Expanding the Search

[Leon Barner]

Leon had long since gotten used to his own area of the mountains, the spot by that lake. Now the weather was beginning to get warmer, something that was always a relief. It certainly wasn't cold enough for him to need his hoody today. So, for the first time of the year, Leon went out into the mountains in a short-sleeved graphic tee which advertised some newer band that he didn't particularly care for. The thinner material was much more comfortable around his wings.

However, what he didn't like about it, was that it left the three scars on his right forearm uncovered. They weren't bad anymore though. They just looked like regular scars now. Before Jami had healed it, they'd always appeared as if they were recent, though he'd gotten them around this time last year. Leon was surprised at this thought. Yeah, he'd gotten them springtime, last year. It had been a whole year...

Leon shook his head. He wasn't going to think about this right now. He didn't feel like it. Today, Leon was flying to a different section of the mountains. Learning the mountains was always a good distraction for him. And he killed two birds with one stone in the process. At the same time, he was able to keep an eye for that item Pingo wanted. Granted, he wasn't searching in earnest for it at the moment, but to anyone looking on it would have seemed like he was searching for something.

[Kale]

The mountains were off limits. Even among the Deans, it had been accepted that the harpy had taken an unofficial claim to the peaks off to the North of the island. The Lauri Mountains, a structure that reminded her of her Puy de Sancy in Massif Central, France. She hadn't always lived in high elevation mountain dwellings as her species was prone to all her life, but she was drawn to them and knew these well. From her first day here, she was been scouring these rock features. For more reasons than just that she liked them.

Today, it was her turn.

As such, Kale was out among the high peaks today. She had done her check-up, and was now spending some of her free time enjoying the thin air, seated upon a large boulder on a rock-face ledge. Kale was breathing deep, basking, when a figure caught her eye. Some altitude below her, a bit off, a lone flyer was gliding. The owl's eyes hardened as she watched. She knew those black wings, what she didn't know what what he was doing here. This would be the second time he was flying in to space she considered hers, only this was of a higher priority that he remain out. He appeared to be searching, and whatever it was that he was after, it would just not do. Curious little birds found things they weren't supposed to. The solution was to clip their wings. The woman scooped up three rocks about the size of her fist.

Kale stood, looking down on Leon. She tightened the bandages that were acting in lieu of a shirt today, tucking the hanging pieces up so they would not flap in the wind. Leaping from the rock, Kale dipped before spreading creme colored wings. Soaring high and silent, the harpy angled in the direction of the boy. Staring at Leon, tracking him, she pulled back her arm, hand loaded with the first of three rocks. With skills honed by years of targeting, she let the rock fly.

He had gotten off easy once before, but not again.

[Leon Barner]

Leon hadn't been look up. He rarely ever saw other people in the mountains, especially as far north as he was now. This was a large reason why he liked the area so much. Paranoia didn't set in here. For this reason, he was more relaxed than he normally was.

Leon had been flying relatively close to the mountainside, just to the right of it, when the rocks were thrown. Each of them landed around the area where his left wing connected with his body and he felt the shock of the impact up to his shoulders. Leon turned sideways, trying to relieve his left wing for the moment, pull away from the mountain so he wouldn't collide with it, and maintain his flight all at the same time. The action was completed with little success, slowing him sown and lowering him farther than was comfortable. In fact, he hadn't been unable to pull far enough away from the mountainside before it expanded it out beneath him and he ended up colliding with it regardless. He barrel rolled once in the air before coming to an ungraceful and abrupt halt on the ground, scraping the heels of his palms and causing two tears to form in the left knee of his jeans in the process.

Leon collected himself quickly, pushing off the ground and pulling his wings in close. He summoned some energy into his hand forming into a rough, spherical shape, then scouted the sky, fully intent on launching the molten mass at whoever had attacked him. He held it back, however, as he realized it was Kale. "What the hell's you're problem??" The outrage was clearly heard in his voice.

[Kale]

The rocks had been true and hit with precision. She took great joy in the way he collided with the mountainside after having failed to maneuver away, but she was hunting and her face remained cold and passively displeased. Even at the outrage as Leon yelled, having picked out her form against the sky. Kale pulled in her wings and angled herself towards the ground, higher than where Leon himself had landed. Her legs stretched out and she landed with a click of talons and a gust of wind from the buffet of large wings. The whole manuveur, she kept the boy in her sights.

The harpy stood tall, wings slightly out in a threatening manner. Ebony eye glared down hard on Leon.

