It was near dusk when Vale came into view. A welcome sight to the weary traveler who dared to leave the safety of one of the great kingdoms. Especially as intercontinental travel for one so unfamiliar with the land tended to be a prime killer for the denizens of Remnant.
They had followed along one of the many winding mountain roads necessary to circumvent the the greatest of Vale's natural defenses, only aided by wary merchants and Summer's hazy memories. Ram had protested at first, preferring to rely on his on navigational sense rather than asking for directions. He believed it attracted too much attention. It only took a fortnight however, before Summer put her foot down after Ram had gotten them lost the fifth time following the decrepit signs that dotted the wilderness. He acquiesced of course, but continued to grumble the rest of the way.
She broke into a smile. How could she not? Though cold, weary, and layered in sweat and grime Summer could do nothing but beam. It was hard to say from her memories that the city was as beautiful as she remembered, but it certainly looked magnificent now.
"Vale," she whispered, as her eyes devoured the sight of the bleeding sun disappearing over the horizon. Soon, very soon she would be back within its walls, in familiar surroundings. She would be rid of this curse upon her.
That was uncalled for. Do you think I want to be stuck like this?
Her moment ruined, she sighed in frustration as fingers unconsciously rubbed the growing lines in her forehead. Summer would never get used to this - the invasive feeling of sharing a mind. The slow creeping presence of another's emotions poisoning her own. It was unnerving - especially to someone normally as reserved as herself.
It was not uncommon that she would wake up at night in a cold sweat, reeling from a nightmare of blood and death. A version of herself covered in blood and cutting down innocents like wheat from the chafe, her mind watching from afar as if trapped behind a window looking in.
And you think I have issues…
Yes. The sooner she arrived in Vale the better. Without a doubt her memory was… fractured to say the least, but she was certain that this Kingdom had been the one she had called home and where there is home there are connections. Whether it be friends, co-workers, or acquaintances Summer was desperate. Few people in Remnant gave trust to members outside their family, fewer still to vagrants without a Kingdom. If only she could find someone in Vale who could provide her with answers.
There were also… other reasons. The merchants along the road had been reluctant to say the least to interact with her outside the occasional question. To everyone else, she was just part of the scenery. Dressed in a dirty tunic covered with a layer of dust and an old cloak dotted with holes attached to her shoulder, a noticeable lack of provisions, lien, and anything else of value. She looked a beggar at best and a bandit at worst.
It would be nice to be clean. To rest her weary back on something soft. To drink, eat, and be merry for once. To be treated like a human for once.
And your oath Summer. Your oath to me.
There was also that. The deal with the devil, if the devil had taken residence in her head and thrown a hissy fit the size of Patch. So far Ram had been satisfied with information, his goals aligning neatly with her own, but even as she despised the link between them. She knew she wasn't the only one who felt inordinately happy to see Vale.
Tch. Let's go.
For intents and purposes this had been a failure.
They had sold the last of Summer's belongings upon arrival, having gone straight to the pawnshop after an intense interrogation by the Vale police. That she hadn't been detained for at least a night or two as a possible saboteur was a miracle but Ram hadn't seemed all that surprised.
Vale loves their reputation. For the next few days, expect to be followed.
Which had been true of course. For nearly a week after she felt the constant presence of a piercing gaze. It was maddening, as if a colony of ants were crawling upon her back in a frenzy. It was only through Ram's threat of mental force - the awful pain he seemed able to summon - that stopped her from confronting her erstwhile stalkers.
They aren't worth the effort. And if you confront them, they'll only get more suspicious.
Thus she endured their presence, as she attempted to adapt to Vale, but only just.
The random baubles and trinkets she had attained the past few months had managed to score her only just enough lien for a single night at a third rate hotel on the outskirts of town. Depressing but only realistic, Vale was a Kingdom after all and even its seedier bits were egregiously expensive to an outsider.
"Six lien," she announced as she counted - for the third time - the lone coins in the palm of her hand. Summer internally winced at Ram's hiss of annoyance as her neighboring walls pounded with heavy music. Outside, sirens blared and several screeching cruisers shot by, rattling the thin plastic that were her window blinds.
