This is the last chronological chapter, but I do have some ideas that I would like to work on. Not least of which is a fitting conclusion to Pandora's tournament, but I haven't really yet come up with anything meaningful that wouldn't just feel like it was filling space for the sake of it. Anyway, this story was always advertised as not necessarily being published in chronological order, so I guess I have that excuse.

Epilogue

Yonsa
Yonsa could hear the bustle of the port city before he could see it. The mountains surrounding the fjord had a way of amplifying and keeping sounds made within them. To new visitors, it often made for quite the shock when the sounds suddenly appeared when entering through one of the few passes into the fjord.

Behind him, the boy covered his wolf ears from the sudden onslaught of sound.

"It'll be better once we are out of the pass", Yonsa assured the boy and kept onwards, confident that the boy would follow.

From time to time, he scanned the sides of the pass. Bandits were unlikely here, as the town guard of Kuo Lagua guarded both sides of the passes leading into the fjord with vigour. Still, it was far from unheard of for the powerful sea storms driving into the fjord to loosen some of the boulders in the passes.

Once out of the pass, the sound level lessened significantly, and it would continue to decrease as they moved down the slopes towards the port city. The boy even uncovered his ears again.

Kuo Lagua was a bustling port city on the southern coast of Anima. Its unique natural defences made it an ideal port city, but they also restricted its expansion to what could fit and be grown within the fjord. This meant that it could never grow to have a population near those of Mistral and Vale. Not unless it started importing all of its food from elsewhere, at any rate.

Still, its southern isolated position on the continent, proximity to Menagerie and high Faunus population meant that its inhabitants often thought of themselves as a separate realm from the Kingdom of Mistral. It didn't help matters that if any villages in the area needed help, there was only one power in the region that had the forces to protect them.

A beeping sound from his pocket alerted him that his Scroll had gotten back signal. As he checked it, it was a simple update from Seishin that had been dated to four days prior. It said that he was heading back to Vale to volunteer for some security concern regarding the Vytal Festival.

Is at Kuo Lagua. Will board next ship and be out of touch afterwards. If you are in Vale in three months, I will head there after the package has been delivered. He texted back.

As Yonsa put away the device, the boy caught notice of it.

"I thought you said that there weren't any signal out here?", he asked.

"Kuo Lagua has a CCTS booster, but the mountains block the signal from going outside the fjord", Yonsa answered him.

"Oh. Was it from Ms. Azura?", the boy asked.

"No, someone else about something that is of no concern to you. Pandora would have had to travel quite a bit to get a signal, so I would be more surprised if it was her", Yonsa answered him.

The boy nodded and did not ask any further questions.

As they got into the city limits, they had to switch to walking on the sidewalks rather than the main road. Vehicles drove by only once in a while, but Yonsa knew that it would be worse the closer they got to the port and the warehouses.

The boy looked around at the city in wonder, ears twitching excitedly. Yonsa had to remind himself that he was only 10 and had never seen more of the outside world than the small villages that he had brought him through.

The outer city had always been the most colourfully decorated in Kuo Lagua. It was where the young people built their homes and where their children ran and played. As you got closer to the port, first the shops and then the warehouses and industries would begin to dominate.

Yonsa only had to grab the boy by his collar once to stop him from being run over by a car. After that, the boy would always look warily both ways multiple times whenever they crossed a road, and he would always wait for Yonsa to begin crossing first.

The first order of business was to find a ship that could take them to Menagerie. Given the city's proximity to the island, Yonsa knew that there would be some going there regularly, so he had not bothered to check beforehand which one he should take. He hoped that they would not have to wait too long in the city.

The woman at the reception was a Faunus in her mid-thirties with glasses and her hair tied back into a bun. Her panther tail would often swish from side to side if she was agitated, but Yonsa had learned not to stare at it when it did.

"Ah, Mr. Yonsa", she greeted before noticing the boy beside him and raising an eyebrow in question, "family of yours?"

"My charge, Mrs. Cloverfield", Yonsa answered neutrally, "I would like two tickets on the next ship headed for Kuo Kuana."

She looked down at her large Scroll and made a few motions, before looking back up again, "there will be a passenger ship docking here tomorrow that should have space for you. Would you like me to book one or two rooms?"

"One room is enough", he told her, "do you know if The Penguin has any rooms available?"

"I don't think so", she answered as she typed some information into her Scroll, "a cruise ship decided to dock here and has flooded most of the hotels with guests. The Winking Banana might still have some. Now, do you have any luggage to declare?"

