"Scarlet!" I call. I knew I'd find her here, at the training area.

She's doing old combat exercises. I watch for a few moments then clear my throat loudly. She turns around. "I never thanked you," I say. "For saving me, risking your life against the Gryphon, but most of all making Eli mad," I say. At the last part her eyes sparkle with happiness/amusement. "Anyways, I really thought that you deserved to have this," I say.

I give her my old locket. "I don't have much at all, and it's my most prized possesion," I say. "I would be honored if you would wear it. It has nothing in it right now....but who knows? You might find something small to put in it." 

I take the locket gingerly in my feathers, and fasten it around my neck. "Thank you, Icy" I say. "I'm sure I will find something to put into it." I wrap my wings around her before beginning my combat exercizes again. Then I turn to Icy again. "Why does Eliyana, um, seem to, well, hate you?"

~ Scarlet  

Just a general question.

Where is the Capn'O base and what is it like? Is it in a bunch of GIIIAANNNT hollow trees that are bigger than RedWood trees? I can't use the location of Captn'O in my stories and have to be very vague with it. I think this is a question for Capense but it would be fun to all get together and brainstorm and write about what it is like.

~Eli <3 

As I walk back to Capt'n O, i begin to think. Poor Icy. It wasn't her fault. It wasn't the Gryphon's fault, it was no ones fault. No, it was Eli's fault. After two years of being friends. Two years. She just dumped the whole thing like a piece of trash over one misunderstanding. What a brat. What kind of a friend is that? A scummy one, that's for sure. Why that little miss foxy. I'm gonna get her if it's the last thing I do. "Who?" Thimble says from beside me. I hadn't even relized I was muttering to myself. "Oh nothing." But she sees the way I shrug my shoulders, and the angry glint in my eye. She gives me look that says, uh-huh. Sure it's nothing. So I spill the whole thing. "There. Now you know." I finish. "That's awful." Thimble says. "Ya. Icy lost a friend. A friend that she had known for two years. Two years. That does not happen." I say the last part angrily. "Yes," Thimble says. "But don't you have any compassion for Eli? She lost her family, her temper, and her friend. I'm sure she feels awful. And that Icy betrayed her, even though she didn't. Don't you feel a little sorry for her?" I think for a moment. Well, yes that's true. I guess it would be hard. But she had no right to do what she did. No. No I don't feel for her in the least. "No. I don't feel bad for her. She got what she deserved." I say coldly. "Scarlet! I'm surprised at you!" Thimble scolds and puts her tiny paws on her hips. We'll talk about this later, not at the Capto Abolere training grounds. " Look, Thimble." I take the locket off my chest and admire it. She takes her little hands and opens it, but all that's inside is washed away writing, and smudged ink. I read it. It says, I hope you'll forgive me. - Dad Thimble looks confused. "Strange. Icy gave this to me after I saved her. I'll ask about this dad part. I'm trying to find something small to put in it." I say. "I like it. It's very pretty." She says. "Well, I would offer to let you use it, but you know it's much too big." We both laugh. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That night as I drift off to sleep, I think about Eliyana Fur. I wake up panting, gasping for air. I sit up in my bed. I just had a frightening dream. A dream about a Fox. And a Chicken.

~ Scarlet  

I train hard. I'm working on climbing what people would think is unclimbable surfaces. I throw daggers at knots in a tree but I'm not very good at it. I climb vines. I even shimmy up a pole. I run around a track. I can't think about Eli now. Not when the Power Of The Claw is at stake.

When I think I'm done training I wander around for a bit untill I decide that I need to find a way to forget about the past. So I walk through the forest, untill I find myself at a berry bush. The berry bush.

I pick berries the way that Eli had showed me to, all those years ago. Thinking about the past is deadly when the whole thing about the Power of the Claw is going on. So I don't.

I come back to Capn'O to wash the berries. Maybe I can do something else with them, make some kind of berry sauce... Suddenly, when I come to the training area, I realise I'm not alone. Scarlet is there too. Wow, that girl/chicken is always training. We talk for a bit, untill Scarlet asks about the locket. About the writing inside of it. Where I got it.

