No Such Thing As An Unarmed Huntress

Long days and short nights weren't unusual in Atlas, the kingdom was far enough north that seasonal variations were extreme. They were also a feature of life for James Ironwood - holding down three jobs didn't leave much time for life outside his duties.

His scroll waking him was an unusual and unwelcome event. His staff knew how sparse his sleep cycle was as it was. They wouldn't wake him for anything that could have waited another... he checked the clock... three hours. That usually didn't mean they woke him for good news.

The general didn't groan as he pushed the bedsheets back and opened the scroll. "Yes?"

"We have a report of your niece, sir."

Tien Soleil had been his aide for more than five years. He wasn't one to exagerate, much less joke. Even so, for a moment it was hard for James to believe him. It had been more than two years since the crash and while his orders had been to pass on any news immediately, he'd long since given up on any news that was good. He bit back questions that would be redundant and left the bed, going for the shelf where a fresh uniform was laid out to wait for him. "Report, major."

"A patrol north of Mantle reported a herd of Yotun on the coast, moving south. Specialist Schnee took a squad out and found them engaged by a lone Huntress. She identified herself as Ivory Ironwood. Allowing for time since she went missing, the description matches."

James was still closing up his tunic as he opened the door, holding his scroll between two spare fingers. His resolution to let Tien report uninterrupted failed. "Medical condition?"

"No serious injuries reported. She's en route to the nearest medical facility for a full check."

"I need a bullhead to wherever she is. Rearrange my schedule for the morning."

Tien cleared his throat. "There'll be one on the roof by the time you get there, sir. What should I tell the Council?"

He frowned as he waited for the lift. Showing weakness before the other Council Members might be a mistake. And bringing Ivory to their attention might have unfortunate consequences. Then again, just being absent was noticeable and most of them would have the resources to work out where he'd gone. "Tell them it's a family emergency."

Long before the sun reached its height, James found Winter Schnee waiting at attention outside a military infirmary. The base was one of several spaced around the walls that protected Mantle from Grimm. While the focus of the kingdom had moved to Atlas shortly after the Great War, Mantle's coastal position still kept it viable as a major population centre and a port for trade with the other kingdoms.

"General."

"Specialist." He nodded towards the door. "Tien forwarded your verbal report. Do you have any updates?"

"The doctors found traces of various past injuries but nothing that aura didn't handle. Periodic malnutrition and some vitamin deficiencies. They've prescribed some supplements but she doesn't need any further treatment. She's asleep right now."

James exhaled. "Thank you, Specialist." He recognised the look on Winter's face - she had a question but wasn't willing to actually voice it. "You're surprised I have a faunus in the family."

"I wasn't aware, sir."

"It wasn't publicised. White Fang's turn to violence made it difficult by the time Ivory was old enough for combat school."

The specialist's eyes took a hard edge at the mention of the terrorists. "She's a capable fighter."

"She's a survivor." He shook his head. "Did she say much? What am I saying, she was always -"

"No."

"No?" He'd always thought his niece was a little bit of a motormouth - it was part of her charm.

Winter shook her head. "She answered questions but she didn't volunteer anything. There wasn't anyone with her. I suspect she's not used to having anyone to talk to."

James took a deep breath. "Thank you, specialist." He opened the door and walked down the short hall to the recovery ward. All medical centres used more or less the same layout so he didn't need directions.

At first he thought he'd come to the wrong place - all the beds were empty. Then he saw a blanket was missing. Walking down to the bed he saw a huddled form pressed into the corner of the room. Grey-brown hair and two familiar ears poked up above a military thermal blanket and the tip of a blade was visible at one of the lower edges.

One of the ears twitched slightly. If he hadn't been looking for it he'd have missed the sign that Ivory had been woken by his presence.

The part of James that was an uncle wanted simply to lift her up onto the bed so she could sleep in comfort but the part of him that was a general was screaming warnings that the girl - she wasn't even twenty yet - looked like a solider who'd been under too much strain. That if he tried to close in she might react dangerously.

"Ivory," he said, lowering his voice. "It's your uncle James. Do you remember me?"

"Uncle..." Two blue eyes focused on him. "Yes."

"Wouldn't you be more comfortable on the bed?"

"No."

Damn, what had happened to her? Other than the obvious. "It'd be warmer."

"Too open."

Somehow he didn't think telling her that Grimm wouldn't be able to get at her here would help. She'd been on guard for a while. He considered moving a mattress but the beds were fixed in place and a mattress wouldn't fit in the corner. "If you'd like to rest more I can get you more blankets."

Ivory shook her head slightly and then rose, legs unfolding beneath her. She didn't release the blanket, instead holding it around herself like a cloak. The sword vanished under it but James was sure she was ready to use it at need. Underneath the blanket he saw military issue pants and boots.

"Alright then. Would you like to come home with me?" he coaxed. "I'm sure my apartment is warmer and safer for you."

His niece paused. "Mother?" she asked slowly. "Father?"

James took a half-step towards her and froze as she backed up. "I'm sorry, Ivory. We looked but we found no survivors."

He wasn't sure what to expect. More questions? Tears? Anger?

What he got was silence.

"Ivory?"

"Home sounds good," she told him quietly.

James sat at his desk and looked at the screen displaying a security feed. He didn't think Ivory knew about the camera in his living room and for her privacy he'd encoded access to the feed. Not even Tien should be able to view the take.

Three months of trying to balance his work against re-establishing some sort of normality for Ivory had left him stressed and sometimes snapping at her as if she was one of his soldiers. In turn, she'd grown twitchy.

It hadn't all been bad, of course. Ivory and Penny got along surprisingly well and while his niece hadn't adjusted to normal beds, she seemed entirely happy with a military sleeping bag with an internal mattress.

Right now she was cleaning her weapon. Sending her back to combat school had been a mistake and James wasn't ashamed to admit to it. One student had learned a very sharp lesson - without aura it would have been career ending - and two teachers had been dismissed after the investigation. They weren't required to like faunus but action or inaction based on that prejudice wasn't acceptable in the positions they'd been entrusted with.

Ironically, if it wasn't for the fact she shared his name it might not have blown up so badly. Ivory wasn't out of control but he couldn't realistically expect her to ignore the provocation that had been described and that the teachers had tacitly permitted.

That ruled out formal graduation, which would have been awkward enough when she was two years older than the other final year students. James could still enroll her in Atlas Academy with the next class, but he'd have to waive some of the requirements. Technically he had the authority but the other members of the Council would take notice.

And would it be any better for her at Atlas? Sharing a family name with the headmaster...

James frowned. There were the other academies. They'd probably want Ivory to take an exam but she'd survived more two years in the wilds, he was confident she could handle the practicals. With a couple of months to refresh her on the more theoretical classes.

He picked up his scroll and picked her name on the contact list. On the screen he saw her lay down the sections of the extending grip to open up her own scroll.

She didn't say anything so he began: "Ivory, it's Uncle James."

"Ah?"

"I've been thinking about your schooling."

"Huntress."

He felt a smile creep across his face. She knew what she wanted, no hesitation. That hadn't changed. "Atlas Academy might not be any better than combat school. For that matter some of the faces would be the same."

"Um." She hunched her shoulders. "That's bad."

James sighed. "I'm not entirely happy with the idea, but it's up to you. Would one of the other Academys be better? I wouldn't see so much of you but being an Ironwood wouldn't hang over you so much."

"And I'm Faunus."

"Yes. There's no getting away from that." He paused to let her think about it.

Ivory leant back in her chair in thought. James felt his smile fall off his face. She was wearing jeans and a crop-top that was definitely more revealing than he liked. He hoped very much that Ivory wasn't aware of the way boys would react to that. Although he realised he might be grasping at straws.

"Beacon?" she asked at last.

"That would be my first choice. Ozpin and I have our differences but he's trustworthy."

"'kay." She paused. "Miss you." And then cut the call without anything else.

James groaned. Being a father figure to a teenager was harder than he'd thought. Why couldn't he face a simpler challenge... another Great War or something similarly straightforward?

Still, he had his answer and that told him where to go next. James opened a request for an international call through the CCT tower. Having specified Vale and Beacon Academy he was about to select Ozpin's name when he saw the name below it. Maybe... yes, that might be better.

"I'm surprised to hear from you, James."

"You're looking as lovely as ever, Glynda."

"Flattery at this hour? You must be wanting a favour."

He sat back in his chair. "One item of business... and then yes."

"How did I guess?" She rolled her eyes. "So, what's the business?"

"They're related, actually. I have an application for Beacon to forward to you." He hesitated. "It's my niece."

"Your niece? I didn't know you had one."

"I'm glad to here the security around her is holding up." He attached a file to the call and there was a brief moment of static as the transmission focused on that rather than the video component of the call. "I'm taking care of her, but I'd be grateful if you could... provide a woman's example to her."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I'm serious. She spent two years in the mountains, living alone. I'm not really in a position to..." he tried to find a good way to put this into words.

"You want me to take her under my wing?" Glynda looked aside. "I see the transcripts aren't complete. I assume you're happy for her to take an entrance exam?"

"I've every confidence in her."

"Then - when or if she passes - I'll do what I can to help her." Glynda closed the file. "I assume you know what our schedule is for the examinations."

"I do. Thank you, Glynda."

"While you're feeling grateful, perhaps you could help me with another matter." Glynda Goodwitch wouldn't have gone so far as to say this was a repayment but the meaning was obvious.

"Oh?" James raised his eyebrows. "What can I do for you?"

"We have a couple of notable students coming from Atlas this year. I know you keep personal files on prospective students. I'd like to know what you have on them."

