A tall woman gazed out toward the sea, her feet planted in the sand. She took a deep breath, smelling the humid, ashy air.

It smells gross, but I'll miss it.

"Are you sure you have to leave us?"

The woman looked behind her, seeing one of the smaller girls of her village. The little girl had always been teased about her height. The woman didn't pity her though; she had given the girl advice and hopefully she would take it.

It's on her whether or not she listens, the woman thought as she took in another breath of the ashy air around her.

"I don't have to leave you. Not really. But I've got something in mind that I want to do. I have to go over to the mainland in order to do that. You understand, kid?"

The girl frowned. "I think I do." The girl's eyes bore into the ground, fear settling upon her face. "But what about the monsters?"

With a grin, the woman said, "I trained all of you. You'll be able to defend yourselves while I'm away."

It's up to you whether you get killed or not, the woman thought as she looked up at the sky.

She heaved out a sigh. "Look, I don't know if I'll be back. I don't even know if I'll survive."

"I don't want you to go. What if there are badder monsters? What if they are too strong?" The girl's mind was plagued with so many worries; worries a child shouldn't have to endure. But their homeland was vicious and merciless. Their homeland has no place for a child.

The woman chuckled at the fearful small girl in front of her. "Yeah, there are some pretty bad monsters out there. Nothing I can't deal with though. Here, how about I trade you some war stories if I come back, huh?" She sent a grin to the child in front of her, confidence oozing out of her in waves.

The child's frown lifted up into a smile, the woman's confidence having rubbed off on her.

"Do you really have to go though?" A voice called out from behind the small girl. It was another girl, her blond locks tied up in pigtails a dead giveaway to the woman she was.

The woman scratched her arm and heaved out another sigh. "Oh, it's you. Look's like you got that promotion you always wanted. Ya know, being the new leader and all." The woman didn't miss how the blond girl's body tensed.

"I didn't want it like this, Primna," the blond girl said with a biting edge. The small girl next to her flinched. All the other children in their village would flinch too, just like the small girl. The woman, however, wasn't one to get scared easily, especially from the blond girl's temper.

"Sorry, I don't do drama. I'll give you an update when that changes, Britna," the woman said nonchalantly.

The girl, now known as Britna, grinded her teeth. The little girl glanced between the two, feeling the animosity spurring between them.

"You aren't going," Britna said, a barely concealed demand passing her lips. Her glare at the woman backed up her demand, though that wouldn't deter the woman one bit.

"If Primna needs to go, she needs to go. I trust her," the little girl spoke up, garnering the attention of the two older females.

"Thanks, Druvna," the woman said, giving a wink at the small girl.

The small girl giggled at the action, the blond beside her displeased.

"Now, I've got to go. The tides'll give me a straight shot to the other side. Otherwise, it'll be a pain and I'll probably end up being eaten by some Echo Sharks," the woman said, the last bit devised to intentionally scare the little girl, Duvna. It worked, Primna taking glee in the little girl's fear. Britna only rolled her eyes in response.

"Fine. I'll be an even better leader than you ever were!" Britna declared with a deep blush before turning around and marching back over to her village.

"Please, be careful," Duvna said with a stammer.

"Yeah, well, I'm called Reckless Rose for a reason," Primna said, sporting a malicious grin on her lips. "I'll try to be a bit mindful, but ya can't hold it against me if I go down in a fight. That's just how I am."

Duvna giggled and then nodded. "You can't blame me for trying."

"Just make sure you don't die before me, 'kay? I'd hate to know I left before you were ready to tackle on a beast or two."

"B-But they come in packs of three to five!" The Duvna said, her eyes widening in fear.

"Unless you're deciding to take a nice hike in these monster-infested lands, then you'll be fine. Make sure not to do anything stupid or reckless. That's my job," the woman said with a snicker.

"Be careful," the small girl muttered before running back to the village.

With a sigh, the woman looked back over to the sea.

"Hopefully they don't realize I lied again. 'Cause the only way to figure that lie out is to try it. The currents are bizarre out here," Primna muttered to herself.

The sound of the waves' lull would usually make her tired, but right now she was wide awake.

She thought about the children in the village, how she had practically raised them when she had failed to protect the adults and elders. It was her duty to protect all the villagers, a duty handed down to her when her father had finally abandoned his home once and for all. And she had failed in that duty when she was twelve. The younger children would always tell her that she couldn't have done any better, that there's no way a 12 year old could take on so many beasts at once.

But in this land, age is relative. It wouldn't have mattered if I was seven, 12, or 30; it's still my responsibility to ensure the villagers' safety. Even if that meant sacrificing myself for the sake of the village. The older kids understood that, Primna thought with a scowl.

