Meilin was struggling to keep swinging Rollan away from the Great Beast's charge. She told herself, "C'mon, Meilin, you're strong enough. You can keep this up forever if this guy…" The guy had suddenly seemed to zone out as he grew a bit limp and dreamy-eyed. She muttered, "Great, and now he's probably given up since it's supposed to be his turn to drag me out of the way now." She felt the vibrations of the Ram's thunderous hoofbeats come closer as he charged, and she swung Rollan aside again. Suddenly, this guy seemed to wake up and he suddenly blurted, "I know a way off of here! If you're ever in danger, call me. I'm Rollan."

Meilin laughed, "You know a way off of here? Hah, ya right." She had learned his name whether she wanted to or not, and now he magically knew how to get out of this mess."

He whined, "Hey, my name's not that funny, is it? We just need a bit of time to put my plan into action."

Meilin frowned as she swung him aside for the third time, "Well, times' not something we have right now! And will this Ram ever run out of energy?" Before she could stop herself from being rude, she added, "And I don't need your help. I'm not some damsel in distress!" Meilin blamed herself for saying that, and felt a bit bad, but lamented, "My father is in this war, and he's my last, surviving relative! And this guy… this guy isn't even on our side."

Suddenly, a ferocious roar took away the sounds of battle and a bear appeared next to them. It was one of their Greencloaks' spirit animals! She shouted in surprise, "Barlow! How did you get away from the Ravens? Where are the others?"

Barlow, the burly man, replied, "No time, get out of here while I buy you some time. Don't let it be in vain! You're too young and vital to the plan to die. We won't have a chance in getting the other talismen if you don't make it, so go!" With that, he stopped the Ram's charge by grabbing him by its golden horns as his bear roared and helped push the Great Ram the other way too.

Before Meilin could even come up with a plan, it seemed that Rollan wasn't kidding about having his plan ready as he seemed to have found a way off the plateau though and dragged her off before she could even shout out in surprise. Arax the Ram suddenly gave a mighty heave and was dragging Barlow's spirit animal off to the side of the plateau where the fall would be treacherous! Meilin cried, "No!" With that, she summoned Jhi. "Jhi, go help them!" she ordered. Jhi stared at her with big, silver eyes. There was little hope in stopping the Ram's drive, but Jhi lumbered off to help as she mentally told Meilin, "Go with this guy or you're talents and need shall go to waste."

Rollan abruptly yelled, "Jump!" He shoved Meilin off the plateau and they slid down what seemed like a mile till they hit the back of a tree and groaned with pain. Essix had stopped them from hitting the tree so hard as she was clutching the edges of their garments with her talons and did not seem to be looking for gratitude this time as her beak was drawn seriously. She cawed and got them to get up as Rollan rubbed his head and broke into a small grin as Meilin scowled at his lousy plan.

Before Meilin could turn around to see whether the Great Ram was still following them, she was pulled away from the plateau by Rollan, this crazy guy who had somehow managed to find a way off of that steep place and slide away without having the oversized beast follow them. She barked at him as she attempted to swat him away like a fly, "Stop dragging me by my wrist, Rollan!"

He kept dragging her away though as he ran and ignored her struggles for freedom. He was quite quick for a normal kid, and he couldnt've gotten a land-related boost from an air-related spirit animal. Rollan suddenly realized that Meilin had used his name and pointed it out as he quickened his pace and had them duck through the brush, "Hey, you just used my name. Does that mean something special?" Meilin grumbled and bit her tongue, telling herself to be quiet, when a shadow crossed over them and she looked up. His spirit animal flew overhead and dived and swooped freely within the treetops as she cawed. His spirit animal was a large bird, and she had just noticed that it wasn't some ordinary bird; it was the Falcon. This boy seemed to be communicating with the bird for he was shouting things as the bird couldn't talk, but clicked her beak, so she must've been communicating with him mentally.

Essix flapped her wangs as she mentally urged Rollan, "C'mon, let's go back and take on that crocodile! It's a snack to me."

"And we're a snack to it!" Rollan fired back, "Essix, don't go! Come back now."