"Hmm. Weiss Schnee, I suppose?" He didn't think there was anything particularly sensitive in his notes on her. It was disappointing she'd chosen not to attend Atlas - she showed just as much promise as her sister - but it wasn't as if he didn't occasionally get students from Vale.

Glynda nodded. "And Jaune Arc."

"Arc?" He thought and nothing sprang to mind. "Let me check."

"I would have thought a student with such excellent grades would have caught your eye."

James checked his own notes and found no mention of the name. "It seems not." He opened the kingdom's general educational files to see what they had on this student he'd missed. "Arc as in General Arc?"

"Same spelling, I believe he may be a relative."

Checking twice using different criteria he found... nothing. "I don't have anything from our combat schools."

Glynda's eyes narrowed. "Really? Perhaps you should take a look at his transcript."

"I'd be glad to. Here are my notes on Miss Schnee while I'm at it."

The channel flickered again and while Glyna perused his notes, James checked the details she'd sent him.

"Well, I'm sure that Miss Schnee will be an asset to our freshman class. Have you found anything on Mr. Arc?"

James scratched his chin. "The student with these grades at this school will no doubt do well... except the name is different and he's applied to Shade Academy, not Beacon. I'm very sorry, Glynda, but it seems you have a scam artist on your hands."

"Better that we find out now, not in the middle of initiation." She inclined her head. "Thank you for your help, James. You may have saved young Mr. Arc's life. I look forward to meeting your niece. Will you be accompanying her?"

He looked at his desk and at the full electronic inbox on one of the secondary display screens. "I doubt I'll have the opportunity. Perhaps I'll have the chance to visit Vale for the Vytal Festival. Does the Council intend to let Ozpin host at Beacon this year?"

Glynda adjusted her glasses. "That remains to be seen."

"Miss Ironwood, is there a problem with your locker?"

Ruby looked up from her letter and saw Professor Goodwitch talking to a girl who'd staked out one of the corners of the room. There was presumably some sort of reply she didn't hear because the professor twitched the crop she held.

"I assure you that our lockers are entirely secure. It's not appropriate to sleep with your weapon in your hand."

Two ears poked out of the girl's hair and she stared at the professor with what appeared to be complete incomprehension.

"Whatcha looking at?" asked Yang.

Ruby abandoned her letter. It wasn't as if there was much to say to the other students at Signal except about her encounters with Weiss Schnee. Which weren't exactly experiences she wanted to dwell on. "I'm not sure. I think she's taken to bed with her."

Yang grabbed her in a headlock. "No sleeping with Crescent Rose, little sister. It's not a teddy bear."

"Miss Ironwood, Grimm are not going to jump out at you. Beacon is entirely safe. You do not need your weapon until morning. Now go and put it in your locker."

The faunus gave Goodwitch a put-upon look that Ruby wasn't sure she'd have dared to direct at the deputy headmistress but she wiggled herself out of her sleeping bag, bundled it up under one arm and picked up her boots and jacket, which she'd apparently been leant against.

"Yang, let go." Ruby punched her sister in the side.

"Sure." Yang obeyed, perhaps in part because Goodwitch was now looking towards them. "So do you know that girl?"

"I don't think so."

"Well maybe if she loves her weapon as much as you like Crescent Rose you could be friends."

"Maybe you're right." Ruby considered the letter and glanced back, inadvertantly crossing eyes with Weiss Schnee who was directing another irritable look in her direction. "Uh, I'll go say hello."

Yang gave her an impressed look. "Wow, you really are getting out of your shell, Ruby."

The girl had just reached the door when Ruby caught up. Without even looking back, the faunus paused with one foot against the door, holding it so Ruby could join her.

"Thanks. Um... what's your name?"

That got the girl to look back at her. "ivory," she said.

"I'm Ruby Rose." Silence fell for a minute as they walked towards the lockers. "Uh... oh, both our names have matching initials. That's allit... allocative?"

"Alliterative." Ivory considered and then smiled slightly. "Yes."

"It's a shame they won't let you sleep with your weapon. I would if I could."

"Dangerous."

"They're not dangerous as long as we know what we're doing," Ruby protested.

"No. Sleeping unarmed."

Ruby looked down and saw that Ivory was clutching the hilt of her sword with fingers as pale as her name. "So... what does it do?"

"Do?"

"Yeah, I mean..." She paused, "Wait, this is my locker." She punched in the combination and pulled out Crescent Rose. "This is my baby." Her weapon unfolded into scythe mode.

Ivory paused and examined it. "Rifle?" she asked, pointing at Crescent Rose's shaft.

"Yes, a high-impact sniper rifle."

The other girl nodded appreciatively and then gave the door a furtive look. Ruby glanced in the same direction and then heard a mechanical noise. When she looked back she saw that Ivory now held a scythe of her own.

"Oh wow!"

The older girl nodded in appreciation of Ruby's reaction.

"We're weapon buddies!"

Ivory blinked and she tilted her head questioningly to one side.

Ruby nodded vigorously. "We both have scythes!"

"Evidently so." Ivory opened her own locker but rather than racking her weapon, she hung up her jacket and then knotted the laces of her boots, hanging them up as well.

"What are you doing?" Ruby asked as the other girl unzipped her sleeping bag and put the top half inside the locker.

"Sleeping unarmed is dangerous." There was absolutely no emphasis on the words. Ivory was evidently stating something she considered fundamental to her world view. "If I'm attacked, I'll be ready."

"Do you think that that's likely here at Beacon?"

Ivory frowned in thought. "I've been attacked places I thought safe. Better to be armed and not need..."

Ruby held up her finger, hesitated and then lowered it. "I'll be right back," she said. "Uh, that's okay, right?"

The faunus snuggled into her sleeping bag, half in and half out of the locker and gave her a thumb's up.

Ruby put Crescent Rose away and walked back out into the main room where she was ambushed by a mustache. A mustached professor, that was.

"Good heavens, child!" The red jacketed man produced a pocket watch. "Haven't you bedded down for the night yet?"

"I... uh..."

He chortled. "Mind you, many of your classmates haven't yet. You seem like a sensible young woman though. It's a big day tomorrow, your initiation. Why I remember my initiation as if it was yesterday..."

Ruby shook her head. "I'm just looking for my sister, sir. Oh, there she is." She darted past the man, hoping that he wouldn't hold this against her if she had a class with him in the future.

"Hey, little sister." Yang had been lying on her back, arms folded behind her head but she sat up. "Made a friend?"

"I think so." Ruby dropped to her knees on the sleeping bag she'd been loaned. It was a lot larger than Ivory's, she noted. Perhaps the faunus girl had brought her own. "It's just..."

"Something wrong?"

She lowered her voice. "She's sleeping in her locker because she doesn't want to be unarmed."

"She's what?"

"Yeah." Ruby pulled the side of the sleeping bag up off the floor and put it down. She'd have to run awfully fast if she was going to get out of here with it without the teacher's spotting her.

"And you're figuring on what, camping out next to her?"

"Maybe?"

Yang reached over and poked her in the forehead. "Yeah, okay. Let's go."

"Go?" an ascerbic voice enquired from behind them. "Where might you be going?" They turned to see Professor Goodwitch looking down at the two of them. She had her crop in her hands. "And might this have something to do with Miss Ironwood's failure to return?"

"Um... I just forgot something in my locker?"

"Really?"

Ruby slumped.

"Rules are for everyone, Miss Rose. I am aware that Miss Ironwood's background leaves her... dubious of her security, but this is a habit she will have to break herself of."

"But..."

"Does initiation involve throwing us unarmed into a grimm pit or something?" asked Yang.

"What? No, of course not."

"You're awfully insistent we have to be disarmed, is all."

Goodwitch twitched. "Experience of students walking around armed has shown us that it is not..."

"Glynda." The mustached professor ambled over. "Perhaps you and the young ladies could speak somewhere else? The students should be trying to get some sleep, after all."

The woman glanced around. "Thank you, Peter. Come with me." She beckoned imperiously to the sisters before walking towards the locker room.

Yang stretched as she climbed out of her sleeping bag. "Okay, let's meet this friend of yours, sis."

Ruby elbowed her. "You're the one who wants me to make new friends."

In the locker room, Ivory was much as Ruby had left her. Although the lights on the ceiling were bright, the inside of the locker was in shadow, hiding much of her face.

"Come out of there, please." The brief interruption of walking back here had perhaps cooled the professor's temper but it was clear she wasn't making a request.

The bottom of the sleeping bag bunched up as Ivory curled up her legs. Then she pushed herself to her feet with her weapon, which was back to being a short sword, twisted and landed sitting on the bench between the line of lockers.

"Sorry." Ruby mouthed.

Ivory shrugged her shoulders and then looked at Goodwitch. "Where my weapon goes, I go."

The teacher considered that. "How long has it been since you've let go of it?"

"Earlier today."

"And since you were out of arms reach of it?"

Ivory tilted her head. "A year, maybe."

"And your uncle allowed this?"

She nodded.

Goodwitch looked at her and then shook her head. "Miss Ironwood, clinging to your weapon is not security, it is dependency. Holding onto it in the field is admirable, but being unable to set it down is the hallmark of a serious problem."

She folded her arms. "With that said, perhaps small steps would be best. I'll allow you to sleep in here tonight. All three of you, if you wish. There are conditions, however." The blonde counted off, tapping one finger with her crop as she did so. "Weapons in lockers, which will be locked - I'm sure that in the event of a grimm attack you'll have the warning to retrieve them. No sleeping in the lockers. No misbehaviour."

Ivory hesitated. "And tomorrow?"

