[Silver]

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

They might as well add that question to the 'start an adventure' checklist, because he asked it every single time. Sure, it might have sounded like an okay plan when they were just talking about it, but actually getting there was a different matter entirely. If he had his way, they would probably never leave their home town. Lucky for him, she refused to take no for an answer.

"Of course it is! What are you even worried about? You can fly!" Amie bounced ahead, jumping from one big rock to the next. Every now and then, she had a near miss, causing her to scramble around to maintain her footing. Quark flinched every time at the sound of her claws on rock. Nonetheless, she didn't seem worried about anything at all.

[Silver]

"Sure I can, but what about you?" The Morloth grumbled, listening to her paws clack against loose rocks yet again. His head was filled with thoughts of her taking a tumble down the mountain. Though they hadn't gotten that high yet. He wondered what it would be like to fly with the lighter air under his wings. Generally, Morloths did not go this high.

"I'll be fiiiiine," she insisted. This was easy peasy. Just climb up the mountain, grab the goods, and head back down again. According to the notes they were given, it wasn't even that high up.

That answer didn't seem to soothe his nerves much, but he let it go. "Would you at least stop bouncing around like that? You could trip and fall!"

[Silver]

"Has anyone ever told you that you worry too much?" No doubt she had told him at least a dozen times herself, but the question was rhetorical.

"Even if you don't fall," he said with a huff, "then would you stop for the sake of my poor ears?" The sound of claws scraping against rock was not a nice one, even without his highly sensitive hearing. It was times like these that he started to regret his decision to team up with a cat.

Amie turned to stick her tongue out at Quark as she reluctantly jumped down. Since she wasn't looking where she was going, one of her paws got caught and she tumbled to the ground with an 'oompf'. The Kuhna shook her head and sprang right back up again, trying to act as if nothing had happened.

"I heard that."

"Shut up."

[Silver]

"See, this is why..." Quark wasn't usually one to say 'I told you so,' but this was too perfect to pass up. Too bad she cut him off before he could finish.

"Don't you start!" If he hadn't have told her to get down, she wouldn't have fallen in the first place. As far as she was concerned, this was all his fault. He should be apologizing to her, not trying to give her a lecture!

Quark decided not to push the issue, and the two of them traveled in relative quiet for a little while. The sound of her paws on the dirt path allowed him to follow her with relative ease. It was certainly much better than all of the clacking and scratching from before. This arrangement was working beautifully for him, though she was starting to get a bit restless.

[Silver]

"Do you think we're getting close?" Amie asked, trying not to sound too impatient. Okay, she was impatient, but she was trying not to be.

"I don't know. You have the notes."

"Oh, right." Amie jumped off the path onto a nearby rock with a flat surface. Then she nosed open the pack at her side and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper with her mouth.

Amie stretched out the crumpled paper between her paws. She really wasn't very good at taking notes. Quark probably would be, but he couldn't write, so she had to do it herself. In fact, if he wasn't around, she probably wouldn't have bothered to do it in the first place.

"Well?" Quark asked, landing on the edge of the rock. It felt good to give his wings a little rest.

[Silver]

"There's the picture he gave us," Amie explained, pushing it aside. "It says we're on the right path. That's a good sign."

Quark frowned slightly. Did that mean that she wasn't sure before now that they were even going the right way? He chose not to focus on it. What mattered is that they were doing fine, at least for now.

Amie was uncharacteristically quiet while she looked over what she had written. She tried to remember if he said anything that she didn't write down. She was so eager to get going that she might have missed some information. That thought sat heavy in her stomach for a moment.

[Silver]

"What is it?" Quark asked. It seemed like entirely too long since she had said anything.

"Nothing!" Amie squeaked, barely managing to keep a lid on her panic. Still, Quark heard it. This was not going to be good.

"Is something wrong?"

"Noooo..."

Quark let out a sigh and waddled closer to her. "Amie," he said in the sternest voice he could muster. "You're going to have to tell me."

Amie took a deep breath in, then rapidly spit out, "I kinda sorta forgot to write down where the flowers are." Somehow, he wasn't surprised to hear that.

[Silver]

"It's okay," Quark insisted, though he very much did not believe so himself. "Do you remember what he said?"

"A little bit," she nodded. It sounded like she was ready to cry. "I remember that they grew in the shade of prickle bushes."

"Perfect!" He sounded genuinely relieved. "The prickle bushes grow in a ring around a flat cliff with no big rocks in it." That part he remembered clearly, but for the rest of it, he hadn't been paying that much attention. He was too focused on the dangerous parts, and he thought that she had been writing it down. Next time he would have to triple check everything before they left.

"If we're on the right path," he trailed off to give her time to correct him, but she just nodded. "Then we should get there in no time!"

[Silver]

Amie seemed to cheer up almost instantly. This had really been an emotional few minutes for her. "Yea, let's go!" she cheered, hopping down from the rock.

"Don't forget your notes!" Quark reminded her. They may not be perfect, but the notes could come in handy later. One never knows.

"Right!" she snatched them up and shoved them into her bag. Then she bounced away with renewed vigor. Quark fervently flapped his wings trying to keep up with her. So much for his rest.

After what was probably far too long to be considered 'no time,' he felt something odd. It was subtle, but promising. The air moved in a different direction, and the way it bounced off the ground was changing. "I think we may be close!"

[Silver]

Hearing that news, Amie rushed ahead. She could feel it, too. The ground under her feet was changing, and she noticed that there were fewer rocks around. A short rock wall stood in front of her, blocking her path. That must be it! Without skipping a beat, she ran right toward the wall and leapt over it.

"Made it!" she congratulated herself. Looking around, she could see all of the prickly bushes around the walls. It was actually pretty lucky that she didn't land in one. "I found the pricker bushes!" she called out.

"Can you see the flowers?" he asked, circling down to land on the ground. He hated being on the ground, but his wings needed a rest. They had to be safe all the way up here, right?

"Yea! There's one over here," she dashed over to it.

[Silver]

Amie leaned down to eye level with the flower. It was so pretty! No wonder their client wanted some. She wrapped her teeth around the stem gently, and gave it a tug. Nothing. She tried again, yanking harder this time, and it came loose. She ended up pulling so hard that her face slammed into a thorn on the nearby bush.

"Ow!" she squawked, dropping the flower.

"Are you okay?" Quark fretted. That didn't sound good at all.

"Yea..." she was a bit embarrassed about it, actually. A little drip of blood ran down her muzzle. "Pricker bushes sure are... prickly."

"Please be more careful."

Now with more caution, Amie went back to picking the rest of the flowers she needed. When she had a whole dozen, she gently settled them into her pack. Now she just had to get them home safely...