The Unwanted Tamer

Fergus awoke to the sound of knocking on his door. He had been sleeping well but being a hunter made him be a light sleeper. A hunter never knew when an attack would come, after all. He quickly got up and walked over to the door before speaking, just loud enough for the person to hear.

"Who is it?" He asked.

"Griff." Griff replied just as quietly.

Fergus opened his door and let a tired looking Griff into his room. Griff looked exhausted when Fergus actually looked at him. He'd looked fine earlier when Fergus had seen him, so he didn't know what had changed since then. It was also slightly worrying since, being stone rank, he could go for days without sleep with little consequence. He currently looked like he'd been awake for days or been constantly moving for hours on end. Which, now that Fergus looked out the window in his room, was quite possible. It was still nighttime but was definitely getting closer to dawn, and Griff was currently pacing and couldn't stand still.

Fergus waited for a while, hoping Griff would tell him why he was here. This sadly didn't happen even after Fergus sat there staring at him for at least a half hour. Thus, he decided to ask Griff since the man was obviously not going to speak.

"So, Griff. Why-" Fergus started before Griff interrupted him. Proving Fergus' thoughts wrong.

"Hey, Fergus. I can't sleep. I don't know why. All I know is that I really enjoyed yesterday, and now my brain won't stop. I keep remembering her face right as we got back and she looked so sad. I don't understand why I feel like it hurts when I remember it. Do you have any ideas on what that could mean? Then there's also the weird thoughts I had throughout the day. Like when she let go of my hand, I thought it was a shame. Why was it a shame!? I don't understand what these thoughts or feelings mean." Griff started ranting.

Fergus was speechless for a moment. He'd never seen Griff so flustered and honestly though the man was almost unflappable. He very rarely showed his emotions on his face and hid them rather well in general, so seeing him in this state was very strange. These thoughts shot through his head before he started to comprehend what Griff was saying. Then he realized Griff was still talking and rambling about what he'd been thinking, feeling and how he didn't understand what any of it meant.

Fergus let him continue ranting, and in doing so, essentially got a play-by-play commentary of Griff and Stephanie's date the day before. He of course also got all of Griff's thoughts and odd occurrences, as Griff called them, like how hearing someone call the pair a couple made him happy. At this point, Fergus was trying very hard not to smile or chuckle. For someone so intelligent and usually perceptive, Griff was extremely dense when it came to himself apparently. As Griff continued to ramble and question himself, Fergus couldn't hold it in any longer and chuckled audibly. This caused Griff to stop in his pacing and go quiet.

"What's so funny? I don't know what's going on here!" Griff exclaimed, still somewhat quietly.

This just made Fergus laugh harder. It took him a minute to regain his composure and be able to speak.

"Griff. For someone so perceptive and insightful, you really are dense when it comes to yourself."

"What does that mean?" Griff asked angrily.

"Do you want me to outright tell what I think this points to, or do you want a nudge in that direction?" Fergus asked seriously.

This caused Griff to stop and think before replying. "I don't know. But I also know I can't just sit here like I am now. I can't sleep, because I don't understand what any of this is."

"It's very simple." Fergus started as Griff stared at him. "You like her."

"What?" Griff asked.

"Do I need to spell it out for you? You could easily tell when I liked Gaia, before I even knew. But when it comes to yourself, you seem to become very dense." Fergus stated.

"Really? That's all it is?" He asked a bit incredulous.

"Yep. That simple. With that thought, doesn't a lot of what you were thinking and feeling make sense?" Fergus asked.

Griff was silent for a while as he thought about it. He was silent for about five minutes before speaking. "It. Does."

"Yep. Now, the rest is up to you. You understand what they mean now or at least have a good idea. So, do you need me for anything else?" Fergus asked.

"Any suggestions on what to do?" Griff asked after a few seconds.

"Do what you think is best. Can't really give you any advice on this." Fergus replied before leading Griff back outside his room.

"Thanks Fergus." Griff stated before leaving.

"No problem. We're friends after all." Fergus replied and closed his door.

Fergus went back to his bed and laid down, hoping to fall back to sleep for a bit. It sadly didn't happen, and he instead got up for the day after a half hour. He went for his usual early morning walk in the gardens, where he saw something which he would never get tired of seeing. He'd walked through most of the gardens enjoying the views and aromas before arriving at a small sitting area. It was now just after dawn and the sun had risen just high enough to shine over the hedges. He looked in and saw Gaia sitting there, her bonds relaxing on her in their usual areas. Malachite was on her right shoulder and Antonio her left. Liv was on her head, and Shadow was curled up on her feet. Gaia herself was just sitting there relaxing, enjoying the moment with the sun's rays just peeking over the foliage and shining on her. She looked absolutely stunning, her hair seeming to shine in the light.