"Assuming that you pass initiation, I'll discuss options with the Headmaster. Any long term exceptions to our weapon handling regulations will require his approval."

The girl still hesitated.

"You're not getting any better offer, Miss Ironwood. And I will be discussing this with your uncle."

Ivory considered that for a long moment before unzipping her sleeping bag. It only took her a moment to secure the sword in the locker but Ruby saw her hand trembling as she pushed the door ever so slowly closed.

Goodwitch nodded approvingly and then flicked her crop. Two sleeping bags sailed into the lockerroom. "Do get some sleep, girls," she instructed.

Yang waved casually as she saw Ivory at the end of the line of students stood along the cliff. "Want to stand next to her?" she asked Ruby when the faunus waved back.

"I'd... uh-oh."

"Huh?" Yang looked at who was occupying the next platforms. Some redhead she vaguely recalled from the tournament scene, the Schnee girl... "Right. Well maybe you'll run into her in the forest?"

The pair of them took the next open slots, which were past several of the boys and one perky girl about Ruby's height.

The headmaster stepped forwards and Yang automatically split his attention between that and keeping one eye on her sister as she made distressed noises. Ruby would be fine as soon as the initiation actually began - give her a clear goal and she'd make for it like a guided weapon but the anticipation could leave her doing something impetuous.

Skills evaluated, blah blah, team-mates assigned today, blah blah... first person you meet eyes with on landing? Hmm. Yang looked along the line of students. No knowing who she'd land nearest but it'd probably be best for Ruby if it wasn't her. Little sister needed to spread her wings, even if Yang kept an eye on her from a distance.

Right, rest of the briefing. Find a partner, go north to temple, take relic, return here. Okay, that sounded pretty straightforward although it only explained how partnerships would be formed not how they'd be paired up into teams. Oh well.

"Now, take your positions."

Finally. Yang raised her fists, popping Ember Celica into readiness. Beside her Ruby took out Crescent Rose and racked the slide. Platforms began to pop, hurling students skywards. They'd started at the far end from the teachers so Ruby would be sent up first. That should work nicely.

Pulling her sunglasses out of her jacket, Yang grinned at her sister and gave her a thumbs up right before the redhead was hurled out over the forest.

Then her own platform fired. "Wheee!" She checked her trajectory and fired a couple of shots to slow herself down. This way, Ruby should land ahead of her... not too far away but not nearest to her either.

Sorry, Ruby, but this is for your own good...

Firing off Ember Celica once more carried her into a thatch of branches that slowed her nicely, wood and leaves shattering against Yang's aura and the fists crossed in front of her face. She hit the ground in a controlled roll with a triumphant cry of "Nailed it!"

Now, find herself a partner, find the relics, make sure Ruby was alright and then head back to the cliff. Should be easy enough.

Deciding that anyone with sense would move north, she orientated herself and started jogging in that direction. The Emerald Forest had enough breaks in the trees that smaller bushes had carved out a niche, something that made it hard to see far at ground level. Uncle Qrow had told her to rely on all her senses. If you knew what you were doing, a scent or sound of Grimm would be as informative as the sight of them.

In this case a slight shift in the wind brought the smell of wet fur and musk she associated with beowolfs. The breed wasn't uncommon on Patch, where she'd grown up. They'd been the first creatures of Grimm she'd ever laid eyes on. And nearly the last.

Yang lengthened her stride as she heard the beowolf pack start to bark. They wouldn't be that loud of they were still hunting so they'd already found their prey and made their move. Prey that must be one of her classmates.

The last bushes parted and Yang felt a nasty jump in her chest as the first sight she had of the other huntress was through two halves of a Beowolf as a scythe carved the creature apart. Almost absently she whirled and slammed her fist against the jaw of another of the pack. It reeled backwards and she hammered it twice more, firing of pointblank shots from Ember Celicia into its flesh.

The Grimm collapsed backwards as she took in the rest of the scene - not Ruby, Ivory. She hadn't realised that the faunus had a scythe - the weapon had looked like a sword the night before. But so did Uncle Qrow's at times. Ruby could probably quote chapter and verse.

"Hey," she called out. "Care for a dance partner?"

Ivory lunged, the long sweeping blade taking the legs off one Beowulf. "Not danced in while," she said, turning to meet Yang's eyes. "You lead."

She laughed. A partner she knew got on with Ruby and who was sharp enough to pick up on the double meaning of her greeting? Jackpot. "Sure thing. Let's get this party started!"

It wasn't like working with Ruby, she found. Her sister darted back and forth in a fight, sweeping through Grimm or blasting them apart with her rifle. Ivory didn't have a rifle built into her weapon and she was slower - not that that was saying much compared to Ruby. Instead there was a certain implacibility to her and the muscles under her jacket weren't a joke, the long whirling cuts of her weapon hit just as hard as Ruby's rifle-powered slashes.

It did mean there was nowhere in reach of her that was entirely safe but at leas that reach was relatively predictable and Ivory was clearly pulling the blows when she struck for a beowolf in Yang's direction.

Yang worked her way around the periphery of that danger zone, punching her way through anything that wasn't throwing itself into reach of Ivory's scythe. She finished the fight by catching the last of the Grimm with an uppercut that flung it up into the air between her and the other girl.

She expected Ivory to simply cut it down with one more whirling cut, but instead the faunus reversed her scythe, blade retracting into a terminal spike as three prongs emerged from the butt and the beowolf was caught upon them.

Ivory's blue eyes looked under the flailing legs towards Yang and made a twisting gesture on the haft of the trident-form of her weapon.

The beowulf blew apart.

"You exploded everywhere." Yang shook her head to check none of the tarry mess was in her hair. "Was it good for you too?"

The corners of Ivory's lips twitched. "Practise makes perfect."

"Just to check - you haven't met anyone else yet."

Ivory shook her head. "Go north now?"

"Urgent appointment?"

"More Grimm coming." She licked one finger and held it up, "Wind's north."

"They'll smell us, you mean? I don't know about you but I had a shower this morning."

Ivory rolled her eyes and turned north.

"Strong silent type, eh?" asked Yang, keeping pace. "Like your style, by the way. Reminds me of someone." Boots, shorts, a tank-top and a leather jacket. "Can't recall who exactly."

The faunus gave her a sidelong look, taking in Yang's not dissimilar clothing. "Sharp dresser?"

"I like to think so. Hey, keep an eye out for my sister, okay? She's good but I worry."

Pyrrha looked at the cave. "I was expecting our objective to be further away. But the carvings... do you think this is the ruins?"

Her partner shrugged. "It could be...?" She looked at the markings. "Is that a deathstalker?"

"I think so. And people fighting it... It looks like more of a warning."

Ruby looked at the cave mouth. "Uncle Qrow told me to never get into a tight space you can't get out of."

"Deathstalkers do lurk in caves."

"Maybe we should... do you hear that?"

Pyrrha tilted her head, trying to listen. "Feet... no, claws."

Green eyes and silver eyes widened, exchanged a look and then the two girls turned away and ran just as a huge black and white shape emerged from the cave mouth.

"I don't think this is the ruin we're looking for!" Pyrrha called out.

"I think you're right... Hey, what's...?" Ruby looked back and saw that the scorpionoid Grimm, the tail-tip larger than either of the two huntresses-in-training, was scuttling in another direction rather than trying to follow them. "It's not after us!"

The Mistralian champion leapt up onto a tree branch and turned to see the same. "That's strange. What could cause a Grimm to ignore two people right in front of it?"

Ruby landed on the same branch. "I don't know. I've never seen a Grimm that size. Whoever it's after is in big trouble."

"Do you think we should follow it?" She looked north towards their presumed destination and then south after the Deathstalker. "It's out of our way, but..."

"Huntresses are supposed to help people," Ruby declared and jumped down to go after the Grimm.

Pyrrha smiled and followed. The younger girl's view of the world was rather idealistic but she liked that about her. After the flash and glamour of the Mistral tournament and the many others she'd fought in over the years there was a sincerity that appealed to the redhead.

The Deathstalker was moving fairly quickly but it wasn't impossible for them to keep pace. It wasn't the only creature of Grimm headed in this direction though and they weren't the only students following the same course of action.

Well, after a fashion.

"Whooo! Go left! Mush! Gaaaah! Turn around!"

Pausing between two trees, Pyrrha stared after the cheerfully shrieking girl. "Was she... riding an Ursa?"

"Wait, you saw that too?"

"Nora... come back... hufff."

The two girls turned and saw a boy in a long green shirt and white pants leaning on another tree. His dark hair tailed down his back and a single lock over his brow had been dyed pink.

"Are you with her?"

He nodded in reply to Ruby's question, still taking deep breaths.

"Why doesn't she jump off?"

He shrugged helplessly and started running after the girl on the Ursa. After a moment Pyrrha and Ruby ran after him.

The Ursa overtook the Deathstalker handily, either frenzied by the presence of a passenger on it's back or by being smaller and nimbler, threading between trees that the Deathstalker crashed through. The fact that the smaller of the two Grimm was larger than all three of the students chasing after it combined said something about the size of the eight-legged monster.

The three of them veered around the Deathstalker, wary in case it turned on them, and forged on after their target. They caught up as it entered a clearing. It was immediately obvious that the clearing was a recent addition to the forest - more than a dozen trees had fallen, some of them on fire and grimm corpses were scattered around - some already decaying.

Still upright and fighting were at least twenty beowolfs, headed by a towering specimen a head taller than even the Ursa and sporting significantly more bone-white spikes jutting from its black hide.

