"I'm hungry," Jay said for about the fourteenth time in about as many minutes.
I sighed. "I know, Jay."
"My stomach hurts," Jay put forward.
"I know, Jay," I said.
"I want food," Jay continued.
"I know, Jay," I stated.
"No, I don't want food, I need food," Jay added.
"I know, Jay," I said as patiently as I could manage, which wasn't very patiently at all.
"We're all hungry," Nya chimed in. "Lloyd just wants to get a little farther before taking a break to rest and refuel."
"We are a little farther," Jay pointed out. "We're farther than when I mentioned it last time. And we can't fly as well on empty stomachs."
I had to admit, he had a point. My stomach had been clenching distractingly in need for at least half an hour. There was nothing like flying to burn an incredible amount of calories incredibly fast.
"I guess we're far enough along that a break would be helpful," I decided.
Jay whooped with glee, and Nya smiled.
Now I just needed to find us a good place to rest. I looked down at the mountainous ground far below us, focusing my hawk-like eyesight on various objects, a pile of rocks, a large pine tree, a smattering of houses. We'd have to stay away from the latter.
Eventually, I found a clearing quite a ways away from the houses, with no roads weaving anywhere near it.
"Clearing ahead and to the left," I called to Jay and Nya, already angling my wings to head downwards. They followed my lead, and soon we were landing in the clearing. My legs felt like they were made of jelly after flying for so long, and I almost collapsed as I touched down, but I managed to control myself enough to stay standing. I folded up my wings as I sat, feeling their warmth and slight soreness from the lengthy flight.
"All right, all right, let's see what we've got," Jay stated eagerly, carefully folding his wings so he could get his backpack off. He dug through the bag, pulling out bits and pieces of food that we'd managed to scrounge up to take with. Nya and I did the same, although my backpack held mostly first aid supplies and our tiny stash of emergency cash with only some food. We sorted through our supplies and rationed out some food for each of us. Soon, we were chowing down.
A few minutes later, I leaned back against a boulder, groaning, "Oh, I ate too fast. And maybe too much. Yeah, probably too much. Ugh."
"Ahhh, my stomach hurts," Jay moaned.
"First your stomach hurts because you didn't have anything to eat, now your stomach hurts because you got something to eat," Nya teased, but her voice was strained. She stretched out flat on the ground, pillowing her head on her arms and closing her eyes. "I suggest we take a little while longer on this break. Rest and digest, that kind of thing."
"I'll accept that suggestion," I mumbled.
"Awesome," Jay said, and he flopped over onto his side, eyes already closing.
Fidgeting against the boulder, I got comfortable. My own eyes started closing without me telling them to do so, but I let it happen. We'd rest for a bit, then we'd get up and be on our way towards Zane.