Lena's falling.
And then she isn't.
And there's a familiar-sounding grunt coming from below her. "Ow. I'm so glad you decided to drop in."
Lena looks down at Kara, seeing the woman now sprawled on her back holding her tightly so she doesn't fall off the back of the H'Raka she's still riding, the one Lena is now riding, but they're not in control and it's doing whatever it wants, and they're tilting.
"Hold on!" Lena grips onto the sides of the H'Raka, holding on with all of her might, still having the packs looped over her arms and the sword gripped tightly in her hand and hoping that her weight will pin Kara down, the position she's trapped in giving her little to no leverage to help herself in this situation.
They level out soon enough and it's all the motivation Kara and Lena need to hurry up and get themselves moving, scrambling up to grab onto the ropes around their flying friend's head.
"Kara, please tell me you know how to fly this thing?"
"It's not like driving a car, there's no button to activate flight mode and land mode, there's no blinker on it!" Kara yells, trying to be heard over the roaring winds and fighting with her hair as it whips into her face.
Lena ignores her, her fingers tightening around the ropes and her old horse-riding lessons kicking in, her thighs pressing against the H'Raka's broad sides above its wings and her old instincts coming right back.
Within moments Lena has slowed the H'Raka and its flying level, swooping high above the trees below and letting them see the incredible landscape of the forest that they've trekked across, a visual representation of all the hard work they've put in up until now that they haven't had.
"Just like riding a horse. I guess Krypton and Earth have more in common than anyone will ever admit." Lena breathes a sigh of relief. Hands still clawing at the rope out of fear of being so high up. Heights are not her strong suit.
"How was I to know it's like riding a horse? Why would I ride a horse? I can usually fly." Kara defends her terrible H'Raka riding skills even though Lena has yet to say anything, pre-empting the teasing she knows is going to come.
Lena chuckles, a fond rumble in her chest she doesn't try to conceal.
She manages to direct the H'Raka into a swooping left turn that takes them back in the direction they came from and both Kara and Lena start searching for the area where Lena fell from, the area where the animal might still be.
"Are you ok, Lena? Did you get hurt during your fall?" Kara asks, relaxing her eyes in the hope that it will help her figure out where she was when she had her girlfriend come soaring from the sky and land right atop of her.
It's a really good job that the H'Rakas are taught to instinctively protect from a young age so when it saw Lena start to fall, it flew beneath her to catch her, letting her land on its other passenger with no qualms.
"No, I'm alright. I did see the animal though, it was like a deformed kangaroo." Lena turns her head a fraction so she can see Kara out of the corner of her eye, the woman sat closely behind her with her arms around Lena's waist, mirroring the way she was holding onto Kara before she fell.
"You saw a Ghanme?"
"If that's what your version of a snappy, giant kangaroo is then yes," Lena says, making a mental note of the word Kara used. Ghanme.
"Those are super dangerous and they are known for hunting in the areas surrounding The Fire Falls, I thought we might have had another couple of days' walk before we got into their hunting ground, we have to get back to the others quickly, they could be in a hell of a lot of danger."
Lena kicks up, pressing the H'Raka to fly higher so they are sailing above the trees they were travelling through not long ago when they were running for their lives. If they can figure out how to get back to the camp of the environmentalists, they can figure out how to get back to the others.
They can make one H'Raka work, they really need two but they'll do their best with one. They can at the very least get Esme and Kelly out of the danger zone.
"Stay low to the trees, if the environmentalists manage to capture any of the H'Rakas and fly up then we need to be able to drop down out of sight but still need to be high up enough that the Ghanme can't just jump up and get us.
Lena tries to stay low but she's nervous, the trees are thick and she can't see beneath them. They saw first-hand how well the Ghanme managed to camouflage itself before and honestly, she'd rather be caught by the Kryptonians than be caught in the mouth of that horrible beast.
She was nervous about the H'Rakas before but now it's pretty much a show pony, nothing to be afraid of but she knows it's got a good kick.
Staying at a reasonable height, Lena still has to dodge around a few trees that loom higher than the rest but overall, she's good, at least until she hears a screeching coming from up ahead and they can just about make out the sight of another H'Raka running for its life through the treetops, the trees quaking behind it showing them that it's being chased.
"What do we do?" Lena shouts back to Kara.
"I don't know, it's too dangerous to get involved."
"We need that H'Raka though."
"I know, drop down a bit, and see if we can lead it to a clearing so it can fly." Kara balances, standing up onto her knees, sending them all slightly off-kilter for a moment before they find their rhythm with Kara slowly making her way onto her feet, one hand firmly on Lena's shoulder as she surfs the flying beast that saved their lives. "There's one over to the right, it's pretty far but if we can get it there then we're home free!"
