Meeting
Akari went out of her house in Jubilife and looked up at the sky- it was clear, promising a nice and productive day for work in the fields outside… except for the swirling rift atop mount Coronet. Even now, a few weeks after arriving, she couldn't accept the thing being there- it felt foreboding, creepy and unnatural to her. With a sigh, she tore her eyes away from it and headed towards Laventon's office, Oshu trotting behind her.
"Good morning, Rei, Professor!" – she greeted the two as she entered the office.
Oshu ran off to meet his friends and play with them a bit.
"Morning!" – Rei muttered as he was currently going over some of his notes.
"Good morning, miss Akari!" Laventon smiled at her "How are you today?"
"I am great, thanks prof!" she gave a thumbs up "I am full of energy and ready for action! Is there any new survey work on the board today?"
"Well, a few new requests came but…" he looked a bit unsure "I don't think it's a good idea to go so far."
Now she was curious, so she headed to the notice board. Since she failed the investigation request in the woods, she had been itching for something more to prove herself, getting a bit tired of herb gathering and documenting the few species living in the fields near the village.
On the board there were a few new requests, mostly about helping by gathering materials, finding a certain animal species living nearby or helping deliver things around the village. There were a few unusual quests though- looking for an item that was stolen by some monkeys, investigating strange lights and sudden flash storms near the eastern coast, gathering some sort of rare plant used for medicine that only grows near the cliffsides on the western coast and there was even a bounty about a supposed group of pirates called 'The Miss-fortune sisters', despite there being only one wanted person.
'Huh, weird.' – she thought and choose one of the new requests.
"I want to try and do this one, of course I will also be documenting any interesting plant or animal I see on the way." – she handed the plant request to the professor.
Laventon looked at the request and she could tell he was doubtful of letting her go.
"If you are sure…" he finally said and sighed "Just be careful, it is quite far from the supply routes and it is not well-charted place because the terrain is rough. There won't be anyone near to help you if-"
"I can do it, professor! I know I messed up with the last big request in the woods but I will do it this time! It's just gathering some plant, how hard can it be?"
"Alright, but if something happens and you need help, don't hesitate to send message on Oshu- he's been trained to help and knows the way home."
"You got it, prof! Come, Oshu, it's time for adventure!"
"Arf!"
=Meanwhile=
"Snarrr~" – a very large weasel with razor sharp claws, a necklace and a large feather in its head fur called from one of the cliff outcrops.
She gazed at the open sea, the salty breeze ruffling her fur a bit and making the long feather sway almost regally. She waited a bit more, pacing a bit, she was contemplating if she should try calling again or leave, but her patience paid off when a large shape under the water approached the tall cliffs.
"GOOD DAY Milady!" – the large orca mer boomed as soon as his head was out of the water, tipping his hat to her.
"Neee~!" – she beamed at him and quickly scaled down the rock wall.
"A-ah! Lady Sneasler, please stand behind the yellow line! It is dangerous so close to the waves!" – Ingo waved his arms and pointed, trying to instruct his Noble.
Lady Sneasler stopped her descend but instead of climbing up, she put one paw to her mouth and snickered, then jumped down from the cliffside. Ingo flopped around in the water, stretching his arms, trying to catch the Lady before she got hurt but instead of catching her, she landed on his head, making his hat slip forward and cover his eyes.
"AH! Milady! Please, exercise caution!" – he adjusted his hat so he could see again.
"Snee~" she shuffled a bit and nestled herself in the soft folds of the hat "Prrrrr~" – she looked smug as she purred.
"Sorry for my delay, it seems I had lost track of time for a bit. I will make sure I arrive on schedule next time!" – Ingo apologized to his Noble as he looked up at her.
She glanced down at his and they made eye contact for a moment, then she huffed and waved her paw dismissively.
It was very rare to see such casual interactions between a Noble and their Warden, after all all members of the clans were taught the importance of the nobles- both as protectors, blessings by Sinnoh and irreplaceable helpers in obtaining materials from the land, but Ingo was not a typical Warden. He was an amnesiac, an outsider, a strange mer to whom such things like 'proper interaction' were not the norm. Lady Sneasler knew that, she wasn't a typical Noble either, not acting like her predecessors, even often making decisions on a whim, so it was no wonder she took a liking to this odd mer, even unofficially making him one of her kits, despite being much smaller than him.
