Serali sat with her clawed feet dangling over the edge of the cliff, gazing unafraid into the gulf between her toes. Now what do I do? I certainly can't go home looking like this! But to just abandon my family . . . No, I can't do that either. Whoever, or whatever birthed me, Marilla and Falio are the ones that raised me. The are my parents. And my brothers and sisters, they need me. She sat long, pondering, until she reached her decision. There is no other choice available, she finally decided. I will sit here and try to change back until I succeed. If I fail, well, someday my bones might be found on this spot!

Some hours later, as noon approached, she decided that her inward proclamation might have been a little hasty. Still perched on the cliff she had tried to will herself human, putting all of her strength behind the thought but with no result in sight. Finally she sat back exhausted. This is not working, she thought, I must be doing something wrong. Then an idea came to her. I didn't change into this shape because I willed it, I changed because I imagined it. Maybe...

Standing upright, she straightened her back. Then she closed her eyes. She felt a warm breeze blowing over her face, she felt the feel of the gritty floor of the gully between her toes. She loosed her mind totally, relaxing into a creature of feeling. Then, when it seemed that nothing was left of her but the soft whisper of the wind and the solid feel of the ground under her feet, she brought into mind the feelings of wind in her hair, of the way it caressed her face, of the way her toes could feel the ground through the thin soles of her shoes; she brought all that to mind, remembering it, the way she had half-remembered the feel of wind under her wings as she fell. The real sensations seemed to fade until the remembered wind in her hair was stronger than the peculiar ruffle of wind blowing her crest. There was again that odd lurching feeling, that brief instant of intense pain, and then she opened her eyes.

Serali laughed, delightedly. "It works!" she crowed, "It works!" With a light step she set off to the village, to her home.