Try as she might, Noah just couldn't fall asleep. Even as the sun was setting, and the area was growing cold, she was still wide awake. She wondered if it was because of her rumbling stomach, her worries about the future, or if it was her mind not wanting to fall into any nightmares.

Or maybe it was because of all the snoring.

She carefully nudged Aladar's head off of her rump, and stood up and stretched. She took a quick sip of water, and began to walk towards the edge of the lake. She decided that if she couldn't sleep, she would go and look for Bruton and the scout. They had to be coming back by now.

But as she walked along the crest of the hill, she saw an Iguanadon, looking around frantically. When she got closer, she saw it was Neera. "Um... are you okay?"

Her head snapped to her. "Have you seen them?" she asked, her voice full of worry.

"Who? Bruton and the scout?"

"No! Two Iguanodons calves! About this big!" She lifted a foreleg off the ground a bit.

"N-no, I just got up here. I haven't seen anyone."

Neera groaned, looking around again. "I haven't seen them all afternoon since the water was found; I can't find them anywhere!"

Noah clenched her jaw. On the one hand, she wanted to go and find Bruton, not only to tell him there was water, but to properly talk and apologize to him.

But on the other hand, she knew she would feel even guiltier if she didn't at least help find the calves. They had to be so frightened and thirsty. "Let me help you look."

Neera looked at her with surprise. As if she couldn't fathom someone actually helping her look for them.

"If they're that small, they couldn't have gone far. Besides, four eyes are better than two."

She nodded, finally smiling. Even if it was a small, still-worried smile. "Thank you."

"It's nothing. I couldn't sleep anyway."

As they began walking along the ridge, Neera cleared her throat. "I'm Neera. Kron's sister."

"I remember. I'm Noah."

Neera looked her over. "You're one of the newcomers, aren't you?"

"Yeah. Aladar's my brother. You, um... you might have called him a jerkasaurus."

"Did he tell you why?"

"Yeah, our cousin was trying to... let's just say, catch your eye." She chuckled awkwardly. "He's a hopeless romantic. Sees himself as a 'professor of love'."

"Well, he needs to go back to school then."

Noah nodded with a chuckle. "But Aladar, he's not that bad."

"Oh really?" Neera smirked. "Then, what is he like?"

"Brave, kind, compassionate. He's always looking out for everyone. But he's also kinda stubborn, and he hides a lot of his emotions."

"He's the one who found the water, right?"

"Only because he went back for Eema. The old Styracasaurus," she explained when Neera looked confused. "She wouldn't have made it had he not found the water."

"We all wouldn't have," Neera said softly.

"That's one big thing that makes him different from Kron: he actually cares about everyone, even if they're a little older, or a little slower." She held up her bad foreleg in emphasis. "If I had been born in this herd, I would have been left behind a long time ago."

"You were born with that?"

"No, injured. But that doesn't change my point."

"Well, the strong have to survive. Otherwise, we all eventually die out."

"And yet, here I am."

"That's not what I meant."

"I know that. But it's not selfish to look out for others, or to make things a bit easier for them. In our family, we took care of everybody; the young and old, the sick and healthy. No matter what."

"Sounds like a cushy life."

"It was," Noah agreed sadly.

Neera grimaced when she realized the implications. "I-I'm sorry."

Noah smiled, glad that she wasn't completely like her brother. "It's okay. I'm guessing a lot more than just our home changed?"

"If the lake is anything to go by, everything's changed."

"That's what scares me."

Neera nodded, getting a faraway look in her eyes.

Noah was glad she wasn't the only one worried about the Nesting Grounds. "So, if you and Kron are so focused on the strong surviving, why bother looking for the little ones?"

Neera shot a glare at her, but then relaxed when she realized the hypocrisy. "Well, we have to look after the future, after all. Besides... they have no one else."

This time, Noah was the one with the guilty grimace. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

"No, it's fine. You're right. Kron... he's never been quite like this. I think the fireball changing everything, and making everything harder, scared him. Even if he doesn't admit it. I think he feels like he's solely responsible for this herd, even if he has Bruton and I to help him. He's really made it his mission to get everyone home."

"That makes sense. But he has to realize that he doesn't need to go it alone." She glanced over the lakebed, smiling when she spotted Aladar digging a tiny pool. Slowly walking up to him were two tiny blobs, who she realized were the missing calves. "Everyone needs help sometimes, and there's no shame." She nodded her head in their direction.

Neera sighed with relief when she saw the small group. She shot Noah a grateful look.

She nodded in return. "Go on and talk to him. He might surprise you. Besides, there aren't any love monkeys to make things awkward," she joked.

Neera finally let out a small chuckle, even as her face reverted back to her usual stern expression. She descended down the hill towards Aladar and the little ones.

Noah stayed where she was, watching them. She couldn't hear them as they began to speak, but she was glad for it. It meant that there wasn't any shouting or arguing, which she saw as a good sign. If Aladar really liked this girl, she wouldn't get in the way. And she seemed curious about him after she realized he wasn't as sleazy as Zini made it seem.

She was also impressed that she didn't immediately shoot down their way of thinking, like she would have expected Kron to. She wondered if she once felt the same way, that everyone deserved a chance to survive; before it was drilled into her that only the strongest had a chance. Maybe if Aladar made her realize that it could be possible, they stood a chance at changing Kron's mind.

She shook her head with a small laugh as she turned to walk back the way she originally was going. She still had Bruton to find.

She stopped when she saw Kron laying on the edge of the former lake, looking down at Aladar and Neera. She glanced back at the duo, who were now sharing a new tiny watering hole. She briefly wondered if he would be the overprotective brother type; especially when he already didn't like either of them.

But, to her surprise, he had a contemplative expression as he watched them. She wondered what he was thinking. She hoped he was deciding that, maybe, Aladar wasn't so bad. After all, he did find the water.

He turned his head to look at her. He didn't look surprised, as if he already knew she was there. She looked straight back at him, standing firm and tall.

Further surprising her, the corner of his mouth quirked up. As if he was impressed that she didn't immediately look or walk away. She didn't smile back, but she did soften her expression.

A/N Since she wouldn't have many opportunities to do so, I thought it would be interesting to have Noah talk with Neera as she's looking for the Iguanodon calves (which is what I'm assuming she was doing when she spotted Aladar with them) I was careful to not have Noah immediately warm her up to her and Aladar's philosophy, as it was important to the story that he be the one to do that. But I DID have her warm Neera up to Aladar, to make it a little more reasonable as to why she was speaking to him so casually, other than the fact he got water for the calves; if that makes sense.

I also used the opportunity to flesh out Kron a bit. I don't think he was like Aladar, seeing everyone as equal and wanting to save everyone; I think he definitely still had that "survival of the fittest" mindset when he was younger. But like how I had Neera theorize, I think the meteor scared him more than he let it show, making him super desperate to get everyone to the Nesting Grounds, both to see that it was still alive, and because he put the opportunity squarely on his shoulders.

I also thought it was really interesting that he was casually watching Aladar and Neera drinking. It made me wonder if, had the rest of the movie not gone the way it did, if he was starting to warm up to Aladar. He didn't seem to mind Neera being with him.