"You are in my territory yet again, Leon." Kale's voice was just as cold as the rest of her demeanor. It was obvious that she was both displeased and not playing around this time. "I expect you leave and go back to the safety of the castle with most haste. The mountains are a dangerous place." A threatening step forward was taken and wings opened a fraction more. It was in this moment quite possible that she herself was the greatest danger to the boy right now, and she intended to make that clear. The owl would not hold back. She would seriously injure him to chase him out of these mountains if she had to.

[Leon Barner]

Leon followed Kale's movements with his eyes, still clenching the hot ball of energy, which was about the size of a softball, in his hand. Just how much of this place was Kale's "territory"? She didn't own the sky. Leon would fly where he very well pleased, and if Kale thought a few rocks were going to chase him away than she was dumber than he'd given her credit for. Rocks. Oh god, it reminded him so much of something his father would do. That weak old man.

"I don't care what you consider to be your territory." Leon shook out his wings a bit and rolled his left shoulder. "And if a few rocks are what you consider to be dangerous than I don't care about that either." Leon had made the mental assumption that Kale's bones were hollow. She seemed to be built after the anatomy of a bird. If he were more certain that this was true, he maybe have added the name Hollow-Bones, to the end of the statement to serve as insult.

Despite his bravado, Leon was able to see the seriousness in the harpy's threat. Under any other circumstances it would have made no difference, but Kale had that anklet.. She could very easily cause him serious harm with it, not only this instant, but Leon shuddered to think what the after effects of Kale knowing about his aversion to gold would bring. That absolutely would not happen.

Leon took a step back, lifting his wings high and bring them down hard to pull himself into the air. He pulled to the left, away from the mountainside which he'd crashed into, and directed himself to in a direction further into the mountains, but that would still allow him to keep Kale in his line of sight. In his hand, he added an amount of looser energy to the ball, the kind that burned hottest.

[Kale]

The rocks were a warning. Kale's face remained as stone, even as he mocked her. It made little difference in the end to her what he cared about. Facts were going to be facts. She was going to drive him out one way or another. As he stepped back, his first movement, she started.

Kale took off, sprinting forward three steps before vaulting off the rocky surface, wings wide. Strong beats took her light form swiftly through the air.

Calculating, the woman streamed through all that she knew about Leon through class and through his files. After their encounter at the clock tower, she had made a point to read up on him. His records had been most unhelpful, but she had an idea of the effects of his power. She didn't particularly want to get burned. She had already felt heat from those wings before, and she had no interest in brushing her skin along those black feathers.

At her higher elevation, she used gravity to give her speed. Tucking her wings in, feathered wrist joints pointed for aerodynamics, she angled downwards to come to the far side of Leon's left to try and cut him off and turn him back towards the inner island, away from the mountain ranges. She twisted and aimed a talon-ed foot too high with an awful screech. It was a threat, not aimed for him, but a deterrent from getting too close and to swerve away from her in the direction she wanted him to go.

[Leon Barner]

Leon straightened out as the harpy moved to cut him off, giving a hard flap of his wings to pull himself back away from. As he did, he let fly the ball of energy from his hand, aiming it towards the woman's gut. Though the her attack didn't seem meant to actually hit him, it panicked Leon to see the gold in such close proximity to his wings. If that thing so much as grazed them..

Leon couldn't let Kale this close. She seemed bent on use her feet to fight, and Leon didn't particularly blame her. The talons looked unforgiving, but more unforgiving was the gold anklet around her right one. He had to protect his wings.

Leon put his fists together, side by side. He generated energy from his left hand, and pulled it away using his right. The action, one which was similar to the unsheathing of a longsword, produce a curved rod shape, thinner on one side than it was on the other because of how his hand had been clenched. The object was far too dull to constitute a blade, but the burn of it was all he'd need. In length, it was about 3 feet.

Leon followed through with action of forming it, using his wings to give him some spin. He aimed the object towards Kale's midsection, however with their distance it would fall short. The spin caused him to drop a bit a bit and move more to Kale's left. He kept an eye up to her and an arm ready to use his self-made weapon in case she made an attempt to drop on him. From here, he'd continue going further into the mountains, in the same direction he'd been trying to go.

[Kale]

The harpy quick beat her left wing only. It was a jerky maneuver that threw her off, but it served to twist her enough where the launched energy ball brushed past her bared stomach rather than collide with it straight on. The heat of it left her skin a little redder, but her expression didn't change, her mind was focused and she had fared worse.