Not enough.
Summer wanted to reply with something mean, but her stomach growled instead. This was horrible. Not even the satisfaction from Ram's morose tone could lift her spirits.
It had all been so simple, but perhaps that was the root of their failure. In retrospect their plan of attack had several major flaws, certainly at the very least she had underestimated the animosity of the big city.
Let's get some air.
She could only agree, as she made to leave the ratty motel. A lone walk this time of night on the backstreets of Vale would normally have been dangerous, but they were fairly confident of their safety. Her stalkers had long left at this point as well, and it would be nice to take a walk without the presence of constant eyes.
Put up your cloak and look as poor as possible. To get robbed now would just be a nuisance.
"Right," Summer whispered, as she absent-mindedly thought of a possible future in Vale.
First, to secure an income. Begging was a no. Even if Summer had the stomach, Ram's pride would not take the humiliation. Underground fighting, while an attractive choice was out. A shame, Summer had to admit, as whatever higher power governed Remnant had seemingly given her off-the-walls combat abilities to where they had no trouble traveling through grimm-infested territory. They decided that it would attract too much attention to an outsider. A temporary spike in income was not worth getting blacklisted from Vale, they had only just arrived after all. Odd jobs were surprisingly plentiful... for a Vale native. As it had been in the villages outlying the Kingdom the number of openings for strangers and outsiders were few and far between. She would have to expand her search then, perhaps to more seedier work. Summer nodded to herself, it was out of necessity after all.
"Well, well, well, out for a nice little stroll are we?" a voice dripping with sarcasm interrupted her musings, as she took stock at her surroundings.
Thugs. Of course. It's always thugs. Do you know we're only half a block away from our motel?
Summers eyes narrowed as Ram started to grumble unintelligibly. Four men, two in front of her and two behind, with a possibility of a fifth lurking nearby. Their spotter was probably prone, but at a position of height to see the enemy from a maximum distance, equipped with the finest equipment Vale could offer, as he turned to her with a troubled look on his fa-
"Helloooo? Lady? We're robbing you, anyone home?"
It wasn't even a contest.
She lashed out with a kick, keeping low to the ground as she covered the distance between her and the lead thug with a blink of an eye.
His leg felt like paper to her, as if her feet were a hot knife to butter.
He howled in pain, grasping his knee as he crumpled backwards into the street.
"What the f-" was all his companion could get out, before she pivoted to the left turning her kick into a sweep and sending him toppling over. The force so his shoulder hit the ground with an audible crack. With nary a sound she executed a hook kick and caught him on the side of the chin, the thug going limp without fanfare.
Silence reigned.
"I'm out!"
"Yea bub let's get out of here!"
She let the other two go, focusing instead on the lead thug who was staring at her with wide eyes. Eyes that seemed to get wider and wider before they rolled backwards and he fell over with a soft wheeze. A small puddle formed between his legs.
She glanced appreciatively at her legs. It felt good to know that her instincts were enough to carry her through a fight.
Check if they have their wallets.
"Excuse me!?" Summer exclaimed, before glancing around herself sheepishly. "They were robbing me!"
And now you're robbing them. What's the problem?
"I…" she trailed off lamely, an argument dying at the tip of her tongue. They were thieves after all, thieves willing to go after poor looking women at odds four to one. She also needed the money. Badly.
It's you or them. Do you want to eat tonight?
She did. Ram's casual mention of sustenance reminding her of the aching hunger that had haunted her for days. Certainly the thugs were better dressed than herself so depriving them of some lien wasn't a matter of life and death. Regardless, what was to say that the next person to find them unconscious in the street wasn't going to pickpocket them anyway, long after she had left with her head high and her stomach empty.
Well?
