Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, Valen yawned and stretched, noticing his leg felt better than before. He figured that it wouldn’t be much longer before it was fully healed and he was able to exercise the leg back up to his usual strength. He finished stretching then glanced to the side, checking on the status of the dragon, confirming that it was still asleep. He debated mentally with himself for a moment before deciding not to bother it. ‘I’ll wait for it to be awake; it feels too risky to intrude on it while it’s still asleep.’

His course of action was decided, he closed his eyes and meditated, the steady and repetitive breathing calming his nerves. The cool morning air caressed his exposed skin, the red burn scar still aching but not as violently as it had on the first day. Valen knew it would eventually heal, but it still felt strange for such a huge part of his skin to be as damaged as it was.

The rustling of scales against stone eventually brought his attention back to the cave. He opened an eye and confirmed that the Valstrax was now awake and in the process of standing up. Finishing his exhalation, he prepared himself for the jump into the unknown he was about to take.

Hearing the Valstrax stretching, Valen took a long breath and fully opened his eyes. He looked intensely at the elder, at that minute in the process of finishing its own stretch and yawning. He tentatively raised his hand but stopped mid-motion, his nerves failing him. A glance at his hand showed that it was indeed shaking slightly. ‘I didn’t make this decision only to turn back at the last moment!’. Steeling himself, and deciding it was now or never, he clenched his fist and exhaled deeply. Then he finally, finally raised his arm in front of himself and presented the open palm towards the Valstrax.

The Valstrax was now staring intently at him, tilting its head after a moment. This was a critical moment in his life, and it could go either way, either cast him into oblivion or be the start of a legend that would endure through history. And Valen had no idea how long it lasted, the stare-down feeling like an eternity. Like an instant and a lifetime simultaneously. He lost count of how many beats of his heart he felt, not even sure if it was beating, or if it, like him, was simply waiting for this moment to end.

He was about to lose his nerves again when suddenly, the elder took a step. And another. When its motion started, Valen felt his muscles go completely stiff, not daring to make any sudden motion lest the Valstrax be spooked and lunge at him to punish him for the affront. He could see and feel his hand shaking, but even clenching it would feel like a fatal mistake. So he waited with bated breath as the elder approached, too tense to breathe. It was like all his senses were taking in every bit of information, from the exact patterns of its scales to the way it walked and all the scratches and faults in the rock behind it. The click of claws every time it took a step. The underlying odor of the cave was dominated by the odd smell of metal that the Valstrax emanated. There was a slight breeze caressing every hair on his body, all of which were standing on end. All of this information processed in an instant as he waited with bated breath through that long moment, suspended in time.

Finally, the dragon was just in front of him. It stared at him, not at his hand, but directly into his eyes. It almost felt like it was staring into his soul itself, analyzing him, even judging him. Valen involuntarily gulped. The tension in the air was so thick that any mistake, the smallest wrong move would snap it and everything would be over.

Suddenly, Valen blinked. Something had just happened. He wasn’t sure what, but he just knew that in that moment, everything was right. And when he regained his train of thought, it took him a couple of moments to realize the Valstrax had put its beak into the palm of his hand.

Valen’s breath hitched. He could feel the hard shell of its beak, neither warm nor cool. The detail was the one that stuck out to him. Not the smooth texture, nor the fact that he was touching it, but the fact that it was the same heat as his own hand.

His mind still felt like he was pushing his thoughts through a thick mud, slowly and ponderously, but the next thing that he knew he was looking into the dragon’s eyes and feeling an overwhelming sensation of acceptance. Like it had judged him and he had passed with flying colors. In that instant where both had made contact, there was but one thing that was exchanged between them: an overwhelming sense of understanding. As if they had finally unlocked the key the pair were missing in order to comprehend the world.

“Th-thank you. For saving me.” It took a moment for Valen’s mind to catch up to the fact that he had said the words out loud, and that then reminded him of the fact that it had been so long since he talked that his voice was rough from disuse, but at least he wasn’t coughing.

The Valstrax rumbled in response, the whirring noise sending powerful vibrations through his hand. Valen smiled, careful to not show teeth, not wanting for the Valstrax to it as a sign of aggressiveness. He didn’t want to take any chances.

The hunter wasn’t sure what to do next, not wanting to be the one to break their contact. But suddenly, a sense of overwhelming boldness overtook him and he started rubbing the spot, feeling the curves of the beak. The elder shifted, and for an instant Valen was terrified he’d finally taken it too far, but instead, it leaned into the touch, moving his hand more towards the back of its head, where the scales began. The texture of the scales was radically different from the beak — sleek, a bit rough on the edges, but he could sense the grooves that he suspected aided in the aerodynamics of the fastest known monster. Feeling the scales just showed more than anything else that Valstrax were built for speed, it was present in every aspect of themselves.

