In another time period... has absolutely no reference from my Roseate chronicles...But Rose is still in it!!

Sweet music

Piper was rocking her head to the music that was echoing in the room. The rhythmic beat of the song kept her mind going as she charted out their next landing area that wasn't infested with cyclonians. Finn sat slouched in a corner, waiting for his turn with the record player. Junko sat in a chair nearby, reading a new book he had found on the last Terra they had passed. Aerrow stood at her side, quietly watching her work. Radarr slept on a counter.

"Stork, I need you to head down about south, southwest, ok?" She called to the Merb, who only nodded and shifted the controls downward.

"How much longer till we get there, Piper?" Aerrow asked, and she shifted her position to loop her arm in his. They leaned into one another, simply enjoying the presence that they provided.

"Yuck... come on guys, we know you've been together for a month now, but seriously, save the romance for a time when hmm... lets see...I'm not here!" Finn called out, making the two turn their heads. Piper reluctantly pulled away from Aerrow, and scanned the map again.

"Waiting for directions here!" Stork said from the front.

"Ok, ok, chill. This Terra is populated by a couple of cyclonians, but it's nothing we can't handle. And it's the best I could do. The next Terra is a day's trip away. The Terra's called Watasima." explained Piper, who finally folded up the map and turned around to put it back on the shelf. Rose entered with Heron at her side, the dog trotting at her heels.

"Where we stopping?" She asked, fixing the pink Roseate spoonbill feather in her hair.

"Some Terra called Watama or something..." Finn replied, standing up from his slouched position.

"Watasima." Piper called from the other side of the room. Rose only smiled. Daily routines on the Condor were extremely different from the ones back home.

Stork brought the ship in for a landing, sliding perfectly under a canopy of hanging trees.

"What do you think Rose?" Aerrow questioned her, who was quite familiar with forest enshroudments.

"Pretty good... were a bit off the ground so normal patrols won't see us, but, I'm gonna go take a look around." Flipping her pink feather behind her ear again, she started for the door.

"Wait, what about the cyclonians?" Finn started after her.

"What about them? If I could sneak up on you guys, I don't think the cyclonians will be a problem. But tag along if you like, Finn." Roseate said and left the room, Finn deciding to follow her, Heron bounding behind him.

"You know, I think I'll go to, if it's ok..." Junko turned to Aerrow.

"Sure." He answered, and Junko disappeared behind the door. Stork headed to the door also.

"And I think I'm going to go check out what that deafening clang was while we were flying." Stork left.

Aerrow and Piper watched Finn and Junko's skimmers take off in one direction, and heard the hum of Rose's sky board head right. Nothing but Piper's record filled the bridge with sound.

"Hmm..." Aerrow smirked as an idea crossed his mind. "I think it's my turn with the music, don't you think, Piper?"

"It doesn't matter; I kinda don't want to listen to this song anymore." She smiled.

Aerrow gently placed her record next to the record player and pulled a new one out of its cover. Slowly putting it on the player, it skipped a bit before starting to play. Old music began to play and Piper couldn't help smile wide.

"Shall we?" He bowed.

"Of course, Sky Knight." She giggled and pretended to curtsy. She skipped her steps to his arms, and they laughed as they tried to hop around to the music. Aerrow couldn't hear much of the upbeat melody though, Piper's carefree laugh was echoing in his ears. Aerrow felt his heart swell in his chest. That particular laugh hadn't surfaced in a very long time. He spun Piper around him, and grabbed her around the waist to hoist her into the air. When her feet had left the floor, she shrieked in surprise, and locked her orange eyes onto him. Aerrow set her down and bobbled side to side on the balls of his feet, grabbing her hands and they spun in a lopsided circle, barely missing the table with a couple maps still sitting there. Piper never, ever had seen such goofiness from him before, but quite enjoyed it. Aerrow and Piper's laughs seemed to harmonize together. The song started to pick up in a verse and Aerrow pulled her arm up, spinning her around. She gracefully spun in her circle till Aerrow caught her other hand and they lurched outwards for a moment.

