Epilogue

Kludd stood with Blaze, Banshee, Jade, Morgana, and Dustin under a stained glass window in what was once Ag's chamber while all the soldiers of the Pure Guard stood before them. Upon becoming High Tyto, Kludd had sent Banshee and Blaze on a patrol to find Dustin and bring him back to the Pure Ones, stating that he had been wrongly accused and that his recent reading of the documents found him to be innocent. It took quite a while – nearly two weeks – but Blaze and Banshee finally found him in a remote corner of the Shadow Forest and brought him back to the fortress, where Kludd gave him his Pure One name: Diamondclaw. "For like the diamonds found in coal," Kludd had said, "you had courage buried beneath a layer of tragedy." Upon receiving his new name, Diamondclaw bowed his head and said, "Thank you, High Tyto; I will not let you down", after which Kludd had ordered him to dispense with the formalities and, when they were in private, call him by his true name. For the next week afterwards, him and Nyra sent the Pure Guard out on various tasks to prepare for what Kludd considered to be the most important night of all: their wingfast ceremony.

Within moments, Stryker flew down towards where Kludd was standing, followed by Nyra, her moon – white face gleaming in the night. For the ceremony, Blaze, Jade, and Morgana – whom, due to their closeness, Nyra had chosen as her maid of honour – had weaved fire lily petals into Nyra's feathers – particularly the ones of her wings and tail. As they landed, Stryker departed from Nyra's side to join the audience, and Nyra took her place beside Kludd. "Kludd Alba and Nyra Klueel," Diamondclaw began as soon as the audience quieted, "we are all gathered here today to celebrate your choosing of each other as mates, as your friends and your loyal soldiers. And the five of us," he added, gesturing to himself and the others, "are gathered here to officiate this ceremony as your newly ordained ministers."

"LOUDER!" An old soldier named Volkan shreed. Many joked that Volkan was so old, he and Ag had been chambermates.

Blaze sighed and rotated her head in a clockwise motion – the closest an owl can get to rolling its eyes – and shreed back, "WE ALL GOT ORDAINED! WE'RE ALL GOING TO OFFICIATE THEIR WINGFAST CEREMONY, IT'S ADORABLE; IF YOU WANNA HEAR IT, COME CLOSER!"

Diamondclaw made a slight coughing sound and then began, "Kludd and Nyra, when I look at the two of you starting your lives together, it fills my gizz…" Here Diamondclaw paused, tears forming as memories of him and Garth came flooding back. "It fills my gizz…" He tried again, but this time the tears threatened to spill out, and he couldn't go on. "Okay, I'm gonna need a minute." He said, his voice broken, and he stepped back.

"Okay, I'll go." Blaze said, stepping forward in Diamondclaw's place. "Kludd and Nyra," she began, "you two may have taken a long time to finally find each other, but as my mother once said, "When you find your soulmate, it doesn't matter where you find them or how long it takes; in the end, all that matters is that you have each other." At this, most of the others smiled, save for Jade, who simply made a small humming noise.

"Problem?" Blaze snapped, turning her head towards Jade.

"Nope." Jade replied, shaking her head. At this, Banshee leaned into Blaze's ear slit. "From what I've gathered in recent gossip circles," he whispered, "I think the Reverend Jadalyn is making an ironic connection between your statement about soulmates and Stryker's recent rejection of her courtship." At this, the audience broke into nervous churring, while Stryker hid behind his wing. Blaze looked at Jade, unimpressed. "Really?" she growled, a note of impatience in her voice.

"I didn't say anything." Jade said, sounding innocent. At this, Morgana broke in. "Alright, enough, the both of you." She barked at Jade and Blaze. "She started it." Jade said, gesturing to Blaze. "Well, I'm ending it!" Morgana hissed, then turned her head to face Nyra and Kludd, who were staring at them with wide eyes.

"Nyra," Morgana began, "I would like to thank you first and foremost for choosing me to be your maid of honour. From the time you and I were put in the same chamber, we have been as close as sisters, and when Ag chose you to be his mate, I could tell that you were unhappy. Kludd, when I first met you, I was unsure what your arrival would mean for the Pure Ones, but now that I am seeing you here, I have a feeling many good things will happened." She then paused before adding, "With that being said, Nyra, I will be more than happy to do this again if this mating yarps out." At this, the others turned their heads to stare at Morgana, and Jade simply said, in an unsure voice, "Thank you, Morgana; very touching." She then stepped forward and began.

"Kludd and Nyra," she began, "the two of you are lucky enough to be best friends that love each other. That truly is the strongest kind of love, because, at it's core, it has patience, kindness, and respect." She then shot Stryker a look before adding, "Qualities that are hard to find in owls nowadays." Once again the audience broke out into nervous churrs, while Banshee leaned into Blaze again. "I think Stryker's gonna want some water; he just got burned", causing Blaze to churr and whisper, "Nice" while giving him a talon bump.