The thing was, Kale was a close ranged fighter. Her range was that of the length of her chain scythe, her chosen weapon of which was settled neatly on her nest in the top of the clock tower. She took to leaving it there, as she never needed it, and it was only for battles in which she intended to be making rather quick finishes. Of course, it would have been nice and useful here, but that wasn't an option. That left her with little choice. Her sharp gaze eyed the strange blade, rod thing in Leon's hand as it swung towards her. It would fall short, and it did, so she didn't bother twisting away. The only reaction was to pull her wings back so long arched feathers would not be singed. As it passed their birth and the boy fell back, she dropped pursuit in order to lift herself higher. Elevation was a key point in mid-flight battles.

She kept with him, not dropping, wary of his ready position with that annoying toy of a weapon, but staying in a stance that threatened to dive him at a moment's notice. The owl would not let up.

"I don't know why you are insisting upon this, boy. You can't hope to either fight or outrun me. If for no other reason, then I insist you land upon the order of a Dean." She called out to him.

[Leon Barner]

Leon rose higher as Kale did, not wanting her to be too far above him, however he kept moving farther left of her, keeping his right elbow pointed towards in preparation to lash out with his weapon if she made any moves towards him.

The weapon was no good. It wasn't as long as he would have liked, however even with this in mind, it still took a lot of energy to maintain its form. He wouldn't be able to keep it for very long, but he needed it's added range. He could always use projectiles, but this would require him to react very quickly and he'd already seen how fast Kale could move. Projectiles would be inefficient here.

No hesitation colored Leon's face as the harpy spoke. He was fully aware he wouldn't be able to outrun her, and in a battle he certainly wouldn't be able to hold her off forever. Why was he insisting on it? There were only two people in the world with the authority to command his flight. Kale was not, and would never be one of them, regardless of whether she used her experience as a long-time flier or her title of dean.

Leon made no verbal response to Kale's words. He'd let his actions speak for him this time. Those actions being his continued, northbound ascent.

[Kale]

An elegant eyebrow rose slightly as Leon stayed within a certain distance of her. Obviously, he didn't know much about her. All as well, though, it was beneficial in the long run. As he kept leaning left, she tilted her wings to follow, drifting to keep him under her and not too far to her side. She didn't want to give him any room to maneuver.

As the boy failed to heed her final command, Kale could only narrow her eye.

"Fool." She didn't even scoff. It was said simply as a matter of fact. Fine. Be that way. She wouldn't have to fight him, he'd ware himself out as long as she made things difficult. Call it a lesson then. The harpy appeared to be flying in a rather non-hostile manner, well, for the situation at least. Unseen, though, she twisted out tendrils of her own influence. Now, her ability to manipulate and guide energies worked infinitely better on general types. Taking control of energies specific to someone else was very difficult, but perhaps if she didn't try to tame it just...take it, or disrupt it. Kale's own energy snaked out to intertwine with that of Leon's, his own energy sure to feel as foreign to her as her's was likely to feel to him. This is why she was a close-distance fighter, though. The closer she was, the easier this would be on her. The harpy tilted to lower herself more towards him. She would simply pull his energy this way, prod it that way, mess with it, try and take it out in to the air where it would be of no use to him. Whatever, just cause it to drift from the path Leon wanted it to be on. It wasn't easy, and it wasn't an exact science. Her hope was that he wouldn't know how to cope with the fluctuations.

[Leon Barner]

Leon wouldn't take Kale's non-aggressive position to mean that she wasn't going to attack. If you approached a goose that was simply standing there and tried to touch it, it would likely bite your finger off, and that'd be your reward for letting your guard down around the thing. Leon continued to keep to the left, wanting above all else to keep her from being directly above him.

The first thing Leon felt was the weapon in his hand beginning to waver, as well as Kale's alien energy. It was hard enough to maintain its shape without Kale interrupting his flow of energy. Though the energy of his wings was something that wouldn't detach from his body, he could feel a certain amount of difficulty in directing his flight, almost as if he were passing over some turbulence.

The weapon had to go. It wasn't worth it anymore. He planted the bottom of the weapon into his palm, then brought his palm to meet the opposite hand, almost as if he were simply closing it the way he would a telescope. Most of the energy scattered off into the air, but a small amount it returned to his body, leaving a charred black triangle on his palm that would take all of 5 minutes to heal.

Leon then gave a hard flap to bring himself further left before retracting his wings entirely, dropping like a rock away from the harpy. He didn't know anything about Kale's ability, but it didn't take a genius to assert that she was the cause of the disturbance in his energy.

