Suki, being smaller than Chie and the Professor, slipped under logs and bounded through the underbrush occasionally looking back to make sure the others were following her. "Hold up Suki! We aren't as agile as you!" Chie panted as she held herself up against a nearby tree..the Professor despite being older and more rotund that Chie was farther ahead of her.
"Come on girl, it's just a quick jog to the base then you can rest" The Professor stopped and looked back at Chie but still kept a light in place jog going. In the distance the low hissing and roaring of the Jaggi were punctuated by the sharp smacks of Florian's glaive against Jaggi frames. "Remember we are in charge of getting Arlen and sending him and Suki back to Florian...we hold his life in our hands". Upon hearing that Suki ran a little faster, she couldn't bear to let Florian down...he had saved her so many year ago and now it was time to save his life. "You, little one you can slow down. You will need your stamina when we get Arlen and Soma" The Professor easily caught up to Suki and mid stride gave her a small flask of dashjuice.
The three swiftly crested the slow incline that lead up to the village gate. "Suki, it's on you now...go find Arlen." Chie pulled the lever to open the gate as suki opened up a small vial on her hip and a few scoutflies flew out. Scoutflies weren't normally given to Palico but Florian had given her a few of his just in case they ever got seperated, however it was Suki who trained the Scoutflies to track Soma, Arlen's Palico. Suki slipped under the barely open gate and bounded into the village on all four. "Well Professor what do we do now? We can't just go back to the guild hall and pretend Flor isn't…" She trailed off not wanting to admit that despite constantly yelling at him that she did actually care for him as a friend.
"That's exactly what we have to do, I don't have a weapon besides my pruning knife...do you have a secret weapon? Perhaps you have a bowgun hidden in that hair, or is it a gunlance in your bag...surely you don't want to charge back into teeth and claws with your books? Perhaps a microscope?" The professor walked up behind Chie and put his hand on her shoulder, "I'm not a hunter anymore, that was a long time ago; you're not a hunter you are a researcher. Unless you plan to pick up a weapon you need to stay out of their way." Chie nodded and sullenly walked under the gate which was slowly closing as they walked through.
"You're right I don't have a weapon, I could though...I've thought about it, I could try my hand at the Guild reserves, I would be able to go on emergency missions, be able to go out gathering expeditions without having someone hold my hand..I could" She looked down at her feet trying not to breakdown.
"If that's what you want to do, then do it. Think of it like this… Felvine blooms in the spring, but it dies back in the autumn yes? I was a hunter once, I helped block Lao-Shan Lung...I was injured and now i study pollen and nectar. As much as I wish to be back out in the field hefting the long sword around like I did years ago it's not that season anymore. You may be in season to become a reserve or to become a full hunter, maybe you will find a balance hunting monsters and studying the how and why they do so." The elder now hobbled down the path, it was evident now that the run to the village had taken a toll on him. Chie dipped under his arm and helped him to the research lab to unpack their haul.
Suki slid most of the way down the hill toward the village, her scoutflies barely staying ahead of her. She knew that if Arlen was to found it would be at the Hub, her and Soma would often run around the ropelines holding the awning up while Florian and Arlen would eat and drink waiting for a mission to pop up. As she bounded into the Hub, she spotted Arlen and jumped up on his table; as she scattered his plates all over the floor he jumped up. The only reason Suki would act like that was if it was an emergency, he jumped up and slung his massive greatsword over his back and Soma came running at the commotion to jump on Arlen's back. Suki turned right back around and ran out the door, Arlen was quickly in step behind her.