Keiara smiled. "I'm fine." she told Erica. "I think."
Luke turned to Erica. "Okay, Babe," he replied, smirking.
Riley turned to Erica. "Yeah, probably," she told her. "Alright with you guys?" she asked.
"Luke, you're such a little FLIRT!!!!!!" giggled Giselle. "I don't mind sleeping in the same tent as boys...we'll be separated by companions, after all."
Evan's eyes flickered as he let out a huge yawn. " Sorry." he whispered to no one in particular. " If you guys are really that picky about who sleeps where... hold on a sec." Wandering over to the pile of left over reeds, he picked up some and began tying them horizontally across the trees. After about 10 minutes, he had formed a thin reed wall, about 3 feet high, to cut off the sections for boys and girls. " Hold up." he said and stumbled off to a tree. Breaking off a large branch, he tied it in place above the reed wall. " That's for you Hokava." The eagle flew happily to the branch and soon fell asleep. Covering his mouth, Evan masked his tiredness and fell to the ground. " I think I'll just get some sleep.... right here.... on the ground...."
Taran stopped howling for a moment. " I've never felt this stupid in my life. Its fun though." Moro grinned and nudged her playfully. Taran looked over to the group of trees and saw their make-shift camp. " I guess it'll have to do." Getting up onto Moro's back, the two loped over to the canopy. " Anyone about to get some sleep? Because I am."
Erica said, "Finally someone else is going to sleep." She curled up by Kyriana and dozed off.
Hayden watched the others fall asleep. She walked over to the corner of the shelter and sat down. Akkara followed. She lay down next to her companion and was soon asleep.
"This has been an odd day," Hayden reflected. "First I was sucked into a watch and then I met Akkara and we battled a Griffon, spider, and crows." she sighed and lay down and fell asleep .
Moro skidded to a halt in front of the camp. Taran slid off to the ground. Stretching her arms out wide, she dropped to the ground, right outside of the rain shelter, and her eyes immediately closed. Moro surveyed the group. Many had already gone to sleep and she was on the verge of. Grabbing a hold of Taran's shirt collar, the wolf pulled Taran to safety from the rain, which was now beating down hard. Bending her knees, Moro curled up next to the tired girl. Taran stirred. Wiggling closer to her companion, she rested her head on the wolf's neck and fell asleep. Moro smiled tiredly. Swishing her two giant tails, the wolf brought them snuggly around the dreaming girl to keep her warm. " Good night Taran."
Riley woke up a few hours later. It was still dark and everyone was still asleep. She got up and walked outside and sat beneath a tree.
Luke woke up to see Riley walk over to a tree. He walked over to her. "Mind if I join you?"
>
Riley looked up. "Sure, sit down." she smiled at him.
"This had been a really weird day, hasn't it?"
"No kidding, genius," Riley teased.
Luke grinned. "Soooo, do you have a boyfriend back home?"
Riley stared at him. "Why do you care?"
Luke blushed. "Well, maybe I like you."
It was Riley's turn to blush.
"So, do you like me too?" Luke asked hopefully.
Riley turned. "Luke, you're a really nice guy and all but I only like you as a friend."
"Oh," Luke too turned away. At that precise moment, Sieno walked over.
"Hello."
Luke smiled, grateful for his perfect timing.
"Am I interrupting something?"
"No. We're just waiting for the others to wake up."
Hayden soon woke up and looked around. "It wasn't a dream," she though. She sighed and turned to see Luke and Riley talking. She felt a surge of jealousy." Wait, What?" she thought, surprised at her reaction. "Don't tell me I like that goggle-headed idiotic flirt."
She sighed again. "Maybe I do...."
Erica ran through the rain as fast as she could. She didn't know why she was running, only that she needed to warn her friend of something. She was approaching his house, the stairs at the foot of the door had become a waterfall. She could hear thunder, but couldn't see any lightning. Time was getting short. She raced up the stairs and down a corridor. Frantically flinging open the door to his room, she let out a long, piercing shriek as she realized she was too late. "Erica, Erica, what's wrong?" Erica sat up with a gasp. "It was only a dream, it was only a dream", she whispered to herself. She felt surprisingly calm and turned to see Kyriana at her side, watching concerned.
"I'm fine," Erica blushed as she answered her cavy, realizing she had screamed out loud. She could see Riley and Luke talking a little ways, and she groaned, "Flirt". She saw Hayden was awake too, and this made her wish this Savoya trip had only been a dream. She saw the rain was only drizzling now, and was slowing down as she sat there. Her clothes were dirty and damp, and she remained sitting rather than talking to Riley, Luke, or Hayden, wondering what she was going to do about her clothes, Kyriana curling up beside her, comfortably.