He continued petting his host for a bit longer before it pulled its head back, fixing the human with its intense gaze. Valen managed not to flinch, returning it in kind instead. He was now certain that the dragon had no intent to harm him or the guild as a whole, and he felt safer than he had in weeks.

The stare-down lasted a while until an unspoken agreement was made between the two parties, and they broke it.

It took a while longer for the spell to break and the realization to finally solidify in Valen’s mind. He had not only been saved by an Elder, as ridiculous as the premise may seemed, but he, who all his life had thought that they were all bloodthirsty monsters, hell-bent on venting their aggressiveness on humanity with only the intelligence to know how to wield their powers effectively, had touched it. He had petted it. And it wasn’t at the Elder’s initiative, it was at his own. That one fact above all was what stuck with him. Because now he had the suspicion that the Valstrax would have long ago initiated the contact… If not for it somehow realizing that Valen would have shied away and not interpreted it the same way. Thus it waited for him to make the first move.

“I was so wrong about you… Blinded by my prejudices.”

It was only after he finished the sentence that Valen realized he said it out loud. His head swiveled towards his host, but it had only tilted its head in confusion. ‘Eh, I shouldn’t be afraid of everything anymore, I don’t think it’s intelligent to the point of understanding my language. I wonder though...’ Valen scratched his chin in thought as he let his mind wander. A realization hit him a moment later.

‘Have I… Only used ‘it’ to designate it this whole time? Scratch that, I’ve been using ‘it’ for any monster, even those with an established sex. It doesn’t feel right for the Valstrax anymore, gonna peg him as a he unless proven otherwise.’ Now feeling better with his decision, Valen now looked towards the elder, — he was still looking at the hunter, but no longer with a confused look in his eyes. He was now looking at Valen curiously, as if observing his guest in a new light.

Struck by another sudden idea, Valen pulled out his hunting notes and started flipping through the pages, skipping through the more common monsters until he arrived at the apex section. Then, glancing at the Rathalos’ drawing that he had glued to the page, he picked up the journal and turned it around,showing it to the elder. He could immediately see the dragon’s eye widening ever so slightly, almost certainly recognizing the depiction. The Valstrax huffed and looked at him as if Valen was crazy to dare imply a Rathalos was his match. Valen smiled and showed the next entry, a Rathian, which caused the same reaction, a flat look daring Valen to imply that an elder dragon such as his host could even be bothered by such a creature.

The next monster in the book was a Brachydios. It was drawn mid-roar, detailing every bit of the slime dripping from its forehead and arms. It was a very menacing monster for sure, and dangerous. It didn’t stop the Elder from immediately turning to face Valen, the incredulity on his face clear. Valen chuckled. Any flightless monster really couldn’t ever be considered a threat to a Valstrax.

The demonstration went on for a while, all wyverns, beasts, or otherwise apex monsters being only dismissed by his host, land-bound ones causing bigger reactions. But then, Valen ran out of wyverns and turned the page to expose Teostra’s drawing. The sharp intake of breath was unmistakable, and he could immediately see that the Valstrax was more wary. But after a moment, the Valstrax just tilted his head and huffed. It seemed that not even a Teostra was enough to dull his confidence much.

Turning the page, Valen flinched hard as the Valstrax growled. He had never heard his host growl, and the sound was setting off all sorts of warnings deep in the most primal part of his mind. Each and every single one of his instincts were screaming about the exceedingly deadly apex predator so close to him. But soon enough, Valen had recovered his wits, and refocused on the notebook, glancing down at the page to see what monster could have elicited such a reaction.

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It was a Kushala Daora, the Steel Dragon, depicted on the page preparing to expel a violent ball of concentrated air at its opponents. Valen was mildly surprised by the intensity of the reaction. But then again, after thinking about it a bit more, he realized that the Valstrax taking care of him was not full-grown He was close to it, but Valen figured he was still young for his species. So, the elder probably encountered one when he was younger, and had been bested. Or at least, that was the explanation that made the most sense to him from what little information he had. Assuming Valen’s guess was accurate, it wouldn’t be surprising to see that the Valstrax still felt some animosity towards the species even when he should be able to best one easily nowadays.

