Some Things Just Can't Be Understood

Dalios watched Pheobie cuddling the ever-happy Rolly.

"Will I have to ask for my dog back later?" he asked Maple with a mix of amusement and nervousness.

"Probably," said Maple with a smirk. "Pheobie likes animals. That's why I decided to visit the zoo. We've got her cat back on the ship."

"So it's not a mission or check-up or anything?" asked Dalios.

"Nope," replied Maple. "Just a little R and R."

Dalios smirked at him. "How cute. It's not like you to take girls to trips to the zoo."

Maple felt a little embarrassed in spite of himself. Dalios was a ten-year-old, but he was a very smart ten-year-old. Just because he didn't like girls didn't mean he didn't recognize attraction in others. Attraction? Well...he supposed it was that.

Finally Pheobie put Rolly down. "Sorry puppy, but if I go back to Mr. Kitty smelling like puppy, he might get mad at me." She cooed, petting him lightly. She stood back up straight.

"Maple do you know where the bathroom is?" She asked.

"Souvenir building's just down there," Maple said, pointing westward to a colorful store. "Should have a bathroom in it."

Rolly seemed sad that he wasn't getting attention, and went over to Dalios to beg for some more. Dalios sighed and picked him up.

Pheobie nodded. She started to walk away but paused and crouched down to pick up a bill from the ground. "I think I found some money." She stated. "Here Maple" She smiled, holing it out for him to see.

"Go ahead and keep it. It'd be good for you to have some cash for yourself," said Maple. Now that he thought about it, he should have handed her some of the local currency before they got off the ship, instead of hogging it all himself. But this seemed an awkward time to admit that, so he kept that thought silent.

"Can you hold on to it though? My skirt doesn't have any pockets." Pheobie stated.

"Oh. Sure," Maple answered, sticking the stray bill in his other pocket.

Pheobie smiled and wandered off to the bathroom.

She wasn't gone more than five minutes. When she came back, she latched on to Maple's arm. "What animal should we go see next?" She asked with a grin.

"Let's see...where are the giraffes?" Maple asked Dalios.

"Down that way past the pandas," he said, pointing to a path through a bamboo grove.

"Oh, they have pandas now?"

"Apparently," answered Dalios. "Mother and two cubs."

"Well, we might as well visit them on the way!" announced Maple, marching ahead.

As he went toward the grove, he briefly wondered what Dalios and the others were doing at a zoo in the first place.

"Bye~" Pheobie chirped, waving to Dalios and his dog. She continued to hold onto Maple's arm. "He was nice" she commented.

Dalios gave a casual wave before he and Rolly began to walk the other way.

"He's a good pup," said Maple. Not a normal pup, but a good pup.

The bamboo grove turned out to be more of a labyrinth. The tall, stiff plants were far taller than even Maple, encasing the pathway in green walls of plant life. It made it hard to tell where he was going.

"Hey Maple." Pheobie stated after a while "I think we're lost."

Maple slowed, paused, and looked around.

"...I must agree," he admitted, wishing there were at least some signs pointing to wherever the pandas or giraffes or whatever were. "Oh well. We end up where we end up."

After wandering the green maze for a couple more minutes, they finally emerged in the bird section. Avians of all kinds watched from their cages: bald eagles, colorful parrots, large and tiny owls, and some odd blue-and-yellow birds that Maple didn't recognize.

Pheobie, however, did recognise the birds. "Sunshine birds!" She chirped, stepping forward to peer into the cage. "We have these on my world!" She grinned. "Only ours are smaller."

"Is that what they are?" Maple answered, taking a closer look at the sunshine birds. One of them stared back and then emitted a shrill cry at him, flaring out its wings in a threat display. "Little rays of sunshine indeed."

He glanced to the cage next door and was surprised to find a tawny griffin cub sleeping there. "Don't usually see those around much."

Pheobie glanced over at it. "What is it?" She asked softly.

"Griffin," Maple explained. "In most worlds it is merely myth. Yet it exists here. Ain't that something?"

The griffin pup woke up and gazed at them in wonder, as if they were the legendary creatures. It walked over in amazement, pawing at them playfully through the cage.

Pheobie giggled. "Its kinda cute"

"They ain't so cute when they grow up to be 15 feet tall," said Maple, watching the youngster. "...But right now, yeah he's kinda cute.

Pheobie smiled. "It looks kind of like a mix up of a bunch of creatures." She giggled "But still cute."

"Kind of like our friend the platypus," Maple mused. "Both animals have a hard time finding believers unless people actually see them in real life."

The griffin's horse-like ears flicked, and it abruptly looked over to the side, where a 14-year-old boy was making his way up the path. The golden-haired person's blue eyes traveled across a crinkled map he was holding.

"Why did they have to make this place so confusing?" he complained to himself, the map falling to his side. "I just want to see the pandas."

Falcon, Maple thought with amusement. It was a little odd seeing him in a plain white shirt with worn jeans instead of his usual fighting outfit of all blue, but there was no doubt it was him. For one, he still wore the usual blue headband, which didn't quite go with his current outfit.

Pheobie was still more interested in the griffin pup. "So where do they live? I mean, what makes them so legendary in the first place?"

"They mostly live in caves and cliffsides," Maple explained. "Main reason they're legendary is that they're big. And strong. They've been known to carve out caves for themselves just using their beaks and claws. Groups of griffins may make entire cavern systems."

The griffin pup was still more interested in Falcon, who was musing over his map again. It let out a high-pitched squawk that startled the boy. He stared at the conglomerate creature for a while. It cried out again, flapping its underdeveloped wings a little and batting at the bars.

"Wow, I haven't seen one of you in like...forever," Falcon remarked, walking over to the griffin while taking no notice of Maple and Pheobie whatsoever.

"That why? Isn't there any other reason?" Pheobie asked. "they're just too cute for that to be it!"

"Well they're very strange and very rare and very scary if they're mad, so that probably has something to do with it too," Maple replied. "Little ones are cute. Big ones are not."

Maple turned to say hello to Falcon, but he had already run off. He seemed oddly distracted today.