A new morning, he knows what that means; waking up to Garm pulling at his leg, trying to drag him out of bed so they could start their day. "I'm up, I'm up." Gales remarks as he sits up and looks at the palamute still tugging at his leg for a moment before finally stopping. "Morning to you too, Garm." The palamute replies with a bark, and starts walking over to the door before circling it and settling down on his haunches. "Honestly…" Gales mutters with a smile, though it quickly vanishes as he releases a yawn and pulls himself out of bed as he takes a second to look outside. "Bit early today…" He notes, realizing that the port town was still waking up in its own right. "Think we can get a morning jog in." Garm barks and Gales just nods his head. "Alright, give me a minute." The Hunter takes a second to stretch as he grabs a few things, namely his boots and a shirt before heading over to his partner.

A morning jog; that translates into a lap around the entire city, then it turns into three more laps at a full sprint.

"Feels like I haven't had time to actually get some exercise in a while." Gales notes as he and Garm end their run by taking a cool down lap and decide to just wander the city. "My fault I guess, mean, I haven't really been trying to keep up with the schedule since I left the keep." Garm barks in agreement as Gales looks at him and scratches his neck. "Should probably get back on that, huh." Again Garm barks in agreement as he follows his hunter through the city. "Anyway, lets head back to the lodge and get cleaned up." Gales stated. "After that we can hit the Hunter's Guild and see if there's any new work we can do." A light laugh caught the hunter's attention.

"Always looking for work, aren't you?" Turning he saw a familiar face pulling away from a stall.

"Karma." Gales called out as the Gunner stretched for a moment, popping a joint in his shoulder as he did. "Hey, good morning."

"Morning to you too." Karma replied. "Seriously though, you're going to look for work already?" He asked. "We just returned from an expedition yesterday, and you're ready to jump back into work." He made a face, one that was more humored than annoyed or confused. "Don't you wanna take a break."

"Yeah~ but." Gales shrugged. "I'm not used to em." He admitted. "Not even sure what I'd do if I took one."

"How about taking a day to relax like the rest of us." Karma remarked as he scratched his head, and gales noticed that there were a few bandages on all ten of his fingers. "Could probably use it."

"What happened to your hands?" Looking at one of his hands Karma shrugged.

"Dual wielding Large Bowguns isn't exactly good for the fingers." He admitted. "The recoil hits hard, and you can't absorb it properly."

"Are you going to be ok?"

"Nothing some rest can't fix." He admitted as he watched Garm run up to him and present his head for rubs. Making a humored noise, Karma rested his hand on Garm's head and gave him the attention he desired. "Hey there big guy, enjoying your morning so far?" Garm barked in agreement as he rolled onto his belly. "Don't push your luck." Garm proceeded to make a noise before getting back to his feet. "Anyway, I got off easy." Karma admitted returning his attention to Gales. "Lot of the others got pretty banged up from yesterday's fighting."

"Really?"

"Yeah…"

"But everyone seemed fine at the celebration last night." The moment the words left him Gales fell silent as he seemed to think back.

He remembered seeing them on the floor, they'd been laughing and smiling and enjoying themselves but…

Gales blinked as seemed to realize something.

He'd ignored it at the time, but everyone had been tired and a bit banged up from the encounter. How could he have ignored that fact, how could any of the people there?

'They were hiding it.' Gales realized as Garm looked at him.

"Alright kids~" Ashe began as she started picking up a few rocks. "As of today, our lessons are going to start being a little different." Hearing those words the children gulped in unison.

Something told them that wasn't a good thing. One of the kids raised their hand as Ashe picked up another rock. "Clover?"

"Is this gonna hurt?"

"Absolutely." Ashe didn't even try to deny the claim. "Actually that's the whole point of this month's exercise."

"… what?"

"Listen…" Ashe sighed in annoyance. "Thing about being in the field is… you are going to be hurt a lot." The woman stated. "Like a ridiculous amount of times. You will be stepped on, smacked by tails and hit with fireballs and waterjets…" She paused. "Look, broken bones is the least of your worries, ok."

"As such you're going to have to get used to pain." Irene stated as she walked up to the group, a few containers in her hands as she was accompanied by a few other teachers. "And you're going to have to get used to walking it off."

"Is this going to count as child abuse."

"Probably." Irene shot Xesh a look.

"No it's not…"

"You don't sound too sure of yourself sweetheart."

"Shut up." Irene stated. "The woman remarked before looking at the children who seemed to be having second thoughts about their lives. "Look, we're not going to hit or throw rocks at you or anything like that…" She tried reassuring them.