He continued browsing through the book, and throughout the entire remaining pages there was no other elder that the Valstrax expressed outright animosity towards… With the sole exception of the Magalas. The Elder outright snarled at the dual picture, and it took a couple of minutes for Valen to calm his racing heart. The Valstrax seemed abashed by his actions and offered his head in apology. Yet another piece of evidence that his host did not have any ill intentions towards him, and that he cared.

Thinking about it though, Valen couldn’t fault the Elder for his reaction. The tales of the frenzy virus crisis were spread far and wide. If you were to believe them, a single Magala, either the purple, blind, and juvenile form, Gore, or its adult, golden-scaled form, Shagaru, were implied to be able to cripple entire ecosystems by themselves if left unchecked. The official reports were inaccessible to any hunters not cleared for Elder hunts, though. A category that Valen wasn’t in, so he could only rely on hearsay and the very few public records.. But the drawing of both Magalas, with their secondary claws on their wings, despite having four legs, gave chills on Valen’s neck.

He remembered the emergency lesson about them, a couple of months ago, once the threat had been deemed resolved by the guild. That lesson was mandatory for any hunter, no matter the rank. The lecturers insisted that any sighting had to be reported immediately to the guild… Even if the Magala had been spotted in the middle of an urgent quest that meant the life or death of entire villages. Magalas were that serious of a threat. Sacrificing a village was an infinitely small price to pay when compared to the result of allowing a Magala to spread unchecked.

Valen shook his head to clear his mind and continued browsing through the notes, of which no other monster caused a vivid reaction… Besides the very last one. That one reaction surprised Valen the most because it wasn’t one he expected to see.

The Valstrax was fearful. It wasn’t outright cowering, but Valen could clearly see that he was scared of this monster. Looking again at the page confirmed his suspicions. It was Amatsu depicted on the page. However, thinking about it more, Valen had a suspicion that Amatsu was one of the few monsters, if not the only one, that could challenge a Valstrax in its own domain: The skies themselves.

As much as a Valstrax might have been able to ignore nasty weather, even they had limits… Limits that Amatsu, the storm serpent, floating in the skies by their lonesome without any effort, white membranes gracefully catching the wind, did not have. Amatsu were the inherent nemesis of the Valstrax, their fierce winds proving too much even for the mighty Sky Comet Dragon.

Having reached the last entry, Valen closed the notebook and offered his hand to the elder, who was still staring at where the drawing had been. He immediately shook himself slightly and looked at the human, seeming to hesitate for a moment, before rubbing the side of his head into Valen’s offered hand. The small displays of trust still continued to amaze Valen, who not even a couple of days before had believed with all his soul that the Valstrax was using him to glean information on his peers. But not even the most stubborn of hunters could deny that the Valstrax truly cared, after seeing what Valen had seen. Scratching the elder under his chin, he was rewarded with a rumble that displayed his pleasure. Valen smiled, he did not regret throwing all caution to the wind in the slightest. He would never have seen this sight otherwise — an Elder simply enjoying the companionship of a human, and a hunter, at that.

After scratching him for a bit more, Valen sighed. Then a rumble, not from his host but from his own stomach reminded him that he had yet to eat and that a great deal of time had elapsed while he showed his notebook to his host. He was about to remove his hand to allow the Valstrax to go hunting when he had another realization. ‘He demonstrated quite a bit of intelligence before, and proved to be concerned about my welfare, what if…’

Unable to dismiss the crazy thought, he opened his notebook yet again, flipping to the part concerning medicinal plants. When he found the page he was looking for, he turned the journal around to show it to the Elder. A drawing of a rare medicinal plant was clear on the page. Most hunters didn’t bother with the real name of the plant (a fact that researchers always complained about) and just generally referred to it as “Herb”, but any sightings of it were important, as it was the main ingredient to craft the potions that saved countless hunters from tough spots, allowing them to recover from fresh injuries in a fraction of the time it would have taken to heal naturally.

Hunters had to be careful about their consumption, as repeated uses could generate growths that most often spelled the end of a hunting career. Too many famous hunters suffered from that fate for anyone to be able to ignore the danger.

Valen knew he had to be careful for a while, having consumed a significant amount in order to speed the healing of his leg wound, but the danger was ameliorated somewhat if a hunter simply used the herb to accelerate the natural recovery of a wound that would otherwise take weeks if not months.

The Valstrax studied the drawing for a moment before seeming to understand. Then, after he walked to the entrance of the cave, he took off in a blast of wind and energy. This left Valen alone on his bed, quickly making him decide to use that time to get some exercise done, using his crutch.

