at the other owl, who just nodded at the food. The barn owl started eating obediently. Once he had some food in him, the much older owl continued.

"A gizzard resister is a rare thing in an owl, for owls like us, there are things that we cannot do in good conscience. Not that something doesn't need to be done, but we cannot force ourselves to do so without damaging our hearts, minds, and gizzards. I cannot fight another battle, just as you cannot teach those St. Aggies scum how to fight with ice. There are other ways we can be useful. For example, I will create strategies on the battlefield, but I will not fight. We will find something for you to do, that will align with your gizzard as well. I will take care of telling the parliament for you so don't you worry about that."

"You'll...you'll do all that for me?" he looked up at the older owl in awe.

"Of course, Soren, now eat your vole before it gets cold, I know you like your meat hot."

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I hoped you liked this story! As of now, I don't have anything else for this series, but I have several other works for you to look at. Just follow this link to my organized google doc containing all of my posted work.

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~~Ben Ray