He knew that she'd noticed him already due to her smile, she always knew when he got close due to her aura. This was their usual routine in the morning, the only thing that changed was that sometimes they sat there while the sun rose. He smiled seeing her and she broke the silence.

"You going to join me?" She asked.

"Yeah. Just wanted to admire the view for a bit longer." He replied.

After another moment, he went and sat with her. They just enjoyed each others company for a while until the sun had fully risen. They knew breakfast would be ready soon, but didn't want to get up. Gaia was the first to do so, knowing they could stay there for hours unless one of them moved. She did cheekily steal a kiss before walking off in the direction of the mansion. She stopped after a few moments and called back while holding her hand towards him.

"Come on! Let's go get some breakfast!"

He obliged her and took her hand as they walked to the dining room. Once there they found his father and mother waiting. Both of them smiled as they saw the pair walk in, hand in hand. They greeted the couple, and then chatted until everyone else finished trickling in. Flora was last, as usual, but Fergus paid more attention to his friend as he tried everything in his power to not look at Stephanie. Even then, he failed, and when he did look at her, his face went red. This greatly amused Fergus since he remembered Griff teasing him about the same thing a while ago. He was brought from his musings by someone speaking.

"I'm glad to see everyone's here. I hope you had a good night. We're thinking of staying for another week and leaving then. Does that sound good to everyone?" The Baroness asked.

Everyone nodded.

"Wonderful! Now everyone is free to do as they wish for the next week as well. All we ask is that you be back the day before we plan to leave." The Baron stated.

Everyone acknowledged his request, and they split up for the day. Griff went with Stephanie to the library, as he'd promised to go with her today. This wasn't as a date, but he could have fooled everyone with how red his face was. Stephanie was giggling as she looked at him, she'd never seen him so flustered and thought it was cute. Griff told Gaia that he should be finished translating and decoding the Eternal Lord's journal before they left to travel back to Boundary. Then the pair went off on their own. Flora was going to relax in the city and enjoy a play. The Baron and baroness were going to a play as well. Douglas and Fern were going to the gardens since they hadn't gone with the others before. Delilah and Freya were going to relax at the mansion for the day since they didn't really have any desire to do anything.

That just left Fergus and Gaia who didn't know what they wanted to do. They'd already gone to most of the places they wanted to and couldn't think of anywhere to go. That was, until Gaia thought about the gardens and then seeds. She wanted to go find if there were any gardening shops or stalls. Fergus immediately agreed as he didn't have anywhere, he wanted to go, and knew Gaia loved shopping for seeds and plants in general. He found one of the gardeners to ask about the shops or stalls and he happily told Fergus where to go. The gardener offered to guide them, but they wanted to go themselves. They did agree to come back and find him if they weren't able to find the area, though.

With their destination set, the couple started heading in that direction. They'd been told it was about a half hour walk to the street with gardening shops. They were headed in the correct direction but realized something was wrong when they'd been walking for almost two hours without finding the street. The worst part was that they weren't sure where they were. They didn't know where they missed the street, so they were lost. Thankfully, they seemed to be in some sort of residential area and were able to find someone who was at a small playground. They asked where they were and how to get where they wanted to go. The woman told them they were in a residential area called Green wood and gave them directions on how to return to the main road.

They thanked the woman and hopped on Malachite's shell so they could return faster. It took them about a half hour to get back to somewhere Fergus recognized. Then they found the street a few minutes later. They'd managed to walk straight passed it without noticing it somehow. The street had an aroma of flowers and plants, while having numerous people crowding it. The thing that Fergus noticed first was the massive arch of flowers at the street's entrance. He didn't know how he'd missed it before. It was multicolored and reached up a couple stories before arching. It was beautiful and he took a moment to admire it, before leading Gaia into the street.

This was when she took over and walked up to each stall and shop owner to ask about the seeds or plants they had, and their uses. Fergus had already realized that Gaia liked growing things in her garden that she could use. She liked flowers, a lot, but preferred to grow things she could eat or use for something. He'd never thought to ask why until now, so he did.

"Hey, Gaia. Why do you not grow flowers and other such things? I know you like their aromas, but I've never seen you grow them." He asked.