"It's an alpha" Pyrrha's warrning held more than enough weight - an older, stronger and worse of all more intelligent example of its breed. Even fully trained hunters didn't take alphas lightly - they weren't just dangerous in their own right, they could even direct the grimm around them and that was a deadly prospect.

"Ursa!" called one of the two young women battling to survive amid the howling pack. She drove an uppercut into the jaw of a beowolf and as the grimm reeled she jumped up and smashed her other fist down upon the monster's snout. A blast of explosive dust consumed the head of the grimm.

The other huntress held a scythe, not unlike that of Pyrrha's own partner and she whirled as the Ursa entered the clearing. The long, silvered blade of the scythe swung inexorably towards both the bear-like grimm and also its unexpected rider.

"Ivory!" Ruby shrieked, bolting forwards. "No!"

At the last minute the weapon reshaped, losing it's edge and striking the ursine grimm and the ginger-haired girl more like a whip than a blade. That didn't slow it down much though and at contact there was an electrical discharge.

The grimm staggered and the girl tumbled off it, losing the weapon hung across her back.

"Nora!" The boy leapt forwards, pulling machine pistols out of his sleeves to pour fire into the Ursa before it could recover.

Pyrrha saw the scythe girl staring wide-eyed at her accidental victim, mouth slack. This was terrible - one huntress down to friendly fire, the culprit now distracted.

"Cover Ivory," Ruby yelled, turning towards the fallen girl - Nora, presumably.

She snapped Milo into rifle mode and dropped to one knee, drawing a bead on the beowolf nearest to the faunus and dropping it with a single shot to the face. Fortunately the blonde had seen her partner was in trouble and was moving closer. They'd probably need to figure out how to integrate their tactics better, right now, they weren't close enough to be mutually supporting and... Pyrrha shook off the thought, this wasn't video footage of prospective opponents to analyze. She fired again.

"That was awesome!"

What?

Every eye, grimm and human alike, went to the fallen girl who bounced up onto her feet and reached for her weapon. "Magnhild?"

She spotted it on the other side of the ursa and waved to her partner. "Ren, gonna get Magnhild!"

Ren broke off his fire. "Nora, the Ursa's not..."

Nora smashed the grimm, at least four times her size, off its feet and through two trees with a backhanded swing of one arm. If that hadn't killed it, landing with the stump of one of the trees driven through it would probably have sufficed.

"...never mind."

The girl picked up her weapon, shifted it into a hammer. "This is awesome!" She whirled it in a figure-eight and then charged into the nearest beowolfs.

The Alpha roared and the beowolfs scattered before her. Several of them went towards Ivory and Pyrrha emptied her magazine into the grimm, aiming high above her partner as Ruby dropped almost to the floor, sweeping legs out from under two of the fanged wolf-men with Crescent Rose.

"Get it together," the blonde girl called to her partner. "You can say sorry later!"

Pyrrha switched Milo to spear-mode and took Akuo off her back. "We can't hang around. There's a Deathstalker on the way."

Ivory shook her head and let the other two girls pull her toward Pyrrha and Ren while Nora tore through three beowolfs as if they'd been made of paper-mache. The ebullient girl finished off the alpha's pack by swinging the hammer back to grenade launcher mode and plastering the area around it with a salvo of six grenades.

The alpha itself escaped behind the trees and Pyrrha gritted her teeth. It was never good for a grimm to get away. It would almost certainly be back with reinforcements and the way that Ivory must be feeling would just draw more in.

The sudden pause in the fighting highlighted the sound of more trees breaking as the Deathstalker approached. Ruby pointed north, off to the side. "We should head north out of the forest. On open ground they can't sneak up on us and there might be more students looking for the ruins."

"Good plan," Ren agreed. "Nora, we're leaving!"

"Okie-dokie!" she replied, reloading the grenade launcher. The others followed suit as they broke into a run.

So far Blake had to admit that the initiation had been much less challenging than she'd anticipated. She'd assumed that it was intended to weed out anyone who might be less capable than their paper qualifications suggested but so far the only grimm she'd even seen in the forest were a lone ursa that had barely even seemed to notice her and a nevermore off in the distance.

Then again, perhaps it was a test of how you could co-exist with your partner?

Why, oh why, had Blake come across her first of all people? She'd have been strongly tempted to sneak away if it wasn't for the fact that the Schnee heiress almost landed upon her, having apparently been hopping from glyph to glyph through the treetops and her chosen landing point had been right where Blake had chosen to cross one of the clearings.

"Chess pieces?" Weiss declared as she looked around the circular ruin, low pillars around the edge bearing dozens of black and gold figurines.

Blake looked around, seeing gaps where pieces had been taken away. "We're not the first ones here."

"I suppose not." The white-haired girl looked back at her. "You were right about the direction," she admitted. "We would have been here sooner if I'd listened."

She blinked at the moment of humility. "They didn't say it was a race."

"They did say we'd be graded on our performance." Weiss picked up one of the pieces. "Do you have a preference?"

"Take whichever you want." Blake refrained from adding a snide comment about that coming naturally to a Schnee. She was going to have to work with the girl and that meant meeting her halfway.

One rook secured in her pocket, Weiss turned towards the forest and shaded her eyes. "Well I can see Beacon so we should go -"

Half a dozen students burst out of the forest, running for their lives. A moment later a Deathstalker the size of a bullhead tore through the trees behind them.

"- what are they doing?"

"Running."

"Six of them should be able to deal with one grimm!"

The edge of the forest rippled and a pack of beowolfs burst out, racing to catch the six. At their head was a towering, clawed and spined example. An alpha.

Weiss looked at Blake. "Not a word."

She shrugged, unlimbered Gambol Shroud and checked that the magazine was loaded before arching one eyebrow questioningly.

Her partner flushed. "We'll help them out of, course."

"Naturally." She could see the group turning to fight. "You're carrying ice dust, do you think you can pin the Deathstalker in place?"

"No." Weiss spun the chamber of her rapier. "I know I can." A glyph flared behind her and the girl sprang back against it before catapulting forwards to join the fight.

Blake smiled slightly. It was unexpected but perhaps her partner wasn't as bad as she'd expected. Then she sprang and kicked off from the same glyph before it faded away, flinging herself after the Schnee.

The two of them came down on top of the Deathstalker, Weiss catching the left-side legs in a block of ice before landing with a little pirouette beyond it. The grimm twitched, trying to pull free from the ice while twisting its tail to try to strike at Weiss with the large golden stinger on it's tail.

Blake let out the ribbon of her weapon, spinning it around the tail just below the tip and using her momentum to spin around and catch hold of it. While each segment of the tail was too well protected for her to penetrate the joints were thinner and she hacked at the nearest as the Deathstalker whipped the stinger around, trying to dislodge her.

One savage twist broke her hold and Blake flipped in the air before landing on her heels beside the one boy in the group. She saw with satisfaction that the joint she'd been targeting was half-severed. The sting in the tail would be far less effective now.

"Can you keep the beowolfs back?" she called to the group.

"We've got it." The little red-hooded girl she'd seen exploding on arrival at Beacon seemed much more at ease. She and a wolf-faunus girl were wielding scythes and using their reach to keep the oncoming pack away while a blonde and - was that Pyrrha Nikos? - dealt with leakers.

"Right." Blake saw the ice was beginning to crack. "Miss Schnee, can you take its eyes out?"

"Call me Weiss."

"Blake."

"I'm Nora and this is Ren!"

"Okay." She saw the boy held twin pistol-kama. "Ren, can you finish off that joint?"

He glanced up and it. "Sure."

"Nora, you look like a heavy hitter. Do you think you can crack the shell?"

"Let's find out!" Without anymore warning, the perky girl fired a grenade out of her hammer, sending her somersaulting up into the air where a second grenade propelled her downwards.

As if the manuver had been pre-planned, Ren broke off the shots he'd been firing at the joint as Nora crashd down, hammer first on the back of the Deathstalker. The arachnid squealed and its legs splayed out as it fell to the ground but the tough shell didn't crack.

That wasn't to say that it got away unscathed. Weiss and Ren took ruthless advantage of the grimm's distraction - the girl's rapier darting out and systematically skewering one eye after another while the boy jumped up onto the Deathstalker's back and then up again to catch the tail between his kama.

Not wishing to be deadweight, Blake darted in and used Gambol Shroud to sever the lowest joint. It shouldn't matter with what she had in mind but every little helped.

"It didn't break!" Nora complained.

"Never mind, just grab the stinger!"

Nora grabbed it - the golden tail-tip larger than she was - and scrambled towards Blake as the Deathstalker got its feet under it again.

"Weiss, a little more ice." Blake pointed. "Right here." She raised the gun-half of her weapon and fired it into the ravaged face of the Deathstalker.

The grimm wasn't about ignore this provocation and rushed forwards, claws snapping. The monochrome-clad huntress twisted but the claws closed around her.

Blake vanished in a puff of smoke, and gunfire drew the Deathstalker back to seeing her further ahead, still firing shots into the wounded face. Vision hobbled by Weiss' earlier work it charged forwards faster claws swinging.

Once more they closed, once more on nothing but smoke and still ahead.

The Deathstalker found some reserve of more speed and accelerated at the bow-haired girl who somersaulted away and watched in satisfaction as the grimm speared itself on its own stinger.

"Yay!" Nora shouted. "That was awesome! You were like - !"

"Nora, the rest of the fight."

"Oh, right." She popped open her grenade launcher.

"That was clever though," Weiss admitted. "Well done, Blake."

Schnee's approval made Blake feel ashamed somehow, cutting away her pride at the victory. 'Why are you working with the enemy?' a voice whispered in her mind. It sounded like Adam. "Ren's right. We should help the others."

