"I promise," Aerith replied, with an amused smile. They were... fussing. Axel, at least, was doing it out of genuine concern, and some amusement, but his friend was harder to gauge.

She had a lot of questions to ask, about that, and about Axel's other friends in particular, but there'd be time for that, later. For now, she had to concentrate on riding a giant bird.

At least it was a friendly giant bird.