She is falling, falling, falling.

But she really is falling, and the motion registers, shooting up her spine in alarm, and her body twists, instinctively seeking out rock and stone. Fingers hit sliding dirt and scrabble, sinking in only when she remembers how to Skill.

A body hits the mountainside next to her, and she can tell by the breathing its Lei. Their surroundings are hidden in a haze of dirt. He coughs, and she imagines the air can't feel good on his already damaged throat.

"What was that?" she rasps, clutching tighter as the dirt around her fingers begins to give. She turns it to stone, a hold melded to her finger-shape.

"C-can't be D-Durai, can it?" he answers, and she can just make out his brown-splotched face. They both look down, but can't see anything.

Beneath their fingers the mountain lurches suddenly and they both jump, the shift moving up their arms like an electric shock. For a moment, the strangest moment, Allayria thinks she sees a soft, white glow set against the dark red of her eyelids, a glow that drifts out from the smoke and the metal pistons deep below to the rocky surface.

"There's something metal in the mountain," she shouts over the crash of rock against stone.

Another blast rocks the earth beneath them and Allayria and Lei cling to the side, feet and fingers digging in. There's ringing in Allayria's ears and she spits out soggy dust and muck, thinking she'd like to gag, but that would only make her inhale more of it.

"Oi!"

They both turn, peering through the falling rock at Hiran, who has a forearm sunk into the mountainside and his other hand clasped around Tara's wrist.

"Listen: there's no way two people are getting one of those things alone," he shouts at them. "It's too far. Maybe we should strike a deal."

He shakes his golden hair away from his face.

"You help us get our item and we'll help you."

Lei's head turns slightly, cocking an ear back to her, waiting to hear her input.

"Alright. Got any ideas?" she hollers back, but then she slides close to Lei. Pressed against his back, she murmurs: "We need to make sure one of us gets the golden statue."

Lei's head dips in assent.

"Don't I, darling," Hiran drawls. "If only this earthquake would pass."

"I have an idea for that," Lei yells at the other two. "Can you climb over here?"

The finely defined muscles in his arms straining, Hiran swings Tara up and she catches on the rock face between them. With a dexterity that speaks of hard living, she scrambles over, clasping Lei's hand and swinging around him to land on Allayria's other side. She takes Allayria's proffered hand and scowls.

"I don't usually want to be one of you gardeners, but I sure as hell could use super-stick grip at the moment," she shouts as Hiran slides over, the mountainside melting into his touch like a blushing bride.

"Can anyone see what's on the pillar?" Lei asks.

"The nearest is scarlet," Hiran answers, neck craning out.

"Yours is the one next to it," Lei tells him. "We need to climb as close as we can."

They shuffle as a group and when Hiran tells them they're close Lei stops, turning so he faces the cliff.

"You better do what you've got to now," he shouts and he pulls his hands out of the rock, flattening them into straight, taut planes before slamming them back down onto the jagged surface.

The effect is instantaneous: the rock seems to freeze beneath them, stilling in a person-wide radius around them.

"Excellent," Hiran says, glancing around and them over to the pillar. "Tar, what's your bird say?"

"There's another 'A' in my name, you know. She says we've got a clear shot; she's ready."

"Ready for what?" Allayria shouts as another crash rings out close by.

"One of us has got to punt the other toward the pillar," Hiran answers, dipping his head closer. "Tara's bird has been testing the defenses—we think it can only shoot one boulder at a time, so if her bird trips one and we jump at the same time..."

"It's only 50-50 we'll be flattened like a pancake."

"I was thinking better odds," he says with a grin, "but probably. Whoever's back here can try to Skill it out of the way too, as an extra precaution."

"That makes me feel better," Allayria retorts, and she shifts so she faces out.

"It's alright, I can do it," Hiran says, gleaning what she intends. "You can just punt me across. It's not like anyone would want to ruin this piece of artwork."

"I'll go across," Allayria insists and she hears Lei shift next to her.

"It's my hare-brained idea—"

"You're too heavy," she throws back and Hiran actually looks affronted.

"I am not—"

"Hiran!" Tara shouts.

"Fine," he snaps. "Get into the clearing, Ms. Pennyfeather, and get your delicate bones prepared for launch."

She crawls over, sitting with her knees pointed out and feet and hands planted on the rock behind her.

"Allayria," Lei calls warningly, and she glances over at him.

"Don't worry about it," she tells him with a wide smile. "I'm uniquely qualified for this, remember?"

His scowl only deepens as the sweat trickles down the side of his face. If they're going to do this, they need to do it fast.

"Ready?"

"Ready."

"Say, you do know how to aim straight, don't you, Hiran?"

Being blasted off the side of the mountain is her only answer.

This is different from falling—there's a purpose to this, a direction. She sails forward, propelled by the force of the rock, and she hears the corresponding blast from below. She glances at the tawny bird swooping around the other side and she uses her feet to shove off from the dislodged rock.

The world turns upside down and, head flung back, she sees the boulder careening toward her. A curse is forming in the back of her brain, but there's no time for it; she shove her hands down, feeling with a jolt the force of the racing rock hitting against the command of her Skill.

It catches her on her hip but otherwise blasts past and she spins off, over and over and—

Over, Gods above, she's going over the blasted platform—she twists, whipping the spindling vine out of her belt and flinging it out so that the noosed end slides over the top of the golden trinket, pulling it down with her as she begins to plummet.

For once in her life it's more dangerous to be near a solid wall than free-falling, so Allayria kicks out against the side of the column, pushing herself hopefully beyond firing range, before turning to face the incoming ground.

I can grab a bit of rock and hover on it, she thinks flexing her fingers and thinking back to when she had done it with metal. She had only managed it for a few seconds—it was supremely difficult, but it is a little more imperative now...

But she feels wet, and she looks back up, down the rest of her body, and suddenly she jerks to a halt, arms flailing out with the force of her stop.

Head flopped down, she sees an image of an upside-down Lei and Hiran with their arms stretched out, the backs of their shirts held up by a red-faced Tara, who's leaning against a band of rock around her torso. Allayria's gaze travels to the bottom of her vision—or up—to the beam of ice running from both men's arms to her waist.

"THROW VINE," Lei must shout. She can't hear him, but she can see the splinters starting to grow the ice and she swings up the vine, sending the golden statue whirling over into Lei's outstretched hand.

The ice shatters and she loops the vine around her hand as she swings back to the cliff.

The impact isn't pleasant or gentle; she'll be black and blue all up her side if she's lucky, but she reaches out and takes hold of the mountainside with a rush of relief. The others have done the same and they all scramble up, before the mountain can do anything else.

Allayria is the last one to the top and when she nears it Lei's hand shoots down, gripping her elbow and yanking her onto flat land. Everyone's breaths come out in short, sharp gasps and when they all have sat up, arms hanging around knees, Hiran smiles.

"Great job, team," he says and Lei punches him in the jaw.

A/N: Captain Obvious is not a happy camper.

It's a flashback for the header this chapter. A full view of the artwork,"Girl on Fire," can be found on my deviantart account here: http://asimsluvr.deviantart.com/art/Girl-on-Fire-655473562. Woman reference: Marcus Ranum. Fire reference: reincarnationOFfoxes.

Allayria balanced on the sheet of metal in the "Roften" chapter of Paragon.