[img]http://i.imgur.com/SsySWU5.png[/img]

[b]]“With an aim like that, you’re sure to knock that dragon right out of the sky.”[/b]

Those words from the boy with glasses were surely meant as words of encouragement.

Yet really, Leila was confused because according to physics, the typical dragon isn’t even supposed to be able to stay in the sky in the first place.

*	*	*	*	*

Leila did not know how long the climb took. The best estimate she could give on that topic is the time elapsed for an average adult footstep, timed the number of cycles she counted the fluctuations of levels of sensations of pain and stress.

The Lost Souls regrouped after the brief sequence of happenings. Some of the Nobodies they met earlier also joined them - one of them, Victoria, offered to carry Leila on her back, and she gladly agreed.

The Nobody also seemed to have suffered an injury in her ankle, which seemed to be just recently treated. Leila noticed that a while into the trip and came to the conclusion that the Nobody probably wasn’t in the best condition to carry someone. She didn’t do anything about it, however, mostly because she wouldn't know what to even if she did.

*	*	*	*	*

The groups rested a while at the other cave.

Leila stood, her stance slanted as she leant against one of the cool, humid stone walls of the cave, near the entrance. Most of the others were doing much the same - standing, sitting, or lying around, exhausted, yet still enthralled enough to be enthusiastically sharing recent stories - or just plain exhausted.

Her eyes gazed idly at the...creature? Was this supposed to be classified as a creature - or a weather phenomenon? A puffy body of tiny water droplets. Moments ago the lot were terrified by the roar coming from the deep ends of the cave but then this jolly little fellow was the thing that came floating out. Even Leila couldn’t keep a straight face then, not having enough strength to actually laugh, but not enough strength to hold back the chuckle either. And now she watched calmly among the others - Harper, Leon and Inadi were playing with the cloud dragon so happily, their laughter echoing throughout the caves, and the fluffy trails of the dragon accumulating around them with every flap of its rings as it flew in circles. Lesley, on the other hand, had collapsed all the way onto the ground, on a lower area that was filled with a thick layer of sand, and soundly asleep. 

Or just unconscious.

Distinguishing between those two states was always the hardest step after making sure the subject was alive.

But then - Leila had to think to herself - as sort of a random branch out from her line of thought, or one of those true but irrelevant things she’d notice -

[i]That pink hair is very pretty.[/i]

As that, among many other thoughts, wandered idly through her mind, she decided to perhaps walk around a little. Pushing herself off the wall was an act that took all of her might without the amulet supplying the power, only the faintest light glowing from the magical artifact. She took a few steps - still staggering - closer towards the rest of the group, and the cloud dragon.

A few clouds lay close enough to Leila’s path. She reached out to touch them. Touching a cloud, though, was a strange notion. It was possible, of course, as long as you considered touching the air or touching water possible, yet like those two types of matter, the act of touching a cloud conveyed a much different sensation than one would expect from the conventional meaning.

Childrens’ books always said that clouds are puffy, not unlike cotton candy, except that clouds are not sweet and doesn’t stick to your hands. Leila also heard about mist being much like clouds, only at a lower altitude. The trails the baby dragon left behind was not puffy, but simply gave way as her fingers passed through the mass of the numerous airborne droplets, cool to the touch and leaving a tickling sensation on her skin.

That feeling made Leila very happy, somehow.

Harper and the little group of lost souls still chatted playfully as the dragon hovered around them. Leila then looked over just to see Lesley - and the pretty pink hair - crumbled in a heap on the nearby ground.

That reminded her how much she wanted to sleep. They didn’t really get much rest after the fight as they were to prepare for this journey, and somehow Leila did stay awake through the course of being carried through the hike.

The injuries felt much better now. She didn’t bother to check for bruises or sprains because they most certainly existed, just that it seemed that they didn’t hurt that much anymore. Carefully, she found a place to sit down near Lesley, and set her back against the wall and feet stretched out while her half-shut eyes still followed the puffy dragon along its trail in the air.

Maybe she should take back that thing about dragons not being supposed to stay in the air.