Leon dropped at a steep angle, mimicking a sky diver to reduce air resistance. Once he dropped fair distance from the harpy, he'd release his wings once more, letting momentum and the force of gravity carry him quickly in the same direction he'd been going.

[Kale]

Kale continued to pull and pry at Leon's energy, and her lips quirked up in victory as he decided to vanish his weapon. Hm, so her techniques effected those abilities of his. She filed it away for future reference. The start of her smirk fell, however, when the boy decided to drop away from her. She felt her energy stretch to follow him, but became less and less the further he got, which happened very quickly. Very soon was it no longer beneficial to stretch herself. She could have followed, but instead, she let him go, her own waning influence receding reluctantly from Leon.

The harpy looked around. They were getting into the thick of the mountains where peaks were thinner, but multiple, making sharp, deep and thin valleys between them. Kale hissed and glanced down to Leon. The steep descent he had taken had only given her one immediate benefit that she hoped counted here. At his angle, she didn't think he could see her. The woman dipped her left wing and sharply turned to veer around a peak of a mountain to place the structure between them. She was giving up sight on her target, but she hoped to track him by sound. His wings, his heart, whatever she could pick up on. Luckily, there wasn't anyone else really out this far to confused her and the sounds of the flying young man were far different from those of the normal wildlife.

The plan was, he would lose track of her. It seemed he was planning on going further into the Lauri's, Kale was betting on beating him to the other side of this mountain. She took a breath and beat her harder, stealing energy from the air and pushing herself.

[Leon Barner]

Once Leon leveled out once more, he looked up to where he thought he'd left Kale above him. However the harpy was gone now. After looking around the general area, directly above him, directly below, he was still unable to find the dean.

Leon slowed, sure that Kale wouldn't have simply given up in her efforts to get him out the mountains. No, she was definitely around here, somewhere. But if he couldn't see her, Leon would assume that she couldn't see him either. Leon made a slight motion to move onto the the other side of another approaching mountain. He made a concentrated effort to fly quietly now, however didn't take his heartbeat into account.

He brought his wings in close to his body, flying low. The mountain brought him to alter his direction a bit so he was flying more north east now. Once he got past it though, he'd continue going directly north once more. Leon's eyes were kept on the sky, watching out for the harpy. It seemed she favored height, and as low as he was flying now it'd give him plenty of reaction time. He just had to catch sight of her first.

[Kale]

She almost lost him. Her hearing was excellent, but as Leon quieted his flight, Kale had to slow her own speed to focus on his heart and to keep the wind from blocking too much noise. She tracked it as he descended and turned. Along the flight, the harpy scanned the area around her. As high as she was, the tops of some of the mountains caught her attention. Well, not the tops exactly, but rather the small ledges and boulders that some held. An idea forming, Kale let her focus go on Leon for a moment to surge some speed into her flight.

The woman landed on the side of the mountain some ways up and waited to find the boy's position again. It took a moment longer than she would have liked, but when she thought she had him, Kale ran along the rocky surface to such a ledge she had been admiring. She surveyed the valley between the mountains. Leon might have a time advantage and it may have been wise of him to fly low, but he was limiting himself to the natural paths of the mountains rather than the open air. She hummed.

Approaching a boulder that was still semi-connected to the mountainside, Kale scanned it. Picking out a weak point, she placed her hand against it and tore at its structure atomically with her own angry energy. Unfortunately, being a harpy left her lacking in the physical strength department, but with much effort, Kale was able to weaken the stone and poor her determination into rolling it over. It shook, and she hissed angrily, pushing her shoulder against it. Eventually, and with a few beats of large wings, it rolled over the edge and plummeted down. She didn't stop to watch if Leon was even under it or just near it. She didn't care if it hit him directly, she just needed to drain him, cause him trouble. Distract him. Picking up any rubble possible, she chucked it over the side as well before leaping to another ledge. Rocks and dirt started raining.

[Leon Barner]

Leon wasn't putting much effort into keeping hidden. He knew if the harpy tried to descend on him, he'd see her long before she made it to him. Kale must have understood this too. If it were him, he'd keep just out of sight and wait for opportunity to catch his target off-guard. Considering this, he lowered himself even further, hoping the mountains would now help shield him from view.

Once he was low enough, he retracted his wings and made to land on the side of the mountain. The area where he stopped had no even footing, which meant meant he had to hold on to the side of the mountain. He only wanted to change his current course of action, prevent Kale from anticipating where he would be in so many seconds.

