Policeman and the cat

70 - Lola and Papa

This time Nelly didn't need to merge in - Bermont surrounded them all with a barrier with no gravity in it, kicked it up like she had done with that rock, they felt no motion inside but they shot up so fast everything around was a blur. Above cloud level, Bermont popped up using their shadow as a stopping point, shapeshifted and they landed on her neck softly.

"I'll take you to a spot where I hunted out the big ones," Bermont said, adding that they could take one on if they wanted, but a bigger team was better in that case. She said it would be hard for them to hunt one like that while fending off the other ones. There was a reason why sirens kept their tribes at least thirty strong.

Ian took out the beast book artifact, gave it a memory of what was said just now, then let it record all Bermont said after.

If attacked, Sea Serpents herded around the strongest one in the bunch and followed its lead. To hunt them best you needed to take that one out first. In their setup - Nelly might be best for that, the other three could fend off the others. After that the serpents would be confused, looking for the second strongest, and become easy prey. Bermont also mentioned what to look out for both in case he merged up and as wittens, since she said Ian would most likely come to hunt them for food eventually and for that kind of hunt being a feral was better than being two wittens.

As wittens they would be surprisingly pesky opponents - most physical attacks just wouldn't work all that well and most water-based magic would pass through them without doing much harm - sound wave attacks were what they ought to look out for, those would work. A lot of tips of that sort followed - how to tell what kind of attack the serpent would use, weak spots, blind spots--

The artifact in his hands was happy, Ian didn't know how he knew it just felt like it vibrated a bit and grew extra pages by taking some of Ian's aether. Adorable.

[I'll share all my memories of the hunt with you later,] he conveyed, feeling it ruffle up like cats did when they were content and he stroked the book. It didn't feel like the book got offended one bit by such treatment.

Juniper asked - "Do you share so much because you like us?" She added that dragons didn't have the reputation of being detailed at all.

"If I was talking with you alone, I wouldn't say as much," Bermont replied, "You love the thrill of not knowing, but that's not the case with the other three," she added that Ian, Nelly, and Christine were cautious, they only went for prey they knew they could defeat, so Bermont was making Sea Serpents into prey they could handle with relative ease. She and Uriah had done the same for the Basilisk, and had their team been too weak, they would take it themselves.

For dragons, the intent was the name of the game - they gave what was desired and needed. Most people asking dragons for advice only desired a single pointer or a tip. Ian, however, saw Sea Serpents as carrots to be plucked for making good meals - he was happiest with detailed instructions to hunt them fast, easy, and with the best methods to make sure he got the meat or aether in the best condition possible.

"I'd say that's almost correct, but--" Christine said, "Bermont, even Ian looked a tad disappointed about how easy the Basilisk was."

"He'd be sadder about any of you getting injured than he was disappointed about the ease," Bermont replied, which was correct. "Both Ian and Wei are like that, so I and Uriah chose to disappoint you all a fair bit to keep them happiest. The way our collection feels resonates with us, they have a bit of our hearts, and we wouldn't want to hurt ourselves. And--" she added, "I'll be drinking the ambrosia and eating what he cooks."

That was the line that brought a smile on all their faces. 

Of course, Ian's heartbeat quickened at the line of keeping him happiest, there was no way hearing something like that wouldn't make him so full with gratitude and joy he barely refrained from telling a million thank you's to the ring, but what resonated most was the simple, practical, cute and very cat-like - I want to eat good food.