Happy Valentines Day! I hope you enjoy this chapter, let me know what you think!

By the way, next week I am going to be on vacation to the Virgin Islands! One of my friends volunteered to post for me, but I don't know what time of the day she will be doing that. So, if its later than normal, that's why.

-owl

This chapter is screwed up, I posted the wrong one, and am now fixing it, sorry.

Abeke woke up to the soft light of dawn warming her face. It took a moment for her brain to register where she was and what she was doing. Then it hit her like a rhino. She had never woken Conor for his watch! They had been completely exposed, and it was all her fault!

Now that it was morning, and she could see properly, Abeke could take in the island that she and Conor had settled on. The trees around them were palm trees, taller than any she had seen before. Even the shortest of them had to be at least a hundred feet tall! And, in a rare stroke of luck, Abeke saw what could only be banana gourds on the trees! They were clustered near the center of the island, at the top of the slope that was at least twelve feet above the water level.

Conor and Abeke were halfway up the slope, at a flat spot. Conor was curled up around Briggan, who was sitting with his ears perked up and his eyes scanning the area. Uraza was laying a few feet away from Abeke, cleaning mud from her pelt.

Abeke took a deep breath and got up to inspect the trees with the banana gourds. To her dismay, she found that the bottom of the trees were wreathed in thorny bushes. There wasn't anything she could do at the moment, so she turned back and made her way to the others. When she returned to Conor, the boy was talking in his sleep. It seemed like a nightmare.

"No! Not the sheep, the sheep will get out!" he was muttering.

Briggan gave Abeke a look, and she approached them to wake Conor.

He woke with a start, his eyes wide. "The sheep!" he exclaimed, panicked. After a second or two, he seemed to realize where he was, though, and he visibly calmed down. "You never woke me for my watch," he said softly.

Abeke bit her lip. She could lie, and say she chose to let him sleep. But, that would be wrong. She hung her head as she answered. "I... um... fell asleep."

Conor said nothing. That surprised Abeke, she was prepared for him to rage at her, that they had been in serious danger. Instead he shrugged, as though she hadn't done anything wrong.

"So Briggan and Uraza kept watch?"

Abeke nodded.

"Then I don't see the problem. They would have woken us if it was necessary. It happened, oh well," he asked when she still looked doubtful. "We have more important things to be doing, like finding the banana gourds for Rollan."

"I found them before I woke you up," Abeke said, pointing at the tall trees.

The problem is the huge thorn bushes at the bottom, and the sheer height of the gourds themselves."

They walked to the outer edge of the thorn bushes side by side. Briggan and Uraza followed behind them. Upon a second look at the tree, it appeared that all but three of the gourds Abeke had seen earlier were unripe.

"Do you think they'll accept an unripe banana gourd?" Conor asked.

"I don't want to risk it, especially if it's going to be used to help Rollan. If it's unripe, it might not work. So now we just have to find one more somewhere up there."

"Wait, didn't you take the Copper Falcon from Rollan?" Conor asked suddenly.

Abeke's eyes widened. "You're right! The Copper Falcon sharpens the eyesight of the wearer!" Without delay, she dug it out from her pack, along with the Granite Ram and the Amber Leopard. All three talismans were pulled over her head, and Abeke left her pack on the ground next to Conor.

Conor gave her a look. "The Copper Falcon I get, we were just talking about it. I'm assuming you grabbed the Granite Ram to help you jump from branch to branch. But, why the Amber Leopard?"

"It gives the wearer greater attack speed and power."

"That's what Tarik and Lucette told us," Conor agreed. There was a tiny hitch in his voice when he named Lucette. "Are you thinking you'll be fighting a battle at the top of the tree?"

"No, but I'm wondering if taking the gourds count as attacking, and I would get the extra attack power."

"Do you think they'll be difficult to grab?"

"Look how big the ripe ones are," Abeke said, pointing up. "The stems must be strong if there aren't any on the ground down here, having fallen on their own."

With that parting comment, Abeke steadied herself into a crouch and launched herself at a low, but sturdy looking, branch on the nearest tree. Between the enhanced jumping granted by the Granite Ram, and Uraza's help, Abeke made it to her chosen branch easily.

Distantly, she heard Conor cheering for her, all the way down on the ground. Looking around, Abeke plotted a course to the trio of ripe gourds she had seen previously. Three branches were all she needed to reach them.

She turned out to be right on both accounts. The gourd stems were hardy, and the Amber Leopard did help her pry them off the tree. As she had no way to carry them at the moment, Abeke let the precious gourds fall to the ground, resolving to collect them once she had found another.

After that, she tried to focus on the power from the Copper Falcon. She blinked, and as she opened her eyes once more, she could see everything. The dust mores in the air, the veins of the leaves, the worried look on Conor's face. And, most importantly, she saw another clump of ripe banana gourds.

Quickly, a route was planned, and she leapt from branch to branch. Once again, the Amber Leopard proved useful, and Abeke was able to throw down the two gourds in the clump to where the others had been thrown. She took one more enhanced look around and didn't see any additional banana gourds. Then she started to plan a route to the ground.

Now that she was looking down, Abeke truly realized how high she was. She had to take a deep breath so as to keep her cool. Once Abeke had sufficiently calmed herself down, she was able to track a path to get to the ground.

Abeke moved flawlessly along her chosen path and reached the ground safely. However, once there, she was only able to find four of the five gourds that had been picked. It wasn't a problem, though. After all, she had picked the extra one just in case of a situation such as this.

Then Abeke took off her cloak and fashioned it into a sling where she carefully tucked the gourds. After tying the cloak as tightly as she could, Abeke quickly made her way back to Conor, Briggan, and Uraza.