With most humans asleep, the building is quiet, though not completely quiet. The corridors are much less brightly lit than during the day time, which poses no problem to me. The clicking of my claws on the stones is again giving away where I am, but since I'm not hunting it doesn't matter as much. It's become easier to navigate the very similar looking corridors, thanks to the lesson from earlier. While I did pay attention to the things standing against or hanging on the wall, knowing what they are exactly makes it easier to remember the characteristics of every place. The occasional human is most often dressed in grey, almost none of the blue robes are about. They look at me briefly before hurrying along. I don't know what they're all doing, nor do I care. What I care about are the different scents in these corridors. They are as much of a guide to me as the decorations.

Some of them I recognize, they are from other females who have been hanging around Ara. There are almost no male scents, only in the central corridor and they go straight from one end to the other. The greatest disappointment is the lack of food. Even though I can't actually eat anything unless it's given to me by Ara, I still want to know where to find some. The second disappointment is that the men standing at the big doors have been replaced by women and these women do not open the door for me. When I stop in front of the door and stare at them, they just ignore me! I think it's because I'm not a human, because from a distance I have seen them opening the door for humans. I could wait for another human to pass by, but there is more to explore. I can always come back later.

There is a whole room with nothing but books! I know what books are now, both Tarvinder and Ara have warned me to be careful with them since they're important. That makes a room full of books very important. The room is near the centre of the building and has bookcases lining every wall, with tables in the middle. What interests me more is something I noticed at the top of some of them. I can't really say I noticed it. There are stray scents drifting here and there, scents that have nothing to do with the corridors. They come from grates high up in the wall and quite well hidden. Here in the book and scroll room, they are the easiest to reach.

Climbing up a bookcase is easy enough and I find the grate where I expected it to be. It would be impossible to pass through while standing. Shuffling sideways would be uncomfortable for most. However, I'm used to seeing every surface as something to walk on. Lying on my side I flatten myself on the wall that is now my floor and crawl past the bars. I grumble to myself. My weight is causing some strain, also while I was climbing up here. More than I'm used to. While my increased strength mitigates part of it, this also comes with more weight. It will simply be harder and harder for me to use the walls and ceiling of a place as time goes by. Nothing I can do about it, staying weak was not an option. My injured limb protests, but not serious enough to stop me.

Beyond is a tight corridor, or maybe a tunnel? A small human may be able to crawl here and, from what I can smell, has. There are no vermin here, but I do smell a lot of traces of different familiars. That is probably the reason why there are no vermin. They are either hunted or stay away. The duct leads to a wider one which follows the same direction as the corridor beyond. It's an interconnected network of space above the rooms and corridors below. There is more space than I expected, ideal for running around without being bothered by anyone. That said, I don't run around. The sound of my claws is even louder in my ears up here. I'm still not hunting, but now at least I don't want to alert anything or anyone.

At the far end of my current path, a shape briefly obscures the passage before moving on. I'm reminded I am not the only familiar to use these passages. Acutely aware of my injury I slow down more, straining my senses to pick up the slightest sound, sight or scent. I don't need to follow all of the passages up here to know where they are going. My time in the dungeon taught me how to stay aware of places relative to one another. Guided by scents, I quickly locate the familiar females, Ara and Ine among them. Now it's time to check other, unfamiliar scents. The one I'm tracking right now is human, male and young. There is a distinct difference between an adult and a young, with the adults having a muskier, heavier scent. At the end of a long corridor I find it, a way up. The place is close to where the big doors are that would let me into the hall and the way up is a hatch. It's like a door that swings in a different way. Since the human that was in here is a young one, I should be able to push it up as well.

Unfortunately, humans are better at standing on two limbs than I am. Pushing the hatch up in that awkward position proves to be more trouble than I can be bothered with. In the end I settle for pushing my claw out and dragging myself through the opening I create. The wood scraping along my back is annoying but doesn't hurt. My skin is thicker than that. The only trouble appears when my hindquarters are out and my tail gets caught. With an annoyed hiss I pull out my tail, gouging the wood. On further inspections, I can also see some damage in the stone and wood where I pulled myself out with my claws. Oh well, Ara has shown me it's easy enough to fix. I'm still a bit upset I'm leaving such obvious tracks. If I can stop damaging everything I walk on, it would help a lot.

