Silvermist gave a soft huff at her question and Akira giggled. She wasn't sure why, but she absolutely adored Dala. The girl was as curious and inquisitive as Akira tended to be. To have someone a lot like her, about her own age as well, was quite… refreshing. Akira felt at ease with the girl, too. Whether or not that this was because Akira didn't have very many female friends her age, if any at all, remains to be seen.

"He is a very intelligent creature, so just tell him. But if you can't say anything, then lean slightly the direction you desire and he will turn that way." She gave some time between instructions, allowing Dala to gain a feel for turning. "Squeeze a little tighter with your heels for an increase of speed. Ease up on the pressure to slow down. Of course, you will have to train your own horse to follow these directions." Silvermist seemed quite happy with the way things were progressing with Dala, being very patient with her as he was for Akira.

Both horse and fox's ear swiveled, Silvermist giving a worried snort. "Ya…" Akira whispered, eyes suddenly wearily scanning the horizon. They felt something odd, something dangerous causing a shift in the air. "Dala, whatever you do, trust in Silvermist," she carefully warned the girl before her. There was a rustle behind her. The fox summoned her spectral blades, all five of them hovering around her protectively as Akira began to slide back on Silvermist's back. She pulled her feet up beneath her, standing slowly, wobbly, before attempting a backward leap off the unicorn.

Akira twisted in the air, landing almost perfectly with her back to the retreating unicorn as she faced their attacker. Three large roses snaked up from the ground, the petals slowly opening to reveal reptilian-shaped heads. As the three rosy snakes continued to tower over her, she realized that they were connected to one huge body, their legs like roots. She cursed softly. What was a tropical rose hydra doing here? Where did it come from? Slowly, Akira stood and fished a dagger out of her pack. She was not prepared for dealing with this.

Dala was determined to figure out this riding thing. The passion to learn filled her heart as did gratefulness for such a cool friend like Akira. They had just met but she felt a strong connection with the young girl. Meanwhile Charise, her baby dragon, was flying above and around them. The baby dragon didn't want to be left out so she was just flying all around. Dala carefully listened to Akira and squeezed her left leg to make the unicorn go left. Then she tried right to go right. The child was trying with the leg technique since she knew she wouldn't always be riding a unicorn this intelligent. Some days it would be just a regular horse. If she was lucky.

"Okay. I think I'm doing alright with this. You're a good teacher Akira." Dala complimented her genuinely, "And Silvermist is a wonderful unicorn!"

They continued training on the horse when suddenly both the horse and fox's ears swiveled. The unicorn gave a worried snort but Dala was completely oblivious to all of this. Her mind was still focused on getting better with horse riding. This always happened whenever she was learning something new. The rest of the world faded away and her attention was purely on improving int he skill.

"Got it. Trust in Silvermist." Dala responded, still not understanding the danger they were in.

It wasn't until she saw Akira performing a backflip off of the unicorn and towards the giant three large rosed monster thing. Dala knew one thing. There was no way in heck that Akira would be able to take on a monster like that without some help! Dala held onto Silvermist with her right hand and used her left to whistle for Emerald. The snake slithered towards Dala but stopped when the child put up her hand.

"Protect Akira!" She shouted.

Emerald was smart enough to understand what this meant and slithered towards Akira. Instead of attacking, the snake was by her side and baring its fangs at the monster. Dala knew that she wouldn't be much help in the battle. Her fighting skills were good for a nine year old but she was still nine. Her muscles were small and she doubted she would be able to stand up against a monster. Dala was not magically strong either. However, Emerald was a giant snake with paralyzing powers. Surely that would be useful!

"There is no way in heck I'm gonna let Akira get beat up by an overgrown rose bush!" Dala said with determination.