"So" Bianca drawled, "you wouldn't mind telling me where we are, would you?"

Qrow hummed as his train of thought was broken by the strange woman who seemed to be clad in what looked like monastery robes. What monastery required such, unremarkable attire he did not know. "We're near the village of Selene. About an hour's ride in a bullhead from the Vale-Mistral border. How did you end up in the forest?"

"What's a bullhead?" she asked puzzled, her bewilderment worsening when Qrow stopped and looked at her like she had just asked him how a child was made. "What? I'm not from around these parts, no need to look at me like I'm some imbecile"

"You mean to tell me you've never seen a bullhead? Never in your life?" he replied in the same incredulous tone that had Bianca's short temper fraying.

"No. I haven't. Maybe if you stop acting like a parrot and actually tell me what it is we can move on?"

"Oh right. Yeah, you probably call it something else in… Wait where are you from?"

"High Rock. Any idea how far it is from here? I've only been to Skyrim" she inquired, her irritation melting away when they came upon the village Qrow had mentioned. It was a quaint yet cathartic sight, and she could see the evening rush just beginning with people emerging from houses that were surprisingly well built for a village. There wasn't a hint of a stray roof anywhere; instead she saw metal plated roofs, concrete walls and windows paned with glass. The village was obviously very wealthy, and – as she saw Qrow motion to a guardsman in a watchtower as they passed – obviously well protected. Was everyone this wealthy in, in…?

"Where are we? Are you from here as well?"

"We're in the kingdom of Vale" he replied with that annoyed cadence Bianca had grown so used to eliciting from people.

"Vale isn't any kingdom I've ever heard of. They speak Cyrodillic in Vale?" she stopped and the humor drained from her features as she realized the implications of her words and grabbed Qrow just as he had a few seconds prior; jolting him this time.

"Please don't tell me we're on Akavir"

"You're not on Akavir" he deadpanned and Bianca answered with a similar expression. Sighing and looking skyward, he addressed her again. "Look, obviously there are some things that have been lost in translation here. So how about we go to the general store and get some maps, then find out where you're from."

"Hmm, this isn't some ploy to get me to stay with you is it?" Bianca said, fluttering her eyelashes before continuing salaciously. "Not that I would mind if it was." But Qrow seemed far from receptive.

"You're welcome to go back into the forest alone if you want. Don't think your semblance will help you out much though. "

Bianca didn't even bother asking the man what he meant, figuring she would wait for someone to explain all of this to her.

"You aren't very enjoyable to be around, you know that?" she pouted, swiveling her head to appear angry only for her eyes to widen. "Wait, what the hell is that?!" and Bianca couldn't help pointing towards the dozen or so armed men that were questioning one of the villagers. What made her cry out however was the fact that they all seemed to have some animal appendage. One had dog ears, the other had a cat's tail and yet another one had long protruding rabbit ears. Her exclamation caught their attention however and Qrow cursed before grabbing her hand and pulling her with him.

"Stay close to me" he hissed, and she looked back to see the group coming after them with less than honorable intentions. The two of them jogged their way through the viscous crowd and she could see the larger group having difficulty following them but the leader was still hot on their heels, a man with two protruding fangs like a sabre cat and wielding a spear. She finally felt the crowd give way and found herself heading back towards the forest they had just come from when she heard a crack worse than thunder and the bark next to her head splintering at the same time. Muttering a curse she yanked her hand free of Qrow and turned around, using one hand to raise a ward against the strange weapon the half man, half animal was using and was about to use the other to summon the flame atronach when she remembered their proximity to the village.

"What are you doing?!" he growled. "We need to move into the forest, now. Use your semblance to hide while I take care of them."

He was telling her to hide? That was new, seeing as how most of her associates preferred having her obliterate anything in their path before they went and pawed at the corpses for any loot. Perhaps chivalry wasn't dead after all. Bianca shrugged before engraving a fire rune in their path to slow down their pursuers, smiling viciously when she heard the explosion and the resulting screams. Qrow kept going till they came upon the clearing where they had first met where he turned to her, grabbing her shoulders.

"Look, I might need some help with these guys. Can you fight?"