"It's been mine since I was born. It used to be rusted shut, but there was a bit of magic...and an incident...and it sort of got un-rusted shut." I explain. "Whaaat?" Scarlet asks. "Erm, long story short some guardian magic wiped the rust off." I say. "And then I opened it, and there was a message from my father...." I tell her the whole thing. Except for the him-being-in-the-B.I.G part. "So yeah...It sort of represented hope for me. But I just can't wear it anymore. It makes me upset. I wanted to give it to someone who would be able to wear it. I thought I washed off his entire message..."

Theres a bit of silence and then we both try to change the conversation at the same time, then burst out laughing. We talk about other things, then it starts to get late and I hurry on to wash my berries, still thinking. About Eli. About the Power of the Claw. How do I balance my personal matters and a Guardian's matters?

-Icy 

So, i've been thinking. I agree with Elina and others (sorry if I spelled your name wrong! I am too lazy to check.) that we should have a common base somewhere in Kyngdom. It has to be on the existing human map so we can contact BIG spies. I think it is best if we put it in the following locations. (I rate it best to worst with the best on top.)

Wind/Lioncreek Falls- the arch down the river from Lioncreek Falls seems like a great place to settle. We can build a structure under the bridge. The arch is also a bridge between Fallen Heights and Olde Windswood, so we can hear what settlers are saying and trading. Maybe some BIG workers live in Fallen Heights or Olde Windswood. We can also find out what the villagers will be saying about BIG. Maybe BIG will trade a mysterious syrum. Who knows? The best place is here. The winds say that Fallen Heights is old, and most of the inhabitants know potions and healing herbs that grow only there and are more affective than any other type of plant(s). 

Secret Forest/Great Forest- Plenty of trees, and it seems like a good place to hide from things from holes in trees to old bunny burrows.

Peaky Mountains- This is where Bleak Peak and Meak Peak are located. There certainly will be plenty of caves there, but resources may have to be transported along a long trail.

Olde Windswood/Fallen Heights/New Windswood- Too many people. In a city place like this, abandoned places and other good places to rest are scarce. Every house is filled with people, and usually they would consider some of us as pests (sorry Thimble and Rob! Humans just don't get our side of the story in towns like these.). Although Fallen Heights may have more, friendlier people, they wouldn't want their supply of food taken away extra by us. Worst idea ever to live in a town.

So how about it? The arch connectinig Olde Windswood to Fallen Heights? I have plenty of dry brambles to build the structure. 

Let's assume that our "base" that's really a bunch of bush undergrowth plus more confortable spots underground in a old burrow that was adjusted by some friendly neighbors. In the secret Forest.

~Storm

I had already taken my flight and activity practices. But ever since Claaws and Eli consider all humans as enemy, I was working on a speech. I sat on a reed mat meditating, thinking about my next argument. I had to consider the opponent's feelings, and make it a strong arguement. Acheiving both goals is no easy feat. An idea popped in my mind. I opened my clay jar of quills, and I got a sheet of reed paper(as an owl, getting supplies like paper is hard, and expensive. The reed paper is made from the reeds in small lake not so far away.) and I got some ink and dipped the quill in(the quill is made of my old feathers, and ink is easy to make. I used old walnuts and my crafted pot to go with the ink making[can be found on wikihow]) and started to write. If you want to know what I got so far, here it is:

I must question why you must go against humans so much. There are positives of them, as well as negatives. As a defendant of humans, I must argue.

One, not all humans are bad. Spies like Trill, Tani, and Ronan have all helped us, and without their courage, we couldn't have rescued Zephyra. It may have taken longer to rescue her without their help, and she might've became a mindless animal by then.

Two, BIG is only curious as far as we have discovered. They wish to discover the mysteries of this world. We now have ipads that can translate across languages and make talking across long distances possible.

Three, the bad humans can be punished. We just need to convince the government of this. When the leaders of this world hears our voice-howls, screeches, hoots, or roars-they must know that we are just as intelligent as humans. With the humans' help, we can save our own lives, and have the humans more aware of our existence.

I signed my name on the bottom in wind runes(written language of wind) and let the scroll dry, but it dries quickly. Just a little bit of editing and inprovement, it will be perfect. I rolled it up and put it safely in the library.