"Where did you learn to be that graceful?" He joked.

Piper chuckled. "Remember when we were eight and our mothers made us take dancing lessons? I picked you to be my partner almost every time, Aerrow."

"Hmm..." Aerrow stopped and put a finger to his chin. "I wonder why." Then smiled at her again, green eyes dancing as well.

She only waved her hand at him, rolling her eyes. The song had ended. Pulling themselves close, Aerrow and Piper took new positions.

He placed one hand on her waist as she put hers on his shoulder. Piper laced their fingers when he reached out for hand. The next song was much older and slower, the couple liking the calmness of the rhythmic song. Piper once in a while kept looking to her feet, making sure she didn't fall all over him. Aerrow's hand that had been on her waist lifted up her chin, making her look into his eyes.

"Don't worry, it's not dance class. There's more of a chance of me falling" He whispered.

His green eyes were light and happy. She gripped his hand tighter. He staggered a bit, the back of his foot catching a piece of armor that had been laid on a chair. His red hair fell into his eyes, but they managed to pick up themselves and keep dancing. She gave a light laugh and brushed the hair from his face tenderly. Piper finally let her fingers drop from his face back to his shoulder, leaving Aerrow with a tingle sensation on his cheek

"I told you." he said.

They continued to waltz around the room, getting closer and closer with each swing. Aerrow decided to try something new, and dipped her down low and she gripped his strong arms that held her up. She gasped at first, then shook her head and smiled.

"Show off." Piper laughed.

"Why, thank you."

Pulling her back up, they jumped back into the song on the next found beat. After this one finished, which was much too short according to Piper, slow dreamy music began to seep from the record player. Swaying together they enjoyed some alone time, which they barely got. Piper abruptly tripped over the edge of the bottom of the table, and Aerrow engulfed her with his arms. Piper froze. She had never been this close and had Aerrow covering so much of her. But she liked it. With his help, she picked herself up and decided to rest her hands on his upper chest, right near his collar. His arms remained loosely around her waist, fingertips lightly laid on her. The Sky Knight was a daredevil, an almost reckless boy in the sky. But right now he handled Piper with care, as if she could break easily. They rocked back and forth, and all of a sudden, Aerrow's back, without due consideration, clanged against the wall next to the door.

"Hmm... it seems that we ran out of dancing room." She concluded. He smiled.

"That's ok, Piper."

He lowered his face down just the tiniest bit, their lips sweetly meeting. One of Aerrow's hands moved up to hold the back of her head, twisting his fingers into her dark hair. Piper loved him so so very much. As did he to her. Her hands gripped at his clothing, and he could no longer hear the music. Her lips were so warm and sweet, just like her. Their kiss was pure love, hearts surging with energy.

"Ahem."

Piper jerked her head away from Aerrow, and he put his hands together on her back, keeping her close to him. Their faces were tinged pink. Stork stood in the doorway, looking quite disturbed. He drummed his fingers together.

"I think I'm going now, I don't want to catch this deadly love bug." And with that, the Merb bolted out of the room from whence he came.

Piper and Aerrow broke into smiles, and then began to laugh loudly. When Piper finally settled down, she turned back to Aerrow.

"I think we can go wait for Finn, Rose and Junko." Piper was lightly giggling, and let out a shriek when Radarr jumped between them, woken at last.

Aerrow pushed off the wall and took her by surprise. She fell backwards a bit, and he grabbed her at the waist and snapped her back up. He caught her lips with his, and Piper gave a squeak. After a couple of seconds of bliss, he pulled away.

"Alright Piper, now I'm ready to go."

She smiled and they wrapped their arms around each other, Radarr settling on Aerrow's shoulders, tail wrapped around Piper's.

The door shut behind the three of them.