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Journeys of Time 16: The Hunters... This story is copyrighted to SashaWS/ArtisticEastern, containing characters owned by various people used with permission. Any usage or posting of this story under the claim of being your own is not approved and you will be requested to remove it or face charges.

After the feast that had taken place after the reveal of the real being behind the normally yellow-golden dragoness, a lot of the family had stayed behind to really hear what more the giant had to tell them about her past, but Tenchi had excused herself and the other Frostclaws to head back home again, knowing she could always ask Sasha about it another day.

The growling of the wyverns had been all she had to listen to as she sat on top of Arashi, looking over the landscape, "The view certainly beats out most of the locations I had to go through when I was young." Peridot nodded and watched as her wyvern dove down and brushed the river below with one of its wings, stirring up the wildlife around them as the water seemed to almost purify itself, or at least become quite a lot healthier when fish began to jump out of the water behind them until they came back up to the rest, "It is such a serenity here, right?"

Tenchi nodded, "It is. I wish I had been born here instead of where I did." A voice didn't however answer the question, as Hildegaard seemed to be deep in thought about a more personal matter. For the last couple of days, Hildegaard had revealed herself to be more than just a simple being under the control of a premade destiny. She had revealed to never coming to terms with her own past. Being that her metallic wings from her father was the sole reason why she didn't have any siblings. Also being the wings was a sign of her being a child of a wyvern and its rider, making her in the past an outcast from society, if it had not been for her hiding the wings for all her years.

"Hildegaard, you okay?" The dragoness came back to it as Peridot held onto her shoulder, looking her in the eyes before opening the maw to speak, but no words came out and all she could do was just nod her head. Peridot sighed, "Come on, lets get you inside." Hildegaard realized that while she had been sunken into her own thoughts, they had made their way home and she was now sitting on her wyvern's back while the wyvern had patiently laid down to wait for her.

Climbing off the wyvern, she gave him a pat on the nose before kissing it, earning her a growl of joy before it headed off to have a meal. Hildegaard was proud of her wyverns, having been the first to become a legendary wyvern queen with the respect of three wyverns, before she had been succeeded by Tenchi. Like Hildegaard looked up to Tenchi as the prime leading the tribe, Tenchi had always looked up to Hildegaard as the one who made her what she was and always remained her mentor even after succeeding her.

She walked back into the main building of the big farm, being welcomed by her mother right in the hallway, "Hildegaard Frostclaw, I know that look. What is on your mind?" Hildegaard looked Janch in the eyes and sighed as she tried to speak, but yet again nothing came out, something Janch had known well before how to deal with when she suddenly took out a piece of candy and put in Hildegaard's mouth, watching the relief on her daughter's face slowly appear before asking her again, "What is on your mind?"

Hildegaard knew the way this would work, first a bribe, then a threat and then punishment. Giving off a sigh of defeat, she looked at her mother and began to speak, "I just miss Chaline, mom. You know very well she was my wife that everyone here liked and how she died because of me." Janch sighed as she remembered, "Chaline the Fireball. Heh, I still remember her. Your fling with her, how she gave you Izae and then died an honorable warrior's death."

The warm memory died off fast at the final words and Janch felt her right cheek hurting when Hildegaard openly punched her, "An honorable warrior's death? She died because she was having a dick, mom! She died because the queen has to marry a female! You saw how Liether looked at me after the coronation of Tenchi? I saw it in her eyes that she was distraught of knowing I could come back when Chaline couldn't! You call that an honorable warrior's death? I call it straight out lack of honor for a tradition!"

Janch looked at Hildegaard's face while listening to the passionate speech of her little girl. She was mad at being punched, but seeing how Hildegaard went so deep into this speech of justice and injustice was bringing a tear to her eyes. Hildegaard calmed down and looked at Janch, lowering her head, "I am sorry, mom. I shouldn't have punched you like that." Janch began to laugh, "Hey, you are my daughter. Your sense of justice proved it."

Hildegaard nodded before sighing and Janch was quickly adding together some pieces and smirked, "Oh, I get it now. Well, you can ask her to go hunting with you. We need a few more pelts for the upcoming cold and also some meat." Hildegaard never doubted that despite her mother's usual lack of intelligence, this had been a moment when she actually proved to have something within that cranial piece of bone.

Deciding to wait out the approaching rain, Hildegaard had prepared herself by polishing up her polearm, a few swords, a few daggers and even taken some time to adjust what seemed to be a big hatchet, so once the rain had settled, she walked to the dining room where the family sat and had their evening meal.

As she entered, most looked at her with shock in their eyes. Other than the weapons, she was wearing an outfit worthy of the legendary amazon warriors, making even Tenchi drop her jaw into the table before asking, "Hildegaard! What are you wearing? And why so many weapons? Are we going to war?" Hildegaard laughed and lifted a hand, "No no, silly prime. I thought I would take you along to hunt and also show you something that will be important for you to see since you gonna be our prime. So, coming or not?"

Tenchi knew that Hildegaard was not someone who took no for an answer, so the goal was for her to come along even if it would mean Hildegaard pulling her out of there. Looking at Peridot, Tenchi was smiling, "I guess you got to call up Nessie for a few days, Peri." Peridot's face turned a shade of red as everyone laughed, except for Kin, who tilted her head, "Who is Nessie?"

Tenchi stood up from her seat after tearing the last of the meat off the bone she was eating from before nodding, "I am coming along. What do I need?" Hildegaard smiled, "Just grab clothes you know you can get dirty and also your weapons and meet me outside." Tenchi nodded and ran for her room while Hildegaard walked outside to call for the wyverns.

Tenchi came out after a few minutes, wearing an almost similar outfit to Hildegaard with matching sizes to her body, "Hey, nice look." Tenchi blushed, "I got no idea why, but I feel you planned for me to find that." Hildegaard tried to put on a face of being hurt, "How can you say something like this to me?" Tenchi smirked before climbing onto Arashi's back and not before long the mighty growls filled the air as the wyverns flew towards the destination of the hunt, but to Hildegaard it was seeming almost too good to be true, "Thanks mom, I know this won't be a thing to forget."

The flight lasted for ten minutes before they landed right on an open field and could feel the ground rumbling, making Tenchi wonder where they were hunting, but soon Hildegaard announced it happily, "Welcome, to the hunting grounds of the Firestone Tribe, the Catlha Forest. In the center of this forest is the Catlha Volcano, who's underground tunnels of hot air makes this a perfect place for anyone of the Frostclaw Tribe to train their ice powers. This is also where we find some nasty little buggers known as Catlha rattlers. I heard from my grandson that they are like rattlesnakes of Earth, just instead of relying on toxins, they inject a rather lethal fluid that heats up any metal in the body, that includes the traces in the blood, to kill the unfortunate victim by burning them alive."

Tenchi shivered at the image of someone being burned from the inside. But the sound of a polearm coming loose soon brought her back to her senses as Hildegaard was spinning her weapon over her head so fast that a tornado formed above and soon rained down snow, chilling off the air a bit before Hildegaard grinned to Tenchi, "So. Ready to go hunting?" All Tenchi could do was nod, because in all honesty, this was getting really exciting.

The End.