"Oh." Alex grinned. "Don't let him hear you say that. He doesn't need a bigger ego."
He looked up. "I'll see if I can call him down, but... think of griffins as being about half raven, half cat and having twice the attitude of both. So it's kind of a toss-up if he'll come or not." He took a deep breath. "Crow! The nice lady wants to meet you! Come on, you jerk!"
From above, there was a loud harsh sound from the flying animal, and it flew a little lower. "I'm not tricking you, I promise." He looked sheepishly down at the woman. "I'm not sure if he understands me or not. They have about the intelligence of a two-year-old human child, as far as we can figure."