A veritable horde of thoughts flew through her brain, and there was so much she wanted to say but all that came out was a grin and a nod. It must have been enough for Qrow, because he let go of her and retracted his strange weapon once again. The sword had somehow folded on itself to become easier to carry, but Bianca couldn't stop appreciative hum as it then transformed into a giant scythe. This land was definitely very unlike Skyrim or High Rock.

"Knock them around but don't kill them"

Bianca blanched at his statement. She wasn't known as Bianca the merciful after all. An enemy spared was still an enemy.

"Why?"

"I need to bring the leader in for questioning"

Groaning out an irritated huff, Bianca began thinking for a less than lethal strategy for her attackers; something she had honestly felt she would never have to do. Fire was out, but maybe she could freeze them? No, it was too risky and she didn't want to get on bad terms with Qrow by killing someone he needed. For totally practical reasons of course. She had to subdue them without killing them, so perhaps some alteration was in order. Atronachs would kill everything but her; they didn't really have an off switch. Dremora were even worse, and they always gave her a headache with 'mortal this' 'foolish mortal that'. It was honestly annoying her now, she was never one to be paralyzed with indecision and-. Mass Paralysis, that was it!

"They're almost here. Remember, we need to take them alive."

Ah, fuck. She needed to get Qrow away from the blast radius before she could cast it, and he didn't seem like the type to leave her alone against a horde of enemies. But there wasn't any time to explain anything to him either. Unrelenting force it was then, she sighed internally.

"Qrow, remember. I'm on your side. So don't panic" Bianca spoke in a calm voice even as their search party entered the clearing and Qrow's eyes narrowed. The hybrids walked towards them, fanning out in a semicircle but, she noticed with a smile still in range for the spell. As she began to charge up the magicka to cast it, Qrow began to talk, clearly ignoring her strange motions.

"You boys lost? The forest is dangerous"

"Yes it is" the lead hybrid intoned and Bianca couldn't help rolling her eyes. He was worse than the bandits. Waiting till they took a few steps forward, Bianca turned to Qrow with an apologetic look in her eye.

"Fus Ro Dah!"

The grey swordsman went flying, albeit slower than she had expected but she still had to wince at the resounding crack as he collided with some tree. Hoping she hadn't just killed the man with one shout she turned to the gathered crew of would be executioners who were still looking towards the forest in shock.

"You know, you should thank him" Bianca breathed out as she felt enough magicka gather. "If it wasn't for him, you'd be dead"

That elicited a snarl from the saber toothed man – who should at least have been singed by the fire rune, she thought puzzled – but before he could even take a step forward Bianca slammed both hands to the ground, sending out a quake of green energy. The effects were immediate, and she heard a choking gasp emerge from the leader as his mouth remained frozen in his snarl. His eyes, however, were anything but menacing; darting around like a hummingbird as he saw his underlings caught in the same position as him. She knew from personal experience that the spell made even breathing a laborious affair, which was why she did her best to avoid using it on anyone she didn't want to be inconvenienced. Qrow's arrival was marked by multiple tree branches being sheared along with a furious procession of footsteps and she saw his eyes blaze angrily, his mouth set firmly in a line. His anger instantly dissipated after his eyes fell on the hybrids however. The man looked at their statuesque forms, no doubt noticing the minute vibrations whenever one of them tried to struggle against the spell, then looked at her. Reaching into his shirt, he extracted a bottle which smelled very much like liquor and took a swig long enough to make her worry he was going to choke on it. When he finally finished, she looked at him with one eye raised but he seemed to be avoiding making eye contact with her for some reason. Instead he moved towards the hybrids, using the pommel of his scythe to knock them out and Bianca couldn't help but notice the flash of light from the bodies that greeted each blow. When they were all presumably unconscious – not that there was any way to tell; the bodies remained upright – he sighed and finally looked towards her.

"So, which maiden are you supposed to be then?"

Short chapter because I felt guilty about writing this but leaving my other fic without an update for nearly two weeks but I've been replaying skyrim so this fic just would not leave my mind. When I update my other fic I'll put out a proper large update for this one after that as well. Anyway, thanks for the reviews and follows on the first chapter, keep em coming.