I found that gnomes do not need to do any bodily functions; sleeping, eating, and such. I had discovered this because Barry had left me alone for a few days now, and I had that time for myself. I spent this time doodling, playing solitaire with a deck of cards I found, and I tried to read a book. But I couldn't, not yet. They kept reminding me of how much my situation just seemed too unreal.

In this time I also decided to better observe the room, which I hadn't left in those few days. In the closet there were more dresses, which looked more modern, but I still preferred jeans. So I looked in the drawers, and there, thankfully, there were jeans and T-shirts. I was able to navigate myself out of the not-so-simple dress and got in my more suitable attire. I didn't have much to think about, so I thought about Barry. He seemed nice. His amber eyes seemed to have a light in them to go with a small quirky smile, but it wasn't like I had looked at him much. There was a lot I didn't know about him, but for now he seemed like the most trustworthy person to be with.

I was spending the rest of my time sleeping, and staring at the ceiling. Time seemed to pass by much quicker than I expected. I was starting to get even more bored than usual when I heard a knock.

"Come in," I said, my voice hoarse from little use.

It was Barry, who was dressed in jeans and a dark green t-shirt. He came and sat at the foot of the bed.

"Are you ready?" He asked like I was a small child.

"I guess," I said, since I didn't really know the answer to that question. What was I supposed to be ready for?

So we went outside, and I was overwhelmed; everything was just so BIG, I couldn't fully take it in. So I looked at the ground. While doing this I also avoided making eye contact as I tried to take out my braids, which was suddenly brought to my attention. But soon I had to look up, because I was about to run into something.

There were so many things going on I swear that weren't there before. Tall slides, a greenhouse of sorts, a dirt pit, among other things. There were also hundreds of tropical flowers that were at my eye level, and small animals were everywhere. They seemed to be the right size for a gnome, but there were all sorts of animals that did not belong here. Cheetahs, exotic birds, jungle cats, and other animals I couldn't identify.

We were heading for an empty area of land, and I couldn't help but wonder what it was for.

"One of the funner things to do here is making your own fun, we can do this by making it appear." Barry was saying. I smiled inwardly with the fact he used the word funner. I waited for him to go on, but that was it.

"Ok..." This didn't even seem mildly interesting. It would be interesting to try and make a water slide, I used to love those.

Although I couldn't remember memories, I could recall feelings, thoughts, and things like that. It was better than nothing.

"So, are you ready to learn?" Barry asked shyly, "You won't be able to do much at first, though."

"Sure," I replied, although he seemed much more interested than me.

"Well then, let's get started."

✦✧✦✧

Well, I found out that the lessons went very slowly. It started out with him describing the concept of it. It went on, and on. There was endless land in the backyard, and I wished I could turn into a bird and fly away to explore it all.

Barry turned to me with a surprised look on his face, and said something I didn't understand.

I tried to ask him what he said but all that came out was a squawk. I noticed that I seemed even shorter than Barry now, and I looked down. Something had happened; I had talons. I flexed them and I looked back up at Barry for an explanation. He tried to speak incomprehensibly again, and I shook my head. He sighed, and pointed in a direction before walking away, so I decided to follow him. I was glad when Barry didn't notice me trip over my long feet in the process.

We approached a girl with waist-long straight black hair and soft eyes. Her light skin made her blue eyes pop, and her bangs helped frame them. Barry motioned me to stay back, and he walked up to her. She was talking with some other gnomes before Barry got her attention. She began talking with Barry when she looked over at me. They continued the discussion for a while longer until she nodded and walked over, Barry following. When they were close enough, a wall of rock formed around us, blocking my view of everything but the sun, Barry, and Lizzie. I guessed that it was what Barry was trying to teach me, and it seemed interesting.

When the girl reached me she put a hand on my small shoulder, and I heard a voice in my head.

"Hi, I'm Lizzie. You must be Chloe."

This must be the girl I was looking at. How was I supposed to respond? I tried channeling my thoughts back to her, "Yeah, so what is going on, how can you do this? Also, WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME?!" I couldn't help but yell at her, this was not making my day, or rather week, any better. I spread my arms wide, to find that they were now crimson wings. I accidentally released a small screech to go with it. Joy.

I tucked my wings, and tried to calm down. Lizzie turned to Barry, who was staring at me in curiosity. I walked towards him and nestled his leg. Even though I didn't know him that well, I felt a connection to him. I could tell that he was really trying to make me feel comfortable, and I hoped that he knew that I was thankful, but just wasn't ready for this new change.

