Anon and Velkhana

Anon wasn’t entirely sure how it had happened, but a Velkhana had become particularly fond of him during one of his hunts in the Hoarfrost Reach.

Of course, when you like someone you want to spend time with them, and it’s no different for Elder Dragons. Anon often found himself with an audience during his hunts, either flying high above or on the ground watching nearby. As time went on, the Velkhana only grew more brazen, interrupting Anon mid-hunt to easily dispatch his target monster with an ice breath attack or well-placed tail strike.

Often after defeating his target, the Velkhana had a habit of standing over the monster’s corpse to look down at Anon with a smirk thick with superiority. However, as long as he got the materials or ended whatever rampage the monster had been on to deserve a bounty from the Guild, Anon didn’t care how the fights ended, though capture quests had become a challenge since the Elder Dragon would often inadvertently destroy his traps.

It wasn’t long before Anon couldn’t go anywhere without his Velkhana tail, even into Seliana. The Commander had not been too happy to find an Elder Dragon strolling into the center of town and banned it from Seliana lest it face a dozen angry hunters. But that was fine, the Velkhana seemed to dislike the mud that lined the town’s streets and the inky smoke produced by the Steamworks.

Anon didn’t mind the Velkhana much either, even after the Chief Ecologist made it known that its behavior was showing the classic signs of a monster seeking a mate. To Anon, the Velkhana was the perfect hunting partner: eager to help during tough hunts, naturally a small monster repellant, and during hot days was pleasantly cool, even if it was slightly annoying to find the Velkhana sleeping with its head halfway inside his tent at night when he needed to relieve himself.

However, there was one thing that became quickly apparent to Anon: a Velkhana’s ego is both bigger than a Dalamadur and frailer than the Handler’s self-control around the Canteen. This was never more apparent to Anon than the day he had taken on a quest to hunt the Rathalos nested in the very top of the Ancient Forest. He had spent much of the morning climbing into the treetops, the Velkhana had abandoned following the hunter once the foliage had become too tight to squeeze its body through and instead had been circling in the air nearby, tracking Anon’s progress through the gaps in the tree canopy.

After hours of ascending, the hunter had reached the final stretch of the climb only to realize that the Velkhana was no longer flying nearby. Suspicious, he began to climb faster based upon the sounds of a turf war coming from ahead; the Velkhana had probably already found the Rathalos.

Anon broke into the clearing at the top of the giant tree to find the Velkhana facing off against an old, scarred Rathalos. This Rathalos was considered to be especially dangerous, rightfully earning the urgency and high-ranking of the quest to slay him, and was holding his own against the younger, inexperienced Elder Dragon. The Velkhana had chosen to fight on the ground, an unusual tactic, but one Anon realized was necessary after seeing the Rathalos’ skill in the air. While not as skilled at fighting on the wing, the Velkhana was quick on its feet, deftly dodging fireballs that sent wood splinters exploding in all directions and quick to counterattack with an ice breath. Though the Rathalos had managed to land some attacks, marring the Velkhana’s perfect bright hide with more scratches and soot than Anon could remember ever seeing, his age was affecting his stamina, and soon he was back on the ground.

The Velkhana saw its chance and took it, galloping down the slope while firing an ice breath to throw the Rathalos off his rhythm and simultaneously preparing its ice-tipped tail for a strike. However, the Rathalos had been in far too many fights to be that easily caught off guard, quickly firing a trio of fireballs just as the Velkhana feinted a tail stab to try to gets its jaws around the Flying Wyvern’s neck. The first fireball caught the Elder Dragon square across the muzzle, singing scales and delicate nose tissue. Anon flinched at the Velkhana’s cry of surprise and pain as it faltered, twisting its body away from the Rathalos. The second fireball flew high, over the Velkhana’s back and exploded against a wall of tree branches and other rubble. Anon wasn’t sure where the third fireball went as the aforementioned wall of rubble, weakened by the Rathalos’ attack, burst outward in a wall of muddy water and flood debris, roaring across the clearing in an instant to catch a surprised Rathalos and Velkhana up in the torrent. Anon watched helplessly as the deluge of water and monsters disappeared over the edge of the clearing. He quickly ran to the edge, peering over to find that the mudslide had taken both of the monsters to the very base of the ancient tree.

A strange kind of pain gripped Anon’s heart, he had lost friends and comrades before, but this felt different. The Velkhana was just an animal like any other monster, and yet, Anon knew that not to be true. As a hunter, he had stared down many monsters before, but their gazes seemed empty, animalistic. The Velkhana was more than that, the few times it had laid its head beside him at the campfire, he had seen something more than feral instinct in those golden eyes, and it fascinated him.

Anon jumped over the edge, without further thought, using his grappling hook to slow his fall before splashing down into the muddy river below. The Rathalos lay still beneath a pile of branches and mud, but the Velkhana—his Velkhana, shakily pulled itself from the mud to stand.

A wave of relief washed over Anon, his Velkhana looked fine—for the most part—except it was covered in a thick layer of mud and debris. Upon hearing his approach, the Velkhana did its best to recover its mien, nonchalantly spreading its magnificent wings to adjust them into a more comfortable position, but something must’ve been hurt because halfway through the display it winced with a choking cry, lamely returning them to its back.

With the worry from before gone, Anon did his best to stifle a laugh at the normally proud Velkhana, who usually kept itself so meticulously clean, now absolutely covered in filth. This didn’t go past the Velkhana’s sharp hearing, who was quick to shoot an icy glare at the approaching human, the look only serving to reignite his laughter.

