[Dear? Are you finished? Can they help us?] another oversized eagle landed in front of them, this one smaller by a head and a neck, her feathers redder where his was browner. [She won't stop crying.]

[Um… negotiations are… proceeding…] the Eagle Lord s.h.i.+fted his feathers a bit uncomfortably. [At a dignified pace.]

[You didn't even ask them?!]

[It is… beneath me…] The Eagle Lord said in a harried and frustrated manner.

[Fine! I'll do it, since I'm also beneath you, you big feather-brain!] she scolded. Then, she turned the Remian and Mindy. [We need a splint. And bandages.]

"For what? No, actually before that…" Mindy cleared her throat. "How do you even know what those are?"

[We have superior eyesight…] The Eagle Lord began.

[We spy on everybody when we get bored, and we get bored a lot.] his wife rolled her eyes. [Can you come help us? My daughter is hurt.]

"Hurt? What happened?" Mindy gasped.

The Eagle Lord's wife… Eagle Lord-ess? Eagle Lady? Well, the reddish giant eagle shook her head, and glared at her husband. [Somebody wanted his children to achieve independence and leave the nest, and the earlier they did, the more prestigious it would be…]

"Threw her out of the nest before she was ready?" Mindy guessed. "How bad is it?"

[Broken wing.] Lady Eagle summarized.

Mindy glanced at Remian. "Can we help them? Should we?"

"Do you want to?"

"Um… kinda. Yes. Actually, yes. But should we? I mean, they're our enemies, right?"

"Don't you remember, Mindy? All along, I've been trying to make friends with the Wilds."

"But… but the town… they kept destroying the town… and… and… we had to keep rebuilding it…"

"And every time we did, it came back stronger. Except I think we're done with that."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I've been rethinking the whole need for a 'town' in a traditional sense. I think we need to change the way we think, and the way we're going to live in these lands." Remian shrugged. "If Doom can live in harmony with the Wilds, so can we."

[Live in harmony? Is it not your way to subjugate everything you see? Put them all beneath you, to serve you?] the Eagle Lord harrumphed.

"Someone strong might be able to do that, maybe. But I'm not strong." Remian pointed out. "I'm a weak guy. Always have been. And weak people need friends."

[Friends? That…]

"Don't say it's beneath you, because I'm pretty sure it's not."

[Oh? And what friends have I?]

"The Stag Lord for example. He seemed quite keen on trapping us for you. Wouldn't even let us go back across his lands."

[The Stag is no friend of mine, nor yours. More likely, he hoped we would kill each other.]

"That… is possible, too…" Remian admitted. He sighed. "I was hoping he'd be more amenable. I mean… I didn't think stags were going to be especially unfriendly toward me. If any of the Lords would be willing to befriend humans, I thought surely it would have been a herbivore…"

[You run around with wolfcats and feed them meat and you expect him to think of you in friendly terms? In his eyes, you are someone who feeds herbivores to carnivores, on top of being a destroyer of nature.]

"You have a point." Remian glanced up. "But we're not like that in your eyes, are we?"

[My eyes see far more. To compare my grand vision to that of those ground-crawlers…]

"…It's beneath you, I know already. So, are we going to treat your daughter or what?"

[Come!] Lady Eagle urged them.

They followed the eagles toward the peak before them, one airs.h.i.+p surrounded by dozens of gigantic flyers. Other than eagles, there were hawks, kites, falcons, other birds that Remian couldn't even recognize or name. Bzziezio hissed, and then fled with her entire clan to hide in the depths of the airs.h.i.+p, there to huddle together in dark corners afraid to let out even a single buzz. How many of these giant birds ate insects? Remian didn't know, but if the Feelo-Wasps emerged at this point, it would probably look like Remian brought the birds some dinner…

It has to be said that Three Pines Peak was a lot higher than it looked from afar. Remian's expectations really hadn't done it justice, since until today, he had only seen it on a map. The birds set a good pace, but half an hour into their flight, Mindy was already asking, "Are we there, yet?"

Obviously, not. They had pa.s.sed three smaller peaks by now; Remian wasn't sure if he should call them hills or mountains, but whatever the case, they were peaks, but compared with the towering form looming over all of them, those peaks were just… small.

The ones below still had gra.s.s and some greenery on them. The peak in front of them, the one they all headed to? From where Remian stood on the bow of the airs.h.i.+p, it was sheer gray and white. The only things green he could see on it were three distinct pines cl.u.s.tered together at the very top. That was probably what gave this peak its name…

Wait. Pines? But… to be able to see them at this distance…

Goodness. How big were those pine trees?!

Ten minutes later, they were still flying toward the top of Three Pines Peak, and those three pines looked bigger and bigger as they neared. Ten minutes afterward, they still hadn't arrived, and Remian was half-wondering if they were moving at all or, in fact, had been hovering motionless in place for the past half-hour, because they still didn't seem any closer to reaching the Peak, and those pines now looked absolutely humungous.

"You know, Mindy…" Remian mentioned. "Earlier, when I saw the pines, I was thinking we should set down somewhere near them. Now, seeing them like this… maybe we should talk about which branch of which pine we want to set the airs.h.i.+p down."

That really was the case. It was clear now that the pines were so large, they could safely land the whole airs.h.i.+p on top of any of their main branches and still have plenty of room to spare.

[You think the pines are big? You should go see a Sky Tree.] The Eagle Lord chuckled.

"What's a Sky Tree?" Mindy gulped.

[Keep going south, and you'll find out. You can't miss them.]

Lady Eagle cleared her throat. [There's an old abandoned nest on the fifth branch of the center pine, just two branches down from ours. You can nestle your airs.h.i.+p there.]

"You guys are on the Third Branch? That's strange. I would have thought you were at the top. Who's living on the branches above yours?"

[n.o.body. Haven't I told you? Everything is beneath me!] The Eagle Lord huffed. [It's just that those branches are not capable of holding a nest worthy of my stature!]

"So they're too small for you? I almost thought you were going to say they were beneath you, even though they're actually above."

[They are beneath me! Their size is beneath me!]

"Okay, okay, don't get your feathers ruffled over it."

The Eagle Lord harrumphed a bit more, but then settled down.

[Since you're coming, then come. My daughter awaits.]

***

They heard his daughter miles before they ever laid eyes on her. She was chirping miserably, grumbling psionically, wailing and weeping over being thrown out of the nest. [Daddy doesn't want me any more! He doesn't love me any more! Boohoohoo…]

[Dear, you need to do something.] Lady Eagle advised her mate.

[What? What am I supposed to do?] The Eagle Lord protested.

[Go comfort her! Tell her you love her!]

[But that's…]

[Don't you dare! Don't you dare say it's beneath you!]

The Eagle Lord shut up.