Nick was not happy. In fact, one could go so far as to say that Nick was miserable. Gaston was not well. Fifteen years was quite a long time for an owl to be alive, he supposed, and Gaston had certainly had a good life. That didn't mean it hurt any less to watch him fade away. In an effort to soothe his pain, Nicholas entered Eeylops in search of a new owl. He wouldn't delude himself into thinking this new owl would ever be as much of a friend as Gaston had been, but he could hope that it would at least lessen the hurt somewhat. It was hard to forget an animal that was still alive, if only barely. His feathers were patchy, and he rarely made a sound. Sometimes he didn't go hunting quite as much and he slept almost twice as often as he used to.
It had taken almost a month to come to terms with the fact that his regal Gaston was dying. Not of any sort of illness, but simply age. The end was nigh, Nick knew, and he wanted to be prepared for the inevitable. His job was too important to go without an owl for too long, so here he was, browsing the cages of Eeylops in search of a new...friend.
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