"I prefer to grow things I can use. Flowers are wonderful and smell amazing but I can't see them. That's what most flowers are grown for, their beauty. I prefer things I can use since I can also help people with them. Like if I grow crops, I can give them to someone to cook and feed people. Or if I grow herbs they could be used to help someone if they get hurt. I also believe flowers are more fragrant and wonderful when their grown wild, but that's just my personal opinion." She explained.

He was speechless for a moment. That was such a Gaia way to think. She loved helping people so if she could do something she loved, and help people, she'd do that over choosing something she wanted to grow because it smelled nice. She liked the smell of her garden even before the plants grew so she'd enjoy it all the same. He smiled after this and followed her around the market. She excitedly went from one vendor to another asking questions or just trading tips. She'd meet one of the vendors and within a minute they'd be talking like they were good friends.

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The entire time she wore a brilliant smile that Fergus adored seeing. After a few hours, and Gaia buying a bunch of new seeds and tools she found, they returned to the mansion. Fergus carried most of the items or they sat on Malachite's shell as they rode him back. They traveled leisurely and stopped for some skewers and other snacks. It was just approaching night when Gaia asked Fergus something he wasn't expecting.

"So, did Griff wake you up this morning?"

"Wha-?" He started surprised before quickly continuing. "Oh, yeah. How'd you know?"

"Stephanie came to my room before I went to sleep last night and told me about their date. She was super excited and had enjoyed every moment. She really likes him, and she knows it. I figured he would come to you since he didn't seem to realize how he felt. He seems to be the type that overthinks or stresses when he doesn't understand something." She replied.

Fergus was once again speechless for a moment. "Yeah. Well, sounds like your retelling was more fun than mine. He kinda just rambled on nervously the entire time." He went on to tell her about how the interaction went and she laughed a bit, as that's exactly how she'd expected it to go. They walked as they talked about the situation with their two friends.

They soon arrived at the estate and went inside where they found almost everyone waiting. The only ones not there were Flora who were probably still at their play for the night. They weren't expected until later tonight, so no one was worried. The couple sat down at the dining table for dinner and everyone talked about their days. As Fergus had figured, Griff and Stephanie spent almost their entire day, outside of meals, in the library. According to Griff Stephanie helped him decipher the journal he'd been given by Gaia. She instantly perked up at the mention of the journal.

"So, we're expecting to finish deciphering it before we plan to leave for boundary at the latest now. We're hoping that we can finish it sooner, and with Stephanie's help, I think we can actually finish it in another day or two. That's just an estimate so don't get too excited though. We still need time to ourselves." Griff explained.

"That's great! Just let me know when you're done! Thank you both so much for deciphering it for me!" Gaia replied enthusiastically.

"Happy to help. Learning the languages and deciphering it is actually really interesting." Stephanie added.

"We'll let you know when we finish." Griff finished.

Fergus could tell how excited Gaia was at the news and couldn't blame her. They'd gotten the journal from the ninth floor of the ruins of Xerios, the Eternal Lord's Sanctum. That alone would have made it interesting, but they'd discovered that it was the Eternal Lords personal journal, and it talked about the Tamer class. That made it all the more important to Gaia since no one really knew what or how her class worked. This could detail some of the Tamer class' capabilities and help her understand how her class worked.

She'd been waiting for Griff to finish deciphering the journal for a few months now. He knew she had to be getting anxious and tired of waiting. The information in that book could change everything she knew about her class or just tell her what she already knew. What mattered for her, though, was that it was almost done and she could have the information soon.

Everyone in the room was excited at this announcement since they were all curious about what information the journal held. This caused the conversation to turn towards the languages used and the deciphering process, at the Baron's request. Fergus stopped paying attention when the conversation became more complicated and linguistic. As did Gaia who he noticed, was petting her bonds as she slowly ate.

Dinner ended about an hour after the discussion began and Fergus excused himself immediately, as did Gaia. They'd both had enough of the conversation after sitting through so much of it. The worst part was they used a lot of complicated and technical jargon that most of the conversation went straight over their heads. They took dinner ending as an excuse to extricate themselves from the situation, for their sanity. Fergus walked Gaia to her room before kissing her goodnight and going to his own. He immediately got into his sleepwear, a basic shirt and underwear and laid down in his bed. He usually spent some time checking all of his equipment and items but being in the capital and not taking requests made it so he didn't need to every night. He decided to do so in the morning though, it would feel wrong if he didn't do it at all, but he was tired. Griff waking him up as early as he did, made him tired after the long day. It had been wonderful, but he was tired, and he was asleep after about five minutes.