The noise of the boulder beginning to fall called his attention upwards. It wasn't falling directly above him, and maybe if he'd kept going he would have been able to pass under it before it could have caused any trouble. He had to act now though. React, actually. He didn't like that he was reacting, rather than acting on his own.

Leon kicked off the mountain, trying to gain some extra height as his wings returned and he brought them down. He used all six of his limbs to climb the mountainside, pulling to the left away from the falling rubble. He was stopped up a few times by some of it hitting into his wings or shoulders, but otherwise ascended quickly.

Once he made it to a peak, he kicked off again and continued over the range. He quickly aimed himself downward again into the next valley, still going distinctly north. He assumed it would take Kale a few moments to find him again and moved to put as much distance between himself and the harpy as possible in that time.

[Kale]

She would never admit how she tired. Physical exertion never did her well, her small body simply incapable of large stunts. Not to say she wasn't ft, her body did well enough but, say, moving large boulders was not one of her expertise. So, while her firey, unrelenting determination had but a few more rocks being cast over the edge, it was reason that had cream wings opening for a wind to sweep her upwards. Honestly, to continue to plummet rocks into the valley, while possibly finding their mark, could be a complete waste of time and energy as she no longer knew if her intended target was even still in the line of fire.

With the effort abandoned, Kale soared up to a higher elevation that allowed for gliding rather that avid flying. Using the position to it's most advantage, ebony eye scanned the area, trying to relocate her escaped intended prey.

[Leon Barner]

For several moments, Leon focused only on moving away as quickly as was physically possible for him. When he felt that whatever head start he'd had was used up, he looked back over his shoulder. He had no doubt that Kale was the faster flier between them. his encounter with her at the clock tower had told him that she was more capable anyway.

Now that he thought back on the though, she'd exhausted herself in the end. Yes, her wings were physical, actually like a birds. That meant they had muscles. So all he really had to do was outlast her. No doubt pushing all those rocks over had done its toll as well.

Leon managed to spot Kale at a rather high altitude. If he could see her, then she could see him. He pulled up slightly, still leaving a large gap between their two altitudes. Flapping was kept at a minimum now and his northward progress had slowed as a result, as though he were simply waiting.

[Kale]

The harpy spotted the boy's figure below keenly, and watched him rise slightly. Still she made no move to attack, but rather glided, hovering over him as might a starving man over a dessert display case. Her wings were broad and made for energy conserving flight rather than speed. Kale glanced around the mountain range. Where was- Ah yes, there. She noted the location of a mountain in particular before charting what course she expected Leon to be taking in the coming moments.

Deciding she couldn't afford to waste her energy chasing her student down on a high speed run, Kale tilted her wings to avoid an updraft and stay on course. What was he doing...? A critical eye was kept pinned on Leon. Dipping slightly, she glided to put herself on Leon's right, as if she were trying to get just the right angle for something planned.

[Leon Barner]

Leon and glanced in Kale's direction when she got closer, and the only thing he asserted in this time was that if she was on his right, then she most likely wanted him to go left. Once he saw her from the corner of his eye he would quickly pick up his speed, lowering his altitude slightly in the process.

Initially, he would pull towards the left, then he would change direction altogether and go due east, hopefully waiting long to avoid having Kale directly above him. At this point, he didn't really care to find anything in particular. He would be happy simply knowing where it was that Kale didn't want him to be. Then, he could back at another time and narrow down his search to that general area. He'd wait for Kale to either relax or tense, pursue him harder, or ease off.

Once on the harpy's left side, he'd lift up higher in order to avoid the mountainous terrain. Now he would be getting much closer to Kale's initial altitude. He maintained his speed, but looked towards Kale from the corner of his eye. Warmer or Colder?

[Kale]

At first, she was relieved to see him turn left in correspondence to her herding, however going directly east was not exactly to her preference. With a gentle glide, she turned to follow, maintaining her height in the sky no matter how near or far Leon drew to its plane. Pulling her eyes away from him, the woman glanced around the area again in a quick sweep.

She needed a plan.

Tilting her shoulders, she swerved smoothly over nearer to the boy and called out.

"What are you hoping to accomplish here in my territory to put yourself at such risk?"

[Leon Barner]

Leon noted Kale's quick glancing over the area. He smirked. Warmer then. He took the Harpy's words a sign of this also. She didn't want to expend anymore energy through the use of force, so now she was reverting back to diplomacy. Or maybe she was trying to distract him. Either way, he took it to mean warmer.