Movement in the corner of my eye makes me whip my head around. I was so caught up by my tail, I did not pay enough attention to my surroundings. It's a more or less open floor with support beams reaching up to the diagonal roof. Since almost everything else is stone, I'm a bit surprised to see more wood being used here. The space is as wide and as long as the place below. I'm directly under the roof. In the middle is enough space for an adult to stand, but it slowly tapers off towards the sides. Various things are stacked here and there, but some of it looks like sleeping places for humans. That is where the movement came from. Four young humans sit there and are staring at me. Occasionally one turns to another to whisper something. I blame my tail for distracting me, or I would have noticed them right away.

Curiously, they don't behave the way I would expect young creatures to behave. Neither do they behave like the humans I've met here so far. Most look at me with distaste, as if I stink. I might stink, I don't know how their noses work, but they are very obvious about it. As for the young of a species, they should run and scream, try to hide or freeze when faced with a predator. These don't do either. They're inspecting me as closely as I inspect them.

"You're kinda ugly ain't ya."

The sudden noise startles me. One of them spoke! It was probably an insult, but they look ugly to me too, so I'll accept it as is.

"Which noble do you think it's with?" says another. It triggers a discussion I can't follow. After a short while they come to the right conclusion, Avebella. I wonder if this kind of talking is normal for their species or if they are different. I certainly do not recall any of the other humans talking with one another like this. After reaching their conclusion, they start to walk in my direction, spreading out to surround me in a half circle with my back against the wall. Once again I'm reminded of my injury and my tail starts to twitch back and forth in agitation.

"I think we're spooking it."

It's the tallest who speaks. There are two middle size and one smallest. The scent of the smallest is also the most common in the passages below.

"Ulo, look at those claws! I bet he can gut a horse!"

It's the small one who says that and the biggest who replies, so his name is probably Ulo.

"And look what it did to the wood and stone. It's gonna be a lot of work tomorrow."

I glance towards the marks I made a few moments ago, then I jerk my attention back to the four young ones. They have not done anything hostile, but I'm not comfortable boxed in like this.

"Ulo! I think he can understand us!"

It's one of the middle sized two who says this. I didn't consider it special and for some reason thought other familiars would be the same. What if that mark from the devils helped me learn the language faster than they are used to from familiars?

"Hey, do you want something nice?"

It's the other middle sized one who asks me as he holds something out to me. It doesn't smell particularly appetizing, but I couldn't eat it if I wanted.

The young ones keep me surrounded and keep chatting about how I look. From my ears, nose and on to my tail. It's nice, in a way. They are not afraid and I don't feel the need to intimidate them. The young are to be taught and assisted. Or eaten, if the need is there, but there is no need here. It's fun and, after a while, I manage to relax. I don't play with them, and they don't try to play with me. My claws are the real thing now and I can easily cut them to pieces if I'm not careful. They give me a piece of wood to demonstrate my claws on and it's satisfying to whittle it down.

It's later, quite late, when the bigger young one tells the others to sleep. I take a quick tour around their home and find more sleeping places. There are probably more like them who are not here right now. I've found the source of the strange smells. It's up here, with the small humans, but also strange pouches with plants and other stuff mixed in. They're hung around the room under the roof, but also near entrances to the corridors. The scent is not bad for me, and the small humans don't seem to mind either. When the big one sees me inspecting one of them, he does explain their use. They are supposed to scare away rats and other vermin. As far as he can tell, it works. I don't share my own thoughts, that it's because of all the familiars inside. Not because he doesn't need to know, but because I've not yet decided to talk with these humans. Ara has convinced me enough that I need to be conservative in showing my intelligence.

Heading back to Ara's room is easy. Only the way down is hard. The small young one holds the hatch up, though he drops it on the tip of my tail. The tail isn't hurt, the tip is a sharp blade after all, but it did hurt when I pulled it taut as it got stuck. Climbing down from the bookcase is also tough. The injured leg being more of a hindrance now than it was when I went up. After tonight, the layout of the place is easy and I find my way with no trouble. Once there, I am confronted by the stupid human thing again. Doors. Everything is closed and I don't feel like trying to open one. I might as well take a nap here. The stone is cool, but the air is still comfortable, I've napped on worse.

I wake up from sounds nearby. Instantly alert I scan the unfamiliar surroundings before I remember where I am. Ara's world, outside the room. One door opens and in front of me stands Ine.

"She kicked you out?" she asks.

I shake my head. Not really. Maybe, I'm not sure, but I didn't mind.

"She won't be up for several hours, you could come with me, if you want." Ine smiles as she makes the suggestion.

The smile is a bit harder to decipher. There is amusement in there and anticipation. I'm not sure what she finds amusing, or what she is looking forward to, but I may as well follow along to find out.