The Alpha roared triumphantly as another pack of Beowolfs emerged from the forest. "We need a new position!" Ruby called out, half-severing the arm of one Beowolf. These were larger and more resilient than those she was used to dealing with on Patch.

"There's a bridge over the gorge to the north!" called Nora.

That sounded promising. "Who needs relics? We haven't got one yet."

"Survive first, worry about relics later."

"Nope!" Yang called to her partner. "If we don't get them we might need to come back. We don't have one."

"We haven't either - oooh, there's a castle!"

"Nora, take one," Blake ordered coolly. Ruby had to admire how the older girl kept her head. "Then give covering fire so we can break contact."

Ruby nodded and jumped up over one beowolf dragging Crescent Rose's blade up through it throat. She kicked off its head before it dissolved and reloaded in mid-air. "Pyrrha, Ivory, Yang - when the others open fire, we need to pull back, get relics and keep running until we reach this bridge."

"I understand," confirmed Pyrrha, stunning a beowulf with a blow from her shield and then burying her spearhead deep in its head. Ruby had to admire the older girl's form. Every move was just so... efficient. "You pick a relic."

Pink explosions tore into what was left of the pack, scattering them, and the four women turned as one and ran for the little temple. The alpha tried to barrel through but Ren and Blake concentrated their fire on it while Weiss thrust with her sword and a bolt of fire smashed out to further deter pursuit.

Ruby saw Yang and Ivory exchange glances as she ran past. Were they already communicating without words!? Wow! The relics were chess pieces so she plucked a horsie off the stand.

"Hey, matched set of ponies!" Yang called, grabbing an identical chess piece.

"Humph, they're horses, not ponies," Ruby declared, stashing hers away. It's not like she was a little kid!

There was a muffled sound of annoyance from Weiss but the white-clad girl didn't actually say anything as she joined the run northwards. Pillars lined the path to the bridge and great structures rose on spires out in the middle of the gorge.

Ruby glanced over the side as they reached the bridge and gulped. It was a long way down, far enough that even at this hour the bottom was masked by shadows.

"Don't stop," her partner told her. "We might be able to hold them here, briefly, but there are other bridges."

"I know." Ruby glanced ahead at the towering circular platforms in the centre of the ruin and stretched her legs. "Yang, do you think you can break the bridge?"

"I can," Ivory said confidently. "When there's an good number of Grimm on it?"

"The Alpha - if you can?"

"Depends if it co-operates." The faunus skidded to a halt short of the end. The first of the grimm were just reaching the edge of the gorge and hesitating. She'd closed her scythe up into the short sword form and now she extended the hilt, popping the pommel into trident prongs. "Cover me."

Ruby and Pyrrha exchanged nods and peeled off, left and right, bracing their rifles. Counting her clips the youngest of the students winced. She'd expended half her clips. "Pyrrha, how's your ammo?"

"Sixty rounds," the gladiator declared without needing to check.

Yang worked Ember Celica's action, expending the ammo-belts and replaced them. "This is my last full load."

"Yang!"

"It's not like you have spares for me."

Blake's voice came down from the level above. "The Alpha's here. Expect a rush soon."

"Save your fire," Ruby concluded. "If they only send a few across Pyrrha and I can pick them off. If they rush, Ivory drops the bridge. Yang can handle anything that doesn't fall."

"And if they split up?"

The girl narrowed her eyes. "Then we hunt."

"New problem!" snapped Ren. "South-west, high. Nevermore."

Looking up, Ruby could barely see the shadow against the light of the sun. She swung Crescent Rose up but held her fire. "I don't have a shot."

"What are we going to have to deal with next?" Weiss complained.

"It's diving!" Ren warned, right as Yang called "Here they come!"

She heard Blake and Ren's guns fire upwards and hunched down, hoping there would be some warning if the Nevermore unleashed its trademark feathers attack down on them. They were very exposed here but she needed to focus as the beowolves stormed across, a dense pack in the lead and the Alpha close behind.

Ruby let her finger touch the trigger but refrained from firing. She'd just be wasting ammunition and there were more beowolves behind those on the bridge.

"We're not scratching it!"

"It's huge!"

"Look out!"

Ruby's head snapped around at the last and the vast black bird was looming, clearly not going to stop before it hit the spire.

There was a rush of air, a scree from the Nevermore and - as Ivory brought her trident down on the bridge - the entire spire shook under a colossal impact and Ruby's footing went away.

Reflexively, Ruby angled Crescent Rose and fired, the recoil blasting her up and to the side. As she sailed backwards through the air towards the next bridge west, she saw the spire coming apart and the Nevermore snapping its wings out as it smashed out of the tumbling stonework - more or less towards her.

The other students were scattering - the north side hadn't been directly struck and blurs of pink, white and green marked where Nora, Weiss and Ren were leaping from stone to stone towards the far bridge. For a moment she thought Blake was lost but then her eye caught the girl swinging through the open air, the blade end of her weapon caught upon the pillar supporting one of the bridge arches.

As the Nevermore reached her, Ruby snapped Crescent Rose around and drove the scythe blade, point-first - into its shoulder.

Every beat of the Nevermore's wings was shaking Ruby around. "Yang!? Ivory!? Pyrrha!?" Oh, maybe she should've asked about her partner first?

She heard Pyrrha's rifle fire from somewhere not far behind. "I'm here!" the redhead called.

"I -" Pow "- hope -" Pow "- you're -" Pow "- hungry!" Yang punctuated her voices with discharges from Ember Celica.

Ruby looked around. "Ivory!?" she called again.

"...only hit the bridge."

She exhaled in relief, everyone was accounted for. Now all they had to deal with was a giant Nevermore carrying them up into the sky above a deep gorge. Beacon was an amazing place.

The grimm folded its wings and dived, the motion finally loosening Crescent Rose and for a moment Ruby found herself falling next to it. Yang was clinging to the Nevermore's face, just above the beak and she couldn't see the others.

"Ruby!" Her sister extended one hand towards her.

She reached back, then realised her mistake and swung the shaft of Crescent Rose towards Yang. For a moment, it seemed that it might reach and then the Nevermore angled itself away.

Well if it was going to be like that... Ruby flipped the catch that brought the blade around ninety-degrees and into line with the shaft. Twisting around to aim the weapon she pulled the trigger.

For a moment she was plunging towards one of the Nevermore's crimson eyes and then she came sharply to rest, her cheek pressed against the bonewhite skull face. Crescent Rose had found the eye-hole and plunged more than the length of its head into the grimm's face.

The Nevermore flagged its wings wildly, cawing in pain but somehow it wasn't slain.

Yang caught hold of Ruby's cloak and dragged her into a brief embrace. "That was insane!"

"Yang! Not the time!"

"Dad's gonna flip!"

Ruby looked around. "Pyrrha, Ivory? Are you still here?"

There was a muffled cry and then a tearing sound as the Nevermore's right wing broke away and whirled off into the sky.

"'meant to do that," Ivory said from below the joint, although her face suggested otherwise.

"What's going on!" Pyrrha's voice was more curious than alarmed as the Nevermore began to spiral out of the sky.

"Thank you for riding Nevermore Airways, all passengers are now to disembark - exits are in every direction."

Ruby shook her head at Yang. "We're going to jump."

"Jump?" asked Ivory.

Was that Beacon down below? Ruby wondered. "On three. One... two... three!"

She kicked off, tumbling, and then spread her arms to stabilise herself. Yang caught hold of her by one hand and she felt Crescent Rose tug her the other way. Turning her head, Ruby saw Pyrrha reaching out. They caught themselves by the wrists and a moment later Ivory closed the circle.

"That is Beacon down there! We're almost back at the cliff!"

"You're kidding?" Yang looked down. "You're not kidding! Wow, we should ride the Nevermores more often. Way better than an airship."

"..." Ivory looked down. "Disagree."

"it's gonna be close!"

By common assent they broke apart as the cliff swelled beneath them, the launch pads and professors turning from mere dots with alarming speed.

Ruby fired off everything left in Crescent Rose and she heard Yang and Pyrrha doing the same, trying to cut their downwards velocity as much as possible. With no gun to work with Ivory was falling faster than them and seemed to be bracing for -

A purple glow surrounded the faunus and a moment later, the same light caught the rest of them, slowing their fall until they touched down gently, feet first.

Glynda Goodwitch looked them over and sighed. "We're going to need to work on your landing strategies, Miss Ironwood."

Ruby sighed slightly. They'd made it back, safe and sound. "Uh, we brought relics?"

"The white knight pieces," agreed the headmaster, raising his mug to his lips.

How did he know that? She saw the scroll in his other hand. Oh...! "Uh, do we pass."

There was a long moment of silence as Ozpin sipped on his coffee but there was a slight smile on his lips once he lowered the mug. "I think we can agree on that, wouldn't you say, Professor Goodwitch?"

Ruby almost missed the blonde professor's judicious nod as Yang half-tackled her and Pyrrha punched her lightly in the shoulder. Ivory favoured them with an awkward smile.

"C'mere!" Yang reached out and grabbed the faunus and pulled her over to join them. "We have to take a picture! Professor could you..." She saw Goodwitch's raised eyebrow and turned to the headmaster. "Uh..."

"I believe that you have all the resources necessary," he assured them.

And that's how the photo ended up being taken with Yang's scroll balanced on the end of Crescent Rose and Pyrrha pressing the controls with an empty cartridge-case.

"Oh that's okay. We should do it again some time."

