"Could've been worse," she points out, mentally resetting her swear timer to zero. "You could've just dropped straight down."

And hey, he was the one fishing for compliments. Daine just delivered.

His second attempt takes her by surprise, and she jerks her head back a little as he flaps past her face. It's more successful than the first attempt, in the sense that it takes him longer to inevitably reach the ground. "That was better," she observes as she pokes the stick at his hinders again. "I think you were in the air at least twice as long as last time."