"It was easy, convincing the girl to stay. She wants to get stronger to protect her friends. Showing her what Ozpin has done will be difficult. She doesn't believe he can do wrong." "Teach her well. She will be useful in reaching the rest." "Of course." Cinder stepped out of her room and closed the door behind her. She walked down the hallway towards where she knew Emerald would be. Cinder had walked Ruby back to her room after speaking to her. Ruby was still exhausted and had been asleep before Cinder left the room.

Cinder opened a door and walked into the training room. It always changed dramatically depending on whether Mercury or Emerald was using it. With Emerald, everything would be scattered randomly around the room. Every single piece of equipment would be in play, even the rings and punching bags. With Mercury, the room would be almost bare, only a few of the largest pieces of equipment out. Today, it was Emerald's setup. The set of rings closest to the door was swinging back and forth, but Emerald wasn't anywhere to be seen. Cinder looked at the empty space in front of her and smiled. "Your Semblance has improved." Emerald came into view in front of her. "It still isn't strong enough to fool you ma'm."

Cinder walked into the room with her hands clasped behind her back. "It doesn't need to trick me. It needs to trick the Huntsmen at Beacon. Will you be able to do that?" Emerald nodded. "Yes. I can switch targets more quickly now, and it doesn't take as long to create an idea." Cinder nodded and looked at the highest set of rings, which were suspended only three feet below the ceiling. Those rings were in the very center of the room, within jumping distance of a few pieces of equipment. The handles were worn smooth from being gripped repeatedly, more so then any other set. Cinder turned around just as Emerald opened her mouth. "Yes?" Emerald blinked. "I was just wondering, now that we've left Beacon, what is our next step?"

Cinder smiled. "Our next step." She walked past Emerald and stopped in the doorway. "Neo has gone back to Beacon to finish things in Vale. You and Mercury will continue training." Emerald nodded. "What about you ma'm?" Cinder paused. Emerald was being more daring then usual, asking two questions. "Don't ask any more questions. You know what you need to know." Emerald nodded quickly. "Of course. I'm sorry." She turned and jumped up onto a set of P-bars, and was running along them as Cinder left the room.

Cinder walked down the hallway to her flame room. She opened the door and the flames in each pot grew slightly larger before calming. She walked between the tables towards the back of the room. The tables at the back of the room had different flames then the ones towards the front. Those tables had flames that were easy to identify as certain types of Dust. Water, fire, air, and other common types. These pots, however, had unusual flames. There was a pure black flame, and a dark purple flame with green tips.

Cinder walked straight past these to a table with three cases. Cinder opened the center one and stopped. Inside was a Dust crystal. But the crystal was larger then ones sold in stores. It was almost the length of her forearm, and was as large around as her wrist. The coloring was truly unusual though. The crystal was pure white, except for a dark red running through the center and coloring the points at each end. Cinder carefully picked it up and held it. "There's someone new here. She's young, but she has potential. She needs to be taught. She's too soft." Cinder slid the crystal back into its case and shut it. "If she doesn't, she won't survive. She'll break like the Rose she is."