Weiss felt her eyebrows rise sharply as Nora brushed off the apology she'd been offered. It was alarming that the faunus had almost killed the shorter girl but at least she realised the magnitude of her carelessness.

"Again?"

"It was fun!" Nora declared. "May you'll be on a team with me and Ren! Then we can be besties! Well, not as bestie-best friends - that would be Ren - but bestie-girl-friends!"

"...I electrocuted you."

Ren cleared his throat. "Nora's semblence makes her stronger when she's exposed to electrical charges."

Ivory nodded in understanding.

"Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren," the headmaster called from the stage.

Weiss walked up the steps in a dignified fashion, arms folded behind them in the posture Professor Goodwitch had indicated was customary. Nora, on the other hand...

"Eh?"

"Hey!"

Weiss looked back and saw Yang had caught hold of Ivory's arm and was doing her level best to keep Nora from dragging the faunus up onto the stage.

"Nora..." Ren murmured looking resigned.

"Come on," Nora said with blithe disregard for the scene she was making. "They're announcing our team."

"She's not on your team!"

Ivory, who was being dragged in two directions by one person gripping each hand, looked baffled by the entire thing.

"But she's gotta be on my team so she can zap me!" Nora somehow managed to lose herself in thought in the middle of the tug of war she was waging. "Team N... R... I... Y... N... Rain, we can be team Rain!"

There was a ripple of laughter from the audience and Headmaster Ozpin cleared his throat. "Thank you for the suggestion, Miss Valkyrie, but as you chose to take the white rook - as did Miss Schnee - the four of you that I called will be working together as Team Brown." Up on the displays the letter and N lined up suitable under their faces.

Ren turned back and carefully peeled Nora's fingers off Ivory's.

"Under the leadership," Ozpin continued, "of Blake Belladonna."

Weiss felt her lips tighten slightly. Why was Blake chosen over her? Granted, better her than Nora but still... She turned a little stiffly towards Blake and then let familiar manners take over. "Congratulations."

"Uh... thank you." Blake took her hand briefly and then caught Nora's free elbow to help Ren walk the pouting girl off the stage.

"But Ren...!" she protested. "Lightning! We'd be unstoppable!"

"Perhaps we can arrange a time-share," Blake offered drily. "Ivory joins our team every other day a week and you join her team on the days she doesn't."

"I don't think they'd go for it," Ren observed. "And I think Professor Goodwitch is heading this way."

Weiss straightened sharply at the prospect of a lambasting by the formidable professor. Goodwitch was clearly someone to emulate and she hated to think that Nora's... behaviour... might draw ire from the dust specialist.

Another team filtered across the stage and made sure not to stand next to team BRWN. No one wanted to be in the splash range of them if Goodwitch let loose.

"Yang Xiao Long."

Weiss saw Nora perk up as Ivory's partner was called for.

"Ruby Rose. Ivory Ironwood. And Pyrrha Nikos. You chose the white knight pieces..."

She tuned out the next few words. Ironwood? Like General James Ironwood, one of the most powerful men in Atlas? But... he wasn't a faunus! They couldn't be related, could they?"

"...led by Ruby Rose."

"I'm so proud of you!" Yang grabbed Ruby, arms around her sister's shoulders.

Weiss shook her head. What was the headmaster thinking? Ruby might be able to fight but how could someone so inept in every other way be the sort of paragon needed to lead a team of hunters?

"Well, there's your answer," Blake noted to Nora.

"What is?"

"You don't have to be on the same team as Ivory, you can be friends with her - just make friends with the rest of her team. We fought with them earlier, didn't we?"

"You're right!" the ginger haired girl exclaimed. "Come on Ren!" Nora grabbed her partner and went to meet team RXIN as they left the stage, bestowing loud and enthusiastic congratulations on them all, much to the evident surprise of Yang.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" asked Weiss quietly.

Blake looked at her side-long. "I think I'd like a certain amount of peace and quiet in whatever our quarters are," she said in a similarly low voice. "This should move the loudest member of our team out and into another team's company some of the time."

The white-haired girl blinked. That... "I'm impressed by your leadership," she admitted.

Her partner didn't seem to take it as a compliment, instead giving her a searching look before shrugging. "We'll see."

Winter Schnee rose from the bench she'd been waiting on, putting away her scroll as Major Soliel let her know that General Ironwood had made time for her.

"I thought you were off-duty, Specialist."

She drew herself up and saluted. "A specialist is never truly off-duty, sir. I'm not here on official business though."

Behind his desk she saw Ironwood tense. "Unofficial business?"

"Just a letter from my sister, sir. She's at Beacon, with your niece."

"I suppose it was only a matter of time before the news made it here," he said in a resigned voice and leant back a little in his chair. "So, is there a problem?"

Winter shook her head. "I thought you might be interested in... an outside perspective. If I've presumed..."

"No, and after all - you found her in the Wilds."

"I've every confidence she'd have reached Mantle on her own. Ivory is a very determined young woman."

"Is that approval I hear?" the general asked.

"She has that from me." Winter opened her scroll and pulled up a copy of the electronic letter she'd received. "I'm not familiar with Beacon's initiation practises but it appeared to involve a field exercise in the Emerald Forest."

"Ozpin likes to mix things up. Will our respective relatives be team-mates?"

"It seems not. Weiss is part of Team BRWN while Ivory is a member of team RXIN. However, all eight members of both teams seem to have worked together during the initiation. Perhaps not friends as such but..."

"But bonds of comradeship." Ironwood leaned forwards. "So what did they face? Beowolves, I'd imagine. Boarbatusks? And maybe some Ursa if I recall the most common breeds of Grimm in the forests around Vale."

"Actually that's a little concerning. One of Weiss' team apparently faced a King Taijitu which seems reasonable, but an Alpha Beowolf, a Deathstalker and a particularly large Nevermore... it's a little more strenuous than I'd expect for students at the start of their first year at an Academy."

She saw he'd straightened as she outlined what the girls had faced.

"No serious injuries, I hope?"

"Nothing that Weiss mentioned, sir. There was apparently a minor friendly fire incident where Ivory accidentally struck another young huntress who got too close to an Ursa but I gather no harm was done and it seems the pair may have even struck up a friendship."

"I was worried about that. Ivory's not precisely outgoing."

Winter had to admit that she agreed with that assessment. "Well, she has a partner, two other team-mates and apparently her new friend comes with a partner of her own so that's a respectable support network," she reassured her superior. "Weiss has asked me whether Ivory's connected to you though. The surname isn't that common, after all."

"I'm not ashamed of her, Winter. At the same time, I wouldn't want your sister to feel pressured to make friends with her. My niece would catch on sooner or later and I doubt she'd appreciate someone befriending her to get close to me."

"I wasn't going to suggest anything of the sort, sir. I'll let my sister know that there is a connection but not to worry about it then, if that's alright."

"Thank you. I haven't heard anything directly from Beacon yet, although the teaching staff probably have other concerns for the next few days. I'll be sure to pass on any news about your sister."

"Thank you, sir." Winter saluted again before leaving. She'd imposed enough on the general's time already.

"Good morning, Team Resin!"

"It's team Raisin," Yang heard her sister protest.

"Are you sure?"

The blonde looked up and saw the door to their room open, a sleepy looking Ruby having opened it for Nora.

"What time is it?" Pyrrha asked from the far bed. She apparently figured it out almost immediately. "Half-past six? Nora, what are you doing?"

"I'm here to see Ivory!" There was a pause. "Where is she?"

Yang rolled over and saw the bed in the corner was empty, still as immaculately made as when they'd arrived. No surprise there. "Maybe she went for breakfast?"

"Ooh! Maybe they have pancakes! I'll get Ren!" Hurricane Nora departed and Ruby - such a good little sister - closed the door behind her.

A moment later there was a banging on the door. Ruby held a finger to her lips.

More banging and then: "Why aren't they opening the door?"

"Maybe they went to breakfast," Ren's voice suggested.

"They'd better leave pancakes for the rest of us!"

All three girls relaxed at the sound of departing footsteps, then exchanged looks and couldn't help but giggle. "Seriously, where is Ivory?" asked Pyrrha. "Did she get up early?"

"I'm not sure." Yang rubbed her eyes. Going back to sleep probably wasn't an option.

The door to the closet swung open and a bleary-eyed faunus slipped her head out - just above the carpet. "Is it morning?"

Yang watched as Pyrrha threw back the bedcovers. "Why were you hiding in the closet?" the redhead asked.

"I was sleeping."

Yang groaned. "Same as last night?"

Ivory nodded.

"Okay. Pyrrha, Ivory has a sleeping condition."

Ruby clapped her hands. "We're all awake so Team RXIN can begin their first team activities. I made a list."

"You're really getting into this leader thing, aren't you?" Yang spotted Ivory was slowly retreating back behind the door and rolled her eyes.

"Of course." Ruby picked up a book. "The first order of business was going to be decorating, but Pyrrha's right. We don't really know each other. So we can start with introductions."

"Are you sure we can't start with the bathroom? I didn't wash my hair last night and..."

"Yang! We've got class in less than three hours!"

"It takes three hours for you to wash your hair?" asked Pyrrha. "It only takes me about forty minutes."

Ivory held up one finger questioningly then frowned and shook her head and went back to slinking off.

Ruby, however, was having none of it. "Come out, Ivory! We can unpack and tell each other about ourselves before breakfast." She pulled on the older girl's arm. "Oh, you've got your weapon. Did Professor Goodwitch say that was okay? And have you named it?"

"Ah... Yes and no."

