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the dawn horizon, making the egg cast a lovely cool shadow over the entrance to the burrow. Below in the burrow, Harry blinked as he patted his wife and looked up, noticing this change in the light.
    “Just a minute, dear, I want to check something outside.”
    Coryn turned away from the burrow’s entrance. He could not face this owl. His gizzard was shivering so hard it seemed to shake his entire body. He heard a gasp.
    “What? What is this? Myrtle, come here. It’s a miracle. Our egg, our egg is back!”
    There was a racket as the rest of the family clambered from the burrow.
    “How? How did this happen?” Myrtle asked.
    It was a minute before anyone noticed Coryn off to the side, almost hiding himself behind a rock with his face still turned away.
    “This was no a miracle.” It was a young female owl who spoke. Coryn could hear the scratches of her talons against the hard gritty earth and rock as she came toward him. “You…” She hesitated. “You brought our egg back, didn’t you?”
    Coryn nodded but still would not turn around. He could hear the rapid heartbeat of the young owl. She was coming closer. He buried his head beneath one wing.
    “Won’t you turn around so we can see you?” she said softly. “Please!”
    Slowly, Coryn began to turn around, but his wing was still lifted against his face.
    “Who are you?” Myrtle asked.
    “Why are you hiding your face?” asked the young daughter.
    “Because,” Coryn began slowly, “I am not who you think I am. As I told you before, I am nothing like my mother or father. My name is not Nyra, I am Coryn.” And he let his wing drop from his face.
    There was a gasp and a little shriek from the youngdaughter, Kalo. But then she stepped forward. She extended her wing and touched Coryn gently. “We believe you. You brought our egg back. We believe you.”
    “Please come into our burrow,” Harry said. “Please, son, come in.”
    He called me son. No one has ever called me son.

CHAPTER TEN
A Namesake
    T he little egg deep in the burrow began to rock slightly.
    “Watch it carefully now, Coryn. It will sort of shudder,” Kalo whispered.
    “Shudder?” Coryn asked.
    “Yes. All eggs do just before they hatch. I really shuddered. Mom said I was the biggest egg she ever laid,” Kalo offered.
    “Hush up,” said Myrtle. “This isn’t a contest. It’s a hatching, a birth!”
    And it’s a miracle, Coryn thought.
    A miracle and a dream. It had been only two nights since he had arrived at the burrow but he felt as if he had entered a dream. A dream family. There was a young owl his age, a mum and da who loved and nurtured her. There was gentle bickering between the parents, and some squabbling and teasing. But there was love. And now for the first time ever, he was seeing a chick hatch.
    “Look, Myrtle, there’s the egg tooth coming through.”
    “Egg tooth?” Coryn wondered aloud.
    “Didn’t your mum tell you about the egg tooth?” Kalo said with a small giggle.
    “My mum told me nothing,” Coryn sighed. Nothing except false stories of glory, conduct of so-called valor that were really deeds of shame, tales of so-called honor that were in truth histories of disgrace, codes of loyalty that were in fact schemes of hatred and vengeance. Yes, that is what Nyra taught me.
    “The egg tooth, my dear,” Myrtle began, “is a tiny sharp tooth that has only one purpose: to help a chick peck its way out of the shell. It disappears soon after hatching.”
    They all watched spellbound now as a long crack began crinkling out from the tiny hole.
    “The ‘Fracture of Glaux’ some call it,” Harry whispered.
    “Get ready!” Kalo said. “It’s coming! I bet it’s a…” She started to say she thought it would be a boy, but Harry cuffed her wings gently. “What did I tell you? We don’t bet on such things. We just thank Glaux that we have our precious egg back.”
    There was a loud crack now as the egg split open. A shiny blob of a chick flopped out.