Hayden looked up when she heard a scream. She turned to Erica and rolled her eyes.
Hovara walked over to see. "Are you alright? You look.... Sad."
Hayden glared at her companion. "I'm fine," she snapped.
Keiara woke up as she heard a scream. Tyano lifted his head, growling quietly. "It's alright," she told the panther. "It was just Erica."
The panther nodded and fell back asleep. Keiara looked around to see Riley and Luke talking and Hayden sitting with Hovara. Keiara lay back down and listened to the rain fall softly on their shelter.
Giselle awoke abruptly to the sound of a vivid scream. Confused, she looked around her and tried feverishly to remember just where she was.
Looking at her horribly matted hair and ruined clothes she felt somewhat panicked, and it was only after a moment's thought that she remembered she was in Savoya.
"Good morning, all!!!!!!!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "It's a beautiful day!!!!!!" she saw Riley and Luke sitting together and giggled. Luke really was a flirt sometimes.
Looking at her hair, she was suddenly struck with the inspiration to make herself a comb. Crawling out of the tent, she saw that K'Mara had already awakened and was busy gathering food.
Taran was sleeping fitfully. She heard someone talking really loudly. " Shut up!" she muttered as she rolled over to cover her ears. Suddenly, her back hit something and she heard a crumbling noise. Opening her eyes she realized that she had tumbled right into the thin barrier between the boys and the girls sleeping area. " Watch out!" she screamed at Hokava. Getting to her knees, she tried to catch the eagle in her arms before its perch would break up and fall.
Hokava woke up with a screech when he felt the sensation of falling. His perch was collapsing underneath him and he spread out his wings to try and break the wall. Trying to fly away, he forgot that there was a branch canopy. His wings hit the roof and his talons became entangled in it. Hanging upside down, he tried to free his wings by pecking around them.
Evan woke up and saw his companion in danger. " Hokava! Wait!"
The eagle wrenched free, with bloodied wings and scarred legs, and fell.
Diving sideways, Taran opened her arms. " Hokava!" she screamed. Catching the eagle, she sighed right before her head crashed into a tree. Her head swam and her eyes closed as she blacked out.
Evan exhaled with relief as the girl caught Hokava. But it wasn't over. Suddenly the girl's head collided with a nearby tree. Evan crawled over the wreck of the perch to her. " Taran? Its Taran alright?" he asked. Then he felt stupid. He was talking to death ears. Hokava hopped up and dragged his wing pitifully. Patting the girl on the cheek, he felt awkward. Pulling the girl up, he propped her up against the tree. Brushing the girl's hair back from her face, he saw that there was a large purple bruise on her forehead. " Hey! Will someone help me here?!" he yelled out to the others.
Hayden looked up to see Taran lying unconscious against a tree. As much as she hated to admit it, she knew she must help her. "Hovara?"
"I'm not sure if I'm strong enough but I'll try"
Hayden nodded and watched the fire-horse walk over to the girl.
"Healing Fire." Hovara backed up, waiting to see what happened.
Riley looked up to see Evan standing over an unconscious Taran. "Come on," she called, motioning for Luke to follow. She ran over to them to see that Hovara was trying to heal her. "Is she alright?" she asked.
"AAAAAHHHHH!" Taran screamed as she felt her bruise begin to heal. " God it hurts!!" Then looking up, she saw that her outburst was quite unnecessary. " Umm. Sorry."
Evan smiled. Helping the girl to her feet. Raising his hand, he continued. " I'm sorry. I think we got off to a...umm...rough start. I'm Evan."
Grabbing hold of his hand, Taran squeezed it as hard as she could. " Taran." Then throwing a glance at the eagle, she nearly cried out. Its wings were torn and bleeding. Hokava's legs were starting to look like branches themselves because of all its cuts. The blood was starting to ooze out of the gashes and dry.
Hokava's eyes were filled with pain. Giving Taran a quick look, the eagle's eyes portrayed the true meaning of sadness.
Taran was feeling sick. Taking her hand away from Evan, she covered her mouth and looked away. " Someone h-help Hokava."
Hovara walked over to the eagle. "Healing Fire!" she called, using the last of her strength. Then she fell to the ground.
"Hovara!" Hayden yelled, running over to her companion.
"I just need to rest," she replied softly. "Used up too much strength." And with that she fell unconscious.
Erica woke with a start as she heard even more screams. She had fallen asleep again, and when she looked toward the group, she saw Taran, Evan, Riley, and Luke standing together, and Hovara apparently unconscious on the ground. She quickly got up, and said over her shoulder to Keiara, "C'mon!" She looked around for some water leftover from the rain, but stopped when she realized something. "Wait- since Hovara is a fire horse, would it hurt her if we tried to revive her with water?"
