When Morgan woke early the next morning, he looked to his side.
The space beside him was empty. Hakucho, who had squeezed in beside him to sleep the night before, was nowhere to be seen.
Morgan sat up in silence. His expression did not change, but the disappointment in his eyes was hard to hide.
So in the end, I was...
Before the gloomy thought could fully take shape, something dark landed in front of him with a thud.
It was a squirrel with a broken neck.
"Raaawk!"
Hakucho, the little Hawk Wyvern, glided down and landed nimbly on his shoulder before rubbing affectionately against his cheek.
He then nudged his beak toward the dead squirrel, seemingly urging Morgan to hurry up and eat.
In that instant, the world around Morgan seemed a little brighter and kinder.
Altaïr, who was stirring the campfire's embers, heard the commotion and looked over with a smile. "Oho. Looks like someone brought you breakfast. I won't bother making anything for you, then."
Morgan did not reply. He picked up the limp squirrel and, under Hakucho's expectant gaze, held it up to the creature's beak.
Hakucho tilted his head, quickly understood Morgan's intention, and happily opened his beak.
Morgan breathed a silent sigh of relief. If Hakucho had insisted that he eat it, what would he have done?
He returned Hakucho's catch to his open beak, then walked over to the campfire, picked up two strips of dried jerky, and fed them to the little creature as a reward.
Hunting on his own and bringing back prey was behavior worth encouraging.
Watching man and bird reach a tentative understanding, Altaïr smiled. The first bond between them had formed; the rest was only a matter of time.
—--
After briefly cleaning up the campsite, the Hunters began their investigation for the day.
Carrying the Yian Kut-Ku Model-4, Sajji climbed a large tree.
He used his whiskers to gauge the wind flowing through the forest. The moment he sensed a powerful gust approaching, he leaped. His deployed glider caught the wind and carried him into the air.
Frequent aerial reconnaissance gave him excellent practice. His flying skills had not improved by leaps and bounds lately, but his progress was unmistakable.
He had only just discovered the technique of using a tree for extra height before catching the wind. It was much easier than his usual method of running into the wind along the ground.
Perched on Morgan's shoulder, Hakucho watched Sajji take to the sky with obvious curiosity, unable to understand how a creature without wings could suddenly "grow" them and fly.
He flapped his wings and soared after Sajji.
Since Sajji could only ride the wind on his glider, he could not match the speed or agility of Hakucho, who had been born to fly. The hatchling caught up with him in the blink of an eye.
Hakucho circled him nimbly several times, then drew closer under Sajji's terrified gaze and tapped the edge of the glider with one of his wing talons.
There was no malice behind the gesture. Hawk Wyverns often interacted this way in flight. When they felt playful, they would even lock their rear talons together, spiral downward, and separate to pull up only at the very last moment.
To Hakucho, it was merely a greeting, the aerial equivalent of a pat on the shoulder. To Sajji, it was terrifying.
The glider had no power of its own and relied entirely on air currents, so its pilot had to maintain a delicate balance to keep it stable.
Hakucho's "pat on the shoulder" sent the glider into a violent lurch and nearly knocked Sajji from the sky. With a screeching yowl, he fought to regain his balance, but before he could catch his breath, Hakucho drew close again.
Mistaking Sajji's panic for playfulness, he swiped at the glider once more.
The second blow was much harder. With a shriek of "MEEEOOOW!" Sajji spun in circles and plunged headfirst toward the ground.
Hakucho folded his wings and dove after him.
As he spun helplessly, Sajji felt as though his soul were about to leave his body. For now, the situation remained barely within his control. If he could break out of the spin before hitting the ground and pull up in time, he could still land safely.
The problem was that he had no idea what the little creature might do next. If Hakucho swiped at him again just as he tried to pull up, he would be done for.
Words were useless, but Sajji suddenly remembered what Clawdia had said the day before: communicating through emotion was the key.
