In the next week, Falon followed Kaoru around more than usual. He watched as Tuan desperately tried to get Kaoru to flap her ears like wings. Acquila, on the other hand, spent most of his time circling a perimeter around Kaoru. He wanted to make sure no one from Peaches's group wandered too close to her.

"Come on, Kaoru. Like this," Tuan fluttered his wings right in front of her face.

"Tickles, Twan," she giggled when he accidentally brushed her nose.

"Yes, yes, I know," he sighed. "Can you do it for me though?"

Kaoru closed her eyes tightly and concentrated as hard as she good. There were a few seconds of Tuan looking at her ears hopefully and then she hiccupped, causing her to giggle again.

Suddenly, Tuan let out a loud sound of frustration, dropping to the ground and putting his face into his hands.

"Tuan," Falon dropped next to him. "Look." Tuan looked up and saw that tears were in Kaoru's eyes, her lip jutting out.

Tuan immediately felt bad and smiled at Kaoru to show her everything was okay. "I'm sorry," he said. "Come here."

Kaoru shuffled over to him, staring at the ground. "I sorry, Twan. I bad."

"You're not bad, Kaoru," he mumbled. He flew up and kissed her nose. "You're adorable...Now I think we should try one more time."

"I don't think so," Acquila said, flying down. "Let her go play for a while. She's getting tired. She won't be willing to do anything if she starts to get cranky"

Tuan looked over at her as she was rubbing her eyes, yawning widely. "Go play, Kaoru," he said. "It's almost bedtime."

"I play wit Twan?" she asked. "And Kiwa?"

"No, no. You can go play with someone else, okay?" Acquila said. For some reason, Kaoru started to pout again.

Falon flew in. "I'll play with you Kaoru," he smiled.

"Yay! Fally!" Kaoru bounced to the lake and started to splash around, waiting patiently.

Falon smiled at Tuan and Acquila."Ah, the innocence of youth," he said before following her.

"What is it, Acquila?" Tuan asked, flying to rest under a tree.

"There's not much time left," Acquila said, joining him.

"I know," Tuan sighed. "I've gotten nowhere." Acquila let Tuan reflect in silence for a while. "Maybe we should just leave the night before. We can start walking while everyone is asleep and hopefully by the next morning we will be far enough away that no one will want to look for us."

"I think we have to leave tonight," Acquila announced.

"What? Why? We have another whole week!"

"I don't think we should leave it to the last minute. The longer we wait, the more likely it is that someone will find out we are going to leave. Someone might try to stop us. Or even follow us. If we don't go tonight, we should at least go tomorrow. If we wait, we might jepordize Kaoru's safety and I don't think I'll be able forgive myself if something goes wrong."

Tuan looked away from Acquila. He knew that Acquila was right and he wondered how long it had taken Acquila to come to this conclusion. He looked around the garden and straight into the eyes of Falon who was smiling proudly. Falon gestured upward indicating that Tuan show look above him.

"Twan!" Kaoru giggled from a high tree branch. "Look!"

"Kaoru!" Tuan gasped. "How did you?"

Falon let out a throaty chuckle and flew over to them. "She's fine. She just got excited."

"That still doesn't tell me how..."

"Kaoru!" Acquila called to her. "Did you learn a new trick?"

"Yeah, Kiwa!" she giggled again.

"You should come down here and show me!" he tried to keep his voice steady.

"Watch me, Kiwa!" She stood up and spread out her arms, jumping from the tree branch. Tuan watched in horror as she fell for a few terrifying seconds and just before she hit the ground she stopped. Kaoru hovered above the ground, giggling wildly, her ears spinning around like helicopter blades.

"It really is amazing, isn't it?" Falon asked.

"Falon! How did you get her to do this?" Tuan asked flying up to examine the spinning blur that had once been Kaoru's ears.

"She just needed a little coaxing. You were trying to get her to flap her ears but since her ears stick straight up instead of flopping over, I figured it would be more comfortable for her if her ears stayed straight."

Tuan wanted to hit himself. "I should have thought of that!"

"Don't worry about it," Falon laughed. "You were trying to get the work done. The only reason I thought of it was because I have been watching her all week. A little less stressed, might I add. You need to relax, Tuan."

"There isn't really much time for relaxing these days, Falon." Tuan sighed again and Kaoru landed next to him so she could kiss the top of his head. Tuan smiled at her.

"I know it may seem difficult right now, Tuan, but as soon as you leave you'll be able to breathe freely."

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us," Acquila asked, knowing the answer, but wanting it to be different.

Falon smiled sadly, "I cannot go, but I do wish you well on your journey." Falon waved as he turned and flew away.

Acquila looked down at Tuan. "We can leave tonight."