Reaching the bottom, she feels herself tremble. It was a lot darker down here. She presses the side of her face against his sleeve and wishes that she was not a simple human girl.

Kirin puts a protective arm around her. With his magic he creates a light that floats in front of them. He looks around.

She felt herself relax in his strong grasp. It was the first time that she felt safe with a male touching her. The light helped a lot too. Looking around curiously, she made out that down here the floors and walls were stone.

"This place is amazing." He says. He just stands with his arm around her looking around.

She kinda grins at his enthusiasm. She figured it would be pointless to suggest going back upstairs. So she made the suggestion she really didn't want to follow through on. "Want to look around?"

"How much longer is it till sunset?" He asks. He doesn't want her getting caught down here when she changes.

She pauses, realizing in a heartbeat how painful that would be. "Maybe an hour?"

---------- Post added 06-22-2012 at 12:00 AM ----------

((Heading to bed... later))

"Then why don't we go back up. I can always come back down and explore on my own." He can also sense that she would rather not explore any ways. He turns heading back up the stairs with her.

She felt a sense of relief that they were getting out of the creepy place. As a human she was so weak it frightened her. Also, these emotions humans had were so... well... they swayed her easily. For that she felt shame. Yet a small, really small, part of her was disappointed in herself for being a coward and giving up exploring down here. It was just as well though. Turning to go back up the stairs, she also regretted that she would lose his arm around her. It was more comfortable than she had imagined it could be and she felt less alone.

Kirin links their arms together as they head up the stairs. He is happy that she trusted him enough to let him hold her close. Soon they are back in the main temple. "Where would you like to go now?" He asks her with a smile.

She shook her head regretfully, "I think I am going to go take a swim. Don't want to rip of these clothes when I transform back." Hesitantly, she unlinked her arm from his and with a shy smile headed outside.

"Enjoy your swim." He says.. "Be safe." He kisses her cheek softly before she walks away.

Blushing at the light kiss, she smiled softly to herself and headed to the water's edge. Taking off her clothes and folding them in a stone chest nearby, she then waded out into the water. Swimming back and forth, in the cool lake waters, she thoughtfully touched her cheek. Human emotions were... different. She was starting to like him. Was that a good thing?

Kirin sits under a tree watching as the sun starts to set. He starts to doze off as the last rays of light disappear from the sky.

The last of the sun's rays disappeared as the sun sank below the horizon. For the first time, it was with more than relief that she watched the day end. There was a bit of disappointment. She had enjoyed being human, for a brief time, for the first time. And for that matter, it was the first time since that cursed mage had hurt her so badly that she had enjoyed being around humans.

Now, the water around her started to lap away from her. Her body began to glow slightly as her form started to change. She experienced a moment of dizziness and suddenly, she was a beautiful large gryphon once again. The volatile emotions of the human race drained away for the more steadfast logic of her proud heritage. Gryphons felt emotions, more deeply in some ways, but they were more able to use their brains and control the physical signs of changes between joy and sadness, happiness and hate.

Taking this opportunity, she quickly took to the sky and circled as fast and as high as she could. Gaining her freedom was always an exhilaration for her. The twilight light tinted her gray feathers with a slight purple hue. The crisp mountain air filled her lungs and she changed to a glide, basking in the beauty of flight.

Kirin wakes seeing her flying and she smiles. Though he admits to himself it was nice having another human around, having human touch. But he is glad to have her back to herself.

Looking down in the darkness, her eyes picks out Kirin. Gracefully gliding down, she slowly works her way down and lands with a thunder of wings before him. Standing gracefully before her with her head proudly above her shoulders, she leans down and rubs the side of her beak against his cheek.

"It is good to see you back to yourself." He says leaning into the touch. He smiles though still sad at what his father had put her through.

She gave a gryphon smile with a slightly open beak. "You know of the beauty of the lake here at night. Now let me show you another treasure. Climb up behind my neck." She bent down so that he would be able to use her leg as a step up to her shoulder.

He feels honored that she is letting him ride her. He gracefully gets on her back. He feels safe up here. He knows, deep down that he won't hurt him.

Once he was up, she suggested "hold on" and leaped from the ground. Her wings pulled them into the air with each beat. She worked to gain altitude as quickly as possible. If he were to fall, she wanted as much extra distance as possible to catch him. Carrying humans was not exactly something she was used to.

Kirin holds on. He lets out a whoop of pure delight as she takes off. He has never been this high up before.

Hearing his joy, she grinned. Rising high above any clouds where the air was thin, she ceased her flapping and settled into a glide. Here were the dark blue sky was filled with thousands of sparkling stars for as far as you could see. Peace and goodness. It was as if no evil could reach them.

Kirin breathes in deeply. "This is amazing." He says in awe. He falls silent just taking in the beauty off it all. He is happy that she is sharing this with him.

She grinned back at him. "My friend, your worth all this and more." She swept down so that they swept over the wisps of clouds, their white beauty reflecting the star's light.