“Eli!” Nikki was elated to see her friend ahead, despite the current circumstances.  She waved, ducking another hurled stone, and dodged behind a tree.  Blank was going after one of the boney birds, with help from his new animal friend.  And the magpie from the ruins was hurling rocks, helped by -- some sort of flaming bird?  Way cool, she’d have to get a better look at it later.  But for now, they needed to handle the boulder-throwing birds.  Something Blank had said lodged in her thoughts.  The birdies could fly, yes.  And there wasn’t enough room to get her glider off the ground.

But that wasn’t the only way to get in the air.  Nikki dashed towards a likely-looking trunk, jamming her folded glider in the ground and using it to vault upwards so she could grab one of the lower branches.  Once off the ground it was a trivial matter to climb higher, and then all she had to do was quietly venture out along one that hung above the bird Blank wasn’t fighting.  The feathered lizard on her shoulder dropped first, going for the beast’s eyes, and the young lady followed, aiming to tackle the thing and drag it to the ground.