In a way, she had felt redeemed when she had managed to save the children from that massacre and raise them all. It was hard work, but Primna felt it was worth it. But a few years ago she had gotten caught up in a current. That current bled into another which bled into another which bled into another and finally she had hit land, but it wasn't her homeland. It was the mainland, as her partner-in-crime called it.

When she finally managed to get back, she was already hooked on the peace and wonderful discoveries she had made while in the mainland. She had trained the children she had raised soon after so that way she could venture back to the mainland. Now, here she was, looking out toward the sea where she knew the mainland laid on the other shore. This time, though, she would have to use her wits to figure out how to get to the mainland. But she had something now that would help her in her endeavor.

"Hopefully I trained them enough," Primna muttered, anxiety starting to claw its way up her heart. The last thing she would want is to end up like her father: letting those unable to defend themselves be eradicated.

Good thing I came around, the woman thought as she glanced behind her.

A small trail of smoke flowed lazily into the sky, possibly from the remnants of the bonfire the children had created earlier. Then her vibrant green eyes noticed the dark gray clouds rolling in. Rain would most likely hit the village in about an hour.

The clouds almost look like they're pushing me forward, Primna thought.

"Even nature is telling me to get moving." She snickered. "Well, here goes."

She concentrated, feeling that familiar feeling she had gotten acquainted with in recent years. Vapors of aura clung onto her body, the white aura slowly dying into a muted green.

"You better be right about this, Kuriya. I'll drag you down with me if I find out you lied to me," the woman muttered.

Concentrating her aura to her feet, she sprinted toward the sea. She leapt out into the ocean, the aura around her feet propelling her farther out into the sea than what was natural. Then she found herself falling, and she willed herself to not freak out. The violent waves she was quickly descending down to though weren't helping her rattled nerves.

Kuriya told me that panicking would break my concentration. I can't let that happen unless I want to end up as food to whatever lives under the ocean, Primna thought.

Her feet landed on the water's surface, the chaotic waves underneath causing her body to wobble. She strained to adjust to the wild movement but she quickly discovered that it was nearly impossible.

I should've known that this would happen! There's a reason ships never make it far, she thought as she grunted from the effort to balance herself.

"You think you can get the best of me, you crabby waves? News flash, you're not the boss of me!" With an irritated glare, Primna started to stomp toward her destination.

I'm starting to already lose my patience! Primna thought with a deep-seated frown.

However, there was one thing that the woman hadn't accounted for. A few hours into her difficult journey, the gray clouds that had strolled by her village had caught up to her. Rain came down on her, drenching her thin village garb and the body it covered. Lightning lit up the sky, thunder roaring soon after. All this commotion had only made the sea even more volatile.

"I can't catch a break, can I?" Primna muttered under her breath, her face sporting a scowl.

As if nature understood her quiet mutter, lightning struck three feet away from her, the thunder after making her cringe at how loud it was.

"That's it, I'm tired of this!" She started to race through the chaos, making leaps and bounds whenever she felt it would save her time and energy. She focused solely on the long journey ahead of her, the rain, lightning, and thunder no longer important enough to garner her attention.

Why did I want to go to the mainland again? Primna thought with a huff.

The distant sound of thunder reached her ears, causing the woman to look behind her.

Her eyes widened as she realized that she was no longer in the eye of the storm. Primna looked back ahead of her, noticing the small glimpse of land.

Right, I wanted to take the Hunters Exam. Which I don't even know if it actually exists. I only assume it does because Kuriya mentioned it. And she hasn't given me false information, yet.

A few hours later, and Primna wanted to cut her journey short. "I think it's time to spice things up a bit."

With a confident grin, she sped up. She watched as the land came closer and closer, watched as it became larger with each step, watched as—

"Crap!" Primna shouted as she tried to slow down.

She hadn't thought about slowing down as she approached the mainland. Now she was going to run straight through a plaza filled with a lot of people and probably cause a massive amount of damage.

Primna scanned the area, hoping to find something that could help her slow down or somewhere she could divert to that won't cause a whole building to collapse.

Her body slowed down enough for her to take a sharp right. Straight toward a mountain. Coating herself in her green aura, she crashed right into the mountain.

As her body eventually skidded to a stop on a patch of thin grass, Primna was battling with the pain that threatened to consume her. Her breaths were sharp and frequent, her body felt heavy like lead.

That was... really reckless, the woman thought with admonishment.

A few minutes after, she felt the pain lessen. She tried moving her arm, noting with relief that she was able to lift it. She tried the other arm, watched as she guided it up and over her face. She tried to get herself up and soon found herself standing with no pain.

