Hello everyone! Not much to say today, so I'll just throw this out there for anybody interested. Insurgency: Sandstorm is having a free weekend, and it starts today at 6PM BST. So, here's to hoping I see a few of you on there! Keep an eye out for FireFlux, and if you happen to stumble across me, feel free to say hi!

Well, on with the story...

Chapter 4

"A week. A whole week since Ruby went into our dorm and somehow disappeared. Nobody saw her leave, and nobody has seen her. What's really strange is she didn't even take Crescent Rose with her!"

With a yell, Yang slumped back down on her desk, visibly exhausted from the week of searching. And her team-mates were no better. All 3 girls of RWBY currently present had dark rings around their eyes, with bags and stress lines galore.

"We know Yang, but, the fact still remains that not a single person saw her leave, yet even though we turned Beacon upside down to hunt for her, she's either better at hiding than Blake, which I seriously doubt, or she managed to leave the school in a way that nobody could tell. Her semblance is out, there would be a trail for people to notice. But, she must have had help, since again, Ruby is stealthy sometimes, but nowhere near Blakes level, which is what she'd need to slip out unnoticed by both the students and faculty, but also all the cameras around campus."

Nodding along with Weiss, Blake casts a glance at Ruby's bunk, still haphazardly dangling above Weiss's bed, before returning her focus to her team leaders weapon. Ruby would never leave campus without Crescent Rose unless she absolutely had to, leaving very few explanations, the most worrying being that Ruby was forced away from Beacon against her will, leaving her sweetheart behind. Of course, there were other explanations, but the fact that 7 whole days had gone by with not so much as a whisper of a hint as to where the young girl had found herself was taking its toll on the girls.

"Look, Yang, I'm sure that, wherever Ruby is, she's trying her hardest at...whatever she's up to. And you can be damn sure that when she gets back, after you get through with your inevitable hugging, she won't be able to even think of leaving like that again under the mountain of homework and catch-up work she has to get through!" Weiss says with a lopsided smile, trying to bring Yang's spirits back up.

Looking out the window, only Blake caught the whispered words Yang murmured to herself.

"I just hope she's okay..."

"RUBY!"

Flinching drastically from the sudden yell, Ruby spins on the spot, quickly scarpering up the staircase and away from her assailant.

"You get back here right now Little Red, or so help me I'll tell Eorlund to refuse to work with you!" Halva yells after her, refusing to even bother trying to follow her up the stairs, memories of the several times he tried to chase her flashing to mind, of Ruby leading him on a wild goose chase all over Breezehome trying to catch her for one thing or another.

"You wouldn't. Eo-Eorlund likes me. He'd listen to me over you! Anyway, he needs me! Otherw-Else he'd not finish the new equipment in time! Or ever!" Ruby yells back, still trying to get used to her new vocal cords. Still, she couldn't complain, being able to at least form most sentences was a far cry above having to communicate in writing and head gestures, even if she does have to take a few attempts at certain words, or in some cases just avoid the word entirely. "Anyway, you want a proper harn-har-...a proper arm mount for me to sit on anyway!"

With a frustrated sigh, Halva sat down heavily on the nearby chair, leaving Ruby to perch atop the staircase, still poised to move but at the same time comfortable. "Just because it'd be convenient for me, considering the distinct lack of things I can use to threaten you, I'll take whatever I can damn well get. Plus, the 'Harness'" Halva says with a smirk towards a frustrated Ruby, "won't be done for a while, and it's not like Halva needs your help for it, it'd just make it easier. Anyway, I'm getting off topic. Come here."

Halva pats the cushion next to him, raising an eyebrow when Ruby actually listened to his request, considering with his entrance he expected her to be a little more cautious in approaching him. After plodding down the steps and sauntering over to the chair, Ruby hops up, curling on the cushion and resting her head on her tail, pointedly staring at Halva for an explanation.

"Ok, so you remember rule number 2? The whole 'don't sneak off unless I tell you to do something' rule?" Ruby nods, with a curious expression on her face, confusing Halva, who expected her to look at the very least nervous or sheepish. "Well, a little birdy told me you were seen in the market." At this, Ruby's face morphs into the dragon form of a pout, causing Halva to let a light chuckle slip from his lips, before pressing them back together.

"But I was bored, and not sneaking. You said no sneaking off, but I told Ly-Lydia that I was going to the market, and she let me! I thought it'd be alright since she knew where I was, and you even said people ignore things fast, they have to so they can survive." Ruby then paused to take a breath, and at the same time take a closer look at the expressions dancing across Halvas face. A mixture of frustration, anger, sympathy and other emotions were present, though apparently not mixed enough for Ruby to avoid the inevitable rant that was coming.

However, it never came. Looking at Halva, all Ruby could see was a resigned man, one who knows what he has to do but hates it regardless. "Ruby, you seem to have forgotten that these people, while they might ignore some things, when something that, to all intents and purposes, is a miniature version of the creatures currently terrorizing their lands, walks through the middle of a public market, I imagine at least a few would harbour thoughts of getting some revenge. Sure, you have had nothing to do with it, but that doesn't matter. Revenge does horrifying things sometimes. I've seen it turn a friendly innkeeper who welcomed all with open arms into a monster of a man, lashing out at anybody who even tried to talk to him, until he then struck out at somebody, and killed them. Then, the age-old rule of violence begets violence came into play and someone who knew the person he killed then killed him in revenge. Do you want to know what started that cycle?"

At this, Ruby decided to take a page out of her own book and stay quiet, only nodding gently for Halva to continue the story, already pretty sure about where it was going.

