Before I enter the nest, I stop to catch my breath and listen for any signs of struggle. All I hear is the chirping of the hatchlings. I enter the nest, and Queen snaps her head around to look at me, then immediately relaxes. The other hatchlings look my way as well, then start tumbling over each other to get to me. I carefully step over them and walk over to Queen. I put my hand on her head and look her in the eye. If the Seregios shows up, I'll need her help to fight it.
She walks back around me and lies down. I go and sit next to her, and the hatchlings follow close. They've already opened their eyes, but they're still learning to walk. They start climbing all over me, and I struggle to stand up. I start walking away, and they follow me as I hoped they would. I start to pick up speed so they have to run to keep up with me. The azure hatchling, overachiever that he is, even starts trying to flap his wings to fly after me. He gets to me and nuzzles my leg before the rest tackle into me, knocking me on my butt. They climb over me and start sniffing me. One of the Rathian nips at my ear, but I yell "Hey!" and she lets go quickly.
I hear Queen stand and start to walk off. I get back on my feet and stand in front of her, once again looking her in the eye. We stand there for a few seconds before I hear a roar a distance from the nest. Me, Queen, and the hatchlings all turn to locate the source of it. I look back at Queen, and she seems to get my message. She turns toward the hatchlings and lets out a short rumble. They line up next to each other, and I squat in front of them.
"Can I count on you to protect the hatchlings?" I ask.
"I'll do the best I can to keep them safe." I hear Tavris say as he appears through a nearby bush.
"I'm taking Queen to fight it. I can't risk it coming to the nest."
"I understand. In that case, I have something for you." Tavris gestures, and four felynes emerge from the nest entrance carrying a saddle. "I had to ask them to make it in secret. I knew I could trust them to keep quiet that there was a rider in the guild."
They walk over to me and lift it up. I pick it up, and it's surprisingly light for how it looks. "It's only temporary. We didn't have enough time to craft a better one." I turn around and place it on Queen. It's not a perfect fit, but it sits well enough that we'll both be comfortable using it. I turn back to look at everyone before mounting Queen and flying off.
We fly around until I notice a dead Aptonoth near the beach. We fly down towards it and land. I dismount to investigate the area, and Queen starts sniffing around. I eventually find some yellow scales lodged in the ground, and pull one out. The edges are serrated and sharp to the touch, clear signs that they belong to the Seregios. I carefully pull out a few others, then walk back over to Queen. I'm hoping she will be able to track the scent, so I hold them in front of her to smell. She sniffs a few times and huffs, then lets out a low growl. I mount her again and we take off.
We eventually spot it flying towards the northeastern part of the forest and follow it. It glides down through an opening in the trees, so I tell Queen to land nearby. We'll approach it on foot. When we land, I dismount, and remove the saddle. I let Queen follow the scent and stay close behind until we reach the clearing. It's settling down to rest, and it hasn't seen us yet. Queen stops, and I walk ahead of her. I look back at her and point at the sky. She backs up a few steps before turning around and taking off again. The gust of wind as she flies off rustles the leaves behind me, attracting the attention of the Seregios.
I run out toward it, and swing with my sword. It was already looking my way, so it easily jumped back out of my range. After roaring, it leaped toward me with its claws outstretched. I bring my shield up in time to knock them away, and the Seregios lands behind me. I roll away just as it whips its tail around, and load some nearby stones in my slinger once my feet are back under me. After this, the scales on its tail flare, and it swings its tail back the other way, launching the scales in a wide area. I bring my shield up to block them, and the ones that don't miss bounce off.
I make note of a tree directly behind it, then run towards it. It gets ready to jump again, but flinches when I launch my clutch claw, and I successfully latch on to its face. I bash my shield into its ear to turn it around, then unload a flinch shot to launch it into the tree. It gets up and turns around quickly. Through the clearing in the trees, I notice Queen flapping high in the air, waiting for her opportunity. As I slowly strafe to the side, I ready a flash pod in my slinger. The Seregios does the same, and we stare each other down. I fire the flash pod and the Seregios recoils, blinded.
Queen takes the opportunity to dive in and crash down on the Seregios. After they both get up, Queen flips up into the air, swinging her tail. She catches the neck of the Seregios, and after roaring and spreading the scales around its neck, it starts drooling. It's a noticeable shade of purple, indicating the successful poisoning. After it regains its vision, I run toward Queen. In that moment, me and Queen were in perfect sync. I stepped up on her chin spike, and she launched me in the air and over the back of the Seregios. It takes flight to try to shake me off, but I hang on. I use my sword to try to hack off as many scales as I can before I jump up to its head and bash my shield into it again.
It's knocked to the ground, discombobulated and struggling to get up. Queen pins down its head and neck, and it kicks and scratches to try to escape. The Seregios isn't going to stop fighting until one of us is dead. I ducked and ran between Queen's legs, then drove my sword into its throat. I kept pushing as its life slowly drained away. Queen lifted her talons off its neck and backed off. I pulled my sword out and stood up, staring down at what we had just hunted together.
And I yelled. I yelled as hard and as loud as I could. Queen roared along with me until we both ran out of breath. I drop to my hands and knees, panting. Queen slowly approaches and nuzzles me, and I can hear how heavily she's breathing too. I roll into a sitting position, arms stretched behind me for support. Queen lies down next to me, resting her head on my lap. I rub her, and we both stay there for a while to catch our breath.
I eventually get up to go find the saddle and come back to put it on Queen, and we both fly back to the nest.
"Talem!" I hear Tavris exclaim once we land. I dismount and remove the saddle, then turn to see the hatchlings running towards us. As they nuzzle and climb my legs, Queen goes around them and lies down, a few joining her.
"…Talem? Is everything alright? You seem… distant." I sigh and look up at Tavris.
"I want to temporarily withdraw from the guild. I need to make sure nothing happens to these hatchlings," I look back at Queen, "and they grow up as strong as their mother."
"Talem, what happened down there?" I look at Queen and the hatchlings, then down at my own hands.
"I… I killed it. I had to, I… I had to protect the hatchlings." I look back up at Tavris. I feel tears start to fall.
"I killed it," I say again, my voice barely above a whisper.
"Talem, Talem… What you did has saved this family. If you hadn't killed that Seregios, it would have just come back. And it wouldn't have just gone after the hatchlings either, it would have killed the mother. And you. Capturing it wouldn't have done anything to change that. You did the right thing here." I sit and cross my legs, and the azure hatchling crawls halfway on my lap and reaches up to nuzzle my face.
"But I understand if you want to stay here to raise these younglings." I look down at the Rathalos in my lap. All the others seem to be paying more attention to Queen, but this one won't leave my side. I run my hand over his head and back, and he coos. Tavris walks over and places his hand on my shoulder.
"Don't worry too much about raising them. Like I said before, I'll be there to help you. I'll help you take care of yourself too, since you'll be living out here" As I'm petting the Rathalos, I wipe my eyes, then smirk.
"I think I'll call him…" I look back up at Tavris.
"King."