The Magic of Owls

Prologue

"Push! Push!" shouted the healer encouragingly. She brushed the woman's straight hair out of her eyes and looked down at her face, pale with pain.

The tired woman panted and groaned in the bed in front of her. Her arms shivered and shuddered because of how hard she was clenching at the blankets to fight through the pain.

"Push! You're nearly there. Just one more push." The healer crouched down to get a better look at the baby and smiled encouragingly, tendrils of dark hair stuck to her sweaty forehead.

The large woman gave one last pained, animalistic groan as the big baby finally slid out of her, staining the soft white sheets red with blood, and started crying as it took its first breaths. Sweat coated her naked body as she struggled to calm her ragged breathing. Her posta Soul Animal hopped onto the bed beside her, cuddling his luscious long fur into her heaving side. She attempted to lift her arm to pet him, to reassure him thst she was okay, but found that she didn't have the energy to do so. He knew though, as they were one and had been since her Soul Seeking ceremony when she was seventeen.

"Congratulations, Madame," said the healer as she struggled with the screaming, wriggling baby. "It's a beautiful baby girl. Would you like to hold her?"

Olia took the newborn baby in her arms and smiled through dark tear-filled eyes. Her posta moved down the foot of her bed and stared at her from between her feet. "Look, Rash. Look at the newest member of our family. Isn't she beautiful?"

The baby calmed slightly in her strong arms. She felt safe. Olympe looked into her new born daughter's stormy blue eyes.

While wiping away the sweat and tears with her left hand she whispered in a tender voice, "Her name is Elita." She smiled down at her daughter, happy with the results of the long painful hours of hard work.

"That is a beautiful name. I don't think I've met an Elita before. Where is the father, if you don't mind me asking? Most fathers like being present for their child's birth, especially for the firstborn. She is your firstborn, isn't she? We don't have any records of previous births."

"He abandoned me!" Olia shouted angrily. She tightened her hold on the baby in her arms. Rash bared his teeth and raised his long coat so that he resembled an overgrown sea urchin. The healer's own striped moontra took a couple of steps back, her claws skittering on the wooden floor.

Elita cried louder again and wriggled more fiercely in protest to the increased force.

Olia quickly calmed her angry mind to comfort her daughter. She breathed deeply as she gently rubbed Elita's back and rocked her in her muscular arms.

The healer fiddled nervously with her white robes, uncertain of how to respond. "Well, the best of luck in raising your little girl. She seems to be a big, healthy baby but I've got to take her now to do a few tests. You can have her back soon. Try and get some sleep now. It's been a long and difficult afternoon for you. You need the rest. Elita looks like she could be a handful."

The yellow-robed seer at the far end of the little room got to her feet. He spoke in a deep voice. "I've got all I need. I'll let you rest now and be with you in the next few days to give you her birth token." He bowed and made his way though the door, a regal-looking elken doe following behind him.

Olia turned her teary eyes to the healer, desperate for a few more minutes with her new baby, but the healer had been doing the job for many years and knew what was expected of her. Even through she was still slightly uncomfortable when it came to comforting single mothers, she had learnt long ago not to feel too sympathetic towards those who just wanted to hold their newborn babies. They would soon, after all, have many many years to spend with their precious little darlings and many of them couldn't wait to have the peace and quiet that came when they were at school when the time for that came.

The healer gently scooped up the large baby girl and quickly and quietly walked out of the small, warm room with little Elita reaching her chubby baby arms toward her mother.

She frowned deeply as she walked through the wooden doorway. She couldn't help but wonder about the baby's father and whether he would play a role in his little girl's life or not. She expected the latter. That was usually how it ended up working.

She felt a deep sympathy for the exhausted woman she had just left as a couple with their new baby and young son passed her as she walked down the warm passageway to the room where she would run a few tests on Elita before returning her to her mother when she awoke a few hours later. Society would look down on her for not having a husband. She hoped that the woman would have friends and family who would stick by her side through all the whispered gossip and disgusted cries.

***

Years passed by and Elita changed from a chubby baby to a bouncing toddler to a happy, energetic, intelligent child. She grew fluffy, wispy blonde hair which turned brown, almost black, with time and her blue eyes became a dark brown, like her mother's. The old women in her village all cooed over her while shunning her mother for having a child without a husband. Elita was oblivious to all the hatred and her only wish in life was that she could spend more time with her mother.

Olia Goola was the headmistress of Gradia Magical School and as a result had to spend most of her time there. She spent the holidays and a few hours during the weekends with her daughter and Elita spent her weeks longing for that time. Her mother left early and left late. She lived with her unmarried aunt, Aunty Maria, who was good and kind to her, but was not her mother and never would be.

She spent her mornings being home schooled and her afternoons running around with her friends in the small village where they lived. She wasn't unhappy, but she longed for her mum. She loved her aunt, but she could never replace her mother.

Elita seemed to have a certain talent for numbers and loved playing with all the toys her aunt made her. Her favourite were a set of carefully sewn cloth animals, stained with dye. She enjoyed pretending that they were Soul Animals and made them have adventures with her.

Elita was a curious little child and loved exploring the village and surrounding mountains and forests. She loved hearing stories and was always curious about her mother's life but quickly learnt the golden rule for a peaceful life with mum: never ask about daddy. Elita was desperate to know about him but was even more desperate to please her mother. She spent many nights lying awake, wondering about him and wishing she had the answers to the questions that she knew would never be answered.