[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/ZSTKEEG.png[/img]
[color=5ffb17][h3]Another Day at the Animal Shelter[/h3][/color][/center]
	The smell of various kinds of pet foods and animals hit Talia the moment she opened the door leading to the adoption waiting room. She smiled slightly, the smell making her feel even more at home and making familiar excitement rise in her chest.
	The early afternoon sun filtered through the glass windows surrounding the matching door, creating warm and cold patches where the heat of the day waged war against the building’s air conditioning. A woman in her early twenties, her long blond hair pulled back in a braid, manned a desk with two computers at the center of the slightly scuffed wood flooring. A man stood on the opposite side of the desk in front of her, a black Labrador attached to a leash he held.
	The Labrador looked to Talia, and its ears perked up, its tail wagging heavily. The man jerked to alertness when the dog tried to run to her, only to be stopped short by the leash.
	[color=5ffb17]“Hey, Celia,”[/color] Talia greeted the dog as she knelt in front of the Labrador and placed the plastic bag she carried on the floor. She rubbed the side of the dog’s neck, then pursed her lips together and tilted her head up as the dog licked her face.
	“Hey, T.J.” The woman behind the counter leaned on the tall desk to get a better look at Talia.
	[color=5ffb17]“Hey, Laura,”[/color] Talia muttered, opening her mouth as little as possible. She grabbed her bag and stood, making Celia bark in complaint. The dog sat at Talia’s feet, her warm gaze watching the girl as she reached into her pocket. [color=5ffb17]“Glad to see her,”[/color] she nodded to the Labrador, [color=5ffb17]“getting adopted!”[/color] She smiled at the balding man, who returned the gesture. 
	“Not sure if [i]I’m[/i] adopting [i]her[/i], or [i]she’s[/i] adopting [i]me[/i] yet.” The man ruffled the Labrador’s long ears.
	[color=5ffb17]“The animal [i]always[/i] adopts the human.”[/color] Talia pulled a dog treat in the shape of a small bone from her pocket and held it out to Celia. [color=5ffb17]“Letting the human think otherwise is just a courtesy a lot of dogs like to extend.”[/color]
	The man chuckled as Celia devoured the offered treat then licked Talia’s palm to make sure she got everything.
	“I need your signature, sir.” Laura slid a piece of paper toward the man. She looked to Talia as the adopter turned to sign the paper. “Mind if I put you on walk duty today for section three?”
	[color=5ffb17]“’Course not.”[/color] Talia glanced down as Celia nudged her hand. She rubbed the dog’s head in a final farewell before heading toward the doors behind the desk that lead to the back.
	“Oh, T.J.!”
	Talia spun around as Laura turned from the man and hurried to her.
	“We had a rescue drop-off this morning,” Laura began, her voice low. “A husky/retriever mix. Pretty sure the poor thing’s been abused, and he isn’t friendly. Won’t let anyone near him. I had him put in a kennel in your section for today. After you walk the others, see if you can’t work some of that magic of yours, would you? Don’t know how you do it, but you have a knack for taming them.”
	Talia smiled knowingly. [color=5ffb17]“It’d be happy to. Can I take him out of the kennel?”[/color]
	Laura hesitated. “Do whatever you need to. But be careful and leave his muzzle on. I can’t keep him here long with his temperament, and if we can’t get him used to people…” She frowned and shook her head.
	[color=5ffb17]“Yeah.”[/color] Talia’s face tightened. She didn’t need to read Laura’s mind to know the remainder of that statement. [color=5ffb17]“I know.”[/color] She turned and went through the door.
	She quickly made her way to the locker room, stopping for only a couple moments to greet fellow volunteers and workers. With her purse, hat, and shopping bag in her usual locker, and dressed in the required blue shirt with the shelter’s logo on it, she headed for the kennels.
	Kept well-cleaned by the various staff, the kennels took up three different large rooms, creating sections for cats, dogs, and everything else. The yaps and barks of dogs of all breeds echoed off the drywall and concrete floor, accompanied by the squeak of the large kennel doors being opened and shut.
	Talia grabbed a set of leashes from hooks hanging by the door and made her way to the section three kennels. Though many of them stood empty save for food and water dishes and a large, round bed, the inhabitants of other kennels eagerly raced to the wire door and barked to get her attention, their tails wagging and tongues hanging out of their mouth.
	The five kennels of her section all currently had occupants. Only one did not greet her at the door.
	A dog, his thick pelt knotted in filthy clumps and riddled with burs, raised its head as she crouched in front of the kennel. The dog, his face and ears reminiscent of a husky, bared his teeth at her in a loud growl from beneath the muzzle strapped around his head. Terror and rage clouded his blue eyes. He backed himself into a corner, keeping low to the floor.
	Talia’s heart ached for the creature. [color=5ffb17]“I’m not going to hurt you,”[/color] she soothed. 
	The dog let its growl end as it stared Talia down. 
	The girl gave a sad sigh. [color=5ffb17]“What’s happened to you, boy?”[/color] she wondered softly.
