The Plan

Sensei asked Rosalie to bring one of the branches back to camp so the Owl could look at it more carefully.  She used her axe to remove one of the smaller branches from the trunk.  As she chopped at the branch, dust again began to settle and partially landed on each of them and as before where the particles landed they became invisible. 

They walked back to camp with the branch and gathered with the rest of the Owls around the fire.  The other Owls looked up in amazement to see that part of Rosalie’s arm was missing and the Little Owl’s beak was gone.  They exclaimed “What happened? Have you been hurt?” Sensei then told Rosalie and the Little Owl to shake the particles from themselves and as they did Rosalie’s arm and the Little Owls beak re-appeared.  Rosalie said “The dust particles from the branches of this tree cause whatever they land on to become invisible.  I have one of the small branches here.”  Sensei asked Rosalie to collect some of the particles in a small jar so they could be examined more closely.  She took a small transparent jar and a knife from the Horse’s knapsack.  She took the knife and cut a small wood chip from the branch.  It landed on her arm but did not cause her arm to disappear.  Sensei observed what was happening as she worked with the branch.  Rosalie then took her axe and began chopping at the branch and this time she captured the wood dust that floated in the air.  This time the wood dust caused whatever it landed on to disappear.  Rosalie took the particles she had collected in the jar over to the fire so they could be inspected more closely.   

Sensei asked her to rotate and tilt the jar.  As she did random dust particles  shimmered in the light of the fire.  Sensei then said, “I believe these dust particles are in fact tiny, highly reflective mirrors that bend the light around the object they sit on making the object look as if it has disappeared.  I had read in scientific journals about the theoretical possibility of such particles but no one has been able to create them experimentally.”  Everyone was silent for several moments, staring at the particles in the jar as they randomly sparkled depending on how they reflected the light from the fire.  Rosalie then gasped and said “This is remarkable!  We can dust ourselves with these particles and use them as a cloak to make us invisible.  We can then get past the Hawks and find the Little Owls parents.”  The other Owls were in enthusiastic agreement. 

They talked into the night around the fire discussing the particles and the cloak of invisibility that they could make to evade the Hawks.  The wind began to pick up and caused the fire to dance in the wind.  As it got later they decided to put out the fire and go to sleep for what was left of the night.

In the morning Rosalie awoke with a jolt remembering that she had not put a lid on the jar with the particles.  During the evening the wind had knocked over the jar and it was on its side.  She saw that the jar was visible and knew that the particles must have been swept away.  She was hoping that a few remained so she took the jar to the fire that they had made in the morning to see if she could see any particles shimmering in the light of the fire.  But the jar was empty.  She was disappointed but knew that they could get more particles from the branches in the shrubbery. 

As they sat around the fire eating their morning breakfast Rosalie said “We’ve found this remarkable substance now we need a plan.”  Before she could continue Sensei spoke saying “I had thought through the night and have come up with several things we need to do.  We don’t know how many branches have these special particles so we need to find that out.  We also need a way to carry the particles with us so we can use them when the Hawks approach.  And then we need to mark the area so that we can return to this site when we need to replenish our supply of particles.”  The Horse stood off to the side and sniggered to itself thinking this sounded like a lot of work.