Essix was halfway there to battle the crocodile when she instantly felt a terrible urge to go back at Rollan's plea. Reluctantly, she flew back to Rollan as she struggled to seduce the urge of fighting that crocodile, which snapped its jaws at the Great Ram above it, who was now being shoved over the edge. Essix lamented, "C'mon, I really want to… Besides, I'm the teacher here, and you're supposed to be the student. I guess I just have to look after you, little one."

Something whispered to Rollan that Essix would do as he says as Rollan thought that perhaps his spirit animal was just really loyal on the inside. He half-heartedly thanked Essix, "Thanks for looking after me, but I'm not that little, Essix. I mean, I am twice your size."

Meilin snickered at Rollan's retort and looked back to catch a glimpse of Essix's reaction, but saw something much more appalling. Barlow had managed to drag Arax the Ram off the cliff with the help of his bear, whose fur was stained with fresh blood. Arax bellowed in outrage, and managed to entangle Barlow with his twisted horns. Barlow struggled as they both fell off the cliff… and into the jaws of the massive crocodile which waited below them. The crocodile swung his fearsome teeth as he shook the Great Beast and Barlow in its jaws. The scaly reptile stepped on a massive pile of rock before slamming its victims in its jaws against the side of the plateau, causing more scarlet blood to drip out of its jaw.

Meilin stared at this gruesome spectacle. It was just like when she saw her maid die, back when her Nectar Ceremony was attacked. Could there be any chance that Barlow had survived for them? Even though she hated Abeke after arguing with her back when they got captured by the Ravens, she hoped that Abeke had survived after the sacrifice of Barlow. Jools, Barlow's bear, roared in grief as it jumped onto the crocodile in an attempt to save it as the rockpile stirred below the crocodile's feet. Monte, another Greencloak, and his raccoon,
Scrubber, headed towards the brutal battle as Meilin turned away, withdrawing tears, and headed away with Rollan before a sacrifice went in vain.

Essix cawed tragically overhead, for it seemed that she had seen it too. Meilin suddenly heard thunder crackle over the sounds of battle and wondered, "How much worse can this get?" A few droplets of rain fell onto her skin through the canopy of the tall, emerald-green trees' leaves above them. Meilin grumbled, "And now there's going to be a rainstorm." The winds swiftly picked up their speeds and howled through the treetops as gray clouds replaced white ones. A bolt of lightning struck the crocodile behind them, creating another horrible roar behind them.

Meilin shoved strands of her own hair out of the way, as she peered through to see where Rollan was leading her. To her relief, he wasn't taking her towards any more Conquerors as she was in no condition to fight. Rather, he was taking her to a cave.

Rollan led her inside and took two pieces of flint out of his pocket as he picked up a handful of dry sticks laying nearby. "There," he said, "This should do. Meilin? C'mon, come inside."

Meilin didn't cross her arms rudely and hold a haughty expression. Rather, she still struggled and mumbled something about being ambushed, and even being worried about her "Gee".

Rollan simpered sympathetically and put his hand on Meilin's shoulder gently. "Hey, whoever this 'Geez' person is, I'm sure that he really cares about you."

Meilin almost snorted in laughter, "Okay, first of all, it's not a he; it's a she. Second of all, it's just my spirit animal, and I'm not dating anyone so I guess that I can't really care too much. Okay, Jhi, J-H-I, is my panda, but I can't say that she's so great, because so far, all she can do is munch on bamboo stalks and stare at me with heartbreaking eyes. I guess that I still do care about her though for some reason."

Rollan's heart almost did a little dance to find out that this pretty girl wasn't dating anyone, but he definitely wasn't dating someone so haughty. Rollan strode to the back of the cave that was barely lit by the flickering fire and remarked, "Hmm… this gives me an idea." He pulled out his journal, which he had been drawing in since his escape from the orphanage. He used to draw hideous scribbles in this journal, being a silly kid, but now he was putting his mother's gift to good use. HIs heart wrenched at the thought of his mother, but abruptly, he heard Meilin say, "What's that?"

Rollan gulped as he hastily tried to stuff it away, "Nothing."

"Let me see it!" demanded Meilin, "It can't be that embarrassing."