"We're just going to poke you with needles."

"Nope!" Zack remarked, getting to his feet as he started walking off. "Nope~" Angeal was the one who caught him, lifting him up by the back of his shirt as he started caring him back over to the group. "Put me down! Put me down!"

"In a minute." Was Angeal's response. "Listen, it's only going to hurt for a minute."

"At least."

"Shut up Xesh." Angeal mumbled. "Look, we're going to poke one of your pain receptors, and your job is to hold it together."

"Why!?"

"Short answer or long answer?"

"Short answer is that when you do get hurt in the field you can walk it off." Ashe stated. "At least long enough to get to a safe place and get medical attention."
"Long version." Irene muttered with a sigh. "As Hunters you can't show weakness in front of those you protect."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Hunters are… icons to some." Irene stated. "No matter what you go though, no matter how trying the Hunt is, you still stand and go about your day." She rubbed her temples. "It's a nuisance but people see Hunters as more than mere flesh and bone." She made a gesture with her arm. "Granted some see us as psychopaths and adrenaline junkies, but I digress." Shaking her head she looks back at the children. "Anyway, when people look at hunters, they tend to see something unyielding, something that refuses to bend and break despite what pain they undergo." She paused. "If they see the pain that we really go through… they'll lose faith in us. Faith in the idea that we can protect them…" She shook her head. "As such, Hunters have to hide their pain as best they can. They smile through it to ensure the people…" She sighed. "And only when we have a moment of respite can we have a moment of weakness."

"It's the curse we're inflicted with." Ashe stated. "And trust me, we all hate it."

Garm seemed to bark as Gales pulled himself out his thoughts and scratched his head. "I've still got lessons to learn…" He muttered as Karma raised an eyebrow. He shrugged a moment later.

"Anyway, you wanna grab a bite, I know this stand that has some pretty good squid."

"That sounds good." Gales muttered. "Thanks…"

"Don't mention it."

"How are you feeling?" Evelyn asked, looking at her partner as he sat up. "Any lingering aches and pains?"

"Just a few." Tristan muttered, rubbing his shoulder and popped it. He took a breath a moment later. "That's better."

"You really should quit doing that." Evelyn muttered.

"I really should." Tristan agreed. "But I won't." He admitted with a light smile.

"Course you won't." His partner stated, looking elsewhere. "No matter what I say, you'll just do what you want."

"Not wrong." Tristian agreed before leaning back in his bed before seeming to think. "Three down." He said after a while and Evelyn just nodded her head before looking at the wyvern tooth that was resting on the table.

A Deviljho's tooth.

"5 more to go." She stated. "Have to say this assignment is kind of a pain."

"It is." Tristan admitted. "But we still have to take care of it." He states. "Can't let those things keep wandering around as they are." Tristan sighs. "As it stands Scry has enough problems without a bunch of trafficked creatures wandering around."

Walking though Harribel with a few Squid skewers in hand Gales just made a noise as he continued to eat. "Pretty good, right?"

"Yeah!"

"Thought you'd like it." Karma stated as he continued eating from his skewer. "I don't know what the guy does to it, but it's better than any other squid I've had." Karma admitted. "And trust me, I've had a lot of seafood in my life."

"Favorite food?"

"Eh~" Karma shrugged as he took another bite of food. "More like the most common thing I could get my hands on." He admitted.

"What do you mean?"

"I grew up in a fishing village called Moga." Karma stated. "So sea foods pretty common."

"Ah~"

"I mean sure the island we're connected to has a variety of creatures there, but~" He shrugged. "It's an island, and there's always the risk of overhunting local creatures to extinction."

"Fair enough." Gales muttered as he took another bite. "So what brings you out here anyway?"

"Same as everyone else, work experience." Karma admitted, finishing his skewer and shrugged. "After we've gotten what we need here, the guys and I are thinking of heading to Loc Lac." He paused as he looked at Gales. "What about you, when you're done here, where are you headed?"

"Don't really know." Gales admitted. "I mean, Garm and I can head to the Frontier for a bit, catch up with Ezra and see how she's doing." He stated, finishing his own skewer. "I mean we can, but we really don't have a set destination in mind."

"Well, you got time to figure it out." Karma remarked as he heard something "Music?" Pausing, the Hunter looked around, before his attention rested on a temple of sorts. "I didn't know there was a temple here in Harribel…" He stared at it at the moment before looking at Gales and Garm. "Wanna check it out?"

Gram was already walking towards the building.

