Happy Birthday, Little Birdie

He really didn't have any friends at this school yet, but Emil wasn't entirely alone. He had his dear husky, Lillestor, with him, with her head resting in his lap, content.

Before him was a single card, simple in its making, and yet it brought as much joy to the deaf boy as if it were made of gold. It was a birthday card from his dads. Erland had doodled a few animals, including a few birds that he liked, such as the Auk held up by a balloon, and a pair of wren circling the words, "Vi älskar du, Emil!We love you, Emil!"

It was obvious that Egil had written the words, "Ser du det här sommern! See you this summer!", he had such bad handwriting. The envelope itself was covered in tiny drawings, mostly of snakes, which one of his dads could turn into. The blond boy always found that power incredibly amazing, but it appeared no one else thought so, since whenever he mentioned it they didn't appear too enthusiastic.

Two presents came in the mail with the card, the first being a bag of assorted candies, and the second a veritable tome of just birds.

Emil had an absolute fixation on birds that he couldn't explain, and his parents supported his obsession readily. He thumbed through the pages, taking in all the feathers and fancy poses with wonder. The eagle's feats of daring while fighting or flirting fascinated him, as well as the flamboyant footwork of snipe as they fled the ferocious froth of the sea. He sat in at desk his desk for several minutes before a shadow outside the window caught his attention. It was a dark bird with a pale collar, something he hadn't expected to see so far from home, a jackdaw. It appeared in considerable distress, seeing as its little chest was heaving and its feathers were all astray. It huddled under the meager overhang of the window, pressing itself against the glass.

'That's odd.' He approached the window carefully, not wanting to scare it, but it didn't seem to matter anyway. It didn't appear afraid of him at all. Instead, it had its beak pointed to the sky, and Emil glanced up too. At that very moment a crack of lightning came and the rain came pouring down. The bird jumped and turned to face him, tapping against the window. He could feel the vibrations from Lillestor's growl against his leg, and he nudged her to stop. He wanted to find out why the bird was doing this. So he opened the window a slight bit, and the bird hopped in, soaking wet.

Even though his hands were mere inches away, the black bird did not shy away from his, only from his dog, who was glaring at it. The boy took a step back and still the bird did nothing, only preening its feathers. He watched it curiously, then flipped to the jackdaw page in his book. Lillestor settled for a moment, although she was still eyeing the bird with uncertainty. The boy felt a bit off, but he continued to read despite his growing discomfort. He gazed at an image depicting the anatomy of a bird's wing, looking back at his own hand in wonder. Then, he suddenly began to feel an intense itch that spread across all of his arm muscles, including those in his back. At first it was uncomfortable, but it soon became a burning pain that caused him to make some sort of scream that quickly mutated into a warbled, shrill shriek. Everything seemed to be growing bigger, even his clothes. What was going on?

He closed his eyes for a whole minute, waiting for everything to stop. A puff of warm air against his body forced him to open his eyes. The deaf boy let out another screech. The jackdaw he'd let in still didn't seem surprised at this, as it was staring at him with its head only slightly crooked. Lillestor, however, was sniffing him in a panic and whimpering, something he could feel in his bones now. His phone had fallen out of his pants pocket, and the reflection nearly made him faint. He hopped out of his chair and stared at himself. There was a bird there.

He moved his head. The bird moved its head. He raised his arms. The bird raised its wings. 'What is this?' What was he supposed to do? Could he transform back? Maybe he could ask his roommate for help. Yes, he could text them! He pressed on the button to turn his phone on, and danced across its surface, typing out the message, "hlp rum1139. am bird." His eyes flickered to the top, and his tiny heart froze.

1%.

It was like time slowed to a stop as he jumped for the Send key, but he was too slow. The screen went black. He sat on the screen, staring at the reflection of a jackdaw looking back at him. Would he be stuck like this? Would he have to live the rest of his life out as a bird? Emil-daw scuttled across the floor and tried to flap his wings, but all that happened was a tiny hop forward. His husky was still confused, and a bit scared, so she did the only thing she knew how to do when she needed help: howl. The boy/bird could feel it in his chest, and he covered his head with his new wing. He felt sudden vibrations in his feet, and soon he found himself instinctively hiding beneath his chair. Who was coming?

