Axia paid seemingly little attention to him or their surroundings as he responded, but it was less easy to ignore when he suddenly shouted for her to move and came barreling towards her. She was caught way off guard and offered barely any resistance as he shoved her out of the way, giving a startled cry as she immediately lost her balance and tumbled hard onto the rocks next to the shore. A few of the sharper ones drew blood as they dug into her back, but all things considered, she definitely got off easier than Eln. Her eyes lit up with worry as the fallen tree crashed into him, and she hurriedly clambered to her feet, stumbling up to the fallen tree and spotting her unconscious saviour through the cover of branches and smoke.
Oooooh gods. Don't be dead. Don't be dead...
She reached down and grabbed at his body in an attempt to drag him away from the fallen tree, struggling in vain to move him before letting out a startled yelp and pulling her arms back as the growing flames hungrily lashed out at them. It was a good thing that some of her scales persisted in this form, seeing as they protected much of her arms from the fire and left them with only light burns when she could've gotten much worse. It was obvious that she wasn't going to be able to move him in her current state, and it was doubtful that she had enough energy left in her for another shift.
But just maybe...
She had an idea. It was an incredibly dangerous idea, but it was all she had at the moment and she didn't exactly have the luxury of spending time coming up with something better. In order to get the transformation to work, she'd need to gather a lot of energy very quickly. And if she recovered energy by absorbing light, well... it only made sense that the closer she got to a light source, the more she'd absorb from it.
She moved to lean back over Eln, her wings curling around his body and forming a makeshift shield. The wall of scales would serve the dual purpose of protecting the two from the approaching flames as well as collecting as much energy as possible. They were fireproof enough to prevent her from getting seriously injured, but the rest of her body was hardly equipped to handle such temperatures. Within moments, she found herself blinking back tears, though she couldn't be sure if they were due to the smoke, the blazing heat, or simply the distressing nature of the situation she'd placed herself in.
Come on... just need a little bit more...
Her scales began to glow with a white-hot light, quickly outshining the advancing flames before finally enveloping the girl as she made one last shift into her natural form. Her claws just barely avoided putting some nasty holes in Eln's body as they dragged him away from the burning tree. At least the immediate danger was over with, but it clearly wasn't safe to stay put and wait for him to come to- if the fire or falling trees didn't do them in, surely the smoke would get to them eventually.
She curled one claw underneath his body and scooped him up as delicately as she could manage, which was easier said than done seeing as he wasn't exactly a small guy. Once she'd secured her grip on him, she turned to follow the creek and launched herself as best she could with her remaining legs, narrowly avoiding another disaster as she tore through several branches and came far too close to clipping a few trunks on her way up. She flew high up enough to clear the treeline before shifting her focus entirely into keeping herself airborne and flying straight forward, quickly losing track of how long they'd been airborne. It was only when she spotted the trees in the distance give way large open field that she allowed herself to relax a bit. She knew it was around her somewhere! Kind of. Definitely didn't just get incredibly lucky.
She eased up as they began their decent, hoping to slow down enough for a relatively gentle landing by the time they reached the ground. Of course, a "gentle" landing for a creature of her size was still going to be somewhat destructive, and her claws still ended up tearing a short line of grass and dirt as they touched down and brought her to a grinding halt. She laid Eln down into the grass, nestling her head against his chest to confirm that he was still breathing before circling around him and unceremoniously collapsing on the ground, one wing coming to rest protectively over his body. She was fast asleep mere seconds later, finally having the chance to recharge her energy as she basked in the sunlight.