Banshee then stepped up to Kludd and Nyra. "Alright, my turn." He began. "Kludd." He said, nodding to Kludd. "Nyra." He said, nodding to Nyra, then began. "Tuoy brúðkaup fylla mi h'ryth með gleði, fyrir…" Kludd suddenly cut him off. "Banshee!" he hissed. "I told you no Krakish!" Banshee, looking slightly hurt, paused before replying. "Okay, fine, I'll do it in Hoolian, but it loses something." He then began, this time in Hoolian: "Your wingfast ceremony fills me with joy, for I truly believe that to find one's soulmate is the pinnacle of life achievements, as this is often a harder task than we make it out to be. Now that you two have found each other, may you find great happiness with each other and eternal joy now and for years to come." As he finished, he then turned to Blaze and added, "The Krakish would've made you cry", earning a "Let it go, Pigwidgeon…" from Blaze. Diamondclaw then stepped forward, having recovered himself. If he knew these two like he thought he knew them, then he knew that there would undoubtedly be bickering. "I believe the two of you have prepared vows."

Kludd and Nyra nodded and turned to face each other. "Kludd James Alba," she began, "like your attacks on the battlefield, this will be short and full of power." This earned a churr from the audience, and Nyra went on. "I love you with all of my mind, heart, and gizzard, and promise to be with you until our final breaths." She then preened the feathers on Kludd's shoulder – since he now had none anywhere near his face – and it was now Kludd's turn to speak. "Nyra Lutta Klueel…" he began.

"SPEAK UP!" shreed Volkan, cutting Kludd off. "I AM THE HIGH TYTO!" Kludd shreed back. "FROM NOW ON, SHE'S THE ONLY PURE ONE WHO CAN YELL AT ME!" Having spoken his piece, Kludd turned his head back towards Nyra and continued. "When I was a hatchling," he began, "I could never imagine spending an independent life with a female. Now, however, I can't imagine spending a single day of the rest of my life without you." With that, Kludd preened the feathers on the side of Nyra's face, and a chorus of voices behind them shreed, "By the power vested in us, by Gluax, the Kingdom of Tyto, and the Tytonic Union of the Pure Ones –"

"And the Northern Kingdoms." Banshee added quickly, earning a roll of the head from Blaze. The voices pressed on. "We now pronounce you, owl and wife!" With that, a chorus of cheers, hoots, and shrees from the audience and the five behind them erupted as Kludd and Nyra embraced. At long last, Kludd thought to himself, I am home.

Later that evening, an amber – coloured owl flew through Ambala with only the stars to keep her company. A long time ago, she would have felt nothing but contempt for this place, as it reminded her of some of her worst memories, and never imagined that she would request to leave the High Tyto and Her Pureness' wedding reception to fly through here. Now, however, she felt only happiness as she flew forward, for tonight, as she flew, she had something to look forward to: the hatching of her first chick.

As she arrived at the aerie where the two eagles taking care of her egg lived, she thought about everything that had happened before and after this egg came into the world. Its father was an unloving, horrible brute, true, but before this egg, he had created another one; one that was brave and noble, one who lived on love and died from his father's hate. She would keep the legacy of this owl alive in this little hatchling's heart, as well as that of the other noble, brave, and fierce Tytos who she was proud to call her friends – and one whom she was proud to call her king. She would tell this hatchling stories of their bravery in battle, and she would hopefully stir bravery in her as well. For she had a feeling in her gizzard, like many a mother, that within this egg lay a feisty young female like herself.

She looked up at the stars above her. The Big Raccoon was visible tonight; she could see it just above her. However, when the eagles were taking care of her, she had heard them call it by a different name: Kira, the Great Eagle. She then smiled, a small churr escaping her. She had always found her families tradition around naming rather ridiculous – her original name came from a tree, for Glaux sake – but she rather liked the idea of naming this one after something of this environment. Owls were creatures of the sky, after all, so to name a hatchling after something found in the sky made sense.

A sudden crack, loud only to the ears of Barn Owls, distracted her from her thoughts, and she watched, fascinated, as the tiny chick began to peck it's way through with it's egg tooth. A part of her wondered whether it was a mistake giving her up. No matter. She thought to herself. She will grow up here, knowing that she is loved; never thinking that she was never meant to be, which she'd most likely think if she found out the truth of her creation. Yes, it's better that she not know. At long last, the chick hatched out of its egg shell, and the owl before her whispered, tears in her eyes, "Welcome to Ambala, little Kira."

A/N: OMG, I'm now crying! I can't believe this fic is coming to it's end; I've had so much fun writing this, and I hope you guys have fun reading this! I'm not sure if eagles actually call the Big Raccoon "Kira", but either way, I do like how the name turned out. What do you guys think? Oh, and the inspiration for the wedding scene came from the wedding scene on the Season 5 finale of "The Big Bang Theory", although I definitely changed some things for context (I don't know a lot of Krakish, so I put in some known Krakish words and used Icelandic for the rest, since they are similar in sound). As always, show some love and review!

Disclaimer: I do not own Guardians of Ga'Hoole or The Big Bang Theory; full credit goes to their respective creators.