Winter was almost over. The days were getting longer. The weather was getting warmer. Snows were getting lighter and less frequent. Team RNJR- or JNRR, or RRNJ, or RRJN, or any other of the many names they had idly discussed during their long trek- were still making their way across the continent of Sanas. There were mountains at the horizon on either side. In between them, a river wound its way across the broad, flat plain. The tall prairie grass gave them a refreshingly good view of their surroundings, but did little to stop the chilling winds. As they made their way to the west side of the valley, where the mountains closed in again, they passed by several fields of farmland.

"Where to next?" Ruby asked her companions. "This isn't going to be another town with a weird name, is it?"

"Well, that depends." Jaune replied. "Do you consider 'Geborgencumb' to be a weird name?"

"Well, yeah."

"Aww, C'mon Ruby. It's pretty easy." Nora interjected, punctuating it with a smack to Ruby's shoulder that was meant to be friendly, but probably came out harder than she meant it to. "Geborgencumb. Geborgencumb. Geborgen cumb. See? There's no way that's as hard as you're making it out to be."

"Uh, right then. So, anyone know anything about this place? Ren?"

"Geborgencumb is one of the largest independent villages in the world. It was first founded as part of the kingdom of Vale in the lead-up to the Great War, but it sued for independence about thirty years later, on the grounds that the kingdom had failed to properly protect it."

"Wow. You really do know a lot about-" Ruby turned back to Ren, finding him reading out of a book. He almost looked like he was trying to hide behind it.

"I still don't know much about towns on this continent."

SCENE

Geborgencumb was about what they expected from a large, independent village. It was nestled into the foothills, nearby a large, lazy river. It was at the point where the prairie gave way to forest, surrounded by old trees. It was also built like a massive fortress, surrounded on all sides by massive walls. They watched several armed guards patrolling atop the battlement as they waited at one of the gates. After a quick interview with an important-looking soldier, they where let in with directions to the local inn. No one wanted to wait longer than they had to to get to Mistral, but the sun was getting low and none of them had slept in an actual bed since their awful night in Haewencroft.

Geborgencumb was a much different sort of town. The buildings were tall and built shoulder-to-shoulder. The facades were painted bright shades of every color, with white trim and white borders around the windows. Or, given how much trim and how many large windows there were, perhaps they were white with various other colors added on. The roofs were angled steeply. The streets were far from crowded, but there were still a number of people out at twilight. They passed by a group of children reluctantly splitting up for dinner and a couple around their age walking down the street arm in arm. They could hear faint music, coming from a few streets over. It brought a smile to Ruby's face, something that had become a rare sight over the last few weeks.

The hotel appeared to be a repurposed house, with a counter installed in the foyer. The innkeeper was an older woman, stout and friendly looking.

"Well, hey there!" she said to them.

"Hello." Ruby responded. "We'd like two rooms, please. Just for tonight."

"Oh? Where ya headed?" The innkeeper asked, even though she had turned to look through the rack of keys behind her. From the look of it, most of the rooms were currently occupied.

"We're going east, to the coast."

"Oh no, you don't want to be headed that way just yet." She said as she slid a key off the rack. "The pass is still snowed in. You'd better wait a few more days." She removed another key and turned back to them.

Ruby didn't see her teammates, but she had a feeling they were wearing the same look of skepticism she was. The innkeeper seemed taken aback by the sight. It took her a moment to respond. "Okay, I know how that sounds. And yeah, I'd love it if y'all decided to stay here for a year or two. But the pass up ahead is dangerous, even in the spring or fall. The land's tricky, the rocks fall without warning, and it's all full of Grimm. Two years ago, a caravan tried pushing through before the thaw. Not one of 'em came back." Her voice cracked on the final words.

"Okay, do you know when it will be clear?" Jaune asked.

"Not too much longer. The next caravan is going to be leaving in four days, so it should be clear by then. They'd probably like to have some huntsmen along."

