Chapter 9: Mother Knows Best


Ginouji was practically shaking with excitement. So much that any thoughts of eating were now the farthest things from his mind. The whole time they were walking back all he could think about was how mother had protected them from that big winged monster. It didn't like them and it didn't want them coming across the water to it either. It roared and hissed and threatened to kill them if they came any closer. And it was so big! He didn't know what it was, but it obviously was ready to attack them and not like the play fights he and his brother had.

With a shiver Ginouji looked up at his mother who was talking with the new female. Beside him Akairo gave a high-pitched whistle and Ginouji chirped back and flapped his wings in agreement. They had both been so scared, but mother hadn't been worried at all. She ran right up to the winged monster and roared right back at him. Not only did she stand there and protect them, but she actually made it go away! As long as mother was there with them they had nothing to fear. She would never let them get hurt. Looking back at where they were walking, Ginouji continued thinking.

Would mother teach them to fight when they were bigger too? Today they learned how to get their own food so maybe soon they would learn how to fight like she did. Until then he wanted to remember every moment of what just happened.

Turning to Akairo he hopped from side to side and lowered his head before scratching the ground like the big winged monster had. Immediately Akairo hissed back and fanned his wings out to make himself look bigger and more scary. Both of them circled back and forth hissing and snapping at each other. He was far too young to actually roar, but he still squawked and squealed with all his might. Akairo bowed his head and scurried away to mother's far side in mock defeat. Seconds later they had reversed roles and now Ginouji was the one defeated.

Ginouji loved to copy everything mother did. She was the best. She loved them and he loved her. She was big and strong and she knew everything. She was teaching them all sorts of new things and when he was big he would come back with his brother and chase off that big winged monster. They would be the best monsters around and mother would never have to worry about them again.

Satisfied with this Ginouji ran around mother's legs and while Akairo stomped around on the ground hissing in imitation of what he had seen mother do earlier. A strange sound distracted him and Ginouji looked up to see that mother seemed happy with their playing. Running over he rubbed his head against her legs lovingly.

He couldn't wait to see what else mother knew and had to show them.


After getting back to Rain's house Alistair had tried to get the hatchlings to eat more but they were too busy running around. She wanted them to eat and then take a nap so she could relax and rest up herself, but that clearly wasn't going to happen anytime soon. One of the many pitfalls of looking after a couple of babies. Thankfully Amai had plenty of energy and volunteered to keep her eyes on them while Alistair got her burns taken care off. They were evidently so enthralled by their mother's grand act of protection earlier that even Ginouji didn't complain at Amai's closeness and attention. All three were over in the sitting room right now and Alistair could look over and see them playing tug of war together.

Rain had disappeared into one of her pantries before coming back and with some herbs, a few small blue mushrooms, and an icethaw pellet. After crushing them with a bowl and pestle she added a little water to thicken it. She also had brought some bandages to wrap up the burn damage when she was done. When Rain was finished mixing the ingredients she motioned for Alistair to take a seat on one of the tall stools sitting against the bar side of the kitchen counter. She'd already taken her armor off and managed to slip into a loose tank top and pants although it was a stiff and slightly painful process.

"Oh man. I was fine at first but now this is really starting to aggravate me," Alistair grimaced as she slid onto a stool and let Rain spread the healing paste up and down her arms. Her arms were hot and itching like crazy but she knew scratching them would only make it worse. Thankfully the healing paste stopped the itching and the icethaw pellet that Rain added provided sweet cooling relief. Sighing happily, Alistair limited her objections to a wrinkled nose as Rain put the bowl down and carefully wrapped up her arms in bandages. Tying them off she stepped back and nodded in satisfaction before moving a hand to Alistair's face. Immediately, Alistair leaned back slightly.

"You're not going to wrap my face up like a mummy after you're done with that are you?" she demanded suspiciously and Rain scowled at her.

"Oh quit being such a baby. I'm trying to help," Rain said giving her a firm look, but Alistair still wasn't swayed by it. They continued the stare off for several more seconds until Rain's face fell into a sad look and her lower lip trembled slightly. It was her infamous "puppy dog look" and she only used it to manipulate her best friend.

Groaning, Alistair looked away. "Oh now that's not fair! You know how much I hate it when you do that!" she objected as Rain grinned victoriously. Alistair grimaced at the slight smell but didn't complain any more as the woman applied the paste to her face and neck. When she was finished she wrapped some bandages around Alistair's neck, but left her face alone.

"It will soak into your skin and heal the burns, but it will take several hours so please do not rub it or scratch it. It's still early afternoon so I'll apply some more tonight before you go to bed. Then I'll wrap you up like a mummy," Rain said with a wink as she walked off to put the supplies away. Rolling her eyes Alistair didn't answer that but instead looked over at Amai who was trying to get Ginouji to come close enough for her to pet him. Unfortunately the Silver Rathalos was still not that trusting and instead ran and hissed at her from behind Akairo who evidently was trying to play peacemaker.