"Just the kid", he answered with a motion towards the boy, who was startled to suddenly be spoken about.

She did a double take on the boy, before writing it off as a joke and verbally noting no luggage.

Once all the formalities were done, Yonsa paid for the tickets and began heading out for The Winking Banana. It wasn't hard to find it, as it had a neon sign of an anthropomorphized banana on top of the building.

He only booked one room with two beds for the two of them, and that alone was enough to nearly make him scowl as he handed over his Lien. He had always avoided hotels of this price range when possible, even though he was better funded now than he had been.

The boy looked in awe at the opulence of the reception. Gold-lined chairs with red and white satin covers were spread about delicate glass tables that had tea, coffee and biscuits ready for any guests wanting to use them.

A crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling and provided light in the reception, though mat glass lights on the walls made sure that no space was badly lit. The wallpaper was designed to mimic those of the old royal palaces in Mistral.

All in all, it was one giant display of wealth, and it conflicted greatly with the neon sign on the outside. From what Yonsa had learnt, the old owner of the original hotel had sold it to a company in Mistral, but asked to retain rights to its façade. After seeing what they had done to his hotel, he had put up the sign in protest and refused to take it down no matter what they offered him.

Yonsa dragged the boy out of the reception and up to their room before he had a chance to drool on something. Once there, he checked the prices for room service and the mini fridge and swiftly declared that they would not be eating anything here.

They went out to eat a local diner, where Yonsa had some trout and the boy asked for the same, but then didn't like it and was given some of Yonsa's side dishes in return for the trout. Had it been outside the city, Yonsa would have told him that that was all that would be available, but he did not want to risk causing a scene.

After dinner, he dropped the boy off at the hotel room with strict instructions not to take anything from the mini fridge or leave the room. Yonsa then went out to a local tavern to find out if there was any news that he should be aware of.

With the TV blaring in the background about how a Grimm attack on the eve of the 40th Vytal Festival would affect the festivities going forward, Yonsa ordered a pint of beer and went to work figuring out the local news.

The White Fang had become more emboldened lately, and Grimm that seemed fiercer than before were beginning to appear more often. Some ship crews reported strange things in the waters, while others hoped that they were just seeing things.

In return for their information, Yonsa told them about what was happening outside the fjord. He told them of villages that were no longer there, new villages that had popped up and he put extra emphasis on the small village of Kauryoa, which was being protected year-round by a fully-fledged Huntress. He also made sure to tell them of the new academy that had been founded there, and that it specialized in helping couriers survive and move on to the Huntsmen schools, if they so desired.

The next day, the two of them met the captain of the ship that they were to board. She was a cat Faunus with cat-like slit eyes and a freshly pressed uniform without a single speck of dust on it. She didn't seem to pay the boy much mind, but she did eye Yonsa in a scrutinizing way whenever she thought he wasn't looking. It made him draw his cloak closer around him and keep a tighter grip on his spear.

"I hear that the two of you will be boarding my ship", she said.

"Yes. How soon do you leave?", Yonsa replied and pulled the boy slightly closer to him.

The boy looked up at him with confusion at his actions, but he knew better than to state them now. The captain likewise caught the uncertain look on the boy's face, and her eyes went to his ears.

"If the dockhands keep pace, I cast anchor at 17:30. Anyone not aboard by then will be left behind", she informed them, "if they don't, I will have to wait until tomorrow morning for the tide."

"We will be aboard by then", Yonsa assured her and began to leave with the boy in tow.

Once they had gotten a fair bit away from the docks, the boy looked up at him and asked, "why did you do that?"

Yonsa sighed and looked down at him. He had hoped that he would not have had to have this discussion with him, but he knew that he would have had it before they reached Menagerie, at the latest.

"I am not a Faunus", he stated bluntly. The boy rolled his eyes, as if that was anything new.

"There are…people…in this world, who tend to judge you for what you are and what you are not", Yonsa continued, "to some humans, Faunus are all terrorists and bandits, and to some Faunus, all humans are oppressors, or bear the sin of it anyway. The lack of visible Faunus features on my head allows me to pass for a human to most humans, and my cloak covers enough of my body to leave in doubt if I have Faunus traits elsewhere, like a tail. I have kept my status purposefully ambiguous so far, and I would appreciate it if you did not tell anyone either way."

"But why did you pull me towards you then?", the boy asked confused.

"The captain, she could see more than I wanted her to, and with knowledge comes questions", Yonsa answered, "what would a human want in Menagerie on its own? By including you, I hoped to allay some of those suspicions."

