Running from the target (bailey, loolaalee)

Kaia finished off her breakfast and stood up. Of course she lost her balance and almost ran into Clarissa's wall, but David stood up and caught her. He helped her stand up straight. "Thanks." Kaia said as she tried to regain her balance. She finally managed to stop swaying from side to side and started to walk out the door. She smiled. "That food worked great. Come on, Clarissa, let's go!" she called.

When she opened the door, Rafa flew straight into her face. "Ah! Hey! What is it?" she asked. Then she noticed that there was a letter strapped to his leg. The smile on her face disappeared. She took the letter and read it, and her heart sank. She turned to Clarissa. "Clarissa...I'm so sorry, but David and I have to go, as soon as we can. Something happened back home, and they need as many agents as they can get." Kaia said.

Clarissa smiled as David caught Kaia. One of these days she's got to get used to getting up. She thought as she watched the two of them. Clarissa stood up and started to follow them out of the room when the hawk ran into Kaia. She was so excited and wanting to get on with getting to know each other, that she almost didn't care what the note said until Kaia turned to her. "Clarissa...I'm so sorry, but David and I have to go, as soon as we can. Something happened back home, and they need as many agents as they can get." Kaia's words worked their way into sinking in on Clarissa's mood. It was like a sack of bricks had hit her. But we just started to know each other! What if we never get to fully hang out because we don't meet up again? What am I supposed to do, just let you go on this mission and risk your life when I just worked to help save it? Clarissa tried to wrap her mind around what was happening. Her only friends were being forced to leave her simply because of a hawk. Secretly, Clarissa started to hate the hawk, but tried to stay reasonable.

What am I going to do? She asked herself before looking up at Kaia. "I'm going with you. We've already shone that I can help you and that it wont cause any burdens for you or David. I'm trained in combat, I can take care of myself. I don't feel comfortable with you two running off to some dangerous mission and just hoping you come out of it okay." Clarissa gave them a simi-hardened look. "I'm not going to back down from this, so you might as well just let me come. I mean, I could just follow you there if you say no."

Kaia smiled at Clarissa. She had actually been about to blurt out "Come with us, Clarissa!" but Clarissa had taken the words right out of her mouth. Kaia instead ran back into the room and pulled Clarissa into a hug, partially leaning on her as well as she lost her balance again. "I will talk to Kyson to make sure you don't get any assassination missions. I will make sure you are well taken care of. You have a gift. It would be a shame to waste it." Kaia said with a smile. "Come on, we need to get back now. We need to get Air Bison transport down to the docks, then we will need to take a boat to the earth kingdom." Kaia said as she turned and began walking out the door.

Clarissa smiled as Kaia pulled her into the hug. She let her lean on Clarissa, assuming Kaia's balance hadn't quite restored just yet. "Wouldn't hurt to have someone watch over you, either." She laughed as she looked at David with a wink. "Thank you for not giving me assassinations. I would prefer not to have to kill someone if I don't have to." After a moment, Clarissa let the travel plans sink in. Something made her a bit nervous about how they were going to get to their missions. "Do we really have to take a sky bison?" She asked, knowing that would mean going hours without sight. "I mean, it's not big deal, it just... I wont be able to see at all."

Clarissa knew that her new friends would be there and keep her safe, but she had never rode on a sky bison before. Her 'flying attempts' with Rose in her past told her that she wouldn't be able to see well, if at all. Although she was used to the darkness, she liked having the grey out lines of things around her. It gave her a bit of security that she would have otherwise lacked greatly. The boat even seemed a bit cautious to her. Would she be able to see the ground under the water the boat sailed on? Probably not, she thought as she smiled at the both of them. "I don't care how we get there really, I just want to warn you that if that is how we are traveling, I wont' be able to see at all."

