As I go to reset the trap, I wonder that if I'm to be with this Rathian until these eggs hatch, I should come up with a name with which to refer to her. It should be something simple, but not traditional for a pet or palico, since I won't be maintaining a bond with her. I settle on "Queen", since it fits these criteria, and I believe it fits fairly well to her status among the monsters of the forest. I finish resetting the trap, and restart the fire in order to keep the eggs at a temperature similar to Queen's or any other Rathian.
After adding sufficient fuel and allowing the eggs to warm up for a time, I hear a rustling in the leaves near the entrance to the nest. This sounds much larger than any Jagras, but not enough to be a Great Jagras. As it pokes it's head through the brush, my suspicions are confirmed; A Kulu-Ya-Ku has found its way to the nest I've been guarding. It sees me near the eggs, but seemingly ignores me. It starts to walk towards the eggs, and finally notices me when I position myself between it and the eggs, sword drawn and shield readied. It hesitates, and the timing couldn't be any better, because as soon as it stops again Queen lands at the edge of the nest, then roars at the Kulu-Ya-Ku to easily scare it off. Even I was intimidated at this, but she made no move to attack me, instead running after the bigger threat to her clutch. After ensuring it was successfully scared witless, she turns around and looks in my direction. She walks over, then looks at me, then the eggs, then back at me again. Had I successfully defended her eggs? Did I keep them warm enough? Did Daiko leave me a fresh undercloth at camp?
The first two questions seemed to be answered with a yes, as Queen went to lay on her clutch and turn to look at me with what I could swear was appreciation in her eyes. Now it was her turn to defend the clutch, and for me to go out and take care of my own business. I douse the fire and make my way back to camp, and thank goodness there is a fresh ration on the table, clean underclothing and towels on the cot, and a bottle of liquid with a tag labelled "Cleaner". I look on the back of the tag, and it states a message of what was used to make it, and what it is used for. The cleaner, being made of a mix of herb and berry juices, can be used to wash myself and the cloth I'm wearing without harming the body of water I use to wash with. I eat, then put the clothing, cleaner, and towels in my bag hanging outside the tent and start moving to the lower levels of the forest.
Once I find a pond large enough to wade in, I take off my armor and underclothing, then walk in until the water is waist-depth. After rinsing my hair to wash it, I uncork the bottle and pour the cleaner on my hand. It's as thick as syrup, but as I'm lathering my hair with it I find that it's nearly as sudsy as a Mizutsune, which surprises and amuses me. After finishing my bath, I discover that it's also amazing at repelling bloodflies despite smelling like a sweet drink, which I highly appreciate. After drying off and putting on the clean underclothing and armor, I wash the dirty clothes, then hang them to dry. I head back to camp to write another report, also noting the effectiveness of the cleaner and the location of the clothes I left to dry for retrieval.
I check the sharpness of my sword and carving knife, sharpening as necessary, then head back to the nest. When I come through the brush, Queen turns her head quickly in my direction, but upon seeing me she lowers her guard. I walk towards her, but she doesn't get up, and instead keeps an eye on me. I stop in front of her, and she just looks at me. She has regained a lot of mass, and is noticeably bulkier than when I first saw her. Her breathing is a lot quieter as well, and I can tell she feels a lot better. I walk a bit closer to her head, but she makes nearly no movement still. I dare to reach my hand out in front of her face, stopping only a few inches away from it. She leans forward a bit and sniffs at my hand, then gets up and walks to the edge of the nest and takes off again to go look for more food.
My heart is racing, because at that moment I had no idea why I did that, or what she would do in response, so I consider what just happened to be the best-case scenario. She has completely changed in the last 24 hours, to the point where she is almost unrecognizable as the same Rathian I saw when I first arrived here. She's proven to me that she trusts me to take care of her eggs so she can take care of herself, and I need to make sure that trust is well placed.