Suddenly, Alix gave a half-sigh, half-strangled-caw. She was shifting once again, slowly. Her bones felt compressed, and as if they were all breaking at once. It wasn't as bad as the first time, just a shock and then pain. Then it was gone. Her eyes felt sharp, and her entire world was suddenly very big. This was why she always left one of the windows open. She'd gotten stuck in here the first time she'd changed in the cabin, and that wasn't going to happen again if she could help it. One of her long hop-flights, and she was on the windowsill. She leaped forwards, and glided down on a wind current, then found a warm one. She could feel the warmth in the feathers on her wings, and she turned into it.
Immediately, she was swept upwards. A grin spread over her sharp curved beak, or as much of a grin as a bird could have. So this was how birds flew. She pumped her wings, having learned how to fly without pushing herself down when she brought her wings up. She stretched her wings, and soared upwards, higher and higher...
She couldn't go any higher. She had lost the warm air current. Frantically, Alix pumped her wings, and managed to keep herself from falling too far. How did they do it? She frantically searched her mind. Circling. She turned, as soon as that crossed her mind, slightly. Her wings shook from the effort, but she was steadily moving in circles. Now she looked down, surprised to see that everything just looked smaller. She could see everything, she could tell where things were. She could see a cat in the far reaches of the island, could see a mouse near her cabin. It was rummaging around near the stairs. Alix's sharp eyes roved the island, looking for something- anything that she could do. An hour was all she had. She was going to... she only had an hour. How long had it been? Obviously not an hour yet, or she would have changed. It must have taken longer than no time at all, she didn't know what to think. She would go back down. It wouldn't be good if she fell from this height. Bird bones knit quickly, but she didn't think that they could fall from this height and not be a flat pancake. She tucked her wings to her sides, and dove straight down. Closer... she snapped her wings out, and felt them catch air, then she was level with the ground, around two feet from it. She landed on the cabin porch rail. New adventures were about to begin.