Yang chuckled. "Okay, let me begin then." She opened her bag. No time for proper decoration but at least she could hang her clothes up now the closet wasn't in use. "I'm Yang Xiao Long, Ruby's older sister. We live on Patch and I graduated Signal. Our dad and our uncle Qrow teach there."

"I know you said sisters, but I take it that one of you isn't seventeen?"

Ruby nodded in answer to her partner's question. "I'm fifteen. Professor Ozpin offered me a place at Beacon early after I fought off a dust robbery in Vale City. I think he knows uncle Qrow." She made a face. "I don't think Professor Goodwitch is happy about it."

"From what I've seen, you're more than ready. I'm Pyrrha Nikos, and like Yang I'm seventeen. I graduated from Sanctum Academy in Mistral but I came here for a fresh start." The redhead hesitated. "I didn't have many friends there..."

Yang snapped her fingers. "That's where I've hear your name. Didn't you win the Mistral Tournament a couple of times?"

"It's not a big deal," the other girl said awkwardly.

"Let me guess, everyone made a big deal about wanting to be friends with the champ, but no one wanted to be friends with Pyrrha?" Yang saw she'd scored a hit. "Dad wasn't keen on tournaments but you get some of that if you're top of your class and," she paused and posed, "A knockout, know what I mean? It's a pain."

"Yes." Pyrrha looked over at the last of the group. "And you, Ivory?"

"Ivory Ironwood." The wolf-faunus studied the floor. "Nineteen."

"Nineteen?"

"Family taking me to Atlas two years ago." She didn't look up. "Went down over mountains. Only survivor."

"Oh no." Ruby went wide-eyed. "I'm sorry." She reached out and took the older girl's hand.

It was the most words Yang thought she'd heard out of her partner. She wasn't sure what she could say except platitudes. "The professor mentioned an uncle?"

Ivory nodded. "Teaches Atlas." She paused. "At Atlas. Would be... difficult."

"People'd think you were his pet student." She and Ruby had got a fair bit of that at Signal, but other parts were falling into place. If Ivory shared a name with her uncle then he didn't just teach at Atlas, he was the headmaster. And surviving a crash...

Yang considered what she knew of the geography and climate of Solitas, the continent on which Atlas stood and put that together with Ivory's observed habits. "You spent a lot of time alone, didn't you? How long did it take you to reach civilisation?"

"Couple of months back."

"You spent two years in the Wilds!" Pyrrha exclaimed loudly. "Alone!?"

Ivory shrank back.

"Oh... I'm sorry." The Mistralian bowed her head in apology. "But that's amazing."

The girl patted Ruby on the back of her hand.

"Huh? Oh." She released her and Ivory rolled backwards over the bed and retreated into the bathroom. "Uh..." Yang's sister dropped her head. "Aw man."

"Sorry." Pyrrha moved and put one arm around Ruby's shoulder. "I should have been more sensitive."

"I don't think she's mad." Yang joined them, sitting where Ivory had a moment before. "She's talking to us, after all. Just let her talk about it in her own time."

"That could take a while."

"Well... we've got four years."

"That's the spirit!" agreed Yang. "Anyway, lets make a start unpacking and get through the bathroom once Ivory is done."

Glynda Goodwitch knocked on the door to Team RXIN's room. When no one responded she checked her scroll and saw that all four girls' scrolls were in the room so they ought to be there still. She knocked again, impatiently.

The team leader opened the door and had to look up a bit from her initial eye-line, which had been aimed at someone closer to her own height. "Oh, Professor!"

"Is there a problem?"

"No." Ruby shook her head and backed up to let Glynda in. "We thought it might be Nora."

"I belive Miss Valkyrie is at breakfast, something you should consider before your first class." She looked around and saw that the bathroom door was closed and Yang wasn't visible while Pyrrha was hanging up clothes in the closet - a closet that had a familiar sleeping bag on the floor.

"I see you've improvised sleeping arrangements again, Miss Ironwood." The girl in question was at one of the desks and had a textbook open, which was a more promising sign than some of those she'd given so far. "So long as you're not causing a problem for your teammates, it won't be an issue."

"It it's better then we don't mind."

Glynda saw Pyrrha nodding in agreement and decided that Ruby was likely speaking for her sister too. Very good then. Now, about your weapon."

She saw Ivory close her fingers more tightly around the hilt of her sword and shook her head.

"Professor Ozpin has agreed to a partial exemption from the weapon storage rules. We expect you to leave your weapon in the locker for meals and for classes where it isn't required. You will be permitted to keep it in your dorm room overnight however." She pushed her glasses up her nose. "This is contingent on your good behaviour. Should we have reason to believe you're abusing this exemption then the decision will be reconsidered."

To her relief Ivory relaxed slightly. "Thank you."

She nodded crisply. "Good morning, girls."

"Ah...?" Ruby raised her hand as if in class. "Professor?"

"Yes?"

"I was thinking, if Ivory doesn't want a bed...?" She glanced at the student from Atlas, who nodded. "Well, if we could move one into storage then we'd have a little more room in here."

"I suppose something can be arranged." Glynda made a note on her scroll. "It may be a day or two before facilities can send someone to collect the bed. You will be notified, Miss Rose. And Miss Ironwood, if you change your mind it may take us a day or two return it."

She got an indifferent shrug in reply.

"I see." Well, she supposed it was something to add to the letter she should write for James.

The door to the bathroom opened and Yang emerged. "Hey, let's go to... Uh, Professor?"

"Nothing to worry about, Miss Xiao Long." She left the room and ignored the questions directed at the rest of team RXIN she heard behind her.

The door to team BRWN's room opened and half of the team emerged. "Miss Belladonna. Miss Schnee."

"Oh, Professor Goodwitch?" the white-haired girl said politely. "Can we help you at all?"

"I don't think so." She glanced through the door and saw no immediate sign of their teammates. "I take it Mr Lie and Miss Valkyrie have gone ahead for breakfast?"

Weiss glanced over at her leader and then nodded. "A little while ago."

"You may wish to catch up with them, Miss Belladonna. They are your team-mates after all and today is just the first day in the next four years that you'll be living, working and fighting alongside them. Start as you mean to go on."

"We're just heading there now."

"Good."

Ruby was two steps into the Grimm Studies classroom when Ivory grabbed her cloak and yanked her back out into the corridor. "Whaaaaa?"

"Grimm." Ivory's other hand was where her sword would have hung if she hadn't obediently secured it in her locker. "Need... damn..."

"Ladies, I'll see no roughhousing in the corridors." A teacher - or at least Ruby guessed that the grey-haired man in the burgundy jacket held that position - stood in the doorway. "What seems to be the cause of distress?"

Yang took her partner's hand and firmly removed it from Ruby's cloak, although the younger girl noted that she also patted Ivory reassuringly on the shoulder. "Professor. Is there a Grimm in the classroom?"

"Yes indeed!" He stroked his moustache. "Excellent perception, Miss Xiao Long. Well secured, I assure you."

"But why?"

"How better to study the vile creatures? Not all classes are theoretical, Miss Rose!" The man gave her a kind look. "A wise huntsman must know his prey. Or her prey, haha, as the case may be."

Ivory held up one hand and Ruby saw her jaw twitch before she spoke. "In class. With grimm? Not armed!?" The last word was half-shrieked.

"My dear girl, there's no need for hysterics. The beast is alone, a mere boarbatusk that has far more to fear from us than we do from it. It's not as if we're civilians."

"Getting sword."

One moment Ivory was in motion and the next she saw that the professor had one hand on her shoulder and holding her firmly from further motion. "Quite unnecessary." There was far less jolliness in his voice and far more command. "Miss Ironwood, I do understand your concern but you are quite safe without your weapon."

The girl shook her head.

"This is part of your education, Miss Ironwood. Go inside and take a seat."

Ruby swallowed. She was the leader, she'd have to take care of this, right? "Ivory? It's okay." She made what she hoped was a discreet gesture to Yang. "Professor -" What was his name? It had been on the schedule... Port! "- Port will keep the boarbatusk under control."

"Of course I will." He let go of Ivory and raised one fist in what Ruby guessed was supposed to be a dramatic fashion. "Why I would not even need my own weapon to deal with such paltry prey!"

Yang put her arm around Ivory's shoulder. "You see, partner? If anything goes wrong, we'll just leave the Professor to keep it busy while we get our weapons." She glanced over at Ruby and jerked her head towards the door.

"Come on, Pyrrha. Let's get some seats so we can all sit together."

"Oh, sorry!" the redhead exclaimed and followed Ruby back into the classroom. They were the focus of everyone's attention as they entered, something that didn't seem to bother Pyrrha. Ruby felt her shoulders hunch as she went up the steps and picked out a row with no one sat on it already. She'd have preferred to sit near students she knew but that was only the members of Team BRWN and the four of them were split among two rows by the door, surrounded by other, earlier students.

A moment or two later the rest of their team joined them, Yang keeping one hand on Ivory's arm.

"Well," Professor Port said briskly as he took his place at the front of the classroom. "Time to get down to business, my fine young students! And our business today are monsters... demons... prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names..."

Ivory's hands were as pale as her name as she clenched them on the desk. Beside Ruby, Pyrrha was taking notes carefully but Ruby found it hard to focus on the Professor's story (although honestly it was pretty boring). When she wasn't looking at Ivory her gaze kept going to the cage in the corner. It might be the Atlas girl's paranoia rubbing off her but she really wished she had Crescent Rose on hand right now.

"So!" Port brought his fist down on the table. "Enough about me! I've told you the qualities that a Huntsman - or Huntress - should display. But who here feels they are the embodiment of these traits?"

"Ooh! Ooo! Pick me! Pick me!"