Lena drops down as far as she dares, flying directly overhead for a moment before pressing her knees deeper into their H'Raka's sides, urging it to fly quicker and sending Kara jolting slightly as it does so, making her grip onto Lena's shoulders tightly and fall back into a sitting position.
"Tell me when we need to turn," Lena says, looking down over at the ground to make sure they're in position.
"Lena, it's not acknowledging us, we need it to see us or it won't follow." Kara panics when she realises that it's not looking up, just solely focused on getting out of there. "I think I'll have to drop down and ride it out of there."
"What? No!" Lena stops looking where she's going, trusting the H'Raka to keep them going straight so she can give Kara a glare. "You don't know how, if anyone is going down there then it's going to be me."
Kara looks between the H'Raka running on the ground and Lena, eyebrows pinched in worry and the desperate need to argue but she knows that Lena's right and they don't have time to argue about it. "Fine, drop down and land on its back, please be careful. I'll be right here to guide you to the clearing."
"Got it, please don't crash this H'Raka in the meantime, guide it with your legs, not the ropes." Lena very carefully trades places with Kara so she's now behind Kara once again, passing her the bags but looping the handle on the sheath of the sword around her middle, a backup plan, not a great one but a backup plan nonetheless.
"I'm not going to crash, I'm a great driver!" Kara says indignantly, lowering them down further until they are having to swerve between themselves and Lena can make out the shape of the Ghanme coming through the trees behind them.
Lena tries not to overthink it, going for it before she can change her mind. She jumps and she lands.
It's more of a splat than a land and it causes the H'Raka to falter in its steps, shortening the gap between them and the Ghanme further, a gap they really need.
She holds on tight, hands gripping wherever they can. The rope has gone from around its head so she had to just cling onto its shoulders and use her thighs as her only way to control it.
For now, all that she has to do is trust it to keep going and swerve them around the trees and keep an eye on Kara so she knows when to make the turn towards the clearing.
Lena keeps track of the upcoming trees so she can dodge and duck, not making the same mistake as last time, before taking a peek back, horrified with how close behind them the Ghanme actually is, they need to go quicker or find somewhere they can just take off from. She has no idea where this clearing of Kara's actually is but she needs it to be close.
"Right!" Kara shouts down at her, turning her own H'Raka with a little bit of difficulty but managing it relatively smoothly, not as smoothly as Lena could have done it but smooth enough.
Lena takes that to heart, forcing the H'Raka into a sharp right turn around a tree that serves to do them well, the Ghanme skidding into a large trunked tree that sends it sprawling, giving them a good advantage as they keep on running.
"Not far now, just keep going!" Kara shouts down at her.
Lena doesn't look back again, more than happy to keep on going, to put her trust in the beast she's riding and Kara's instructions. She's going to make it.
"Pull up!"
Lena's not sure what she's doing, not really, she just leans over, grabs beneath the massive dragon-like head of her H'Raka and pulls up on it until it can see the open sky.
It reacts sort of how she wanted it to.
One second they're running and the next they're completely vertical and Lena's holding onto the H'Raka by its head, dangling.
She fixes her thighs around it, scrambling and pushing onto the back of its head until they are back to normal, flying just above Kara now and both she and the H'Raka are panting like crazy, peeking down at the treeline where the Ghanme is pacing in the clearing, agitated and very clearly enraged.
"We did it!" Kara cheers, bringing herself up to Lena's level. "Let's get back to the others! They're going to be so happy when they see these guys."
"Or terrified." Lena shrugs, gliding along and tracing her fingertips over the scaled back in front of her, in complete wonder at how magnificent this creature is. Between the scales and sporadically placed around the wing area are tiny feathers, the wings completely covered. It's beautiful.
The sun is up, something they hadn't paid much mind to. It's been slowly getting lighter for a while but the sky is such a beautiful shade of red and they're soaring and it's bliss.
They're careful, sticking lower down to the treeline on their way back but now they're almost there. They can see the camp, badly camouflaged, and the tents, Alex and Kelly are wandering around, actually scratch that, Alex is pacing and Kelly is trying to calm her down.
Nia and Esme must be inside the tents, it's good that they have had a chance to rest.
They land the H'Rakas a little ways away since there's not enough space directly beside the camp and walk their way back, standing ahead of the H'Rakas and gently urging them along with a rope. Lena had to use some rope out of her pack to recreate the head harness the other one has.