"That's a yes." Gales noted as he started following his partner.

Stepping into the temple, the two hunters and Palamute was met with the scent of incense.

It wasn't an overwhelming smell, but it was definitely noticeable. Still, that didn't mean it was something that they couldn't handle..

Looking around Gales found the temple grounds to be very… old fashioned - the place was definitely one of Harribel's older buildings, which honestly made sense given what he knew about this place. He could see the brickwork poking through the floor tile and there were stands lining the walls, with each of them having a couple of statues of someone who had passed. Even Gales could tell that they weren't just religious figures; the 'attire' differed too much. These were statues of the dead, of people who had been lost a long time ago. Still people seemed to be… 'talking' to the statues, talking to the dead. Which in itself wasn't too out of place.

Once upon a time, he'd done the same.

The Keep had a mausoleum for a reason.

Shaking his head, Gales looked around, attention turning from one person to the next as he and Karma looked around.

"Welcome." A voice pulled the pair out their thoughts as they saw a robed man greeting them, bowing his head as he did so. "I am Brother Casius. It's an honor to have you with us today."

"Is it?" Karma asked before scratching his head. "Sorry, I'm… not really used to temple etiquette."

"It's quite alright." Casius stated raising his head. "It's not something you get right away." The man admitted with a smile. Right after the man made a gesture to invite the three further inside. "Please, come in." They didn't have a reason to deny him. "What brings you here?"

"Just popping in to take a look I guess." Karma admitted. "We were right outside when we heard music and decided to take a look."

"Ah yes, most come for the temple's songs." Casius stated. "They find it rather soothing."

"Well…" Karma muttered as he looked around and went back to listening to the song playing right now. "It is rather nice…" He admitted.

"Yeah but…" Gales spoke up. "I don't know why, but it sounds kinda sad."

"It does, doesn't it?" Casius muttered. "The song that echoes throughout these halls are said to bridge this world with the one beyond."

"The one beyond?"

"The Afterlife." Gales turned to Karma as he spoke up. "Some believe that songs can cross the borders between the two."

"Indeed." Casius states. "And as long as the song is heard, those who have left this world may commune with us once again."

"I've never heard of that legend." Gales admitted.

"Well, it's not too surprising to not know all the old legends." Casius admitted as he led the pair further into the temple as others walked past them.

"So, this temple…" Gales began, taking a minute to search for his words so he wouldn't come off as rude. "What's the story behind it?"

"This temple was built in honor of the Guardian Knight Malzeno." Brother Casius stated as his gaze rested on a mammoth statue resting at the far end of the temple's central. Staring at it, the two Hunters found themselves looking at a wyvern of some sort.

No, it wasn't a wyvern; wyverns had two legs, this creature had four legs and even wings. It looked… rather majestic, if they were going to be honest.

"What kind of creature…" "Is that…Aleya?" Gales words pulled the two out of their own private conversation as they looked his way.

Standing center stage was indeed Aleya, the young lady acting as the temple songstress.

"You know her?" Karma asked.

"Sort of." Gales admitted. "We talked on the boat ride here, and we danced a bit last night."

"Lucky you." Karma muttered as he heard Aleya's song come to an end. And everyone who was seated in the central chamber started to applaud her performance.

"Gales?"

"Hm?" Stopping, the Hunter turned, his attention turning to look for whoever called his name. No one seemed to be paying much attention to him, seemed more absorbed in their own little prayers to the dead.

"Hm?" Turning to look back at Karma, Gales stared at him before shaking his head. "You coming?"

"Yeah, sorry, just thought I heard someone." He muttered as he jogged after Karma and Casius for a moment.

Behind her mask, Calista couldn't help making a face as she stared off into space. "He heard you…" The woman muttered as she looked over to the Hunters and clergyman. "I see… that means…" Whatever she was about to say was never heard as she looked up and realized something.

"Brothers and sisters, gather round."

Gather under the watchful eye of our revered guardian, so we may honor the Guardian Knight who delivered us from darkness.

In the Great Dragon War, when the sky was blackened by the wings of a thousand wyverns, it was Malzeno who arose as our savior."

With shimmering scales and piercing fangs, he stood as our sword and shield, pushing back the Black Dragon's legions and restoring peace to the realm.

We gather here, not just to remember, but to honor the strength and sacrifice of our Guardian.

Let us carry forward, honoring the One who gave everything so we may be here today."

In one of the temple's darker corners, Calista made a face. "So they're finally moving…" It's almost immediately after that hell seems to break loose.