Frost crept across the rocky floor of the cavern in the Elder's Recess, and crunched under the weight of the Hunter's boots. Sweat poured freely down Kara's back underneath her armor, while it froze on the exposed skin of her face and hands. A vicious smile played at the corners of her mouth as she kept her eyes on her quarry. The monster, glistening with frost crystalizing on its scales, circled across from the Hunter. The very beast that the Research Commission followed to the Hoarfrost Reach. The Iceborne Wyvern, Velkhana.
Their fight had been brief, yet brutal. Velkhana's hide bore dozens of deep gashes opened by the Hunter's wicked, hooked greatsword, and Kara's armor hung useless in places, only held together by remnants of the wyvern's flash-freezing breath attacks.
The Hunter dipped low to the ground and snatched up a cluster of fallen crystals, loading them into the slinger on her arm. Velkhana's eyes narrowed and its wings folded in close to its body. As the wyvern's chest expanded with a massive intake of air, Kara broke into a dead sprint towards it. The beam of freezing air and slicing shards of ice screamed past the Hunter as she closed the distance. Velkhana's jaws closed and it quickly shifted to keep its prey in sight. Another beam cut through the air, whipping Kara's snowy hair around wildly as she arrived underneath the wyvern. Her trap was set, and she was the bait.
Enraged, Velkhana spread its wings in a frightening display and gathered itself, coiling its tail defensively around its legs and lower body. Confident as she was in her abilities as the lead Hunter of the Fifth Fleet, Kara had to admit that the monster knew how to make itself intimidating. The wyvern's eyes gleamed with eager anticipation as it lowered its head and freezing air spilled from its jaws and pooled on the ground in a spreading sheet of ice. Kara felt her boots being bound to the rocky floor underneath them. She pinwheeled her arms, but lost her balance and fell back, trapping her weapon beneath her. Seeing the nuisance helpless, Velkhana spared a moment to gloat in victory and display its power once more, rearing high and unfurling its wings while shaking the air around it with an ear-grating roar.
Kara broke out into a full smile as she raised her slinger arm and took brief aim at the hanging, crystalline pillars over their heads. The wyvern took no notice of the motion and she felt the ice binding her to the floor already starting to melt away. The crystals sung through the air and struck the fragile pillar, breaking it loose from the cavern ceiling. Kara flipped over and fled from the coming carnage. The sound of the pillar crushing Velkhana thundered throughout the cavern, shaking the ground and causing Kara to stumble and fall. She tumbled briefly before regaining her footing and skidding to a stop. Smaller crystals occasionally rained down from the ceiling, but the wyvern was still.
The Hunter made her way back to the Velkhana's crumpled form, but balked as she drew near. The air was still frigid and ice was still forming on the monster's scales…and it was forming into patches on the wings and head. The wyvern was still breathing. Its bright amber eye slowly opened as it pushed itself into a standing position. Velkhana focused on the Hunter as its armor of sparkling, jagged ice completed itself. The nuisance had gone too far.
"Pard, we gotta get outta here!" a voice shouted from behind the Hunter. Kara whipped around to see her Handler running towards her.
"What are you…move!" she screamed, her stomach knotting in sudden fear. Kara thought she had been capable of handling the wyvern, but she had never known about its ability to form new armor for itself, seemingly at will. With Anri in danger now, there was no way she could justify continuing the fight. She heard a noise behind her as air tugged at her loose hair. Another breath attack.
Without looking, Kara dove at her Handler and tackled her to the ground. They rolled apart to a stop, Anri face down and the Hunter lying on her Back. Kara felt the ice shards nick at her face as the beam passed harmlessly overhead. Before she could turn, there was another roar that came from deep within the wyvern; the sound of arctic winds raking across fields of frozen bones. The Hunter watched, stunned, as a mass of ice formed above her head in less than a second, then fell as quickly as it had appeared. She rolled out from underneath it to see one forming above her Handler. Anri hadn't pushed herself up yet. There was no way she would see it in time and she wasn't fast enough to get out from under it. Kara was.
Anri felt herself be tackled by her Hunter again, but this time was followed by a sickening crunch of ice impacting meat and bone. Kara's body fell limp beside her and the Handler's stomach dropped.
"Partner!" She couldn't think of anything else to say. The idea that something had happened to her Hunter because of her… Anri didn't have time to think about it. She looked up to see Velkhana with wings spread, taking flight in a spray of ice chips and blisteringly cold winds. The wyvern whipped through the air, showering the Handler in falling crystals and something else. A broken scale landed next to her Hunter. In seconds, they were alone.