"This delicious!" Summer declared between bites, scarfing down the best meal she had had in weeks. Summer would have liked to say she felt guilty about stealing. She couldn't. Sure, it was a cold sandwich from a corner convenience store, but to the starved nomad such as herself it was a councilman's banquet. The owner of the store, a gruff looking aged man wearing a dirty apron, who had stayed open to let her eat regarded her with folded arms,
"You an outsider?" he asked with a critical eye,
"Yes... " Summer responded with resignation, she couldn't help a tired sigh escaping from her lips. Whenever she had done however, seemed to make the old man relax, as he started to clean his countertop with a distinctly dirty looking old rag.
"From the villages? No…" he shook his head, "Another kingdom I think, you've a dangerous look about you."
She held up her hands in a placating gesture, "Please, I'm not here to cause any trouble."
"I won't start anything," he replied coolly, "You're lucky though, another time and the whole block would be out with torches and pitchforks."
"Are the people of Vale normally so violent?" the information didn't sit well with her. What a terrible idea traveling the continent would have been, only to find Vale even less accepting than Vacuo.
"Not now, but when they're scared…" the old man trailed off to pull down the sleeve of his shirt, revealing a large scar adorning his shoulder, "The people here are just like anywhere else. In times of trouble, they know who to blame."
Summer bit her lip, so far her experience in peacetime Vale had been less than satisfactory. She shivered at the thought of Vale during a time of war.
"But the city'll grow on you," the storekeeper said, "Work hard, don't ask questions. There's a good life waiting here, for those willing to put the time. What are you here for anyway?"
Don't give too many answers.
"I… I'm looking for someone."
"Vale's a big place. You gotta name?" the old man grunted, as he busied himself tidying up the his store. Summer thought it a lost cause as she eyed the decades old furniture, but didn't say as much to the man's face.
"No," she shook her head ruefully.
"No name? You've a face?" his face was scrunched with doubt as he regarded her forlorn expression, "Not even a face? Sweet Oum…"
"Someone from my memory, from a long time ago," Summer whispered.
"Well… you'll have more luck further in the city than out here," the man replied with a snort, "An everyones gotta make the trip to the center at some point, even those rich types up near Beacon."
Her ears perked up at the word, "Beacon?" she let it roll over her tongue. It sounded so… familiar. As if she it had some sort of forgotten value to her, something important that she should know but couldn't.
Beacon...
"School or academy or whatever for the hunters, schools not bad the people living around it tho," the man snorted derisively, "A bunch of rich cowards, who think they'll live longer when closer to those kids."
"It… it sound familiar," she mused.
"Yeah? You heading up to Beacon then," a pause, before something changed in the man's voice, "You… I thought it was cause you're an outsider but… are you a huntress?"
You are not a huntress.
"I'm not a huntress," Summer stammered nervously. The man shook his head, a stern expression across his face.
"I'm not old enough for you to pull one over of me missy, I know you have aura."
"W-Well everyone can have an aura!"
Stop talking you fool!
"So you do have aura," the man regarded her incredulously, "What's a foreign huntress lookin like you doing out here?"
Leave. Now.
"I have to go," Summer squeaked as she nearly flew out of the store, "Thank you for the meal!"
Ram was often blunt. Ram was often rude. Ram was insufferably demanding. Rarely however, did he ever sound desperate.
He had been desperate once or twice before. Those were times she would not like to repeat, nor remember.
We can never eat there again. In fact, we should do everything in our power to avoid that place at all costs.
"Why?" she whispered in resignation. The cornerstore the same as dozens, perhaps hundreds throughout the city. The old man was nobody special, just another citizen of Vale. In fact, she had hardly spent a quarter of an hour in the store. Why did the ultimatum weigh on her so?
I'm sorry Summer. Nobody can know of your abilities. A foreign huntress is one thing but an unregistered foreign huntress? I cannot take the risk.
Ram rambled, and the woman walked on. The ratty cloak around her body fluttering as a chill gust of wind swept through the street. She shivered, as she let her mind wander. Thoughts of a roaring hearth, one that crackled with life casting light across two of happy faces wrapped in soft, heavy covers filled her. Two pairs of eyes that shone like stars gazing at her, filled with love and adoration. Lilac and silver.