Daniel breathed out then looked to seeing Alyssa giving Triska a weary glare while Squeak kept licking her cheek.

“We need to talk about this, I’m not going to have what happened earlier start more fights between you girls,” he spoke up. All the girls watched him curiously, with Squeak sitting back up next to Alyssa as the witch held a hand to her cheek, feeling the sharp pain having vanished while the bleeding had stopped as well. Daniel looked around at all the girls, with Triska quickly sitting back down against her pillow while watching him with worried eyes, Specca lying down on her legs while holding her skirt down a bit to keep it from rising up, Squeak lying on her legs with her abdomen sticking back alongside the wall behind her, and with Alyssa glancing to Triska with a glare before looking at Daniel with timid eyes. The boy sighed and looked up with a tired expression as he knew he had to quell this dispute with them quickly or else more blood would be spilled.

“First off, you’re all friends with each other, don’t lie and say you’re not, it’s obvious you all care for one another after all you’ve been through together. Remember that we’re out here for a reason, to speak to monsters about coexisting peacefully, and that means you all should be prime examples of getting along with each other,” he reminded, with the girls all slowly nodding while remaining silent. Daniel glanced around at them then looked to Specca.

“Now, Specca is our guide out here, she knows more about monsters in Eden than even I or Alyssa do, and as such we need to listen to her. If she says it’s safe, then it’s safe. If she says it’s dangerous, it’s dangerous. Let me make this clear about our monster encounters, her say is final. I won’t doubt what she says about any we come across, I trust her with my life, with all of ours even, and you all should do the same,” he informed, with Specca smiling bashfully and looking down with a small blush while the other girls glanced to her.

“However,” Daniel continued, with Specca then looking back to him curiously as he shook his head.

“She doesn’t know everything about the world, nobody does after all. And there will be times when we have to react faster than she can evaluate the situation. We have to trust our instincts then, it just may keep us alive,” he reasoned, then looked to Triska as the girl was watching him with concern still.

“In those situations, if we don’t know what we’re up against, then we may have to fight. Triska made the mistake of not listening to Specca earlier, we all know that, but if Specca hadn’t found out what that fluugher was, then her decision to attack it would have been correct based on survival instinct,” he pointed out. Triska looked down with remorse as Daniel looked around at all the girls.

“In cases like that, if Specca cannot determine what the monster is or if it can be reasoned with, and it appears hostile, then Triska will make the call,” he announced, with Triska looking back up to him with wonder. The other girls glanced to her curiously as Daniel nodded at his friend.

“She’s trained to be a fighter her whole life, and knows what she’s doing in a fight. There’s no denying she knows how to use her sword well, she even attacked a Darker One with everything she had to help save Alyssa. If there really is no other way out, if fighting is the only option we have, then Triska’s say is final,” he reasoned. Triska and Specca exchanged glances as Daniel turned to Squeak and Alyssa.

“Squeak, you’ve done well with listening to others and reacting to the situation properly. You attacked the fluugher on instinct along with Triska when you felt it was hostile, and you heeded Specca’s warning and stopped your attack when she told you to halt. You can’t say a word to us, yet you’re a team player on all fronts, and for that I’m glad,” he said, with Squeak nodding and smiling at him with a squeak, the girl then making some hand signals as she tried to say something to him with a bunch of squeaks, with the group just watching with confused expressions. After Squeak was finished saying whatever it was she was trying to say, Daniel just shook his head with a weak smile.

“However, we’re going to have to work on some sort of means for you to communicate with us, otherwise we might miss something important from you during these difficult situations,” he added, with Squeak blinking then looking down with a troubled expression. Daniel nodded then looked to Alyssa, the witch watching him with a timid expression.

“Do you really trust Triska more than me?” Alyssa asked softly. Daniel shook his head and sat down on the floor in the middle of all the girls, with all of them watching him curiously as he slowly looked around at them.

“Let’s get something clear here, I trust you all. You’ve all been by my side out here, you’ve all been helping me with my journey, all of you are important to me. And there are some things that each of you excel at, which is why the rest of us should be supportive of that. Specca is an organized thinker, she knows a lot about the world and the monsters we’re going to be seeing, she would be the first we should turn to when planning our next move or how to approach these monsters,” he started, with Specca blushing from the comment. Daniel pulled his dagger out from his shirt pocket and tilted it around in his hands, similar to how Triska always handled hers.

“Triska is quick to react on her feet, and would know what to do when we don’t have time to think or plan a course of action. She’s trained to fight and can take more hits than I can and still remain standing, that’s for certain. If we’re caught off-guard she would be the one I would trust to get us out of danger quickly, however we needed to,” he continued, with Triska smiling softly at him. Daniel then put his dagger away and looked to Squeak.

“Squeak is able to help us when we need it with her own skills, be it with her incredible strength in a fight, or with healing injuries using her saliva.