Master Of None

”We have some guests from the tamers guild, they also have some tamed beasts with them, make sure tour nice. Stella is a harpy and she’s very sweet but Hyde is a porcupine and scares easily so try to be quiet around him he might shoot off quills. You’ll like Elise she’s very energetic but she’s the most excited to meet you. Riley won’t bother you but he might eat more than you. Last but not least Laurence is their leader, he seems serious but he’s actually nice.” Walker headed down the hallways to the dining hall blabbing to midnight about the last few days. Explaining how they met their new tamer friends, and even sharing a bit about the performance at the cathedral.

Approaching the dining hall they could hear the chatting going on. It would seem that the others had headed inside to rest before dinner as well. Walker opened the doors leaving them open behind him.

”Ladies and gentlemen your attention please! Today I’ve called you all here for a great gathering, one that you’ve long waited for. Today I introduce you to the one, the only the draconic hero midnight!!!” He couldn’t help but laugh to himself as midnight strutted our flexing her wings. Her head held high as everyone looked in awe. At first they thought walker had lost his mind acting like an announcer but as soon as midnight made an entrance the party was ecstatic. Finally midnight had woken up! Laurence Elise and Riley were awestruck. This small dragon had grown however slight in since just the other day. Seeing midnight move and show off her scales and wings was much different then just looking at her resting. They didn’t realize just how much majesty they had missed.

Elise was the first out of her seat. She practically ran over Riley who was slow to stand. Laurence missed his chance to hold Elise back shaking his head in response.

”You’re awake you’re awake you’re awake! We’ve wanted to meet you for dayssss. I’m Elise that’s Stella. Can your roar? This Ewing’s are great can you fly yet? What about your claws how sharp are they? Wait can you breath fire?...” her questions didn’t stop, even if midnight could speak she wouldn’t have a chance to say a word.

Midnight let off a huff and a small growl to warn Elise to back off but that only seemed to garner more attention. ”I did warn you she had a lot of energy.” Walker gave midnight a pleasing look hoping she wouldn’t get too angry.

Laurence wasn’t sure what to say, at this point apologizing for Elise was too little. ” so this here is Elise, I am Laurence, and that over there is Riley. We’re very excited to meet you officially.” Laurence lowered his head slightly which seemed to appease midnight significantly. It would seem Laurence had some tricks when dealing with prideful beasts. Walker would remember that.

Riley hadn’t stood up but had his full attention on midnight. His wild beast system would be one of the only systems that the three had with the potential to tame a dragon. This was something he didn’t particularly want to do but would be seen as an amazing feat. Just that fact alone made him curious to learn more, especially if fate would guide him to a similar wild beast. Observing midnight would definitely lead to a breakthrough for him.

Dragons were known to be prideful, this was something midnight often demonstrated. They would not even think to bow their heads unless the one they bowed to was significantly more powerful than them. Even in the case their needed to be respect. Those powerful enough to visit the villages of ancient dragons had returned with stories of daily offerings that weren’t needed but used to properly show respect. It was common for arrogant adventurers to visit in search of fame to instead be turned to ash of pure on display by a slightly irritated dragon. To say the least when it came to wild dragons were up their in the ranks.

Elise had finally fallen silent as she circled midnight. It was as if she had seen her for the first time again. Unlike Elise Stella was still a distance away by the chairs. It seemed the aura midnight had being a dragon was pretty intimidating to avian monsters. This was a bit of a surprise to walker who thought that Stella would have followed Elise. The possibility that meeting another monster with wings could be a huge asset was outweighed by the general hierarchy of monsters. But knowing Elise she would help shake away that fear.

”Laurence I’m sorry to say but I think Hyde over there is doing why he does best...” walker spotted Hyde under the coffee table curled up once again. ”Onyx do you want to go talk your friend out of his defenses? It’s your job as her little brother to introduce your friends.” Onyx seemed fairly excited to do so and didn’t even wait for walker to head over instead choosing to slither down and across the floor. The small hissing sounds trying to convince Hyde to come too seemed faster and more energetic than previously.

”Let’s all sit back down we have all night to chat and to introduce our midnight to you.” This was walkers way of forcing Elise to step back and give midnight some space, something midnight seemed happy for.

After some time Hyde was eventually convinced to come out and meet midnight. He was hesitant at first but once her realized she wasn’t going to try to eat him things went smoothly. The two even seemed to be talking. Since midnight like the heat being a dragon meeting a fire species monster like Hyde was proving to be fruitful. This mad walker curious if midnight would act adversely to a water or ice elemental monster. It was definitely something he would have to think on in the future, especially since winter had set in around the plains where they would be traveling next.

Stella was still distancing herself from midnight throughout the night. Even as they all ate dinner she had yet to properly meet midnight. The nice part about this could mean that as they all traveled some avian monsters may be naturally deterred from attacking. This could make any possible escort missions all that much safer.

While everyone became distracted in their chatter not a single one noticed Stella inching closer and closer to midnight. The two were at the far end of the table and had finished eating before anyone else. Midnight had taken notice of Stella approaching and let out a small sigh to welcome her closer. Stella froze a moment before letting out some smaller high pitched sounds, sadly she wasn’t able to speak until she grew up but some understanding was definitely coming through. Midnight in response moved closer sniffing her and memorizing her smell, Stella didn’t dare to move until she had finished. After this midnight withdrew herself and Stella visibly relaxed, she was finally unwinding from hours of stress. Anyone witnessing this would have had a small insight in to the hierarchy of monsters.

Coming to the end of their dinner walker decided it was time to go over the plan. ”So you have placed a request to the guild. Once we get it we do plan to accept but can you tell us the travel plans? I’m curious how we will move and where we are actually escorting you three. Not to mention the monster Elise wants to tame on the way.” Hearing this Elise stared at Laurence, she was silently asking for permission to go in to detail. He gave a small nod, this was a big deal it was very rare that a tamer would allow others to know of their goals. This was because others with similar abilities could take advantage of the work one does to swoop in and seal a contract with the monsters eggs while the other was still subduing the parent. It was a dangerous job which was why tamers would often travel in pairs or trios when searching for a new monster.

” I’ll start us off before Elise gives you the details. I hope to leave early in the morning after the quest is issued. We will travel from the east gate in to the plains. The wind may be a bit cold so I recommend brining many layers. We will head north easy up a trade route, the rabbit tribe tends to rest in that area around this time of year, hopefully we can spend a few days there. After that we will head more east taking a rest in an area the monster has been seen in. After we deal with that matter we will head to the Demi human kingdom capitol where we have a small headquarters. We plan to report in to our guild master before he leaves for another location. While there we hope to introduce midnight to his tamed monster another dragon and also you all to him. After that the quest will be completed. Naturally we will be rewarding you with something special, as that is said we made a little deal with your manager to keep it under wraps until our guild master can present it personally.” It was well thought out walker wanted to pry in to the reward more but from the smirk in Laurence’s face he knew he wouldn’t get an inch from him.