The issola is a graceful bird, similar to a heron or stork, except with darker colors and sharper beak. At one point (Issola, ch. 1) Vlad recalls seeing one standing perfectly still and admiring its beauty... and then, suddenly, there was a fish in its beak, and then it had swallowed its prey -- and he had never seen it move. ("Issola strikes from courtly bow"). A reasonable picture of an issola can be found here, by Katherine Grantham. This article is a stub. You can help the Lyorn Records by adding to it.