The River of Wind (14 page)
Authors: Kathryn Lasky
“But you did it. You preened your long blue feathers,” Otulissa said curtly.
“I knew nothing better. I was deluded,” the Striga said.
Otulissa blinked. There was so much that she did not understand about the Panqua Palace and the Dragon Court. She thought of Theo, that noble owl from ancient times they had all read about in the legends. When Otulissa had been in the Middle Kingdom, she had learned that it was Theo who had realized that the best way to distract owls with evil intentions was to engulf them in luxury. The result was overweening vanity, so that their attention could focus only on one thing—themselves—to the point where they were reduced to powerlessness. It was an ingenious strategy for quelling the most dangerous kinds of owls, which had found their way into the Middle Kingdom long ago.
“But I still don’t understand,” Otulissa said to the Striga. “You now have fewer feathers than any of us. Especially on your face.”
“I strip them out. It is my personal penance. Thus I relinquish the unnecessary things, the distractions.”
“I’ve never thought of feathers as a distraction, frankly. They are a most essential part of our bodies.” She paused. “Our true owlness, as it were.” She emphasized the word “owlness.”
“But not your spirit! And how can the spirit rise, become everlasting, when burdened by the vanities of feather and bone?” The Striga blinked his pale yellow eyes.
What did the Striga mean by “everlasting”? Life was the here and now. One must be able to rise into the air above this earth and fly. Was it not an abuse to pluck the very gifts Glaux had given owls to make a life for themselves? But Otulissa, for whom arguments were like a tonic, had no desire to engage in any further discussion with the Striga on the subject. Indeed, after this odd conversation, Otulissa was rendered speechless for one of the very few times in her life.
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Text copyright © 2007 by Kathryn Lasky.
Illustrations copyright © 2007 by Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc.
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E-ISBN: 978-0-545-28344-1
Cover art by Richard Cowdrey
Cover design by Steve Scott
