A Guide Book to the Great Tree by Kathryn Huang

top cadet in his class. When he was home from training, he would teach me all thenew skills that he had learned. Long before most young owls see their first ice sword, I was sparring with one under his stringent tutelage. He had inherited Pa’s old battle claws and practiced with them constantly. He even let me fly with them once, “to get the feel,” as he said.
    What fascinated me most out of everything that Lyze introduced me to were the books he sometimes brought home—his field manuals and battle tactics handbooks. I fell in love with the written word. Soon, I was reading everything I could get my talons on, and pulling out feathers for quills faster than I could grow them. Lyze thought this was “impractical.” So I did most of my reading and writing while he was away.
    One day, Lyze came back to the hollow that we shared carrying a pair of battle claws in his beak. I could tell they weren’t Pa’s battered old pair. No, these were breathtaking.

    â€œI had them made special by Orf, the famed blacksmith on Dark Fowl Island,” he told me as he slipped his right foot into one. “I had to trade quite a few black rocks and animal skins for them. Called in a personal favor, too.” He tilted them back and forth in the morning sunlight. “Orf is thinking of retiring, you know. These might be the last pair of battle claws he ever makes.”
    They were the most beautiful things I had ever seen. The metal was polished to a gleaming luster. An intricate scroll pattern that resembled cresting waves had been inscribed on the two outermost claws. Each claw tapered to a perfect, deadly point.
    â€œThey’re magnificent,” I told him.
    â€œThey sure are, Chickpea, they sure are…” He slipped his left foot slowly into the other.
    Blinding jealousy tore through my gizzard. I lusted after those claws. They were more art than they were weapons. I couldn’t tell you exactly why, but they captivated me down to my pin feathers. It would not be the last time that I felt such jealousy over something beautiful that belonged to Lyze.
    Lyze watched me as I admired the battle claws with huge, unblinking eyes. Then, a little churr escaped from his beak as he slipped his talons out of the claws. “I had them made for you, little brother.”
    I tilted my head back and forth to make sure my ear slits had not deceived me.
    â€œThat’s right, Ifghar, they’re for you.” He held them up for me to see. “But not yet.” He pulled them away from my reaching talons. “They’ll be yours when you’re ready for them. You’ll have to grow into them, in body and in spirit.”
    I couldn’t believe it. “Th-thank you, Lyze” was all I managed to say. Of all the things my brother had done for me…tears welled in my eyes.
    â€œI don’t want gratitude,” he told me kindly, “What I want from you is courage and purpose. Show that you’re ready to be a warrior of Kiel, and these will be yours.”
    I nodded and took his words to heart.
    Within the year, I enrolled in the Academy. With the skills that Lyze had taught me, I had a head start, and did well. Lyze graduated at the top of his class and went on to join the Glauxspeed Artillery Division. There, he helped to develop a new and devastating fighting technique, one in which owls flew with Kielian snakes on their backs—two attackers moving as one, the Kielian Method, it was called.
    That is how I met Gragg of Slonk. He was assigned to me by my commander at the Academy. The KielianMethod was an instant success. The academy began teaching it to the cadets right away. Gragg was unpopular among his Kielian snake peers, but he was a good fighter. And when he had a bit of bingle juice in him, he became the life of the party. We became fast friends. Having another species on your back for much of the day will do that.
    I also met Lil at the Academy. I was reading a