He went down and pet my neck, and I kept my head rested on him. I felt him release me and I straightened up again. He turned to Lizzie, and they began to speak in that warbled tongue.

"What is it?" I asked. I did not like being excluded from conversations.

Lizzie turned back to me, "We think you have found your Gift."

"Excuse me?"

"We all have a Gift. Something we are really good at, almost like a superpower of sorts. Yours is apparently shapeshifting, and mine is doing this."

"Ok, so what should I do to shift back?" I sat down, it was an oddly comfortable position. Barry sat down next to me, and rested his hand on my small back. I felt him trying to restrict the amount of weight he put on my fragile body, although he was being overly delicate. Lizzie looked deep in thought, then her eyes widened in realization.

"I am so sorry I didn't realize this earlier," I didn't understand what she meant until I heard Barry's voice across the link.

"Are you okay?" He asked me concerningly.

I nodded, "Yes, I feel fine. Just this happened." I slightly unfurled my wings for emphasis. They felt strange. I was in full control of them, yet it felt like they weren't mine.

He stroked my back gently, "It's going to be okay. We can figure this out."

I closed my eyes, I wasn't completely sure that was going to happen. I just wanted to be back to normal, escape this place, and live my life. Suddenly, Barry embraced me, and I noticed that he was able to wrap his arms around me now. I looked down, to find that I had my hands again. I sat awkwardly as I waited for his hug to pass.

When it ended, we rose, and I walked to Lizzie, and gave her a curt nod as a thank you. I was feeling very uncomfortable at that moment. The stone walls were put down, and we went our separate ways.

"She's nice," I commented as we headed back to the area we were in before. After getting a small nod I asked, "What is your Gift?"

"Drawing," He blushed and paused a moment, turning his head to look at his feet, trying to think of a new subject while running his hand through his dark hair, "So, do you want to work on your Gift?"

"Sure," I replied, and as we went into the center of the clearing, the stone walls were brought back again, but this time I had more space. "How will we communicate? I couldn't understand you before."

Barry paused before responding, "We could try working on that first. Just shift into any small animal, and focus on understanding me, maybe that could work. I have no idea what the limits of your Gift are, but we can try to figure that out as we go along."

I nodded and tried to urge myself into a specific small creature that was in my mind. When I was sure it worked, I walked towards Barry on all fours, and sat in front of him. I swished my tail in anticipation as I watched Barry look at me. I shyly stuck my head behind my tail; maybe he didn't like foxes? Should I have been something else? After too much time had passed Barry got onto his knees and looked at me in bewilderment. I stood on my hind legs and put my small paws on his chest. It was warm, and I could feel his heavy heartbeat underneath it.

I went back onto my feet and waited for Barry to talk, but it didn't seem like he was going to. I jumped playfully so he could focus; it was quite nice like this, if only he could feel it too.

I blinked, and before me stood another fox. I shook my head and looked at him again. Was this Barry? I nudged his shoulder with my snout, and he followed my movement to notice his now small shoulder. He looked at me in bewilderment, his eyes glimmering, and I heard a series of yips and barks that seemed to translate in my brain.

"How'd you do that?" He mumbled, now observing his new form.

"I don't know," I answered sheepishly, "It just happened." Barry's head jerked up to face me. He could understand me as well. He trotted closer to me as he stared in wonder. I rubbed my head against his side as he walked around me. I decided to make this a game; I started to run off, which was difficult, because I wasn't used to using four legs. Barry gave chase, and we ran around in the area, stumbling over our own feet until it grew tiring.

But now that I was going, I was getting excited.

I shifted into a bird. This was going to be interesting. I jumped into the air in an attempt to take off, but ended up crashing in a flurry of feathers. Barry was quick to be at my side with a whimper, and started to nuzzle me. I sat up and shifted back to myself, which seemed to get easier each time. I stroked Barry, who was now climbing into my lap. His fur was soft, and I couldn't seem to be able to stop touching it. We sat in silence for a time, a relationship of understanding formed as we were there together. The moment was able to last until Barry whimpered up at me.

I understood what he wanted, and I set him down. I stroked his cheek until I shifted him back, thankfully without any trouble.

We stood up, and walked back to the house in silence, the stone walls retreating. I knew Barry, somehow, in some way, and he knew me too.