Anon laid a hand on the Elder Dragon’s muddy flank as he came up beside the monster, his gloved fingers sank through half an inch of sticky mud before resting on the monster’s hide. The Velkhana leveled a bitter glare and began to move, pulling away from the hunter’s touch it turned to walk into the forest. A flash of shame overcame Anon in that moment, maybe he had truly underestimated how fragile the monster’s ego was. He never expected to be in this situation, Velkhana weren’t exactly common monsters, and perhaps the monster was more perceptive than he had thought. Before the Velkhana could disappear into the brush, he lightly grabbed onto its tail, giving it not quite a yank but enough of a pull to catch the monster’s attention.

The Velkhana stopped, turning to stare with a look of disinterest.

Anon wasn’t sure how much the monster actually understood, as he apologized, but he hoped the sincerity in his tone was enough to get the message across. He scooped some water from the river and splashed it across the Velkhana’s tail, washing a little of the mud away to further convey his intent. The Velkhana’s bright golden eyes watched his movements impassively, but the monster made no move to continue into the forest. Anon gave a little tug on the monster’s tail, pointing toward where he thought the beach might be and explaining that it would be easier to wash there.

To Anon’s relief, the Velkhana followed him through the forest toward the sounds of crashing waves. Truth be told, it was eerie how much the monster seemed to understand. Anon had heard that Elder Dragons were considered some of the smartest of monsters, but to be faced with that intelligence in such a large and powerful creature was sobering.

The two of them emerged from the shade of the canopy out onto the golden sands of one of the small beaches that lined the Ancient Forest’s boundary with the ocean. A small herd of Kestodon scavenging at the water’s edge bleated in alarm at the emergence of the Elder Dragon, fleeing up the slope as far away from the imposing monster as they could get. Anon led his Velkhana down to the water, casually shedding boots and armor along the way, no longer did he have any misgivings about the Velkhana’s intentions.

He waded out waist-deep into the warm tropical surf, overjoyed that the Elder Dragon followed him right in without any reservation. The closer Anon waded toward the Velkhana, the colder the water became, and he was dismayed to find the mud on its body had nearly frozen over. Fingers did little to scrub it away so he quickly left the water for the shore to find something to better clean the monster with.

The Velkhana watched the human leave the water and scramble up the beach until he disappeared among the trees. The monster laid down in the surf and ducked its head into the sea, using its protective inner eyelids, it could easily see beneath the water. It watched the schools of fish swim warily farther out in the deeper areas, giving the unknown creature a wide berth. The Velkhana stilled its body, without moving, its massive lungs could hold enough air where it wouldn’t need to breathe for another few minutes. Some courageous fish grew complacent, swimming ever closer. The Velkhana watched and waited, eyeing a large, oblivious Sushifish that had come a little too close. In an instant, the Velkhana whipped its tail around, the frozen point sailed through the water and speared right through the center of the fish.

Too easy, for such an impressive monster, the Velkhana thought, its earlier beating already fading from the monster’s memory. The Velkhana raised its head above the water and snapped the fish up in two bites. It dipped its snout beneath the waves to wash the blood and scales away, before raising it once more to scan the shore. The human should’ve been back from whatever it had gone to do by now, without its other hide it was weak and easy prey. The Velkhana grew a faint bit worried, even though it was rather displeased with how the human had acted earlier in the river, it was ashamed to admit that it had grown rather attached to the human.

Before the monster could move from the water to investigate, Anon broke through the trees carrying an armful of watermoss. Seeing the human safe, the Velkhana wiped whatever worried look it may have had from its face for a stonier expression, shifting its gaze out toward the horizon as if it hadn’t been searching the tree line for the human. Anon waded back out toward the soaking Elder Dragon, dropping a few of the watermoss to float at the monster’s side, he set upon the mud coating the Velkhana’s flank with one of the sponge-like mossy balls. The warm water and sun had managed to warm the freezing mud enough that mild scrubbing and clean water cleared it from the Elder Dragon’s scales, and soon enough the hunter had the Elder Dragon’s back half returned to a cleaner state. The Velkhana looked over the progress with a critical eye, refusing to do much more than let out a long yawn while the human tackled all of the work.

Though uninterested in washing itself, the Velkhana was compliant in allowing the human to move its wings and neck into easier positions for scrubbing. After a few hours of tough work, only the Velkhana’s head was still muddy. Standing on the shore, with the Velkhana half-submerged, Anon carefully began to clean the monster’s sensitive face; any ice armor covering its body had long since melted away, leaving tiny, sensitive scales that needed to be carefully wiped free of mud. Anon attentively washed the dirt away along the Velkhana’s jaw and brow, gingerly digging at the grit stuck beneath the overlapping scales that lined the top of its nose. The skin without scales around the monster’s nostrils looked red and inflamed from the earlier fireball and every wheezing breath through its nostrils sounded labored, Anon could only sympathize with the monster as he finished rinsing the last of the mud. But that sympathy was quickly lost when the Velkhana suddenly let loose a sneeze that sprayed Anon with half-frozen snot and mud and sent him sprawling backwards onto the sand.

As the sun marched toward the horizon, the two finally emerged from the waves to climb up onto the sandy bank. One was fairly clean and the other very sore and tired. Anon nursed his aching body to sit on the sand and watched as the sun made its way toward the waves. A great weight settled on its side at his back, wrapping itself around him in a semicircle. The hunter felt a wave of cool air emanate from his partner’s body, a welcome change from the stifling heat of the forest.

Anon had the feeling that this was a rare moment for the Velkhana, so he did his best not to react when a scaly snout bumped into his side and a cold, fishy-smelling tongue flicked across his cheek.