Having been a former assassin, Flutter had learned to pick up on her surroundings very quickly. In order to execute and escape from a job with as little issues as possible, she'd learned to pick out any outside interference, and either get rid of it and use it to her advantage. Even before that, her life as an orphan along with her brother had pretty much required her to always be on guard and observant.

Settling down with Rock hadn't changed that habit, and she's done her best to pass it on to her children. The protection around royalty was nice and all, but when it came down to it you only had your own eyes, ears, and skills to rely on. Of course, her being observant wasn't just restricted to things involving battles or threats. She noticed plenty of other things too.

Like how some of the servants nicked little things here and there. Probably to pawn off for money. She didn't really care enough to stop it. So long as it wasn't anything important anyway. Then there were the times the giant eagles nearby would change their hunting patterns, which usually meant certain species of animals were either moving by or leaving the area. She would send out hunters to and give them advice on their tactics based on which ones.

And of course, there were her children, who nearly all seemed to be taking sudden interest in monsters for some reason. That… that was odd.

Gale's situation was obvious. He wasn't even trying to hide it. That boy always thought with the wrong head, so him bringing that little fire nymph whore around everywhere with him was hardly surprising. But his interest in her was clearly growing into something more than just a quick fling. He was getting attached. That was worrisome. Not just because she wasn't mewman, but because the girl seemed like trouble. Not someone she would want attached to the family in any permanent way.

Breeze's stunt with that septarian boy had also been pretty clear, but as time passed it was becoming obvious that what started as a defiant stunt to piss off Tor was morphing into something genuine. She actually cared about him. Flutter honestly found herself a little disgusted by that. A monster was strange enough as it was, but a septarian? It was sickening. Still, she knew it wasn't her place to choose who her daughter courted. She'd let it slide for now, but she always had a knife ready to stick in him just in case.

Twister was trying to be a little more subtle. He kept his meetings with that ditzy air nymph girl away from the castle most times. She wasn't sure if he was trying to hide their relationship from the family, or if this was him trying to keep her to himself. She honestly had no idea what he saw in her, but he seemed to become more stable since seeing her, so she held her tongue. She would be keeping an eye on her though.

The one who was the best at hiding their personal life was Gus. She was surprised and somewhat impressed with just how thorough he had been keeping it a secret from the rest of the family. She'd had to do quite a bit of sneaking and asking around to find out about this Reishi girl. The only other one who seemed to know about it was Breeze, but she wouldn't have been surprised if he'd told her himself.

Out of respect, she had almost decided to just let him be. But the more she found out about this Reishi, the more she found herself wanting to confront him about it.

"You're heading to the Spiderbite kingdom again, aren't you?"

Gus sat in front of the steps of the castle entrance, tightening the string on his bow. "Yeah, I'm going to help them hunt some wildlife that's been getting a little too overpopulated there. There's a lot of them but they're clever, so they need help tracking them down," he explained.

Flutter hummed. He'd been going on a lot of trips like that. When she asked him why he said it was to help strengthen relations between their kingdoms. Which it had, but she knew that wasn't his real reason. "I assume that you're going to be meeting up with Reishi when you get there?" she asked.

Gus stopped, his eyes going wide. His mother knew? What was he thinking? Of course she did. She picked up on everything, no matter how subtle. It was only a matter of time before she found out about her. He let out a breath. "I am," he said as he started tightening his bow string again.

Flutter crossed her arms. Well, at least he wasn't trying to hide it. A few months back he would have totally lost composure. But lately he'd seemed to be becoming a bit more collected. She wondered if this girl had anything to do with it. "You know about her situation, don't you? What it is that she's after?" she asked.

"I know," Gus said bluntly. "I mean, not all the details, but the gist of it." Knowing his mother she probably knows more about her tribe's situation than he did. She could dig up even the most useless obscure details if she wanted to.

"And you still trust her?"

"I do."

Flutter walked down the steps so she was beside him. "I'm worried about all of you kids you know. You've all been showing some rather questionable taste in partners lately."