"I crashed into a mountain... with nothing but a few bruises?" Primna said, looking herself over.

There were a few bruises on her arms and legs, and she felt a bruise on the left side of her temple, but there was nothing else.

"Wow, this nen stuff is pretty cool," Primna muttered as she flexed her fingers. "This is awesome!"

She made her way over to the edge of the plateau, making note that she wasn't too far away from the city she had almost crashed into.

"Well, time to get a phone or something and call Kuriya."

However, that turned out to be easier said than done.

"I just need to borrow your phone for a sec," Primna said, trying her best not to lose her cool.

The old lady simply scowled at her and took off with more speed than Primna thought she was capable of.

"This has got to be the sixth time!" Primna shouted, causing people around her to look at her oddly. "There's got to be somebody who's willing to let me borrow their phone. It's not like I'm gonna take off with it."

"Um, M'am, you're standing in the middle of the road."

The woman looked at the man and glared at him, causing him to back away slowly. Her concentrated glare was broken by the sound of a honk. She looked toward the direction and saw that there was a line of cars down the road, the person in the car in front of the line shouting out what had to be obscenities from the safety of his vehicle.

Can't they just go another way? Primna thought as she got out of the way. The cars rushed ahead, hoping to save time by going faster than the speed limit.

"How could I forget how annoying everything was here," Primna muttered under her breath as she stalked down the road.

"Hey, pretty thing," a man she was approaching said.

"Since I'm such a 'pretty thing', you mind letting me borrow your phone really quick?"

The man smirked and said, "Sure, but only if you do something for me first."

Primna rolled her eyes. "Forget it. I'll find somebody else."

"Are you sure you can find somebody else?"

She stopped in her tracks, a pregnant pause of utter deadly silence filled the gap between them. "Are you watching me?"

The man grinned, and Primna noted that he looked like he was part of the mafia. "How about this? You tell me something, and I'll give you my phone real quick. Deal?"

Not like anybody else is going to let me borrow their so, Primna thought.

"'Kay, deal. What you want to know?"

"Easy. I saw you come here from the ocean. Where did you come from?"

Primna rubbed her right arm, not liking where this was going.

What would Kuriya say to this? the woman thought.

"I came from a land far away. An island. Is that good enough?" Primna said, hoping that would be enough for the man.

There was a pause. Then the woman noted how it looked like he was about to say something, but he decided to simply nod instead.

"Here," the man said, tossing his phone to Primna.

Primna quickly called Kuriya, hoping she wasn't already on the phone with a client.

"Hello?"

"Where the hell is the site?" Primna heard a small laugh come from the other side of the phone.

"Zaban City, Dolle Harbor. Look for the lone cedar tree on top of a hill. You'll be able to see it from the harbor."

Primna felt something was off. "Are you busy? Usually you'd try to play with my head, spout a few riddles, until you're satisfied. Then you tell me stuff."

"Yes, I am busy," Kuriya responded.

Primna could hear something in the background. It sounded like voices. She even heard something collide with something metal. "I don't really care, but are you okay? I'm hearing a bunch of things."

"Truly? You must be hearing things, indeed. Perhaps you should seek psychiatric help—"

"Wha— No! Don't you dare think I'm crazy! You're not even my boss!"

"Well, technically—"

"Forget it. Whatever. Zaban City, Dolle Harbor, lone cedar tree atop a hill. Bye!" Primna said with a huff.

"Bye," Kuriya said a few seconds after.

Then the phone hung up.

Hey everybody!

So... this chapter was actually really hard for me to do for some reason. It was solely going to be Quino, but it just wasn't working. I kept writing (or typing) and everything just didn't sit right with me. Then finally I had enough and decided to try and write from a different character's POV. Tried Malli, tried Kuriya, then I tried Primna's and everything kind of clicked. But then I didn't know what to write and... well, you get the point.

I had to rewrite, scrap, and power through this chapter. The next chapter is going to be super easy and you'll see why. Also, because I'm such a terrible person at trying to keep to a schedule, I'm just going to go ahead and work on the next chapter. Right now. And post it when I'm finished with it. Yes, I think that's what I should do from now on.

I don't own Hunter x Hunter. It's silly to think that I do, since everyone knows Togashi owns it but disclaimers are disclaimers, right? (Whatever that's supposed to me...)

Remember to follow this story so that way you'll actually know when I've updated it (Sundays cannot be trusted...), favorite to bring a smile to my face (nah, only if you really like it), and... review if you want your voice to be heard. I guarantee I'll respond back, and I'm much more friendly on the internet than I am in person (take that however you want)!

Oh, and the title of the first and second chapter were totally not planned. Anyway, hope you liked the chapter! Bye bye!