Neither Ren nor Nora spoke. Jaune weighed their options. They were on the clock to reach Mistral as soon as they could. Another incident was on its way, they could tell. He would say the deadline was approaching, but he didn't know what the deadline truly was. The enemy's plans were still completely unknown. A few days could mean all the difference, or they could be inconsequential. Making haste could be worse than useless. The elements were cruelly impersonal, and something even the greatest huntsmen had to be wary of. There was nothing they could do to help Mistral if they never got there at all. And there was a part of Jaune, that he wouldn't admit out loud, that simply wanted to spend a few days resting.

Jaune and Ruby shared a glance. No words passed between them, but he could still sense that Ruby had come to the same conclusion. "We'll wait for the caravan."

"Well, that's good to hear." Said the innkeeper as she handed a key each to Ruby and Jaune.

Ruby turned to Nora. "Alright with rooming together for a few days?"

"Actually, I think I'd prefer to room with Ren."

The resulting awkward silence would have made a self-conscious person feel embarrassed. Nora could not be self-conscious if ordered to at gunpoint. Ruby handed her the key with no further question.

The innkeeper chuckled. "Well, you won't regret that. Spring's here, and it's time to celebrate. The Spring Market'll be the night before you go. They'll have food, games, music, what have you."

"I think we could do with a little party." Jaune said.

They had already started toward their rooms when they heard the innkeeper mention one more thing. "You won't even have any trouble seeing. There's a full moon that night!"

SCENE

"So, are you going to tell me the real reason?" Ren asked. Their room was small and had little in the way of decoration except for a few replica rococo paintings, but the warm air and soft bed felt luxurious after their long travels. Ren had felt so comfortable; he had hesitated for some time to broach the topic that was bothering him.

"The real reason what?"

Nora had a certain routine when it came to sleeping. She would lay down, spend at least an hour tossing and turning in an effort to get comfortable, end up in a position so bizarre you would think it impossible to sleep, and the pass out to the point that it would take a freight train to wake her up. She currently had not made it past the first phase.

"The reason you didn't want to room with Ruby."

"What? What makes you think there's a reason?"

Ren rolled his eyes. Nora didn't do things arbitrarily. Whatever she did, she always had a reason.

"Don't roll your eyes at me." Nora responded, even though the lights were out. "I just didn't feel like being around Ruby."

"Haewencroft, right?"

"She went berserk and it nearly killed y- us. And now she just acts like nothing's wrong?"

"She was possessed." Ren said, too matter-of-factly.

"How do we know that's what happened, though? How do we know she isn't still possessed? How do we know she's still her?"

"Relax. I'm sure nothing's changed." Said Ren, rubbing a certain spot on his leg.

SCENE

"You're not going to sleep tonight, are you?" Jaune groaned. It was past midnight, according to the clock in their room, but Ruby still hadn't turned off the light.

"Nope, nope. Not. Yet. This part's really exciting." Said Ruby, her face still buried one of the beaten-up paperbacks she took with her on the trip.

"Real page-turner, huh?"

"Mm-hmm. Yep. Definitely."

"Even though you're still on the same page you were on an hour ago?"

Ruby finally put the book down. "I was hoping you wouldn't notice."

"We could talk about this." We could also wait until tomorrow, Jaune thought to himself.

"I'm trying to figure out what do when… you know."

Jaune nodded. Sleep would have to wait. "Any ideas?"

"I though maybe I could just head outside the walls. Get away from everyone. But, well…"

"If you don't end up coming back and jumping the walls, you might wake up the next day miles from civilization with no weapon." Or clothing.

"I could lock myself in a basement all night."

"I don't think there's a door around here that could hold the wolf. Any other ideas?"

"Think they've got a strawberry patch around here?"

Jaune shook his head.

Ruby buried her face in a pillow and screamed.

"It would be nice if we knew some more about werewolves."

"Yeah…" Ruby said, sounding distracted. "Maybe we could learn something else. There are a lot of people here. Someone might know something."

"Couldn't hurt."

"Alright. Tomorrow, we can start our investigation." It wasn't much of a plan, really, but it was enough to put a smile on Ruby's face.

"Sounds good." Jaune could manage a small smile back.

Ruby's eyes seem to linger on him for a moment. "Great! G'night, Jaune!" She somehow managed to shut off the light and throw he blanket over herself in one movement.

Jaune lay back against his pillow and closed his eyes. Tomorrow was going to be an important day.

Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to get this done. I am going to see this story through to the end.