"Uh, no," shouted Rollan over the howling of the rain and wind outside. The next thing he knew, he was in a wrestling match with this girl as she pounced onto him, grabbed his wrist and turned over his bag. Rollan tried to keep the bag closed, but the contents fell out with the clasp unlocked. Books thumped upon his face as he yelped as each ink bottle, and edge of a book fell onto him, even the hilt of one of his hidden daggers hit him on the nose and stunned him. Rollan rubbed his sore face as he got up and saw all the contents strewn everywhere; he couldn't tell where his journal had went.

"Ah-ha!" shouted Meilin triumphantly as she held up his journal in the weak lighting.

Essix practically danced on her rock-perch too as she peered into Rollan's journal too.

Meilin gasped. The contents were unexpected. "Wow, your drawings are so good!" she cried as she flipped through his book.

"Hey, be careful with it," lamented Rollan as he peered over Meilin's head to catch a glimpse of which drawings she was looking at.

"Wow!" gasped Meilin, "The panda in this picture almost seems to breathe."

"At least you're not criticizing it," exhaled Rollan. His whole life, he'd been mocked for even holding a quill and pondering about what to draw. His orphan cronies had laughed at him when he had first pulled it out. The guy who owned the orphanage swatted the book out of his hands when he decided to draw during his small break. Villagers laughed at him and shooed him away from their shops when he tried to sell his drawings (which weren't that good at the time, consisting of scribbles which he considered was grass and water). He had managed to practice in secret though, and before he received his bag, he had been burying his booklet and taking it out in candlelight.

Meilin yapped, "Why would I criticize it? These drawings are fit for museums!"

"You think so?" replied Rollan hopefully.

"You need to ask?" scoffed Meilin, "Of course. I've never seen such detail within this panda's surroundings. You'd outmaster the masters!" She flipped the page, excited for more.

Rollan smiled, it was one of his most recent drawings. He hadn't drawn since he was back at the Conquerors' campsite. It was the one of Essix, flying within the sunlight. She was just a silhouette up there, but her magnificence and radiance up there was captivating. Essix practically danced behind them, seeing herself as an inspiration in this drawing as Meilin and Rollan gaped and laughed.

Lightning struck as thunder rolled outside, and abruptly, the moan of bears could be heard. The silhouettes of bears appeared as they entered, sopping wet from the storm.

Meilin gasped, "Rollan, you didn't tell me that this cave was already inhabited by someone else now, was there?"

Rollan gulped, "I- I didn't know."

The pair of bears appeared into the light and Meilin gasped, "Jhi!" She hadn't felt her presence, but she was thrilled to see that Jhi was alive and safe. The bear was Barlow's next to her, and Jools, the brown bear, groaned in despair to see the two so happy.

Essix cawed sympathetically. She instantly had understood what the bear had said. It was hopeless. He had lost his owner and was heartbroken to see someone else have what he did not.

Rollan understood what Essix had thought, and patted the alone bear softly as Essix did not mind, and did not get jealous. Rollan sympathetically said, "I'm so sorry, Jools. If you ever want us, we're here for you, buddy." Jools groaned and nudged Rollan with his wet nose before squashing him underneath a bear hug as Meilin laughed and also squashed Rollan even further while hugging Jools' wet fur. Jhi also approached Jools and nudged him as the bear almost half-smiled. Meilin was glad to see the two bears get along so well, that she gave them some time, and went back to the drawings. As she flipped through blank pages disappointedly, she told Rollan, "You know, I've always wondered how Barlow got so close with Jools. Sorry, Jhi, but I'm not seeing it between us yet. You know that I've always wanted to prove myself, and you're not exactly helping."

Rollan told Meilin, "Well, you can't say that she's useless. Essix does care for me, so I'm sure that Jhi cares for you too."

"I'm not saying that Jhi is useless!" snapped Meilin.

Rollan replied, "Well, she's not careless either."

Meilin lamented, "I didn't say that!"

The two were having such a heated argument that Essix was swinging her head side to side, deciding whether being out in the storm was better, or being stuck in a cave where an argument was practically heating the room was better.