The Handler's chest rose and fell in ragged breaths, adrenaline coursing through her body. They had been spared. She didn't know why, but she pushed the thought away for now and turned her attention back to her Hunter. For a moment, her curiosity took over. A safe emotion, detached from what she'd seen. What she'd caused. She picked up the scale and briefly turned it over before a groan from Kara slowly, painfully dragged her focus back.
"Partner, I'm sorry! Please get up!" The words sounded empty and helpless and alone in the frigid air.
Kara awoke in the dark to a relentless, pounding headache. It took her a moment to recognize her surroundings, but she relaxed when she did. She was alive, and back in one of the Guild's campsites. The small fire underneath a teapot in the center of the tent cast dancing shadows on the canvas walls. Kara watched them for a moment before the throbbing in her head swelled and she forced herself to close her eyes. Her hands curled into rigid claws, clutching the thin blankets, as she silently took stock of what she could without looking around. She was alive and someone had changed her out of her armor and into a simple linen shirt and pants; presumably her Handler. Which meant Anri was okay. She had been able to save her Handler. Kara's fingers relaxed some and she let out a labored breath that turned into a racking cough.
There was a clatter and Anri, her goggles pulled down, dashed in through the open entrance to the tent. When she ripped the lenses off, Kara had never seen her Handler so concerned before. The shadows played across her face, making her look broken and exhausted.
"You're okay!" said Anri Her eyes brimmed with tears of relief. Kara finished her coughing fit.
"Well, I'm awake," she said, raising her arm over her eyes. "But my head feels anything but okay."
She heard the teapot scrape free of its stand and liquid being poured. "Here," said Anri. "It's something I've been working on while you're out hunting. It's got vigorwasp extracts in it to help you heal. It's not a permanent solution to anything, but it should at least help the pain for now."
The tent was quiet as Kara pushed herself up and took the tea. It was certainly green enough to have vigorwasp in it, and smelled like the deep hollows of the Ancient Forest during a heavy rain. The Hunter sipped at it softly, and was surprised by the taste; sweet and full of bright fruits she loved.
"It's good," she murmured into the wisps of steam rising from the cup, "it's perfect, Anri. Thank you."
The Handler beamed at the praise, but the expression was short-lived on her face. "It's the least you deserve, partner. You've done so much for the Guild, and for me," her voice trailed off into the shadows of the tent. "And all I did was get you hurt."
"You're giving me far too much credit," Kara smiled grimly. "You know better than to believe the stories, they're half legends already. I've always had you and the other Hunters to help me when I need it."
"But while they're with you in the fights, I'm stuck watching from a distance! The best I can do is leave you alone and keep things ready in the camps. I was concerned today, I left the camp, and I immediately got you hurt because I needed rescuing." Tears glistened in the Handler's eyes, threatening to fall.
Kara stared deep into her tea, gently swirling it. "You're right. You do get in trouble when you leave the camp," she said evenly. "Our first time in the Coral Highlands? A Legiana attacked and you were knocked into the Rotten Vale. After we regrouped with the Third Fleet and went into the Vale prepared? You jumped off early to throw me something to scare away a pack of Girros and their alpha before we even knew what they were. We were attacked by an Odagaron and saved by the Tracker, but I still had to physically drag you away because you wanted to save her. Hell, you rode that Deviljho for minutes before I could get you down off its back."
She looked up at Anri and saw her Handler's face frozen in confusion and horror, tears now falling freely. "But I never went to anyone in the Guild about it. I never requested another Handler at the start, and never demanded one when I had the rank to do so."
"But that's what got you hurt today!" Anri protested with a sniffle. "How can you still want me here after you named all those things without even having to think about them?"
The Hunter held her eyes steadily. "Because you're intelligent, but more importantly because you care. You care about the monsters and the land, you care about other people, you care about the Guild, and you care about me," Kara's voice softened and she laid back again on the bed with a slight groan. "You're a remarkable Handler, Anri; both in the field with me and handling the clerical work for the Guild. There are just times when you get ahead of yourself and act without thinking."
"And you're just okay with it?" her Handler asked.
"No, but it's why I'm here," Kara said, sleep beckoning her back under once more. "I am the best damn Hunter of the Fifth Fleet. I'll stand between you and any monster, wyvern, or elder dragon. And…"
"Yes?" Anri knelt down by the bed.
"Don't sneak the...sleep herbs in…tea next time…needs…too much fruit to hide it," Kara mumbled as her head lolled gently to the side. Anri smiled softly to herself, watching her Hunter sleep peacefully. She took the cup before it fell, placed it and the teapot back on the wooden box, and stepped back outside to keep watch and think about what her Hunter had said.