Carefully, I secured the last rope to the cart. Once I was sure it was secure, I gave a thumbs up to the felyne crew, who began carting off the Diablos back to Astera. Nearby, Viv was busy picking at an ore outcropping (pun intended), trying to find some extra ore for gear making.

"Find anything valuable?" I asked.

"Not much. Just the usual ores."

Not surprising. "Any of those what you're looking for?"

"Tons. I think I have enough for what I want made."

Nice. "Back to Astera, then?"

"Actually, I want stop by camp first - have a nice meal."

"Fine. But I'm cooking."

"Why? Do you honestly think you could do better than me?" Oh how smug she was. Did she really think that men couldn't cook?

'No, but your culinary skills, while certainly good, pale in comparison to mine.'

"Not normally, but at least I don't make the mistake of confusing a wyvern thigh for a poison sac.

'How'd he know about that?!'

I asked when the Chef started throwing cutlery at you. Also, your attempt to prepare an apceros egg with a cactus blossom was a resounding failure.

Watching Viv stutter and sputter over her cooking mess up was hilarious.

XXXXXX

"..This is *NOW* delicious!" shouted my BROB, stuffing a Apcerpast into her mouth, followed by a shinebloom. "My compliments to the chef!"

"Why thank you."

Praise from a ROB, even a friendly one, meant a lot.

Also, good grief, how much could this girl eat - she'd already wolfed down three plates! "So, anything else you'd like?"

"Nah, I'm getting full."

Yay - I wasn't sure the commission would be happy if they learned Viv had eaten up so much food. "Okay...you want to go back to Astera yet?"

"I'd rather stay here, if you don't mind."

I didn't, but what could we do now? Catch lizards?

"How about we just talk?"

...Eh, that works.

"Good, so, what do you want to talk about?"

I could think of one thing...

"And what might that be?"

"You."

"Huh?"

"I'm sure you know all about me, but I don't know all that much about you - who you were, who you are, what you like, all that jazz."

"Oh..."

"If you don't want to talk about those, I understand-"

"No, its fine. I suppose telling you a bit about myself would be acceptable."

"Well then, what was it like? Being royalty, I mean?"

"...well, it was extravagant, I will admit. Nice clothes, heavenly food, extravagant pageants and balls, and much ceremony."

"I'm sensing there's a but there."

"Yeah. You get a lot of privileges over the common person, but you also have a ton of responsibilities - how to dress, how to act - "

"And I presume that you can't choose who you we, correct?"

"Eh, that wasn't really an issue for my family. My father allowed the sons and daughters of the nobility to meet and play with us, so if we were to marry for politics, the match wouldn't be a wholly incompatible one. Besides, I was far enough down the line of succession that it would be acceptable for me to marry whoever I chose."

"So there are perks to being a middle child."

"There are. So what else do you want to know?"

"Well, what's it like having so many siblings? I only had one, so..."

"Well, it can be annoying. You always have to share bathrooms, for one. And heaven help you if Megan was doing her makeup - she could take an hour. Roderick would do the same if he was showering."

"I can relate. How competitive were they?"

"Extremely so - Amanda actually timed herself to see how long it took her to eat lunch. She always tried to shave off a few seconds...well, at least until she ended up with bad stomach cramps for eating too much too fast."

"You may be above some of the laws of nature, but not all of them, it seems."

"Yeah."

"...Do you miss them? You family, I mean?"

"I...I do. I miss them a lot. And I'm not even sure fi they still remember me - it's been about five hundred and fifty years since I left. They might have forgotten about me, and even if they haven't, well, I'm pretty sure they've given up ever finding me."

"Ouch...Anything else you want to say?"

"No, not really. But I do have something to give you."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah."

Rather than elaborate, Viv simply put a hand on her head. A moment later, as she pulled it away, a crystal formed, which she promptly handed to me. "If you want more answers on my past, look into that. I...don't want to talk about who I was. Or how I changed into who I am."

"…..Okay."

"Thank you. Now, please, let me return to Astera - I have some armor to make."

Conversation finished, Viv whistled, before throwing a slinger shot into the air. Moments later, she was flying off, held aloft by a mernos.

For a few minutes, all I could do was stare at the crystal.

Then, acting on a hunch, I focused my psychic powers on it.

Moments later, everything went white.

XXXXXXXX

AN: Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!