Gus sighed. "Ma, we're not-"

"I know what a man acts like when he's in love Gus," she said sternly, narrowing her eyes at him. "I also know that they don't tend to think very clearly when they are. Have you considered this girl is trying to get close to you for your money?"

Gus frowned. "She hasn't asked me for any money. She never asked me for anything… well sometimes to dinner. But that's it. She makes money from working with the Spiderbites. She sells animal parts we don't use on our hunts. She isn't trying to trick me or anything," he said.

"How would you know? I've seen a lot of people smile and play the long game for the sake of money, or for a kill. You can't be sure."

"Why are you talking to me about this? Shouldn't Gale be the one who's getting a lecture?" he asked. His older brother was literally bringing a whore into the house, and somehow she was questioning him about Reishi.

"It's the fact that she's the whore that makes me not worry. She's upfront about why she's here and what she wants. That Reishi girl however is different. Why would she-?"

"Want to spend time with me?" Gus asked. "Is it really that hard to believe that a girl would want to spend time with me just because she enjoys it?"

"That's not what I said."

"But it's what you meant."

Flutter raised an eyebrow at her son. Where did all of this spunk suddenly come from? Yesterday Twister took half of his breakfast right off his plate, and he hadn't said a damn word. But now he was biting back at her over as if she'd insulted his honor. "I know you and your brothers are all grown up now, but you're still young. Naive. You don't know everything about everything," she said. "This girl could be tricking you. I think you should keep your distance for a while and be weary."

"No," Gus said bluntly. "I know you know about everyone else. You didn't ask them to stop seeing who they're with, you shouldn't ask me either."

"I'm going to talk to them too, but they're in different circumstances."

"Not that different."

"Gus…"

Gus gripped his bow. "I said no Ma," he said sternly. "Being with Reishi… it makes me feel good. Happy. I wanna spend time with her. I wanna help her. I do everything you and Tor ask me to do. I never complain about anything. I deserve to be able to spend time with whoever I want in my free time."

Flutter stared down at him for a few moments, and then sighed. "I'm not sure if this is a late rebellious phase or if you're finally just growing a backbone," she said before talking in front of him. "So you're telling me, even if I ordered you, you'd be off to go see this girl anyway?" she asked.

For the first time since they'd started talking, Gus looked a little nervous. His mother was usually a very blunt person, and he didn't know where she was going with this. "I… yes. I would," he said, nodding.

"When I first came to this castle, it was in an attempt to put a knife in your father's chest," she said. She had told this story to her children plenty of times. It was no secret to even the common folk in the kingdom that she had originally come here to assassinate Rock. "And now we're married. Because that fool of a man fell in love with someone who tried to kill him."

"I'm in no position to tell you who to fall in love with. But I will remind you that your father and I are a very rare exception to the rule. And that if you're wrong about this girl, and she is just using you for her own goals, that I won't hesitate to run a knife across her throat. Whether you love her or not."

Gus just stared back at her blankly. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to take this as. "I uh… I don't think you have to worry about that. Reishi isn't like that," he said. "I think you'd actually like her honestly."

"Well, if you ever bothered to bring her over I'd know…"

"I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet."

Flutter rolled her eyes. "You stood up to me over this girl. You can stand up to your brother and fathers. And if you can't… well, maybe you don't feel as strongly about her as you think," she said as she started walking off. "Have fun on your trip. I need to go talk to your brothers. You are right about me not calling them out on their shit, so this is long overdue."

As she walked off, Gus stared down at the ground. Maybe it was about time he brought Reishi around. If Gale and Breeze brought their partners around, then he should have been able to right? But… they technically weren't partners. Not even pretend dating or anything.

He reached up and grabbed his head as his face turned red. "Aw man, this is so confusing…" Love life was even more difficult to deal with then the battlefield.

A/N: A fic for des-the-girl of Flutter and Gus having a little conversation about Reishi! Flutter comes off as cold and distance, but she does worry about her kids. And there was no way she wasn't noticing four out of five seem to be getting down with monsters lol. But Gus is starting to grow a bit of back bone. Looks like Reishi pushing him really is paying off. Hope you guys enjoy!