| Your senses are just about the only thing you can rely on in battle. Many allies are just back- stabbing enemies. -Rules of Life, pg. 30 Part 31 � Up the tree? But . . .� Garnet began. I snorted and leapt, clinging to a root overhead. � If the rest of you are too cowardly to go, I shall fight Kuja myself.� Tiovex jumped up beside me. � I�m not letting you go alone.� � I want to go!� Vanel cried, catching Tiovex�s twitching tail and climbing up over him to stand on his stomach. � Don�t leave me behind!� � I�m going!� Zidane shouted, stomping a foot petulantly. � Wait up!� � I don�t care about the rest of you, but I am going up to the top of the tree,� Amarant said in his usual monotone. � Fine! I�ll go!� Eiko grumbled. Garnet shrugged. � Majority vote . . .� Vivi nodded slowly. � I . . . I�ll go too.� Amarant grabbed Eiko and Vivi and headed out. Tiovex opted to join them as an escort. And since she was on Tiovex�s stomach, Vanel went along for the ride with a happy chirp. � Kiti,� Zidane asked as he helped Garnet into a piggy-back position, � why don�t you fly to the top?� � From here it would be incredibly dangerous. The roots are very dense and anything hanging from them would tear wing membrane easily. Higher up the leaves and branches would block my path. However, I could probably maneuver around them. If you�d be willing to wait that long, I can leave and come back in flight.� � No, that�s okay. I was just curious.� He began climbing and I followed closely. After a bit, he finally realized the obvious. � Kiti, this is gonna take me all day. Can you give me a hand?� � Of course.� I waited while Garnet and then Zidane transfered to my back before continuing vertically up along the roots. � Was it my fault?� Garnet asked. � No!� Zidane replied, as if that were the most ridiculous question ever. � I hardly knew you were there. My problem is one that Kiti doesn�t have. Talons. Instead of just putting my hands and feet anywhere I felt, I had to search for a good place. That takes a long time. I could�ve gotten us up there . . . eventually. Luckily, Kiti has talons and dragons are an excellent mode of transportation. Once you get over their stench, that is.� � Watch your tongue,� I warned in mock-seriousness. � You are riding in the back after all. One little, unfortunate jolt . . .� � That�s not funny, Kiti.� Garnet laughed. � I don�t think dragons smell bad.� Zidane snorted. � You just jumped several points up, Dagger.� � Why?� � Just about everybody I�ve met can�t stand the smell of dragons. I can�t find anything wrong with it personally, but I�m also a tad biased if you want to look at it from that view.� � That�s awful. I think dragons smell nice,� Garnet elaborated. � They smell like . . . like . . .� � Dragons?� She giggled. � Yes, but I�m trying to associate with something else. They smell a lot like . . . like a forest after a rainstorm.� � A what?� � Yes! That�s it! A forest after a rainstorm! The rain makes everything wet and you can smell everything there. But it�s really very nice.� � Are you sure you�re not biased too?� She shrugged. � Maybe I am. Maybe I�m not. I guess if all I ever knew about dragons were about the ground ones, which don�t smell quite as nice as Swiftwing dragons, I�d be against them. But since I�ve had the luck to meet a well-groomed and friendly Swiftwing, I suppose I find dragons acceptably smelly. You know, I do believe it�s their unique smell that makes humans hate them so. Maybe humans are envious of the way they smell and hate them for it.� � Okay. Now you�re getting a little far-fetched.� � How do you know it�s not true?� � They don�t have anything called �Dragon Musk� in the stores, do they?� We came to a spot where I had to travel upside down for a while. Garnet let out a fearful squeak and ducked her head, trembling at the image of falling from the height we were at. I couldn�t reassure her, being as forced to concentrate on where I stepped as I was, but Zidane could. And did. � Hey, hey,� he said gently. � It�s okay. I won�t let you fall.� � But---� � Close your eyes,� he instructed. � Lean forward. Pretend you�re laying on your bed on a spring day with the windows wide open.� To my surprise, she calmed down. He leaned forward also, just in case there was a bounce and she panicked and let go (which is a rule you must never forget while traveling upside-down). A heavy wind kicked up and came directly for me. I kept going, though slower, and felt Garnet tense. � No,� Zidane continued softly. � It�s just a breeze, it won�t hurt you.� � It feels like it�s trying to rip me away . . .� she murmured. � It doesn�t mean it,� he assured her. � It�s just trying to talk to you. Listen to it and it�ll quit being so forceful.� The wind died finally and I continued on at a normal pace. When I was able to travel upright I informed them of the change. Zidane sat up to let Garnet do as she wished. When we came upon the others I let Zidane and Garnet off and then went to sit beside Tiovex. He nudged me, shifting his eyes discreetly behind us and then back to me. I nodded. �Ziaden.� �Mm?� �Kuja is nearby. Stay right there until the others know and then we will all go as a group. He�s too powerful for just one or two of us to take alone.� I could hear him growling even from several people away. �. . . Fine.� We stepped around the tree to find Kuja laughing. � That stupid queen!� he howled. � She�s made her last mistake!� <--Part 30 Part 32--> |