It was no good trying to sleep indoors. It was always hanging over your head regardless, no matter where you went or how you hid your eyes. Better to stay outdoors, where you could at least keep an eye on It.

Meteor cast a bloody tinge over the summer sky, and Rena imagined that it intensified the heat of the afternoon. It was too hot to cuddle, really, but Rena couldn't bear to shake free of her birds as they nestled in around her. She stroked beaks, groomed feathers, accepted preening of her pigtails with almost her customary giggle. These birds were her family, more than any human ever could be. She knew them down to every crooked feather and expressive eye, and they loved her as their funny flockmate.

Go, Cloud had said. Find the reason you're fighting.

Rena leaned back against the chocobos' flanks and stared up at Meteor until she could no longer see.