	The dog’s snarl returned as two of the staff members--a man and woman--walked down the kennel aisle, their voices loud. 
	Talia stood as the two passed by her, the man having to pick up the brownish-white Shih Tzu with him to make it leave Talia.
	[color=5ffb17]“I’ll be back soon,”[/color] she told the dog in the kennel, her eyes never leaving him. [color=5ffb17]“Promise.”[/color]
	She slowly turned from the dog and set to attaching leashes to the collars of the other section three residents she needed to walk: a foxhound, terrier, water spaniel, and basset hound. Despite their size and verity, Talia easily managed to get them out, the four dogs happily bounding around her and following her lead as she took the route the shelter had laid out for them.
	The desire to join in the walk as one of the dogs was overwhelming. She knew they looked at her as the pack leader and would follow her if she asked--except for maybe the foxhound. She still was not so sure about him--but it would be a little difficult to explain the seemingly unmanned animals if another dog walker from the shelter came across them.
	Instead, she let their strength and energery become her own, running and playing alongside them until the compulsion to chase every squirrel or car she saw kicked in in full and nearly drove her to climb a tree in her and the dogs’ pursuit of one said squirrel. Even a while after she relinquished the hold on the ability, she still couldn’t help but mirror the dogs’ playful lightheartedness as their walk neared its close, the occasional squirrel making her glare at it as she just managed to stop herself from chasing it off, and the urge to run after a truck itching at her legs.
	Back at the shelter, Talia found Laura and managed to talk the older woman into moving the husky/retriever into one of the rooms their on-site trainers often used while she finished taking care of the other dogs. 
	A few minutes later, with a trash bag and tape in hand, she went to the room with the waiting dog. She peered through the window in the training room’s door.
	A small, plain room designed to eliminate any distractions for the animal being trained, the furniture consisted of a single metal dresser in one corner, a jar of various dog biscuits sitting atop it. Across from it, the leash of the husky mix was attached to a metal pole. It remained unyielding as the dog pulled against it, trying to break free.
	Taking a deep breath and trying to shake off the side-effects still lingering from the walk, she opened the door and entered.
	The dog’s attention snapped to her, and he lowered himself threateningly toward the floor, his growls filling the room.
	Talia paused, pity flashing in her eyes and twisting her face. The dog’s growls softened as he recognized her, his head cocking to one side in suspicion. Without a word, Talia closed and locked the door. The dog growled again as she used the tape to cover the window with the trash bag, hoping no one would pass by to question the locked and blocked door. 
	She turned to the dog, who backed away from her, his jaws trying but failing to snap at her in the muzzle.
	[color=5ffb17]“Easy, boy,”[/color] she all but whispered, taking a cautious step toward the dog, careful to keep just out of his reach. She knelt down and placed her fingertips on the floor, the dog’s eyes watching her intently.
	Talia took a deep breath, and a gentle tingle surged through her body. In an instant, her form shifted, taking the shape of a Siberian husky with bluish-gray and white fur. She sat on the floor, her bushy tail wagging behind her.
	The husky mix’s ears perked up, and his body raised a couple inches.
	“You…” the dog’s surprised growls formed words Talia now understood. The dog growled wordlessly, the sound uncertain.
	[color=5ffb17]“I’m not going to hurt you. Promise,”[/color] Talia barked back, pawing the floor as she readjusted herself. 
	The husky mix’s ears stood straight up, and he blinked. “I… understand you…” His words were muddled slightly by the muzzle.
	[color=5ffb17]“’Course you do!”[/color] Talia moved so her head was near the floor, and her tail rose higher in the air. [color=5ffb17]“Dogs understand each other, don’t they?”[/color] Her pink tongue rolled out of the side of her mouth, her intensely green eyes sparkling in the florescent lights. [color=5ffb17]“I’m Talia Jones!”[/color] Her tail wagged as the mixed breed fully straightened. [color=5ffb17]“What can I call you?”[/color]
	The dog eyed Talia, a silence falling between them.
	Talia’s ears folded back and she laid completely on the ground. [color=5ffb17]“Can I please know? [i]Pleeeease?[/i]”[/color]
 	“Kalik,” the mix finally answered, Talia’s body language perking up.
	[color=5ffb17]“Good to meet you!”[/color] Talia’s ears fell again. [color=5ffb17]“You’ve been through a lot, huh?”[/color]
	Kalik snorted.
	[color=5ffb17]“Please. I want to help you. I give you my word that I won’t let anyone hurt you. Everyone here wants to make you feel better. To help clean you up. Get rid of all that gunk in your fur.”[/color] She crawled cautiously closer to Kalik. [color=5ffb17]“But we can’t help you if you don’t let us.”[/color]
	Kalik’s nose scrunched beneath the bars of the muzzle.
	[color=5ffb17]“I beg you,”[/color] Talia whined. [color=5ffb17]“I don’t want anything bad to happen to you. We can find you someone kind to adopt, someone who will take care of you, and who you want to take care of. But you need to trust me. And let us help. Oh, and not bite people.”[/color]
	Kalik cocked his head.
