Raindrops from the previous night's storm dripped from the trees, glistening in the morning light. The brightness filtered in, waking Noctis. He sat up and saw that his friends had already gotten up. They had gotten to the haven late last night, everyone wet, miserable, and tired. He still felt a bit drowsy, but forced himself out of the tent.

"Good morning, Noct," Ignis said. He was standing at the grill, bacon sizzling away.

"Mornin'" Noctis replied, scratching the back of his head and yawning.

"Care for some breakfast?"

"Sounds good."

Noctis accepted the plate and sat down next to Prompto, who had nearly finished his own meal. Gladio wasn't around; Noctis assumed that he was out for one of his morning training sessions.

"Hey, buddy. Sleep well?" Prompto asked.

"Not too bad, I guess. Could've used a couple more hours," Noctis replied.

"Same here. It'd be great if we could get a hotel tonight," Prompto said.

"We have to report in on the hunt we did, so that should give us some extra gil, right, Ignis?" Noctis asked. He heard footsteps approaching the haven; Gladio had returned. Before Ignis could reply, Noctis's phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket.

"Hello?"

"Good morning. Hope I didn't get you at a bad time," came Wiz's voice from the other end.

"No, it's fine. What's going on?"

"Well, if you wouldn't mind coming down to the Chocobo Post, there's someone here whose chocobo's gone missing, and I was hoping you'd be able to help her out."

In the background Noctis could hear what sounded like someone crying.

"Sure. We'll be over there soon," he replied, then hung up.

"Who was that?" Gladio asked.

"Wiz. He said someone's chocobo went missing, and he wanted to know if we could help," Noctis replied.

"Can't say no when it comes to chocobos," Prompto said.

"Of course not," Ignis added. "As soon as we're packed up, we'll head over there."

There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the weather was warm. Between the temperature and the sound of the tires on the road, it made for a very relaxing ride, and Noctis looked out at the scenery going by. It never failed to amaze him how Eos looked outside the Crown City.

Within the hour, they were at the Chocobo Post. Wiz was standing by one of the tables, a woman sitting next to him.

"Glad to see you," he greeted them. "This is Polly, the one I was telling you about on the phone," he said, gesturing to the woman. She looked up. Her eyes were ringed with red and her cheeks were blotchy. Noctis noticed she had a dog tag around her neck.

"So you must be the hunters that Wiz was telling me about," she said. Despite her appearance, her voice was calm and steady. "If there's any way you can find Rina, it would mean everything to me." She took a deep breath. "Let me start from the beginning. Rina and I were out together exploring when suddenly something must have spooked her. I lost my balance and fell off. I tried to chase after her, but it got dark and well, I was all by myself and I'm afraid I'm no hunter."

"But if you're not a hunter, why do you-?" Prompto motioned towards the dog tag.

"Oh, this belonged to Cari, my daughter. She was a hunter," Polly replied. "Before she was a hunter, we raised Rina together, right from when she hatched. I hope that explains why it's so important that I get her back." She pulled a picture from a pocket in her jeans. In the picture, Polly and a young woman, presumably Cari, stood at either side of a green chocobo. Both of the women were smiling, and the chocobo looked content.

"Where did you lose Rina?" Gladio asked.

"If you have a map, I can show you," Polly said.

Noctis retrieved the map from the Regalia, then spread it out on the table. Polly looked thoughtfully at the map before pointing somewhere between the Myrlwood and the Versperpool. "Somewhere around here."

"Wasn't there a royal tomb around there?" Prompto asked.

"Yeah," Gladio replied.

"Polly, if I may ask. What brought you there to begin with?" Ignis asked.

Polly frowned. She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it.

"You can tell them," Wiz said encouragingly.

"I heard that there were some interesting plants that would make some amazing food for chocobos." She waved a hand in front of her face. "When I say it like that I'm sure it sounds stupid. It's certainly out of the way, that's for sure. But I always felt safe with Rina."

"I wonder what could've spooked her. Did the treant come back?" Prompto asked.

"I certainly hope not," Ignis said.

"Will you help me?" Polly asked.

"Yeah, we'll find her," Noctis said without a moment of hesitation.

"Thank you so much," Polly said. "You have no idea how much this means to me."

"Then let's get going," Gladio said. "We've got a long drive ahead of us."