Monster Hunter: Stars of Hope

Chapter Twenty-Three: Investigation

"I wonder how long it'll take them", Nia spoke out, giving voice to idle thoughts as she was perched over a cliffside not far from the forward camp, watching a Great Maccao bolt frantically through a clearing in the foliage below, only to be swiftly pursued by a group of familiar hunters; It was Darton and his two friends, who had been tasked with taking care of the wyvern that had been harassing scouts over the past several hours. "I'm betting we could have had it handled a lot faster", she added, speaking with confidence in how much she had honed her skills since her last encounter with such a monster in the days of her training, to which Sariko beside her was quick to note, "Nia, we've pretty much been involved in all of the other fights with monsters that there's been since we left Granport, most of them have been life or death, and the last one was very much almost just death". Nia huffed a bit, before resigning her position in this discussion, "Yeah, guess you have a point. We've kind of been dealing with everything so far, and I'm still aching from that Nergigante flinging me across the pass", to which Sariko responded, "If you're still aching, can't imagine how Bucket's feeling; I'm surprised he doesn't have any broken ribs after that".

Nia could not help but feel somewhat amused; not by her friend's injury, of course, but by the irony that the gunner of their team was seemingly the most durable one of them by far, given the stereotype that hunters who used ranged weapons often couldn't take a hit. Though, she knew full well that a second strike from that Elder Dragon more than likely would have killed him, which would have been terrible for more reasons than her simply not wanting to lose a friend. After all, he was to be their translator for the Shakalaka; a fact that still quite frankly weirded her out.

Before either of the two could say anything else, they heard Aelar behind them mumbling to himself, and turned to see the wyverian scholar staring up at the trees above and scribbling something down in a notebook. Most peculiarly, it was not the only notebook he had on his person. The researcher actually had a large bag strapped across his chest, over his shoulder, and hanging from his side, half-full of empty tomes, while a similar bag now half-full of filled books hung from his other side in a similar manner. He was having a field day, to say the least. "You really couldn't have just waited for Haldys to get you a team of research hunters set up to escort you? They'd be able to take you much more than a mile from the camp", Nia inquired, her and Sariko being asked by this man to guard him on this short-range excursion, to which Aelar responded, not taking his eyes off of his surroundings, "Of course not! He's far too busy with getting everything established, and after that, he'll be too busy coordinating with the other guild forces when they arrive in a few hours. Besides, just... look at this place... and tell me it isn't begging to be researched!".

The wyverian wasn't wrong. Even though she could not see far through the dense rainforest, her vision obscured by the enormous trees all around her and the cool mists that flowed between them, it was clear for Nia to see that the Shrouded Rift was a place of wonder and discovery possibly unrivaled by anywhere else in the Old World. In truth, she was nearly as fascinated by this land as Aelar was, almost forgetting the fact that it would be the height of the Winter Star Fest back in Granport at this point; It certainly didn't feel like winter in this rainforest valley. She was missing yet another festival, but scarcely cared on account of all that there was to be discovered in the Rift. She had never seen a place so teeming with life before, and was astounded by the idea that such a land was waiting just over the mountains that she could once see from Arba Village. Perhaps it was a good thing that she had no clue back then, Nia thought to herself, as she probably would have annoyed her parents to no end with her likely desire for them to take her to such a locale.

"Well, I suppose I'll have to wait for that anyways", Aelar suddenly piped up with a somewhat dejected tone, pulling Nia from her thoughts, "It'd be wrong for me to delay your team's search for the native shakalaka any longer. The sooner they can point us towards the Well, the sooner we can put this whole business with the Hopesbane behind us". That was a topic that Nia was still coming to terms with, even now: the fact she was so close to finally having a real opportunity to avenge her parents, to make them proud of her. Even though the eater of elders and its reasons for being here caused her concern, she was more than eager to rid the world of that Rathalos and ensure that no one else would have to go through what she had. Though, Nia was discomforted to some degree by her difficulty with looking at the wyvern without hate, even though she now understood that it had likely done much of what it had out of terrible pain. She knew full well that, had it not taken what it had from her, she would probably be feeling sorry for the creature at this moment, which made how she could not help but feel about the Hopesbane now almost sting.