The Elder returned a short time later, and Valen could clearly see it was carrying something in his beak and a Bullfango in his claws. It only took Valen a split second to confirm that indeed, the Valstrax had brought back herbs. He dropped them on the foot of Valen’s bed and then went on to tear into his own meal.

The hunter completed the walk back to his bed, and after sitting down on it, examined the plants the Valstrax dropped. There was no doubt that the plant was what he asked for… Looking at how much his host still had left to eat, Valen knew that he had a bit of time before he would be able to cook his own part. Taking advantage of the time, he grabbed a couple of flat rocks, one bigger than the other. Placing a portion of the herbs on the rock, he folded them in a small ball on the flat top of the bigger rock, then, adjusting his grip, started mashing the herbs, dull thuds resounding in the cavern.

He went at it until he had reduced the herbs to a paste, absently noticing that the Valstrax was watching his actions between bites. Valen ignored him for the moment and stretched out his leg, checking on the bandage. Noticing it was due for a cleaning, he retrieved his cooking pot and squeezed the remaining water out of the sponge, filling the pot nicely, then he turned on the fire pot and placed the water-filled container above it.

While the water was heating up, he unraveled the bandages on his leg and threw them into the water, aiming to sanitize them in the boiling liquid. He then waited, his host was finishing his meal and was dragging the carcass to him.

Valen could cut his meal off of the carcass as he waited for the water to boil, glancing at the pot every so often to check on the temperature of the water. Once his meal was ready to be cooked, he turned his attention to his leg.

The wound was well on its way to being healed, but Valen could clearly see that he would have a big scar on it, though nothing else looked terribly wrong. His hope was that the only lasting damage would be a slight limp, and that he would be able to put pressure on his leg in times of need.

Valen sighed. He had been extremely lucky, all things considered, having only lost an ear and gained a big scar on his calf from the fight with the Seregios. Most other hunters would have lost whole limbs and thus, their hunting career.

Focusing back on the water, he confirmed that it was boiling. He waited a minute more just to be thorough, then turned off the fire and fished out the bandages with his stick. He spread them on a rag and waited a bit for them to cool down, then picked up the rock smeared with the pulped herb and pressed the rock against his leg injury, gritting his teeth in pain. Pushing through the discomfort, he made sure that he was thorough in his application, spreading the paste over the entire wound until only a negligible amount was left on the flat rock.

He then quickly redressed his wound, binding the pulp to his leg with the bandages, ensuring that it would stay where it would be effective rather than washing off and wasting all of his efforts. With his leg taken care of for the moment, he laid his back on his bed, sighing in relief. The herb would cut his remaining recovery time by a few days. Then, once he was satisfied he could walk normally, he would be able to leave the cave…

The realization made him freeze. It hadn’t sunk in until that moment, but he was reluctant to leave the Valstrax behind. Valen had grown fond of the elder dragon… And it only took a few days. But he had never felt such a close companionship with any other being. He somehow knew that his bond with the Valstrax went deeper than the bond he had with his now-late hunting companions, ashamed as he was to admit it. He was ashamed that he felt closer to an Elder, a creature never spoken of without a hush of fear by civilians, than to any other human being. He felt like he had rescinded his oath as a hunter somehow… But did he want to change anything? Did he want to never meet the Valstrax again once he was free to move by himself? No, he didn’t.

‘If anybody knew… I would be shunned at best. In that case… I will have to make sure nobody knows. I’ll keep this a secret between myself and the Valstrax.’

Valen nodded to himself. ‘I better prepare a story to tell the guild to explain my absence, then…’

Creating that story would occupy his entire afternoon. After he had fed himself, he set about crafting a tale he could give to the guild. He dismissed explanations that were too full of holes or too close to reality, but he still made it as close as he could, his opinion being that if his story was close enough, he could narrate it more convincingly.

Late in the evening, when he could see the stars starting to shine on the horizon, Valen still had trouble believing what happened that day. The morning, and the connection with the Valstrax, felt like they had happened an eternity ago. But he still wished he could convey his desires better to his host. As it was now, it felt… Not enough.

‘I wish I could just show him what I want… But I can’t just rely on pictures. I’d need a huge book that I’d need to carry everywhere, and besides, I’m not fond of the idea of us having a pointing match at everything around us…’ Valen sighed, then frowned. ‘Wait, what if I just… It’s crazy enough but it just might work. I hope I’m not overestimating his intelligence… He’s amazed me so far, but is it good enough for this? Well, I’ve nothing to lose anyways, and I want to be able to convey suggestions to him.’

He mulled over his idea for a while more the day’s emotions finally caught up to him. They crashed into him like a tidal wave, and he fell asleep immediately.