Rain Dance

Kimi tilted her head and watched them go.
Why did everyone assume that Voltaire wanted to mate her?

Voltaire sent Curtis an annoyed glare as the Cats rode off into the distance. Stupid ex-commander zombie. He turned back to the rooster machine, which he turned off and began to work on again. The sun was almost down, and soon he wouldn't be able to work at all.

"Which reminds me," Adair said idly with a smirk. "How was your first kiss earlier.

Voltaire stopped and flushed as he realized that was exactly what had happened when Kimi healed him. He wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"...Breathtaking," he replied somewhat flatly.

Kimi frowned in confusion. "When did we kiss?" She asked "I was told kissing was when humans press their lips to another human's cheek. Am I mistaken?"

"Well, no, that counts too, it's just..." Adair began, trying to think of the best way to explain it.

"A kiss on the cheek is friendly. A kiss on the mouth or neck is intimate," Voltaire finished for him, still a bit embarrassed. "...Does that happen every time, by the way? That vacuum effect?"

"When I heal? Yes. When I heal, it is literally sucking the illness from your body." Kimi explained "Sorry if it made you uncomfortable."

"Hey, it worked, so it's not like I can complain," Voltaire replied. Her answer hadn't been the answer he had been looking for, but he didn't want to ask more specifically in front of Adair. "So, uh, thanks for earlier. I've been meaning to say that."

"Its the least I can do after all you've done for me" Kimi replied. "You don't have to thank me"

"Well, yeah, it's just..." Voltaire rambled, looking away. "...Eh, whatever."

"Silly Volty," said Ava, coming over to groom his hair. She was halfway to them when she stiffened, her pupils turning to slits and the feathers on the back of her neck standing up. She looked past the Hunter and somewhere into the distance.

"...What is it?" asked Voltaire, he and Adair suddenly tense.

"Going now," said Ava lowly, corralling the others together under her wing. "Going going going going."

Voltaire's heart dropped as Adair suddenly grew more agitated. Gales were coming this way. They hurriedly climbed aboard, Voltaire helping Kimi up. Instead of sitting up they laid flat on Ava's back, to avoid visibility and make themselves less of a target.

"What's wrong?" Kimi asked in a whisper. The atmosphere the other three were giving off made her feel that a normal tone would be too loud. "What's going on?" She felt worried now.

Voltaire stayed silent as they took off, keeping one arm over Kimi's back as he warily watched the outside. Adair also stayed quiet, though his silence was more of a shameful fear than a cautionary one, like he had just been caught doing something wrong.

At first the only sound was Ava's wings, but then sharp whizzes hissed around them. Arrows. Voltaire caught a glimpse of three pegasus and their riders, all clad in deep blue armor. If Voltaire had doubts about who was pursuing them at first, he had no doubt now. Only Gales wore that kind of armor.

"Wh-what's going on?" Kimi asked again, more of a hysterical note to her whisper. An arrow whizzed just over her head, causing her to whimper and press her face down into Ava's feathers. "I-I'm scared!"

"Gales," he hissed quietly. "Adair's relatives. You've heard about them already, right?"

Ava shot upward into the clouds to attempt to lose their chasers, or at least weaken their arrow's aim.

Kimi nodded, pressing her face farther into Ava's feathers. She was still scared.

The arrows were still flying, but most were farther off the mark and not buzzing by their ears as they had been. Ava weaved in and out of the cloud cover to further obscure her trail. He heard more whinnying cries, which meant they were still pursuing and that there were probably others.

Did they hear us earlier? Voltaire wondered, before wanting to smack himself. Of course they heard us, with the rooster blasting everything loud enough to be heard for miles. We might as we have put up a sign that said WE ARE HERE. Dammit, how could I have been so-

Voltaire let out a stifled cry as he felt a sudden sharp pain in his shoulder. Gale aim was as precise as ever.

Kimi looked up at Voltaire when she heard him cry out.

Clenching her jaw in determination, even though she felt like crying, she summoned the same barrier that had protected them from the never ending rain.

Every time an arrow struck the barrier, it made a hollow sound, like the beating of a drum.

"...We could have used that earlier," Voltaire growled, his wounded shoulder throbbing. It would not be lethal, but it still hurt greatly.

"...What 'Taire means is we're grateful for not becoming further pincushions," Adair added with a strained lightheartedness. He himself had gotten a arrow in the leg, but had already pulled it out and was working on healing the wound. The barrier allowed them enough security to do that.

"Sorry" Kimi murmured. "I-I wasn't thinking."

Voltaire sat up and preceded to remove the arrow from his shoulder. With a sickening suck it pulled free and blood flowed. Voltaire immediately began blowing white flame on the wound to staunch the blood and seal the wound.

The arrows lessened, and then finally stopped. It appeared that they had invaded the Gales, but Voltaire was still wary.

"Are they gone?" Kimi asked "Is it safe to let down the barrier?"

"Keep it up a little longer, just in case," advised Voltaire in-between white firebreaths. The wound would be closed soon, and then he would be able to talk more freely.

"Okay." Kimi nodded. "I can do that" She closed her eyes to better concentrate. She still wasn't fond of flying.

When the wound had sufficiently closed Voltaire tied a loose piece of cloth around the area. It wasn't completely healed, and it might start bleeding again under too much strain. He and Adair kept a sharp eye on the skies around them, but no more arrows or other threats appeared. Voltaire turned to Kimi, and felt new guilt sink in as new and old events registered in his mind.

"Look, if you start feeling sick you can stop," he said. "I don't want you passing out on me again."

"I'm much healthier now." Kimi replied. "I won't pass out. I just.... I don't like being off the ground."

"Oh. Well, a lot of people don't like air travel," said Adair. "I know Curtis can't stand it."

"Being captured by a harpy and dangling from her grasp for hours probably has a lot to do with that," Voltaire replied with a smirk. Not such a graceful moment for his former commander. "Be glad you weren't him then."

"We'll be traveling for a while," Ava warned. "We want to be as far away from those meanie Gales as possible. Not safe to settle near where we were."

"Alright. I understand." Kimi replied. "I can keep this up for a little while"