"Snarrr!" – she commanded and pointed with her right paw in the direction she chose.
"Alright! We are departing, ALL ABOARD!" – Ingo did his signature pose and carefully swam in the direction, making sure the Noble would not fall in the cold waters.
Akari was tired- she had been walking for the past two hours towards the west coast. She was lucky because a few members of the Security corps were traveling to one of the camps in the mountains, so they let her ride in their cart for part of the journey, but eventually they split and now she was following the magic phone GPS to her destination.
She still had no idea what her purpose in this strange land was, yes, she was filling in the list on the phone with different animals but she had no idea what some of the other missions meant. Unite the people? Meet the guardians? Restore balance? What was even that about, obviously the hole in the sky was not normal but how was she supposed to fix it?
"Arf-arf! Grrrr…" – Oshu started barking at the bushes.
Akari stopped and tried to see what might be there. After a moment, there was some rustling and a blur of red could be seen darting deeper in the forest- the little fox was following her again.
'Is it trying to thank me or just looking for more of my food?' – she wondered before continuing on her way.
Soon the girl found herself climbing down the cliffs, she gulped nervously as she looked at the waves down below.
'It's okay… everything is fine, just… don't slip down.' – she repeated in her mind as she carefully shimmied down.
The plant looked like some weed to her, the only thing different was the big flower tufts it sprouted. It was easy to find, but hard to reach – Akari not only had to balance on the rocks and cut the stems she needed, but also make sure not to fall in the sea and for the occasional strong gust of wind.
"Arf!" – Oshu barked as he paced the ground above her nervously.
"Just wait a bit more, Oshu! I just need a few more and I'll be back up." – she shouted over the sounds of the sea.
That was her mistake, she should have noticed how nervous the pup had become – there was a storm coming.
=With Ingo=
'It sure is pouring buckets right now, and it was so nice and sunny just a while ago.' – Ingo thought as he watched the waves crash into the cliffs.
His Lady had cut their usual seaside outing short when she sensed the fast-approaching storm, by tugging at his hair and pointing at the shore with her claws. After being delivered to land, the giant weasel took her offerings and quickly headed back to her cave.
'I still can't quite get it how the Nobles and other clan members are so good at telling the weather. They just seem to be having this innate sense I seem to lack.' – the orca mer mused as he turned around, about to dive deeper and head back to the settlement.
"Kyaaaaaaaah!" – a piercing scream of a girl reached his ears.
He turned his head around so fast he almost sprained his neck. He saw something small and colorful hanging from the rocks, the wind and rain were making it sway almost violently. He had begun swimming without even realizing, he recognized the shape and colors- it was the uniform some of the humans wore and this one seemed to be a young girl. Suddenly, she fell, she must have lost her grip, Ingo's eyes widened in horror as he pushed his body forward even harder. Bubbles escaped his gritted teeth, he saw her hit the water but because of the waves it was hard to spot her. He knew it was against the rules to even approach humans, not to mention having contact with them, but he just couldn't let a young passenger drown when he could have helped.
He knew how much it hurt when you didn't have enough air-
'THERE!'
Ingo saw her limp form float towards the sea floor, so he dove down after her, his powerful tail pushing him forward, his big body easily tearing through the stormy water. When he got close enough, he scooped her in his hand, practically enveloping her, and brought her close to his body. He swam up as fast as he could and soon breached the surface with a big splash. The mer carefully cupped his big hands around the girl, to both keep her safe and to hold her safely.
'Oh no…' it suddenly dawned on him 'What do I do?! I can't bring a human to the clan, they'd be mad. I can't also go to the human settlement, they'd see and probably attack me. What do I do now? Should I just leave-'
"Cough! Gah-" – he felt some movement from his hands.
Ingo peered down ad saw the gild gagging and coughing some water, but she seemed uninjured and breathing fine.
"Glad you are at least not in imminent danger, little passenger." – he breathed a small sigh of relief.
Then, something he would not have expected happened – the girl, instead of jolting awake, screaming or trying to run away, hugged one of his fingers and fell unconscious. She was so small, helpless and weak at the moment, there was no way he was just going to leave her alone in the wilderness during a storm.
"Hang on, little passenger, we're heading to a safe station immediately! All ABOARD!" – he shouted.
Ingo turned away from the rocks near the shore and headed towards a small, secluded beach where it should be safe enough to wait out the storm.