The boy looked down for a while as they continued their walk back to the hotel. When he looked up again, it was as if nothing had happened. Yonsa thought of how fortunate the boy was to be able to lay such concerns to rest so easily.

The two quickly gathered up their belongings and checked out of the hotel, and by 18:00 that day, they were sailing out of the harbour. The trip did not last long, and Yonsa tried to keep to himself for most of the journey.

He allowed the boy to roam the boat, though keeping an eye on him as he did. He had initially had half a mind to keep the boy confined in their cabin, as he didn't know whether the boy would slip and accidentally say something he shouldn't have. That would however have been far too suspicious with the captain already eyeing him queerly. He himself already spent more time than was well in the cabin reading a well-worn book in non-distinct grey wrappings.

As they got closer to Menagerie, the weather got warmer still, and it soon became sweltering to wear his heavy cloak. Yonsa would not take it off however, so he simply endured it as he had before.

Not two weeks after they had left Kuo Lagua, they laid anchor at Kuo Kuana. Yonsa went down the boardwalk in his sweltering cloak and the boy in tow. He could practically feel the stare of the captain drilling into the back of his head.

It made him want to draw up his hood, but that would only draw more attention to him. A newcomer in a cloak could be excused, but a newcomer that tried to hide his face and had a spear with him would draw unwanted attention.

Instead, he pulled the boy closer to him and continued walking determinedly. He eyed a couple of men dressed in the White Fang robes a little bit away. Their eyes swept over him and the boy, before moving on to other things in the crowd.

He would have sighed in relief had he not been afraid that it might be construed as suspicious. The last thing he wanted was for some overzealous White Fang member to knock on Lafiel's door with torches in hand.

When Yonsa looked back at the boy, he was staring at the shops and people mulling about their daily lives in wonder. Yonsa guessed that he had never seen even a tenth of this many Faunus gathered in one place before.

Gently, he pulled the boy along, so as to not get swept up in the crowd. When they got a little further from the docks, the crowd began to lessen until it thinned to nothing more than a normal village buzz. Here, street vendors had set up theirs shops.

One item in particular caught his eye. The thought of what he might do with it brought a small chuckle to Yonsa's lips, and he moved to buy it. The woman manning the shop tried to sell him something to go with it, but he had eyes only for the item in question.

"Why did you buy that?", the boy asked curious.

Yonsa studied the large red gift ribbon that he held in his left hand. It had delicate silver lines embroidered into the cloth running along the length, and it had already been folded into a bow that one could easily attach to anything.

"Because it made me smile", Yonsa responded and handed the bow over to him, "hold this for me until I ask for it."

The boy accepted the bow and held it in front of him with both hands, but looked no less curious than he had been before.

They continued walking through the city until they reached the outskirts of it, where the desert lay. Yonsa turned right and walked along the edge of the desert with the boy following behind him until he spotted what he was looking for.

A little further forward and a little into the desert, a green patch of grass, trees and bushes stood out from the surrounding desert. A small road led from the green gardens that marked the edge of Kuo Kuana, and towards the patch of green in the desert. To Yonsa, it looked bigger than it had been the last time he had been here.

"Is that the place?", the boy asked, "I thought it would be bigger."

"Not yet, but in the future, perhaps", Yonsa commented and led the boy to the patch of green.

Inside, a spacious house was built with a terrace to welcome visitors. A system of water stones led water throughout the garden in miniature rivers and waterfalls. Though one couldn't see it, Yonsa knew that behind the house was a garden with plenty of vegetables, fruit trees and a rotating field of clovers, soybeans and lupines.

Hammering from the left of him alerted him to something that had not been here the last time. A secondary house, smaller than the main one, was in the middle of being constructed. Some of the workers looked over at the two of them, but Yonsa recognized none of them.

Pulling his cloak a little tighter, he drew up to the main house and knocked. When no one answered immediately, he opened the door and went in. The boy hesitated a little before following him. Once inside, he took off his shoes and placed them and his spear at their spots in the front hall, before motioning the boy to do the same.

As he opened the sliding door to the main reception room, he saw Lafiel talking with two Faunus men that he did not recognize either. She was wearing a blue and silver silk dress with divided skirts, a gift from Pandora, and her red hair fell down her shoulders in twin braids. Only the tips still held a shade of purple now.

Upon spotting him, she broke off her conversation midsentence with a cry and ran to envelop him in a warm embrace that he returned in kind. She smelled of lilies and earth.