Kaia smiled at Clarissa. "Well, sky bison is the easiest way down the mountain, and a boat is the easiest to get across the ocean. If you have any better ideas, be my guest. Otherwise, I guess you'll have to rely on us for your sight for a few days." she said. David laughed a little. "Don't worry, if you need us, you know we will be there. Besides, the bison that carry the people down and up the mountains are supposed to be really gentle, with very secure saddles. At least we won't be riding bare back." He pointed out. He knew that all three of them would feel much safer in a saddle than riding bare back on a giant furry beast flying through the sky.

Clarissa cheered up a bit at the thought of the saddle, but still wasn't sure about the whole flight. "Its a good thing that we are such great friends. I don't trust easily." Clarissa replied as she looked down at Ranger. Ranger had been sitting there waiting on the group to start going somewhere, his tongue hanging out of his mouth a bit, an ear flopped over to the side, head cocked to the left as he panted just a bit from the sun beating down on his fur. "Come on, we should get moving then. Less time in the air the better."

Kaia nodded. "Agreed. It would probably be best if I get back to the professional medical center back at HQ as soon as possible for a check up, to make sure all the poison is gone." Kaia said. She stood up again, this time leaning on David so she wouldn't fall, and began to walk out of the room. She smiled as she thought about going back to the only place she called home. She never wanted to go back to her real home. She had run away for a reason. Even if she was going on dangerous missions, occasionally being forced to take lives, she still preferred this life to her old one.

Because in this life, she had friends, real friends.

Clarissa followed a bit behind her. Looking around carefully, adjusting her glasses every once and a while. She wasn't sure what to do as they walked, so she just played with the stem of her glasses, following their footsteps. Ranger stayed behind her, keeping a constant look around to make sure nothing would happen. "Good boy." She said to Ranger as she handed him a treat. She hoped they would make it to the sky bison soon and that she could climb up on it easily. Her biggest worry was not knowing how to climb the bison to the saddle without falling off. Would she be able to find a way to follow Kaia and David's steps? She wasn't sure and figured she would think about it once they got there.

After about ten minutes of walking, they reached the bison transport station. "Alright, first, I'll go up. Then David, you give Clarissa a boost, and I will grab her hands and pull her up. Then you climb. Got it?" Kaia said. David nodded, and without waiting for a response from Clarissa, Kaia climbed up to the top. Then another thought occurred to her.

"Clarissa, to make this a little easier, I'm going to take ranger up with me. That way, both of your hands will be free and we can make sure you can get up even when you can't see at all." Kaia said as she knelt on the ground and gently picked up Ranger, gently caressing his head, hoping he wouldn't attack her. She quickly scaled the bison once more and placed Ranger in the saddle, then leaned over the edge. "Alright, Clarissa, your turn!"

Clarissa felt the presence of the bisons near by as they approached. "Sounds like a good plan to me" Clarissa replied as she looked around her. She wasn't sure how high the bison was until Kaia suggested about taking Ranger up with her. She guessed it was about four feet about her head. "Hold on a second." Clarissa said as Kaia climbed down to get Ranger. She bent down to her fox. "Play dead" she whispered into his ear. As Kaia took him, Ranger laid in her arms like a lifeless animal. Staying still despite his wish to get back down to Clarissa. "Okay, here we go." Clarissa called when it was her turn. She carefully reached out to David for the boost before reaching up to grab Kaia's hands. Clarissa slid a bit as she tried to climb, but gained her footing and was soon in the saddle with Ranger. Ranger jumped up and glomped Clarissa once she had her footing in the saddle. She laughed a bit before petting him. "Good boy."

Clarissa's fears were right. Even with the bison's feet still on her ground, she could barely see anything around her. What she could see was fuzzy and blurry, like she had someone else's glasses on over her own. The feeling made her dizzy a bit and she stopped trying to look around. Everything was dark to her and she kept one hand securely on Ranger, who sensed her emotions and started to immediately become the guide fox he had trained to be. She hadn't needed him to be a guide fox since she was about 10, but everyone once and a while she would take his lead from his collar to keep him trained.