Coming back Rain glanced over at the hatchlings before turning back to her best friend. She took note of the way Alistair kept shifting, grimacing, and rolling her shoulders. Narrowing her eyes she walked over and put her hands down on her friend's shoulders. Immediately Rain's eyebrows shot up at how rigid Alistair was.

"What now?" Alistair twisted around in the stool as she asked the question, but Rain scowled and forced her to turn back around and face the counter.

"Quit fidgeting I'm trying to see something here," Rain chastised and Alistair pursed her lips but did as she was told. After second Rain started to knead her shoulder's gently. The woman's muscles were like rocks. "Man how long has it been since you relaxed or took a day off? I'm surprised you haven't ripped a muscle as tense as you are," Rain noted sourly as she pressed harder on Alistair's shoulders. Instead of answering the normally proud hunter just groaned in sweet relief.

"Shut up and keep massaging," she countered before closing her eyes in obvious satisfaction. Every hunter had their vices and for Alistair it was a good day at whatever spa was closest. A soak in some hot mineral water along with a herbal face mask and she was in heaven. Nothing beat a good massage after a grueling quest. Besides swinging a giant switch axe around took a lot of shoulder strength. It wasn't a weapon for the faint of heart.

"Besides I was supposed to be taking two weeks off and possibly visiting my parents, but it seems life had other plans for me and the eggs I was hauling back decided to hatch early. So my regular trip to the spa had to wait," Alistair explained as Rain worked the knots out of her tense muscles. "I guess I should write to my parents and let them know what's going on..." she added hesitantly as Amai walked over and looked between the two of them with a look before walking around the counter and leaning on it across from Alistair. The squeaking and scuffling behind Alistair said that both Akairo and Ginouji were still full of energy and hardly ready to sleep anywhere.

"Wow you sure sound thrilled by that prospect. Do they have a problem with you being a hunter?" Amai asked curiously as Alistair opened her eyes and grimaced.

"No. The only one in my family who has a real problem with that is my sister and we avoid talking as much as possible. My parents are fine with it, but..." Alistair paused for a moment and shifted her gaze up to Rain who was keeping her face as neutral as possible. The two women exchanged a look before Rain answered.

"They don't like me very much," Rain said simply.

Amai narrowed her eyes at them and said, "Why wouldn't they like you? Do they not like your profession? Because treasure hunting seems pretty awesome to me." Rain lips thinned at the question and she looked down at Alistair who answered for her.

"They don't approve of us being friends for other reasons," Alistair said and when Amai opened her mouth to say something else she was promptly cut off. "Other reasons meaning you don't need to know. So don't ask," she added sharply before closing her eyes again and letting Rain massage her tension away.

Since Amai was used to this kind of behavior by now she just rolled her eyes and rubbed her hands together. "Whatever. So what is there to eat around here? I'm getting hungry," she said and her stomach rumbled loudly in agreement. A smile returned to Rain's face at that comment.

"Once I'm finished with miss powerful hunter's massage right here we can go to one of my favorite restaurants in town. It may be small with limited seating, but the food is excellent. Fresh supplies come in every morning from the local fisherman so most of the menu will be made up of seafood and vegetables," Rain said and Amai groaned and pouted at the fact that she would have to wait longer for her meal. After a second though her face brightened and she pulled out a curved fang that she had in her pocket. It was pretty big so it might have come from a Great Jaggi.

"Oh by the way Alistair can I keep a few of these? I need a few of these for..." Amai never got to finish her sentence because Alistair's eyes snapped open and she grabbed the curved fang back with a deep scowl on her face.

"What are you doing with that? You want one then grab your weapon, go sign up for a quest at the tavern, and hunt down some Jaggi or Great Jaggi of your own," Alistair snapped as she glared at Amai who wasn't about to give up so easily. She tried to snatch it back but Alistair pulled it out of the way. Amai tried reasoning with her instead.

"Are you kidding? You brought like 20 of those things along with you!" she objected strongly.

"I brought 35 to be exact because I want to trade them for some items in town. Curved fangs don't trade for much so you need a lot of them to get something good. I have more in storage so I thought it would be best to get some use out of them," Alistair countered and pulled the fang away when Amai tried to lean over snatch it back once again. All the young hunter got was a slap on the hand for her efforts.

"Back off. You have legs so get some yourself. Any and all monster materials have to be earned. Guild rules," Alistair had no sympathy for her whatsoever.

Amai straightened up and put her hands on her hips. "Well fine then. Be that way if you want. I'm going to check in at the guild counter here and get approved for quests as soon as possible. Just you wait and see I'll have a new weapon before you know it!" she shot back before stomping off in a pout. Turning around Rain watched the teenager walk away and then turned back to Alistair when she was out of sight.

