Okay, I saw the movie yesterday, and my advice to you guys who haven't seen it: Don't. It's nothing like the books, and if, like me, you can only take artistic license for so long, it will annoy the daylights out of you. It would take all day to explain the things I didn't about it, so I will instead display the five things I did like about it. In my profile. Read it, if you dare.
A note on Marella's name: I know that in later books and in the back of The Capture it was always spelled Marilla, but in the text of the first book (the bottom of Page 6), it was spelled Marella (I have no idea why Lasky chose to change the spelling) so I go with the first spelling.
Final note: there's a quote from The Siege in here. The quote's from page 138 (I do not claim to own it); see if you can spot it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Guardians of Ga'Hoole.
It was close enough to First Light that Kludd knew his parents and Mrs. Plithiver would be back soon. He'd get in trouble if they found out he was trying branching on his own, but he wasn't entirely sure he cared enough to stop.
No, he was quite sure he didn't care enough to stop. Soren's whining still rang fresh in his mind; Kludd bristled slightly at his brother's tremulous "But Da said…" and told him that Da didn't have to know, in a threatening tone that made it quite clear to Soren what might happen if he did say anything when Mum and Da got back.
There was a pale pinkish light coming over the horizon and highlighting the spines of the firs and pines. Kludd's keen vision was beginning to fail him, as it must during the daytime, but his hearing had not. He had learned to recognize the wing beats of his parents, and did not hear their approach from the south.
As he understood it, Noctus and Marella were meeting with friends further south, speaking with them about…something, Kludd didn't know what. He'd been nearly to sleep when he heard them discussing it at last First Light, and their tones had been hushed. It must have been urgent, for them to be willing to leave their children behind, totally alone, for any amount of time.
Kludd hadn't caught most of their conversation, but the word "pure" had surfaced several times. He wasn't sure what they had meant by that.
With no Noctus to criticize his branching skills (he wasn't flying yet; he had no idea why his father put so much emphasis on silence), and no Marella or Mrs. Plithiver to curb his instincts, Kludd felt more freedom than he had in nights. There was no wing cuffing him, no beak scolding him, no missing eyes following him with suspicion.
Then, a flutter of wings came from behind, and Kludd whirled around, horrified at the prospect of his parents and Mrs. P coming back to find him in this position.
His parents and his nursemaid were nowhere to be found. Instead, several strange owls were perched on the branches of his family's tree.
They were all Tytos, three barn owls, one masked, one grass. And in the center, there was the largest and most beautiful female Barn owl Kludd had ever seen.
Her feathers were closer to pure snowy white than Kludd had thought possible for a barn owl; her broad face shone like the moon in the pre-dawn light. Her eyes were as black and luminous as polished stone, matched by the gleaming metal on her talons.
Battle claws! Kludd realized, thunderstruck.
She spoke for the others, perching in the forefront while all others were in the background.
"What a bold young owlet, to be branching alone, with his parents nowhere to be found." Her voice held a crooning lilt that spoke to Kludd of snowy lands and ice-laden trees. Her eyes were keen and intensely interested. "Tell me, little one, what is your name?"
Kludd answered readily, feeling more eager about this than he had anything before in his life.
It was a new beginning, he was sure.