This is exactly why I brought my sword and shield. Not breaking eye contact, I hear King approach with a low growl, and motion for him to stop. I tell him to fly off, and he listens. I slowly reach in my pouch for a flash pod and feel around, not daring to look away. I notice something else that I don't remember putting in my pouch, but then I remember that I never took it out to begin with. It's the small bag of powder that Tavris gave me. I pour some out on my hand and bring it up to my mouth, then blow. It takes a few seconds to reach the Nargacuga, but once it does, I back up as it reveals itself through the leaves.
It approaches and sniffs me, and I wave for King to come back down. He lands, but wisely keeps his distance. I slowly back off, still keeping an eye on the Nargacuga, then it turns and slinks away. Me and King both take this opportunity to hastily retreat to the nest. He could fly back, but he chooses to walk with me so we can keep each other safe. He can keep practicing his fireball tomorrow.
As we enter the nest, I see Queen with her head raised, and the look she gives us is as good as a scolding. King lowers his head in submission and joins his sleeping siblings, and I leave my equipment and pouch at the nest entrance and join Queen. She huffs as I lie down next to her, then lowers her head to go back to sleep.
I wake up as the morning sun hits my eyes, then get up to stretch. I put my hand in front of Queens nose to wake her with my scent, then pet her head as she slowly gets up. She stretches, then goes to wake the others. After a few minutes, they're awake and playing. I sit and watch, until King stops and looks my way, invitingly. I can't ignore a face like that, so I start walking over as Jewel zips right past me, makes a full circle around the nest, then comes right back to the group. Scrap starts tugging at my arm and growling, and I audibly express my pain. Velvet chases him off, then starts licking my arm. I start to pet her, and she embraces it until she goes to separate another fight between Nip and Scrap.
Queen lets out a short grunt, and everyone knows that means it's time to go out to hunt. I go to put the saddle on Queen, but before I do, I hear something near the nest entrance. I look, and Guildmaster Tavris comes out followed by four Felyne carrying another, better looking saddle.
"Greetings, Talem. It's been some time."
"Tavris!" I exclaim, as I go over to pick up the saddle that the Felynes are holding. "This saddle looks very nice. Is this why you haven't come visit?" It looks very well made, but feels almost lighter than the one before.
"Indeed it is. After you return from this hunt, we have something to discuss." As I place the saddle on Queen, it fits right in front of her wings, where her neck starts. I mount, and I can tell it feels much more comfortable for both of us. With the younglings close behind, we depart.
When going out, I usually let Queen decide what we're going to eat, and where we go to hunt. Today though, she's going somewhere else. We arrive at a large open field, with bushes scattered across it. We land, and I dismount and remove the saddle. There's a herd of Aptonoth in the distance, but we're too far away to hunt them. Why are we here?
I go forward a bit, observing the herd, then hear a blast behind me. I jump and turn to see chunks of dirt flying, a large, burning hole in the ground, and Queen landing on her feet behind it. She looks at each of the hatchlings, then at me. King tries to copy her, but manages to only light a patch of the grass on fire. Queen's teaching them how to shoot fireballs. Pearl headbutts King, likely because she's jealous he's already made more progress than her, then tries to shoot her own fireball at him. Nothing but a puff of smoke comes out.
Soon, everyone's trying to make a fireball, with little success. I can't do anything right now, so I join Queen in watching them. King keeps trying to shoot one particular bush, and with every attempt the blast gains more distance. After a few minutes, Queen looks my way, and my belly rumbles. Time to eat. The Aptonoth have already cleared out, so while the others are teaching each other how to blow fireballs, me and Queen go to find the herd.
We quickly kill the biggest in the group, then pick it up to bring it back to the others to eat. As we come back, the others rush toward us, and immediately start to chow down. King approaches me, then turns and runs toward another bush. I follow, and he glares at me until he knows I'm watching him. He shoots a fireball at the bush, causing it to explode in flames. The way he looked at me, I could feel how proud he was of what he just did. He ran toward me and almost knocked me down by how hard he was rubbing against me.
I go over to the Aptonoth and cut off one of the rear legs, then set up my cooking spit. Fully expecting King to try and show off, I stand back a bit. He fires a soft blast towards it, but misses and hits the ground next to it instead. He's gotten the technique, now he just needs to work on aim. He fires another, and this time it hits, lighting the fire beneath it. I start cooking, and King goes to join the others as they eat. Afterwards, we stay a bit longer so they can keep practicing their fireballs, then head back to the nest.
Once we land, Tavris steps down from a branch he was sitting on as he waited. The others go to the middle of the nest to sleep.
"That was quite a long hunt, what happened?" I look toward them, and smile.
"They were learning to shoot fire. They picked it up fairly quickly."
"Ah! That's part of what I wanted to discuss. Now that they're learning this, it won't be long until they go their separate ways. But there is something else. Last night, I believe you had an encounter with something? A Nargacuga, perhaps?"
"How did you know about that? It was the middle of the night!"
"Even while sleeping, I have eyes and ears all over these woods. You ought to know this by now. Tell me, how did you deal with it? How did you bring it out into the open?" I open my bag and pull out the pouch.
"This powder, it's not just used for calming down monsters, is it?" He chuckles, then replaces the pouch on my hand with another, fuller one.
"Not quite. That is its main purpose, but like you discovered, it also has the ability to change the monster's view of what it perceives as a threat, and what it perceives as prey. Basically, it makes the monster view you as an equal, or even as an ally." I hear Queen lie down behind me, and I rub her neck.
"Is that how I was able to ride that Kulu-Ya-Ku before, since it saw me as something willing to help it?"
"Precisely! That's also why Queen here didn't need the powder. From your very first encounter with each other, you made it clear that you were willing to help her in whatever way you could. She knows that it's because of you that she's alive now and is able to raise her offspring." I look back at her, and she's already drifting off.
"I have… not quite an assignment, but more of a challenge for you. There's been sightings of a Tigrex hunting in the area around the central camp. I want you to tame and ride it." Tavris looks over at the sleeping siblings.
"These younglings seem fairly worn out, I don't think they'll wake up for a few hours. You may also find this helpful." He holds out a chunk of bone, and I take it, letting my scoutflies use it to track the Tigrex. I start towards the nest entrance, and King sleepily wanders toward me.
"Don't worry," I say, petting his head. "I'll come back soon, you stay here with the others." He tilts his head into my hand and purrs, then goes back to join his siblings. I turn to Tavris.
"If anything happens, I'll send up a flare. If you see it, Wake Queen and the others. They'll know what to do." I gather my equipment and head out.