The two men looked curious at the display, and a little put off at having been abandoned so easily. Only upon extricating herself from the embrace did she spot the boy next to him, who was still holding the red gift ribbon with both hands and staring curiously at the two of them.

"Is he?", she began to ask.

With a sweeping gesture towards the boy and a small grin that he could not suppress, Yonsa proudly said, "I present my gift to you."

The boy looked down at the ribbon, before looking back up at the two of them, realization slowly dawning on him.

"You didn't…steal him or something, did you?", she asked with a nervous laugh.

"Pandora gave him to me", Yonsa merely replied.

At seeing her suspicious look, the boy quickly interjected, "I wanted to come. Ms. Azura didn't force me or anything."

With a sigh of resignation, Lafiel looked at the boy and calmingly said, "I know she didn't. Someone just thinks that he is being funny. Come in. I will have some tea set over and we can talk further in the living room."

She then shooed the two men out, promising that she would continue their conversation at a later date. Yonsa moved to the living room, and the boy, not knowing what else to do, followed him. The table was low to the floor, and Yonsa had to sit cross-legged with his cloak flowing out on the floor behind him.

Lafiel quickly came into the room with a polished brown pot of tea, three similar cups and accompanying coasters. Upon seeing him still in his cloak, she tsked and asked him why he had not taken that off yet.

Yonsa eyed the door leading into the reception hall suspiciously, not sure if someone might jump into the living room at any moment. It was all the answer that Lafiel needed.

"No one will disturb us inside the main house without my permission", she said exasperated, "and I have told you a thousand times that you should not worry about that."

"There are those that do not see it like that", Yonsa commented, but folded the cloak away nonetheless.

"And those people are foolish and not allowed on my land", Lafiel said with a huff, as if that settled the matter.

It was not the first time that they had had this argument, and Yonsa doubted that it would be the last. Even if only those she trusted were allowed here, it would not stop a particularly angry mob from burning down everything if news spread outside her walls.

"I don't believe we have been properly introduced", she turned and said to the boy with a smile and an outstretched hand, "I am Lafiel Lamprose, the owner of this place and unfortunate warden of this bundle of paranoia."

"I-I'm Clover Moore", the boy answered and shook her hand with a nervous glance at Yonsa, who was busy pouring tea for all of them.

"You seem...young", she commented with a sideways glance at Yonsa.

"He isn't here to help in clearing out Grimm or raise money", Yonsa said and grabbed a salt shaker from the table and started pouring it into his cup.

Lafiel stared at him confused as he kept pouring far more than any person would ever add to tea, not that most people added any in the first place. At a point, Yonsa stopped pouring salt into it and started stirring until it had all dissolved.

"Watch this", he said as he pushed the cup over in front of the boy.

The boy knew what Yonsa wanted him to do and laid his hands on the cup. His aura activated and flared, and before Lafiel's eyes, the salt began recrystallizing and sinking to the bottom. The boy stopped when there was no more salt in the water, and some of it quickly began dissolving again.

"Does it only work with saltwater?", Lafiel asked amazed.

"No, from what Pandora told me, his Semblance is to part things", Yonsa explained, "with the right training, he might be able to do it on solids as well."

Yonsa could see the wheels turning in Lafiel's head. Even just separating the salt from the water would provide a huge benefit to their goal. Getting freshwater for the plants to grow had always been a stumbling block that they would have had to overcome.

An industrial desalinization plant would be far too expensive for either of them to buy at this stage, and without a greater supply of water, Lafiel's ability to grow her small oasis would be severely hampered. It was the hope that once the desert soil had been turned to proper mulch with plants to keep it in place and maybe a few lakes here and there, the rain would extend to and be retained in the centre of the island as well.

However, until that happened, they would need to artificially supply the needed water. With the boy's Semblance, they would be able to grow their operation into the stage where more serious donors would begin to take interest and supply the funds needed for a proper desalinization plant.

"And you are sure that this guy has not pressed you into this?", Lafiel asked the boy.

"N-no, when I heard about this place, I thought I might be able to help, to make a difference", he said nervously, "besides, my family, they-I have nothing else to make of my life."

Lafiel looked at Yonsa questioningly, and in reply, he merely mouthed Pandora. It was enough for her to understand what he meant.

"In that case, I am happy to have you aboard", Lafiel said with a warm smile and enveloped the boy in a hug, "how about we find a room for you to sleep in? If you go out that door and to the left, you will come upon the gardens. Aster will be there tending to the flowers, and she will help you settle in for now."

As the boy left, Yonsa looked at Lafiel with a raised eyebrow, "Aster?"