Ruby almost jumped out of her seat as Nora exploded with excitement from nearer to the door.

"I'm doughty, stalwart, well-endowed and..."

"Nora, he said dependable, strategic and wise."

"Well I'm all those things too!"

"I'm sure you are, Miss Valkyrie!" Did the professor wink at the girl? "Well, please fetch your weapon and combat gear and we will put you up against your foe here." He pointed at the crate.

"Yippee!" Nora bounded down the classroom and out the door. A little song trailed behind her, something about 'gonna whack a grimm today'.

"Ho-ho! A very enthusiastic young huntress. She reminds me of myself at that age!" Port walked over the the wall and detached a blunderbuss-axe from the wall where it was mounted.

It took only a few moments for Nora to return, swinging her hammer happily in one hand. "I'm ready, I'm super-ready!"

"Very good, then -"

"Wait!" Nora threw up her hands. "Ivory! Do the thing!"

"The... thing...?"

"Zap-zap me!"

Ivory folded her arms. "I'm disarmed."

"Awwwww!"

Professor Port swept his own weapon around and smashed the padlock off. "Let the match begin!"

The end of the cage sprang open and the promised boarbatusk burst forth. Ruby knew that they were far from the most dangerous of Grimm, and relatively small. But they were fast in a straightline and the armour around their heads and shoulders was difficult to penetrate.

Nora either didn't know or didn't care because she sprinted towards it, swinging the weighty head of her hammer towards the boarbatusk's face.

Whether or not it would have cracked the armour was a moot point - the grimm sidestepped her and before she could come around for a second try - to her credit, the young huntress didn't try to recover as much as throw herself further into the swing to bring herself through a full turn - the creature had hurled itself up into the class seating, its trademark sinning attack heading directly for team RXIN.

There was no time to act, just to react.

Somewhere between her own efforts, Pyrrha grabbing her and Ivory pushing her with her feet as she bolted in the other direction, Ruby was clear and in the aisle before the tusked grimm demolished their seat and what passed for her notes.

"Children! Get clear!" barked Port, trying to bring his blunderbuss to bear.

Nora fired off a grenade from Magnhild, throwing herself after the grimm and into the professor's field of fire. (Also demolishing half of the teacher's desk).

A slim huntsman-in-training with a mohawk went flying as the Boarbatusk broke free of the desk behind where it had landed and smashed its way along the remains of the desk towards Ivory and Yang.

"Pin it!" screamed Yang and she slipped into a crouch, facing the oncoming grimm.

Pyrrha grabbed hold of the metal frame that had supported her desk and yanked it free as the boarbatusk crashed into Ruby's sister.

The monster slewed to one side as the blonde caught hold of one tusk with both hands. For a moment it seemed as if it might twist enough to gore Yang with the other tusk but Ivory's hands secured it in time, the dog-faunus having braced herself against the desk.

Other students were on the move now, Pyrrha springing forwards to spear the boarbatusk with her improvised weapon from behind.

A white glyph formed over the boarbatusk's back a second before Port's blunderbuss discharged into its flank and Nora brought her hammer down on the beast's back and discharged a grenade.

Ruby thought that either attack would have sufficed but both of them, combined with the glyph, was beyond messy. Pyrrha was sent flying backwards and although she flipped into what should have been a textbook three-point landing, Ruby was too close and the two girls ended up tangled on the far aisle.

"I'm sorry..."

"It's okay," she reassured her partner. "Yang! Ivory!"

"Hi sis! How about some strawberrrrrriiieeess," Yang slurred from where she was embedded in the wall.

Ivory's hand reached up from beyond a desk at the front of the classroom. Only when a second hand reached up over the desktop did she seem able to drag herself upright again. Leant against the desk she raised one hand wearily.

"Yes, Miss Ironwood," the professor conceded, moustache twitching. "You may bring your weapon in future. I'll advise Professor Goodwitch that all students may bring their weapons to my class if they so choose."

Weiss was looking sidelong at her again. Blake saw the Schnee flick her eyes away hastily every time she looked up from her book. She'd noticed it first as she unpacked her bags and it had convinced her to leave a couple of volumes inside the bag until she could shelve them when no one else was in their dorm room.

"Is everything alright, Weiss?"

"Of course, Blake." Was it her imagination or was her 'partner' too fast to reply. "Why do you ask?"

"Just trying to be a good leader." Blake put a bookmark between the pages and closed her book. "I should probably check on Ren and Nora."

Weiss nodded and Blake could feel the other girl's eyes on her as she left the room.

With the door closed between them she leant against the door and sighed. Had Weiss spotted her ears - or seen some other clue as to her faunus nature? She'd managed to move unnoticed among humans before without being identified but this was longer term and in someways more intimate than anything she'd tried.

Probably not, she decided. Or at least - the Atlasian girl might suspect but if she was sure it seemed certain she'd have said something. She'd certainly been outspoken about everything else that offended her.

Team RXIN's door was closed but she could hear voices so she knocked.

Pyrrha opened the door and it looked as if the tournament fighter was about to greet her.

"- and then it exploded!" shouted Nora.

"Nora, we were all there." Ren sounded tired. Probably one part Nora and one part the classes. None had been quite so exciting as Grimm Studies but just taking notes from Professor Oobleck was exhausting and other classes were just as tiring.

"Hi Blake!"

"Nora." She nodded blandly, glancing casually around the room. "Just checking you're okay." Her brow furrowed - four desks, just like Team BRWN's room, but only three beds.

"I'm just peachy!" Nora plucked just such a fruit out of the bowl between the bed she was sprawled on and the one that Ruby was laid out on. They both had books out so at least in theory they were doing their reading. "Would you like a peach?"

"I'll hold on until dinner, thank you." Now that she looked around again, the closet door was open and was that a sleeping bag on the floor? "Ruby, aren't you missing a bed in here?"

"Ivory sleeps in the closet," the other team leader said absently, chewing on the end of a pencil.

"Excuse me?"

"Ah!" Ruby scribbled on the notepad resting next to their history textbook. "Sorry, what was that?"

"The closet?"

"Yes," the younger girl didn't look up. "Ivory sleeps there so we had the other bed taken away."

Blake's felt her fingers tighten on the door. "I can't believe you."

"Eh?"

Nora hopped up and pulled the closet door open. "Hey, it's really cozy in here!" she exclaimed. "A pillow fort would be better though."

"Segregated sleeping areas? Really?" she was trying to keep a hold on her temper but this... she hadn't expected this. Ruby had her team had seemed so nice and now this, without any warning.

"Segregated?" The younger girl rolled over and sat up, silver eyes puzzled. "But we're all girls."

"But you won't let the faunus on your team sleep in the same room as you?"

Silence fell on the dorm, everyone looking at her.

The door to the bathroom cracked open and Yang, a towel wrapped around her head, looked out. "What's going on?"

"Oh, Blake thinks Ivory being in the closet is racist."

"...is that a thing in Atlas?"

Ren sighed. "Nora, you're confusing everyone again."

"Heh." His partner rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry, Rennie. Make it better?"

Blake put her hands on her hips. "Why is your partner forced to sleep in the closet, Yang?"

"'cause she's agrophobic."

"...what?"

"It only bothers her when she tries to sleep. She feels safer in the closet."

"Oh." She felt colour rising in her cheeks

"Not everything's about faunus, you know." Yang leaned against the doorframe. "You gonna be nice now?"

Blake swallowed. "I... yes. I'm sorry, Ruby. I shouldn't have..."

"Is that really something that happens?" the girl asked.

"Faunus can face a lot of prejudice. I shouldn't have jumped to the conclusion that this was one of those times."

The smaller huntress sat up. "I'm glad someone stands up for them then, but you don't have to worry about us. Ivory;s our friend."

"Yep, and her neuroses are way more important than her having doggie ears."

"Yang!"

"What? They're just like Zwei's."

Ruby gasped. "I hadn't thought of that!"

"Right. Well, I should get back to my own homework." Blake rubbed her face. "Once again, I'm sorry."

"I think everyone here knows you didn't mean harm," Ren told her. He caught Nora's sleeve and tugged. "Come on, Nora, back to our room."

The girl hoped up. "Okay, Rennie. Wait for us, Blake!"

"Sure."

She led the other two out into the hall. I really made a fool of myself.

Ren patted her on the shoulder. "It's admirable that you feel so strongly about racist behaviour, Blake."

"Yeah! You were super scary!" Nora punched the air as Blake pushed open the door to their room. "If they'd really been mistreating Ivory then they'd have been all 'no, don't break our legs!'"

"Who's mistreating Ivory?" asked Weiss, looking up.

"No one. There was a misunderstanding." Blake sat down on her bed and looked at her partner.

The Schnee nodded firmly. "Good. Ivory is a countrywoman of mine, after all. My sister asked after her."

"I didn't know she was a friend."

"Not exactly, but Winter works for Ivory's uncle."

She didn't say anything about Ivory being a faunus. "I still should have found out the facts first. The same as when I first met you, Weiss."

"Oh?" The white-haired girl paused. "Oh yes," she added frostily.

"I still don't approve of SDC's policies. But I shouldn't blame you for your father's decisions."

"Ha. Well," she said briskly. "I accept your apology."

Blake reached up and toyed with her ribbon for a moment but then released it. No, I can tell them later maybe but I should get to know them more first. "So, Nora... you and Ren have known each other a long time?"

"Yes!" the girl exclaimed out loud. "We've been bestest-best friends forever!"

"So where do you come from?" Blake asked. Getting Nora talking was probably the best way to figure out where she - and probably Ren - stood on certain issues.