Fergus awoke the next morning to the sound of screaming and shrieks, soon followed by gunshots and curses. He heard the screaming first and jumped out of bed running towards its source. He was immensely worried as he discovered it was coming from Gaia's room. He dashed inside pushing mana into his hand. Green and brown vines grew from the area, with roots growing around his hand and partway up his arm. When he got a good look at what was happening, he was dumbfounded. As he entered, he started hearing the gunshots and curses and saw their sources as well.

Glimmerlisks were pouring into Gaia's room, she'd apparently opened the window before going to sleep, but he couldn't tell why they were there. Fergus saw the pests still flying into the room while Griff was saying things that would make even a sailor blush as he pummeled the things. Then he saw Stephanie who had her rifle, as Gaia called it, and was picking the pests off with each shot. Then he noticed Gaia. She was on her bed in the middle of the Glimmerlisk cloud. There were so many that it was hard for him to see her, but he could barely see the glint of her hair. She was screaming as the creatures flew around her and pecked at her. They couldn't do much damage but, with hundreds of them, the damage added up quickly.

He quickly started shooting arrows into the mass, while making sure not to hit Gaia. This happened for a few minutes before he could finally see her and her bonds. Gaia was curled up over something, that he couldn't quite make out, but saw purple spikes periodically being fired out from under her. He guessed that was Antonio. The Glimmerlisks struck by his projectiles dropped to the bed and were swiftly dealt with by Shadow or Malachite. This was when he saw the large turtle, who was just beside her, firing balls of water into the mass hoping to knock them away. Malachite wasn't having much luck. The water would hit the creatures, but they would just jump back in after a second or two. He was also unable to bash into them due to the small space and his desire to protect Gaia.

Liv was by Antonio as well, as Fergus saw balls of webs and poison shots being thrown from under her as well. Liv's projectiles showed better results than Malachite's as they hit a creature and either bound them in webs or started hurting the pests causing them to fall out of the air. They then met the same end as those Antonio hit. The last bond was Shadow who was unable to block for Gaia, so she was instead ferociously clawing or biting the creatures hoping to finish them or make them flee. Gaia was continuing to just stay still where she was, and her vines were lashing around knocking away or bleeding any of the pests they came into contact with.

During the commotion, the Baron and other members of their group arrived and lended their aid to deal with the Glimmerlisk Shimmer, as groups of the pests were aptly named. It wasn't until about twenty minutes later that all of the pests were completely dealt with. This was when the women noticed something and yelled.

"Men turn around now!" All of the women yelled with authority.

All of the men obediently and immediately did as they were told. They knew the consequences of not listening to something when they spoke in that tone of voice. It usually didn't end well for them. The women on the other hand saw a naked Gaia curled up over her bonds and she slowly uncurled before falling onto her back. She had small scratches and cuts all over her back and sides that were bleeding, but none looked too bad. They all healed within a few minutes as Gaia just breathed. Her hair was a mess, and they saw a few chunks that had been pulled out by the Glimmerlisks. After a few minutes of silence, Gaia realized people were in her room and she quickly formed her armor over herself.

This was when they realized why the creatures had flown in and subsequently started attacking. Glimmerlisks were pests that usually only entered a room or building through open windows or doors to snatch and eat any food left in the open. This was apparently the reason they'd entered Gaia's room. The men turned back around having been told Gaia was decent now and the entire group looked at what she had been curled over and saw a large platter with food. It had been left there for her and her bonds to eat if they got hungry.

They all nearly started laughing hysterically. She'd been curled up over the food the maids had left for her, and her bonds of course, protecting it from the Glimmerlisks. This was also when they realized that Gaia was shaking slightly. Fergus was the first to see and was by her side before anyone else moved. He wasn't sure why but soon realized when she turned and hugged him and cried into his shirt. Everyone else quickly stopped laughing hearing her quiet sobs. They didn't know what to do, but Stephanie and Griff slammed the window closed and locked it before going to her side. They just hugged her and soon almost everyone had joined in the group hug.

They were all worried about her as she still wasn't completely recovered and this likely just made it worse. It took a while for Gaia to stop crying and everyone to relax. When she finally stopped Fergus realized his shirt had once again become collateral damage to her tears, he didn't really care. He cared more about Gaia than that and now that she was done crying, she also realized this, and her face went red. Everyone else relaxed at this and Titania decided to try and lighten the mood.

"You know. If you wanted him to take his shirt off, you probably could've just asked." She joked.

Gaia's face went an even brighter red than before as there were a few chuckles. This lasted for a few moments before Griff spoke.

"What happened?" He asked.

