"Rio!" Seeing Xin Mu and the others come out, Riolu tried to change direction and land right beside them.
But that movement threw her off balance. Her steady descent suddenly went awry, though Corvisquire still caught her securely.
This time, Corvisquire did not fly back to the roof, instead bringing Riolu down to the ground.
"Rio."
"It's all right, I saw everything. Once you take that first step, the rest gets much easier to learn."
It was like riding a bicycle. Once you managed to ride on your own, your body remembered that sense of balance, and you naturally picked it up.
Getting started was always the hardest part. Without mastering that first step, there was no way to make any progress.
Xin Mu even had a rather unconventional method for learning to ride a bicycle: find a gentle slope and ride down it. After coasting down once, you would more or less get the hang of it.
Much the same principle applied to Riolu. This kind of practice took quite a toll on both her stamina and concentration. Xin Mu took out a towel to wipe her sweat, only to suddenly feel a chill.
"Is it snowing?"
Snowflakes suddenly drifted down from what had just been a clear sky, and clouds gradually obscured the bright sunshine.
At first, there were only a few scattered flakes, but the snowfall intensified in the blink of an eye. The weather here seemed to change incredibly quickly.
"Rio?"
Riolu curiously raised a paw, trying to catch the snowflakes falling from the sky.
She had been born in early autumn, and this was the first time she had ever seen snow.
The faint breeze stirred up by Riolu's grasping motion diverted the featherlight snowflakes. One drifted past her and landed right on her foot.