He strained to make his screams sound even more terrified and desperate, hoping the little creature would realize that he was not playing.
"MEEEOOOW!!!"
On the ground, the dense canopy hid the sky from Altaïr and the others. All they could hear were Sajji's horrifyingly shrill screams drawing closer and closer, and they exchanged uneasy glances.
As he was about to plunge into the vast, interwoven mangrove canopy, Sajji gritted his teeth and angled the glider upward with all his strength, trying to climb.
If he failed, crashing into the canopy might still give him a chance of surviving, since the branches and vines could break his fall.
Hakucho flew close again. This time, instead of tapping the glider's wingtip, he reached out with both feet and firmly grasped the middle of the glider.
Spreading his wings wide and beating them hard, Hakucho helped Sajji level out, converting their downward momentum into lift and finally arresting the fall.
"Meow..." Sajji went limp, his limbs dangling weakly beneath the glider as Hakucho carried them through the air.
He finally understood me, meow. All that miserable screaming was worth it, meow.
As their flight stabilized, Sajji's terror gradually faded.
He looked up. Not bad. They were flying quite smoothly now.
Hakucho might have been small, with a wingspan of less than two meters, narrower than Sajji's glider, but he was still a genuine Flying Wyvern.
Carrying Sajji directly might have been too much for him, but simply providing some extra power to the glider should pose no problem at all.
A bold idea took shape in Sajji's mind.
"Land, meow! Let's land first, meow!" Sajji shouted.
Hakucho poked his head beyond the front of the glider and looked back at Sajji in confusion.
Sajji waved his paws in several "go down" gestures. Hakucho finally understood and released his grip on the glider, allowing cat and bird to glide down toward the ground.
Seeing them return, Altaïr, who had been badly startled by Sajji's screams, hurried over anxiously. "What's wrong? Are you all right? What happened?"
Morgan fixed Hakucho with a sharp stare. Although they had not known each other for long, he had a fairly good idea of what had happened.
Hakucho guiltily turned his head away.
The hatchling was no fool. From Sajji's screams and the others' tones and expressions, he realized that his playful antics might have caused real trouble.
Sajji shook himself and folded up the glider.
He knew that if he told the truth now, Hakucho would definitely get a beating.
Had this happened a few minutes earlier, Sajji would have been the first to throw a punch. Now, however, he found the little creature rather cute and clever. Clawdia's so-called "emotional communication" really did seem to work.
He extended one foreleg, hooked it around Hakucho's neck, and said, "We had an accident in the sky and nearly fell, but Hakucho saved my life, meow."
With all his attention focused on Sajji, Altaïr did not question the story. He patted Hakucho's little head gratefully, pulled two pieces of jerky from his pack, and fed them to the hatchling.
Morgan, on the other hand, shot Hakucho a sidelong glare and flicked him on the head.
"There's a minor problem with the glider. I'll repair it before I scout from the air again, meow," Sajji said. He picked up the glider, ran over to the Rathalos cannon cart, and dug out his personal tool kit.
"No problem. Give it a thorough inspection. If it isn't in good condition, don't fly today. We'll keep moving forward for now," Altaïr said, waving for the team to set out again.
"Did that little thing really save you, meow?" Clawdia poked her head out curiously as she pressed the drive pedal.
Sajji worked with the tools in his paws and did not hide the truth from Clawdia. "Yeah, meow, but don't ask how the accident happened, meow."
"I knew it, meow." Clawdia rolled her eyes and pulled her head back inside, only to shout indignantly a moment later, "You pedal too, meow! Why am I the only one pedaling, meow?!"
"Keep going for now. I'm planning to add a handle to the glider, meow. That way, Hakucho can carry me through the air, meow.
"A biological engine is really convenient, meow!"
"A biological engine, meow?" Clawdia froze for a moment. Once she caught on, she angrily leaped from her seat and swiped a claw at Sajji.
"Pedal it yourself, meow!"