I was assigned a smallish room where all the claws who hadn't been chosen lived. Trainees, the younger ones who were too old to live with their parents, and ones closer to my age that knew exactly what they wanted to be. I felt out of place, having no idea what to reply to their questions, despite the homy feel, I had to get back to being human. My own dad was probably worried. And recently I kept getting strange deja vu feelings, it was creepy.

My room, was not nearly as glamorous as Zara's. Just a simple round shape with a makeshift nest/bed in the middle. Which was actually quite comfortable. After waking, I wandered around a bit, effectively getting myself completely lost. It wasn't until I felt that strange ghostly wind, that I decided to follow the tunnel it came from. It was long but spacious, and I must have passed twenty more claws or so on my way there.

It was so worth it though. There was this huge cavern that just kept going upward. Little holes were dug out, holding three or so scrolls, tightly bundled around pieces of wood. Some had intricate patterns carved onto the ends of them. The mysterious winds were caused by claws flying up to reach the higher scrolls. There were ares where rock jutted out, with claws that were reading, or just sleeping. I gaped like a bananaless monkey. This place was amazing, this is where the kept all their books! I loved libraries, if I wasn't around animals, I had my nose buried in a book, adventure stories are my favorite. I grinned, now my life pretty much was an adventure.

Staring around, practically drooling, I walked up to a nearby wall. Wishing I could fly up to the higher shelves. I glanced mournfully at the white wings on my furry back, I would have to get Zara to teach me.

Meanwhile, I pulled a scroll out of a shelf and unrolled it. The stuff wasn't exactly paper, more like a fabric. I was frustrated to discover it was in a different language. It looked like ancient runes or something. I put it back, huffing, of course it wouldn't be in English.

I wonder if there was a book on English to claw, or whatever they called it. So I wondered around looking for someone who looked like they knew what they were doing. I spotted an older looking claw. He was a light tan color, like sand, so were his wings. He was writing. I watched for a few seconds as he dipped his claws in a jar of ink, before reaching back onto the paper and scratching a few symbols onto the strange paper.

"Do you need something?" He asked suddenly.

I started, not expecting him to talk. "Um, yes, I was wondering whether there was a scrolls on... Claw, to English?"

He gave me an odd look. "You don't live around here do you?"

I felt my fur heat up. "Um, no."

He smiled. "The language we speak here is called Faren, and these are known as claw runes, meaning the way they are written."

"Oh, well do you have anything on Faren to English?"

He frowned. "May I ask why you want to study the language of humans?"

Don't tell anyone. Zara has said. They won't take it the right way. I pondered on what to say, nobody could know I was human. But lying made my fur uncomfortable and prickly.

"Um, I want to learn a new language?" It was the truth, sorta.

He gave me a hard stare for a few seconds, then nodded. "Okay, follow me."

I let out a small sigh of relief, he led me into another huge cavern, the walls lined with hundreds of scrolls. I stared at them longingly. Suddenly, with a quick flap of his wings, my guide was up in the air. He tugged on a thick looking scroll, and clearly had some trouble flying with it as he was nearly dragged down. It landed with a thump, he looked rather flustered.

"There you go, need anything else?"

I shook my head, already anticipating the secrets that lie with the old withered paper. I barely heard the claw's paw steps as they faded away.

It was all there, of course it started in Faren, but there was an alphabetic comparison, the english letters right next to the Faren ones. Then I finally began to read things. Very. Slowly. But it was really cool. Since I don't know if they have a dewy decimal system here, I picked a random scroll of the shelf, and with my newly acquired knowledge, I painstakingly found it was about wings.

Now I know about wings. I worked at a pet shelter, I could tell you the names of the bones and sections of feathers, the different patterns and styles, what bird it came from, and if it was healthy or not. Those were just facts, this book/scroll was more about their spiritual symbol. Apparently, way way way back, creatures with wings were considered a higher ranking in the social order. If you had wings, supposedly you could fly up in Glamora, the land of our ancestors, to speak with the deceased.

I still didn't know how to fly. That was my problem. Glancing around, I suddenly realized it was quite empty in here. I pricked my ears, trying to use my enhanced claw hearing, nothing. I put all the scrolls back, suddenly realizing it might be later than it seemed. The day had gone by quicker than I thought. All the natural light was gone, just lit by the soft, pulsing, glow of the strange, creepy, moss. It still freaked me out.

Okay, I was right, everyone was gone, sleeping. The next scrolls I picked out would have to be on Ice-claws, I didn't know anything. I managed to slip back into my temporary den without being caught. I wonder when Zara's father, Nepal, would see me about my problem. I hadn't seen Jay all day either, or Zara. Where were they?

I yawned, the moss on the ceiling of my den faded slightly, strange. I bet anything it was empathetic. Only parts of it glowed, tiny specks, they reminded me of stars. Unfamiliar, somewhat comforting stars. But still stars all the same.

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Announcement: I'm entering the 2015 wattys!