The hallway was empty, everybody was doing their own thing for Valentines day...But not Hosa. The Guardian strolled down the hallway with a slight sigh, her hands stuffed deep into her pockets as she questioned what to do. She was alone - she had nobody to hang out with and well, for a person who had been at Beata for a few years it was rather sad that she could count her friends on a single hand. She wasn't even sure why she was exploring the hallways...Perhaps trying to relieve the old memories of when she was a student? It was hard to say...She was trying to think up the reason when a suddenly bird's cry startled her followed by howling.

Her eyes widen as she glanced at the classroom she had just passed that was the source of all of the noise. Without wasting a second, she pushed open the door and looked in with a frown. It didn't take long to notice the howling husky. "Shhhh, its alright girl," Hosa cooed as she stepped into the room fully, hurrying over to the husky. She leaned down to stroke the dog's head and that was when she noticed the card, the stray book on birds, clothes and the dead phone...Followed by the two jackdaws, one of which seemed strangely at ease with her presence while the other was hiding under the chair.

It wasn't hard for the Guardian to put the pieces together, mostly when this had happened to her a few times before she had come to Beata. When it came to guessing which of the two birds was the student who's power was most likely acting up, her eyes quickly fell onto the one hiding under the chair - simply because she knew bird's natures enough to know that a bird would prefer to hide somewhere up high instead of on the floor. "Hello there," she cooed as she leaned down to stare at the hiding student. "I'm guessing that your power is acting up?"

For a few seconds he didn't recognize the face in front of him as a human; she was huge compared to him! He saw her lips move, and he could make out the words "Hello" and "Power". The woman in front of his seemed too old to be a student, but a little too young to be a teacher. Maybe she was a Guardian? He shuffled out from under the chair, flapping his wings slightly to make a short hop forward. Could she help him? Well, that all depended if you could make himself understood. It seemed that the transformation hadn't changed the fact that he was deaf, although it had made it easier to feel sounds.

The jackdaw he'd let in looked about, settling its silver gaze on the bag of treats he'd received. Without hesitation, it flew across the room, snatched one, and returned to the window. Although it took a second or two to get the packaging open, the bird had it in its beak in no time. A distorted, frustrated squawk escaped him, 'That's mine!' He looked at his husky, then at the Guardian; Lillestor bent her head and ever so gently picked him up. Emil tried not to move, as her teeth now felt very sharp and dangerous against his smaller form. The dog reached up to place him on the table, still confused, but now realizing that this was still her human.

The boy still had no plan in mind as to how to express what had happened, as he didn't have lips or hands anymore, and he couldn't exactly hold a pencil with his feet. Then an idea came to him. He started poking around the pile of wrapping paper on the desk, looking for the envelope that had his name on the front. There! A small serpentine doodle caught his eye and he held up the card with his beak, turning it, since it had been upside down when he took it. He showed the front to the woman, hoping she'd understand what it said. His father had horrendous handwriting.

Hosa watched with interest at the two birds, glancing over at the wild jackdaw as it snatched a small bag before focusing on the hiding one as it squawked in displease and annoyance. But when the husky leaned forward and took the student in her mouth, her eyes widen but made no movements when she took notice of how careful the dog was being, conforming her feelings that the dog belonged to the student. She had nothing to say, simply watching as the husky dropped the student-turned-bird on the desk and for the jackdaw to hop around before presenting her with a letter.

She carefully reached forward, taking the letter from the student's beak and glanced over it. What...What kind of chicken-scratch was this? Her eyes narrowed, her mouth moving silently as she tried to make out the words on the letter while trying not to get distracted by the cute drawn pictures decorating it. She was pretty sure some of these words weren't even English but a single world stuck out to her. "Emil?" she said as she lowered the letter. "Your name is Emil?" she asked before frowning softly. Well, knowing his name was important but it didn't help much - he seemed not to hold the ability to speak English like could in her animal forms. What she needed to figure out was how to help him transform back...