"Nothing. I'm just trying to get under your skin." There was a hint of suppressed chuckle in his voice. "Besides. I don't think I'm at any risk here. Who died and made you queen of the mountains, anyway?" He scanned the area himself, searching for anything out of the ordinary, searching for whatever it was Kale was searching for that she didn't want him to find. He made a slight effort to keep this action surreptitious, but it was likely not enough to actually keep Kale from noticing. "The mountains, the clock tower. Can I go anywhere without you getting all territorial and trying to kick me out?"

Leon lowered again, flying closer to mountains now. He was trying to get a closer look, and at this point he didn't care if Kale knew it. He was almost trying to entice her into action, make her actually confirm that he was far too close for comfort.

[Kale]

The harpy let loose a sharp screech hiss, low in harsh tones.

"You are at more risk that you realize..." It was not exactly mean to him, but rather simply said aloud just to say aloud. The next part, however, was aimed more for his to hear. "The clock tower and the mountains are the only places that are mine. It's not my fault that you simply choose to invade my territories. Go somewhere else, and I wont kick you out."

Kale followed his descent in altitude, her mind still frantically working to solve this situation. She did not like how closely he was inspecting the mountain range. Finally, her mind settled on a course of action.

Again she glanced around, then, as if spotting something, she quickly tucked in a wing and dove in a spiral to the side towards a selection of denser trees with much haste, disappearing under the branches.

[Leon Barner]

Leon resisted the urge to scoff. He could understand the clock tower since that was where she lived, but how could she possible claim the whole of the mountains for herself? The "only" places that were hers? She said it as though the Lauri Mountains didn't take up a rather large portion of the island. Heaven forbid some student with any amount of remaining ignorance or innocence stumbled into them and ran into the harpy. Especially if they just happened to be lost.

Well, Kale had a problem then. Needless to say, Leon had no intentions of writing of the mountains as off limits. "And it's not my fault that your so-called 'territories' happen to be the kind of places that I like."

Leon looked up towards the harpy in time to see her veer off into the trees. Either he'd gone cold and she'd lost interest that he wasn't as close to whatever she was trying to protect, or otherwise she was intentionally trying to throw him off in some way, lead him off the trail.

He highly doubted that she would go towards whatever it was and risk leading him directly to it, but then there was always the possibility of multiple layers of reverse psychology which was always what made him second-guess himself when it came to people like Kale.

Leon ascended quickly, pulling a good distance away from the trees that Kale had gone into before reaching their height to avoid the risk of an ambush. When he was at a good height above the mountains he stopped and flew in place, examining and committing the general area to memory while also looking for the science professor.

[Kale]

Her wings pulled in tight, they acted nearly as shields from the scratching branches as she dove through the greedy tree tops. Swinging her legs forward, her talon-ed feet wrapped securely around a thick branch beneath the cover of the higher limbs. Wings out for balance in the sudden stop, the harpy twisted to look up through the canopy. Between the leaves she was barely able to catch the lone figure of Leon high in the sky.

Kale hissed cruelly, and looked around her surroundings, searching for something - anything. Giving a last bitter look to the boy above, the woman flapped her wings and dipped off her perch. Keeping mostly a half fold of wings, legs were used to grasp branch to branch as she weaved through the trees unappreciative of her wingspan. It was slower going, but steady, as she made her way north. Perhaps if she kept Leon unaware of her location, he would become nervous from lack of knowledge. Perhaps it would be best to sit and wait, and in the meantime try to cut him off from traveling farther into the mountain ranges. Though she was loathe to note how far they had come in already. It might be better off, in fact, just letting him float above and just watch over where he traveled and probed. Kale narrowed her eye and dug her talons unreasonably harsh into the passing bark of a tree. Stupid little boy.

[Leon Barner]

Leon was satisfied. It wasn't as though he'd be able to get away with whatever he wasn't meant to find right now anyway, not with Kale still hanging around. If it was that vial, then it'd be best to try and obtain it as discreetly as possible, anyway.

After he felt certain he'd be able to find this same spot again at a later time, Leon began to make his way due south again. He wouldn't say anything, though. Maybe Kale would just think he'd gotten bored and left. He kept his eyes down for the most part, eyeing the trees he'd seen the science professor disappear into. He hadn't seen her come back out, and now he searched for any disturbance in the canopy that would tell him where exactly she was flying. As long as Kale let him, he'd simply continue the rather long flight back out of the mountains without much more of a hassle.

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