The owl at first did not respond but simply gazed at Aletheia with a strange look on his face which made the girl quite uncomfortable. His look was so intense that Aletheia at once could believe that possibly the owl could set her to flames. But yet again, her curiosity and her need to know far transcended any fear for her safety.
Finally, in what seemed to Aletheia to be a lifetime, the owl finally spoke. He asked her: "What is your purpose in being here, Girl? At first, silently to herself she murmured “Ah, so he is not simply an owl” and she tried to hide her smile hoping that whoever and whatever it was before her, could not so much see her in the dark even though, it was, after all and at least for now, an Owl.
“Please”, she begged and went down on one knee as if genuflecting to some kind of a god - “just in case” she mused. “I want to find the man who they call Igor.” Do you know of his whereabouts, Oh wise and mighty Owl? I am told that you are able to turn your head around in all directions at a whim. Might you have seen this man in his comings and in his goings?
Again, the Owl asked Aletheia in more of a screeching sound this time “What is your purpose in being here”? Poor Aletheia almost fell to the ground in fear at that. " I only want to speak with him". “Is that so strange a thing to a mighty owl like yourself?” The owl smiled to himself at this.
Aletheia said: “I came upon Igor in a temple and his words left me with such a curiosity in my heart that I could not begin to shake it. I want to find him and sit with him under the stars. See, look up, Owl. Do you ever look up? Do you see all of that beautiful light above you? Oh well, I want to ask him what he was doing in the temple and what is this thing called vengeance which I have never ever before heard of. There was just something about him ~~ even though his countenance is nothing really to look at ~~ I want to meet with him. I would never ever hurt such a creature as himself.”
The owl then asked Aletheia: “What will you do? What will you say to him upon first seeing him?” The Girl answered honestly and with some hint of surprise on her face: “How can I possibly know beforehand what I will say, how I will act. I only know that I go in search of Igor and hope to find him.” “If you do not know of his whereabouts, would you like to accompany me on my journey? I have heard that down through history many gods have walked with creatures like myself as companions. I have no idea how long this journey will take or how treacherous it will be before we finally see Igor but I have also heard it said that when one has flown as far as one can, one is halfway there. If you are a god, you will not have that problem. As for me, I can walk on and on and on forever.”
The owl flapped his wings, rose up and flew onto Aletheia’s shoulder. “So, are we flying or walking, Girl?”
“Both” said Aletheia as she and the owl made tracks…
***Paraphrased from The Legend of the Guardians