"There's no Guild rule like that at all is there?" Rain asked curiously and Alistair smirked.

"Of course not, but she's never going to learn if I give her everything for free, right?" she answered with angelic innocence. Laughing, Rain shook her head and moved her hands lower down Alistair's back.

"I am so glad I'm not a hunter because I would hate to have you as mentor."

"It'll toughen her up. Trial by fire and all that."


About an hour later they were standing at the tavern in front of the quest counter. Alistair had been planning on laying down and getting the rest she deserved, but Amai had bugged her until she finally gave in and agreed to come. Walking around the port looking like she had some hideous form of sunburn was not her idea of fun, but thankfully few people were foolish enough to be out during the hottest part of the day.

So much for just relaxing at the house, Alistair thought as she looked down at the babies who were stretched out to the end of their harness leashes sniffing the air. Just across from the quest counter and shop was a restaurant. It was small but the fire's were burning, pots were filled with stew, and there were baskets of food, spices, and herbs piled up either behind the counter or stacked behind or on the sides of the restaurant. The smell was definitely making her mouth water. Eating out was definitely a good idea.

Turning back to the counter Alistair waited as the quest lady wrote down their information before handing back their guild cards.

"Okay you're all set! It will take a few days to get a reply back from the Guild so come back in about three of four days and we should have some quests for you!" she said cheerfully as Alistair and Amai took their Guild Cards back and carefully put them away.

Guild Cards had their name, the central city, town, or village where they were now registered as hunters, current HR rank, preferred weapons, and a small colored dot stamped in the bottom corner of their card. The small stamp showed their current Guild standing. Newer hunters had green dots like Amai did. Those who followed the rules, helped newer hunters, gave accurate reports of all their kills during quests, and turned in extra items at the end of their quests had teal marks like the one on Alistair's card. It basically meant that she met the standard for being an ideal hunter. Purple and black was reserved for those hunters approved for the highest levels of quests. Orange was a warning that the hunter had engaged in illegal activity before. Red meant they were barred from anything but low level quests.

Alistair looked up and asked, "HR levels work differently here don't they? Does that mean ours will go down?" she wasn't thrilled by the prospect of all her hard work being "adjusted" like that. Smiling warmly the Guild woman quickly shook her head.

"Don't worry! Once it's ready we'll take your current Guild Card and exchange it with a new one. It will have the name of this port and your HR rate here displayed alongside the town you were previously registered in which would be Loc Lac for both of you right?" she asked and both women nodded. "Good. Then enjoy your stay here and happy hunting!" she said cheerfully.

Turning around Alistair smiled at Rain and said, "Looks like we're ready to go. Of course if I do take any quests it will be easier hunts or gathering quests since I have Ginouji and Akairo to look after. Even those will make money though and bring in plenty of good items." She glanced over at Amai who looked like she was already planning her next big hunt. Rolling her eyes Alistair waited as Rain snapped her fingers to get the girl's attention.

"Why don't we get something to eat before you drift too far off into la-la land over there mighty hunter," Rain said with an amused look as Amai blinked and brought herself back down to earth. Amai flushed but kept any other thoughts to herself as they walked the short distance over to the tiny restaurant.

They took up seats at the counter and ordered some meals. Although they were unlikely to go anywhere, Alistair still tied their leashes to her bar stool just in case they got the urge to walk off and explore something. Since she had plenty of money Alistair bought smaller portions of stewed fish for Ginouji and Akairo as well. She wasn't exactly sure of everything that was in it, but the felyne cook insisted that he knew exactly what would "sizzle" a young carnivore's taste buds. Turns out he was right and both babies were currently devouring their meals with relish. Amai was eating a huge pot of crabs and shellfish while Alistair and Rain had settled for sandwiches.

Amai paused for a moment to lean forward so she could see Rain better. "There's one thing that's been bothering me. I know you raised those lagiacrus but technically they're still wild aren't they? So do you ever worry about them getting killed or captured by hunters or fisherman?" she asked curiously. Rain grimaced and nodded as she put her sandwich down.

"I do. Of course I raised them and did my best to teach them that hunters are dangerous and should be avoided. At one point I even put in a request at the quest counter so that I could teach them how to fight and defend themselves against hunters if necessary, but at some point you just have to hope for the best," Rain paused and nodded at Ginouji and Akairo who were licking their bowls of fish stew clean. "You do everything you can possibly think of to raise them, but there comes a time when you just have to let them go and believe that they will remember, apply, and learn from everything you've taught them over the years. Same with these little ones. Eventually they will be big enough and both of them will have to 'leave of the nest' so to speak. It's necessary for their emotional and physical health, but that doesn't make it easy to deal with," Rain explained as Alistair glanced down at the young rathalos by her feet.