They come into view of the others pretty soon and they can't wipe the grins off their faces at the shocked expressions on the faces of Kelly and Alex, thoroughly amused by their faces.
"Honey, we're home!" Lena calls out, waving with the hand not holding the rope. "We brought transport."
Alex folds her arms, looking more like a disappointed mom than she ever has done before. "Please tell me that you two idiots didn't just go and steal dragons."
"We're not admitting to anything other than finding a way to end our mission in a considerably shorter period of time. We can be in Kandor in just a matter of days. We can be home within a week."
"Forget I said anything. Good job guys." Alex uncrosses her arms, eyes lighting up at the prospect of getting to go home early.
"Please tell me this isn't a dream." Kelly smiles, hands coming up to cup her own face at the absurdity of it all.
Kara brings her H'Raka forward, which she has so kindly named Swoopy because of the way it swooped in to save Lena. "Kelly, we're going to be home soon. We can be at The Scarlet Jungle in a couple of days, get the samples and be in Kandor a few days after that."
Nia wrestles her way out of her tent, eyes widening comically at the sight she's greeted with. "Holy shit. You guys have outdone yourselves."
"Thank you." Lena is practically glowing with pride. "Would you like to come and say hello?"
Nia nods. "What's its name?"
"This is Bolt. He's really good at running. Kara called hers Swoopy."
"You guys should be ashamed of how bad you are at naming dragon creatures, it should be something cool like Inferno or Flame Thrower."
"No thanks, you can name yours that when you go and get your own." Lena actually snorts at the offered names, finding the ones they picked to be pretty damn cute.
"Your loss." Nia shrugs, tentatively making her way closer to Bolt, a hand out to touch his strong head. "He's so cool."
"He is. At least, I think he is a he. He has a dangling…" Lena looks for the right word.
"Please stop." Alex practically begs.
Kara is cackling from the sidelines, the sound rousing Esme from her sleep. Her cute little voice calls out through the canvas of the tent. "Mommy?"
Kelly heads over to go and get Esme, speaking to her in a hushed voice as she helps her up out of the tent and keeping her calm as she sees the H'Rakas for the first time.
"Hey, kiddo." Kara smiles. "How would you like to ride a dragon?"
Esme's grin is all the answer she needs.
"Not until we've packed up and had breakfast." Lena steps in, having no issues being the bad guy because now that the adrenaline is wearing off, she's aware of how exhausted and how hungry she is. "I wouldn't mind grabbing an hour's sleep either."
Kara looks nervously over her shoulder, now that she's aware of the Ghanme being in the same place as them, she's terrified of what will happen if they are caught off guard for too long. On top of that, they have the other Kryptonians out here too and they are probably either looking for their missing H'Rakas or they're making a sharp exit because of the Ghanme and there's a low, but not no, chance they could spot their group on their way.
They aren't going to get very far when they're tired and hungry though and they don't need to panic the rest of the group for no good reason, they can wait an hour or two tops.
"I could go for a little sleep. We'll tie these guys to a tree over where there's more cover so they can't be seen from up above. We need more camouflage from up top, add some branches atop the tents to mask them a little." Kara makes her choice.
Alex shrugs. "What's a couple of hours when we're leaving in a week?"
"Not a lot." Lena can't keep the grin off her face. "I'm so looking forward to a nice hot shower and my big comfy bed."
"I miss a proper bed too, and as much as I like Kryptonian food, I really miss Earth food." Kelly agrees, "and I miss my TV, and my books."
"I miss the park!" Esme jumps in, happy to have something to add to the conversation.
Everyone smiles at her innocent statement and Alex sweeps her up into her arms. "We'll take you to the park when we get home and everything has settled down, how does that sound?"
"Good!"
Kara nudges Lena's arm and nods towards the trees away from the tents, prompting her to follow her as she leads Swoopy into the trees.
Once they are out of earshot, Kara speaks, still keeping her voice low just in case there's anyone else about to overhear, something she really hopes isn't the case. "Let's not tell them until we leave. We have the time, it would take the Ghanme hours to get here, and it won't even know what direction to come in. We can tell them when we're in the air later on."
Lena nods thoughtfully. "We've been wrong before."
"I know but I don't want them to panic."
"Ok." Lena gives in quickly, "but just for the record, if something does happen, it's your fault."
Kara chuckles, finding a good place for the H'Rakas, tying them to a tree and petting the sides of their faces. "Don't worry, I will. Now, let's get these guys some food and water, get our tent up for a nap and then eat something ourselves, we have a journey ahead of us."
"Now that, that sounds good."