"She knows her way around the house and it would be good for him to have someone his own age to play with", Lafiel answered.

"Speaking of houses, I noticed that you are having another built", Yonsa commented as he took a sip of tea, only then remembering that it was the one he had used for the demonstration. With a grimace, he switched it with the boy's untouched cup.

"More have taken an interest. I could not fit them all in here", Lafiel answered.

More people means a greater chance that someone doesn't share your beliefs, Yonsa mused worriedly, but decided not to voice his worries. He didn't want them to fall into an argument so soon after seeing each other again.

"How long will you be staying this time?", Lafiel asked with a hopefulness in her voice that he found hard to disappoint.

Until I can get a ride out of here, he wanted to answer, especially with this many new faces around. He thought again of what the news report had said had occurred in Vale. The White Fang would tear this place to shreds if they knew.

"No more than three weeks", he answered and cursed his inability to say no to her, "I have made arrangements to meet up with Seishin in Vale in three months. That is, if I can tear him from the place by then."

"What is happening in Vale?", Lafiel asked, seemingly satisfied with his answer.

"From what I heard on the news in Kuo Lagua, there was a Grimm attack in the city. Some White Fang members used an old transit system to break open the walls and Grimm flooded in", Yonsa explained, "strangely though, an Atlesian army under General Ironwood was already in town when it happened, so not much damage was done before the breach was sealed."

"You think they were expecting an attack on the Vytal Festival?", Lafiel wondered, "bringing an army to another nation, even in peacetime, is no light matter."

"Perhaps, but if they were, then they severely overestimated what defences they would need", Yonsa mused, "a dozen or so trained Huntsmen should have been able to clean up the breach with little effort. In any case, they recalled some nearby Huntsmen for extra security, so Seishin likely won't be able to leave until the Vytal Festival is over."

As she fingered her cup, Lafiel gave a small laugh and upon Yonsa's questioning raise of an eyebrow, she elaborated, "I just found it funny that out of the four of us, the only two that actually work as Huntsmen would be you and Seishin."

"Seishin is one. I just take the contracts because you don't pay me", Yonsa quipped and got a light-hearted punch to the shoulder, "in any case, it isn't like the two of you are unhappy with how things have turned out. At this point, I would say that the only thing that could get Pandora to leave that village would be a funeral, and you have never complained about your situation either."

"I do miss the thrill of the hunt once in a while", Lafiel admitted with her hand moving to her right ear seemingly by itself, "and you, and the others. I know that I am needed here, and I want to be here, but I haven't even seen Pandora or Seishin since we graduated. Every day, there is another little thing that requires my attention."

"You could always take a break. Hand over responsibility to someone and come with me to Pandora's village. I am sure that Seishin would hurry to join us if he heard you were coming", Yonsa offered.

"No, I am needed here, but in the future, perhaps", Lafiel said with a slight shake of her head, before she turned her attention to Yonsa, "how about you? Do you ever regret not taking up Pandora's offer? You wouldn't have had to scour Remnant for plants and people that might be of interest to my dreams."

This was a trap if he ever saw one, but Yonsa still answered truthfully, "nope, not even a little. I would have made a lousy teacher, besides."

Lafiel leaned back, relaxed at his answer, "do you think that Pandora begrudges us that none of us took her up on her offer?"

"She doesn't, and she knew when she made them what the answers would be", Yonsa answered assuringly, "you had your own project that you had dreamt of long before she had hers, and Seishin always wanted to be a Huntsman in name and deed. The rest of us just wanted the skills. As for me, well, she said that she knew what I would do well before you asked me to."

"I suppose you are right", Lafiel commented and nervously looked down at her cup, "and what will you do when a single Huntsman traveling Remnant is no longer necessary to keep this up? Would you consider a more permanent place here?"

Yonsa took a long draught of tea and mulled over his words. There was always the White Fang to consider. Him staying here permanently would surely mean that they had to find out sooner or later. Once, he would have not hesitated to answer, but then reality was punched into him yet again.

"Perhaps", he said cautiously, but both of them knew that if she ever asked it of him directly, he would do as she asked. His weakness, it seemed, would be the downfall of both of them.

At the end, I would like to say thanks for reading the story.

Also, to clarify a few things in regards to what happens afterwards from here; after having seen Volume 5 of RWBY, I like to think that Team LPYS gathered at Pandora's shortly after the fall of Beacon, and that Lafiel and Yonsa went back to Menagerie to live together officially after the ousting of the White Fang.