"I woke up and pulled the food over to eat with my bonds. Then I heard the sound of wings beating before I sensed a mass of mana. It flew straight in my room then I curled up hoping to be a smaller target. I was terrified, what was that? How'd it get in here? I only sensed a massive ball of mana, then it was surrounding me and I heard screeches as they attacked me. I tried to protect Liv and Antonio since I know I'm more resilient than them, but they just kept attacking." She explained with a shaky voice in halting sentences, while she shook slightly.

Fergus just continued to hug her trying to comfort her as she was obviously trembling and scared. This was when everyone understood something. Gaia had never seen or encountered a Glimmerlisk, let alone a large group of them. She didn't know what they were or their behavior. They hadn't even thought about it since it was a normal thing that they'd known about since they were children. Boundary had them and they had dealt with them regularly, if they left their windows open, but Gaia had never encountered them.

Gaia didn't care about windows, so she usually got a bottom floor room in an inn which usually didn't have a window. She'd never opened a window, so she'd never had to deal with them. They also weren't always in Boundary; she'd somehow missed them the last two years due to being in the Hunter training camp or in the ruins. Now that they were in the capital, though, it was about time they migrated up here.

Glimmerlisks were pests, not important or strong, but annoying. They'd never been a threat unless in large groups, as Gaia had just learned firsthand. Fergus realized all of this and hugged her tighter before asking her something he'd wanted to ask for a minute.

"Why is your window open? You don't usually open it." He asked her.

"There's a window? I thought it was just a wall. I thought they broke through the wall. I heard something break, I guess they broke a window and flew in." She replied still slightly shaky but obviously a bit better.

This was when everyone finally noticed the broken shards of glass that were strewn across the ground. The things had broken through the window. That wasn't something they were known to do, which caused everyone to worry. What could've caused the annoying but relatively harmless creatures to break a window to get food? If they did it once, that meant they could and probably would do it again. The Baron decided to let the guards know about the incident since it could mean something dangerous was going on.

After the guards arrived, saw the scene and took their report they relayed the incident to their commander. They let the Baron know they'd increase their watch for the creatures just in case since it did cause them to worry. The Baron also relayed the incident to the King, since it had happened to just Gaia and not anyone else, as far as they knew at least. They didn't know if it was just a random occurrence and it was Gaia due to the amount of food she'd had on the platter or if it could have been something more malicious. Granted they had no idea why someone would use Glimmerlisks to attack instead of something much more dangerous, like Patches had tried.

They kept a close eye on Gaia and moved her to a different room immediately after the incident. Fergus spent as much of the day with Gaia as he could. The rest of the day was luckily uneventful, and Gaia was eventually able to relax as she stayed inside. The sound of wings did cause her to jump though, so they didn't go outside at all that day. She played with her bonds for most of the day, they were in the main hall as it was the largest area and her bonds needed a large area to play. Mainly because Malachite and Shadow loved playing fetch. Malachite liked catching a ball she threw while Shadow instead liked what was essentially a frisbee. This made it easy for her to play with both without them fighting or arguing.

She spent the rest of the day like this, and nightfall came. Gaia spent an hour checking her walls and found a window which she ensured was locked and covered by a curtain before laying down. Fergus helped her make sure and double checked at her insistence. When he was sure she'd be alright, he went back to his room where he got ready for bed. He had just laid down when he heard a knock on his door.

"Who is it?" Fergus asked.

"Gaia."

He immediately ran and opened the door. "Are you okay?" He asked.

"I can't sleep. I don't trust the windows. Can I stay here for tonight? It scares me that they might break in again. I'd rather have someone else with us." Gaia replied.

"Did you ask Stephanie? I feel like you'd be more comfortable with her, right?" He replied as he felt a blush rise.

"I was about to knock but heard her talking to someone. I didn't want to interrupt since whatever it was, seemed like it was important. They were whispering so I didn't hear what was said. Then I came here." She explained.

"Oh. Uh, then sure." Fergus replied as his face went red at the fact she'd be staying in his room, alone with him. Well not alone, her bonds were with her.

With this Fergus let her have the bed and was going to sleep on the couch, but Gaia stopped him. She said she'd feel bad about kicking him out of his own bed, and they'd already shared tents so it wasn't much different. The party tended to share blankets and bedrolls, so they didn't need to worry about more expenses. This didn't make the suggestion any less daunting. He agreed though and soon they were both sharing the bed. Gaia fell asleep rather quickly. Her bonds were cuddled up with her so Fergus wasn't as embarrassed, but he didn't get to sleep until late that night.