	[color=5ffb17]“If you promise me you’ll be good and hold to it, I can take that nasty muzzle off. I know you have no reason, but I’m asking you to trust me. Let me and the others here show you that not all humans are bad. But you have to return the kindness. Can you do that? [i]Will[/i] you do that? For me?”[/color]
	Talia held her breath and made her eyes large and pleading as Kalik looked her in the eye.
	“There’s something… [i]different[/i] about you, Talia Jones,” Kalik finally said slowly, making Talia lift her head and wag her tail. “For you…” He paused unnervingly. “I can, and I will return any kindness shown me.” The dog lowered his head respectfully.
	[color=5ffb17]“Awesome!”[/color] Talia jumped to her feet, the energy of a young husky flooding through her veins and begging to be used. [color=5ffb17]“I gotta go human now to take the muzzle off. We can’t talk then. Not like this, anyway. And, can I give you a bath?”[/color]
	Kalik’s gaze darkened.
	[color=5ffb17]“It’ll make you feel better! I know [i]I[/i] always feel better after a bath.”[/color]
	“If you must.” Kalik sighed.
	Talia jumped around a couple times, then took another deep breath. The tingling sensation returned, stronger this time. Though nearly indiscernible to the untrained eye, it took her body a short moment longer to change back into her human form, her hands and knees on the floor. 
	She smiled warmly at Kalik, who cocked his head at her and gave a low bark. She slowly slid herself across the tiled floor toward Kalik, her head just rising above his. She slowly reached toward the muzzle straps, and the dog obligingly bent his head so she could get to the fastening. After pulling it from him, she gently ruffled the fur that it had pressed on.
	[color=5ffb17]“There. That’s better, isn’t it?”[/color] She stood and unhooked the leash from the bar beneath Kalik’s watchful gaze. [color=5ffb17]“Let’s go get you that bath.”[/color]
	Kalik grunted as if he understood the word even in the human tongue.
	Talia went to the door, Kalik staying at her side as she pulled the trash bag from the window. She startled back, making Kalik look up at her; Laura stood a foot from the glass, her brown eyes dark and arms crossed.
	Talia gave her a sheepish look, then opened the door.
	[color=5ffb17]“Sorry, but I couldn’t risk [i]any[/i] dis—”[/color]
	Laura’s eyes widened as she looked at Kalik. “You took his muzzle off!” she scolded, stepping away.
	[color=5ffb17]“He won’t hurt anyone!”[/color] Talia said quickly, her voice a little too perky as she held out a hand to reassure Laura. [color=5ffb17]“Look.”[/color] She slowly moved her hand to Kalik’s snout. 
	Kalik moved his head away, then, as if realizing what she wanted, he sniffed her fingers and tapped her hand with his nose.
	Talia looked back to Laura. [color=5ffb17]“Go ahead.”[/color] She nodded to Kalik.
	Laura warily stepped toward Kalik, who glanced almost panicked to Talia. The shifter gave the dog a reassuring smile as Laura mimicked the younger girl’s earlier action.
	The dog repeated his response.
	[color=5ffb17]“See?”[/color] Incapable of keeping still as energy still begged to be burned, she bounced slightly on her toes.
	Laura shook her head in disbelief. “I swear. You’re a friggen miracle worker. I’m going to start calling you Animal Whisperer.”
	Talia shrugged. [color=5ffb17]“You said it yourself. I’ve just always had a knack for animals. Going to go get Kalik here cleaned up!”[/color] She shifted her weight, antsy to get going. [color=5ffb17]“Will you keep him at least one more night now?”[/color] she asked, her head raising slightly, hopefully.
	“As long as things go okay, I should be capable of swinging it…” Her brows furrowed in concern. “Are you okay?”
	[color=5ffb17]“Never better!”[/color] Talia raised her brows in emphasis, her smile obnoxiously broad. As she spoke next, she thrust her finger out, pointing down the hall. [color=5ffb17]“To the bathing rooms!”[/color] Her volume startled Kalik, his ears pulling back into his head as she all but pranced down the hall, leaving a befuddled Laura in her wake.
	Talia spent the next couple hours washing and grooming Kalik, pulling burs and twigs from the dog’s dirt-caked fur. By the time she finished, Kalik’s thick, soft fur shone with its full golden beauty beneath the light, making him look like an entirely different dog. If Talia had not seen the transformation for herself, she would not have believed that this was the same dog she had seen a few hours earlier.
	[color=5ffb17]“Wow,”[/color] was all she could say as she stood back to look the mixed breed over, the husky and retriever in him equally prominent. After giving him a couple treats for enduring her grooming, she reluctantly led him back to his kennel with the promise of returning upon the morrow.
	With her volunteer shift long since over, she grudgingly changed shirts, grabbed her stuff, and left the shelter, making Laura swear Kalik would still be there when she stopped by after work.
	With the enthusiasm and energy of the husky finally all but faded and her hat in its rightful place, she began the walk home, her heart light.