"There's also the chance that they may not come back. Now with rathalos that's a pretty slim chance..." Rain paused for a moment and glanced over at Alistair before adding, "...but you do have to prepare yourself for the possibility. Rathian can be raised from hatchlings and kept, but young rathalos males sometimes tend to roam vast areas," she explained as Akairo finished eating and let out a small burp.

Amai wrinkled her nose at that. "Ewww, don't think you're coming near me with that breath," she said waving her hand in front of her nose.

Alistair frowned and chewed her bottom lip as she thought. "But there is a chance they might decide to stay in the wild? Like your black lagiacrus, Shurika, did right?" she asked and Rain nodded.

"Abyssal Lagiacrus is the official name and Seiva is technically considered Ivory instead of white, but that's besides the point. Once Shurika was released she never came back like her brothers did. However, I do see her from time to time and she always comes up to me if I'm alone out at sea. Abyssal Lagiacrus live in deep trenches and vast canyon systems and rarely come up to the surface. When they do its only to grab a breath of air and then they can stay submerged for several hours, but knowing she's okay is enough for me. There are also... other circumstances that led to her leaving when she might have stayed," Rain said and then gestured towards the two hatchlings who were sniffing around for more food. "With those two there's no telling, but you need to be prepared in case one of them decides they want to stay in the wild," she said to Alistair who grunted but didn't answer. It was hard to believe right now when they were so clingy, but they were growing fast.

Pushing away her empty plate Alistair leaned back and said, "So far we've taught them to swim and started the basics of showing them how to dig up food. I'd rather save a trip to the tide pools for tomorrow."

Rain thought for a moment and then shrugged, "Sure we can go there in the morning as the tide is going out. The tide pools will allow them to swim around some more and learn how to catch not just small crustaceans, but fish as well. Plenty of rathalos catch fish, but not all of them are safe to eat and a few will even poison them. They need to learn quickly which ones are good and which one's aren't. Some people like your sister would probably argue that it's too early for this kind of thing, but I say the sooner the better. If they're anywhere near as intelligent as lagiacrus are then they are going to need something to keep them occupied," she paused for a moment and grinned at Alistair. "I mean unless you want a pair of your nice hunting shoes turned into chew toys," she said with a smirk.

Rolling her eyes, Alistair stood up and untied the hatchlings leashed from the post they had gotten themselves wrapped around. "Very funny. Fine. Tomorrow morning we'll head out and start some more training. I hope we won't have any more encounters like we did today?" she asked curiously and Rain shook her head.

"Oh no you're not getting off that easy. This port doesn't have a good number of hunters registered here for nothing. This is the ludroth breeding season so we'll meet several of them at the very least. Not to mention plesioth are spotted regularly in these waters. I'd be sure to bring your bow if I were you. As for you..." Rain paused and looked at Amai. "This might be a good time to polish up on your fighting skills," she said as the young hunter winced.

"Don't plesioth like shoot beams of boiling water out of their mouths?" Amai asked hesitantly and Alistair nodded in confirmation causing a groan from the young hunter. "Great. I heard hunters in Loc Lac complaining about how difficult it is to fight. It's a good thing I have a shield," she mumbled the last part mostly to herself. Alistair wrapped the hatchlings harness leashes around her hand and straightened up.

Rain waved her hand, "I meant polish them up for the ludroth. Plesioth are seen in these waters regularly, but hopefully they'll have enough intelligence to stay away at see and away from the shores where the ludroth will be. It was bad enough seeing that Azure Rathalos shooting flames at you. Water beams flying this way and that I can certainly do without," Rain said with a pointed look at Alistair who was still quite visibly bandaged up.

Ignoring the dig, Alistair said, "You can worry about that tomorrow. Right now I really need to get back and collapse in bed. These two aren't going to last much longer either. By the time we get back to the house they will be tired from walking, full from eating, and more than willing to sleep it off thankfully enough."

Tomorrow it was more training and Alistair had a feeling that they wouldn't get through the day without a fight. Of course she wouldn't tell Rain that. She worried about her too much as it was. Today she may have been able to turn away that Azure Rathalos thanks to Rain's knowledge and insight, but she doubted a harem of ludroth or an angry plesioth could be turned aside through intimidation. No tomorrow she would definitely be prepared to fight. After sleeping for a couple hours she would be right back up to get ready for tomorrow. There were bow coatings to mix and prepare as well as some target practice to do after all. It had been a while since Alistair had used a bow instead of a switch-axe and she wanted to make sure she was ready. Her burns were more irritating than anything and she had continued hunting with far worse damage before. It would be embarrassing if something as simple as this kept her from fighting.


AN: Chapter revised