"It was a dragon. A dragon attacked a caravan near the Innkeepers town, and his daughter was one of the people killed in the attack. Thus, the cycle of violence started, and since the Innkeeper had no way to get his revenge on the dragon, he just lashed out. After killing someone, he then got killed, and the cycle ended since the man didn't have anybody who would lash out in revenge for his death."

Placing a hand on Ruby's back, Halva then took a deep breath, apparently reliving some past memory before continuing. "Now, I know that Breezehome might be boring, but just think about the people out there in that market. Then think about that Innkeeper. People dying to dragon attacks is rather common now, and chances are at least a few of the inhabitants of Whiterun have lost family and friends to dragons. They can't get revenge on those dragons, but what's to stop them trying to take you and get some revenge of their own, hmm? Violence begets violence, and even those not involved in the violence get dragged into it somehow. And I'm sure you'd like to avoid anything like that. Now, I'm confident you'd be able to run away or fight back, but running away will only encourage them to hunt you down, and fighting back will get you nowhere either. The safest thing to do is stay on my shoulder, inside Jorrvaskr and Breezehome, and occasionally up at Dragonsreach. Can you do that for me?"

Ruby nods, then as a show of solidarity, decides to stop being silent and actually speak. "I will H-Halva. I hate it, I want to run around and explore, but I'll try to stay inside. Anyway, when Eorlund finishes that arm mount I'll be more comfortable upon your shoulder than anywhere else anyway!" Ruby said with a fang-filled smile, trying her hardest to turn it from a grimace into, at the very least, a vaguely non-threatening smile.

"I know you will Ruby." Halva replied, rubbing her head, careful to avoid the small spikes atop her head. "And hey, maybe in a while we'll be able to head back out, my business in town will hopefully be over and then we can hit the road. Trust me, you may hate being cooped up now, but try being stuck in Dragonsreach all day discussing politics and military strategy with a Jarl. Then you'll be begging me to let you return to Breezehome. At least in here, it's nice and comfy, whereas up there you'd have to spend all day standing around a table looking serious. It's hell!"

Halva finishes his rant, smiling to himself at the full-blown laughter now coming from Ruby. Thinking back, Halva considers the idea of taking her up the High Hrothgar. Surely the Greybeards would know what to do with her. Maybe even see if they'd let her up the Throat of the World to speak with Paarthurnax, he seemed like a good enough dragon to trust with teaching Ruby. But, at the same time, Ruby would probably go nuts from being stuck in a temple at the top of a mountain with nothing to do, being taught by crusty academic-types who would frown deeply at her hands-on approach to stuff.

Shrugging his shoulders, Halva allowed his attention to wander back to the subject of such thoughts. If somebody told him a year ago that he'd become the Dragonborn he'd have laughed in their face. Then, if two weeks ago somebody told him he'd find a baby dragon and basically adopt her, he'd think they were insane. Yet both things happened. Now all that needs to happen is for an Oblivion Gate to spawn in front of him and he'd have the hat trick of insanity.

Thinking about it, Halva contemplates whether or not all of this was worth it. Would he rather have simply escaped Helgen and fled to Hammerfall or Elsweyr? And, glancing back at Ruby, he shakes his head to himself. Damn the world for forcing this upon him, but he wouldn't change it for anything. Well, maybe he'd make it easier, and not require him to stop Alduin or else the world would be eaten, but nothing else.

After the slightly terrifying story by Halva and a solid reminder to stay on his shoulder, the duo made their way over to the Skyforge, passing a few vaguely recognised faces with smiles and waves from Halva, and a few vague hellos and other muttered greetings from Ruby. While Halva told her to be at least a little friendly with people, the idea of people comparing her to a bunch of murdering dragons is like comparing all huntsman and huntresses to a few criminal dropout hunters like Torchwick. As such Ruby simply let Halva handle looking friendly since all she wanted to do at that moment was curl up into a ball and hide behind her wings.

Her wings. Huh. Every time Ruby thought about it, she was still surprised at just how quickly she got used to her new body. Sure, the first time she woke up in Breezehome she ended up tearing her way around the room in a panic before remembering where she was, but that only happened once. By the third day, she could quite neatly and quietly glide with her wings, though Halva still refused to let her even try to fly normally. Every time she tried to bring it up, it would be swiftly shut down with all manner of excuses and warnings.

And sure, it made sense from his position. If he let her just fly around, one day she might either get shot out of the sky by an arrow or decide she had enough of his company and fly off. Now, Ruby knew she'd never do that, not unless he did something stupid and she had to fly away from him for one reason or another, but to him, Ruby was an unknown, so better safe than sorry. Doesn't mean she had to like it though.

And he still refused to let her learn even a single word of Dovah-speech. He admitted that he could use it when she cornered him about it since she heard him use it once he blew open the wall of her tomb. Apparently what he used was some kind of detect life ability, which is why he wasn't looking for any kind of ambush when he saw her.

But, despite the fact that there was no way she could threaten anybody with an ability to see their life-force, he still refused to let her know a single word of it. Apparently, it was "too dangerous", and that he'd teach her later when she was ready for it. But Ruby had spent too much time around her sister to believe that since he used the same tone as Yang did whenever Ruby brought up the idea of Ruby taking apart Ember Celica. Despite all her promises of trusting her, Yang had always just told her excuses and said "Later." whenever she pushed for it.

Thinking about Yang, Ruby then let herself ponder what must have been happening back home. For a moment, Ruby let herself hope that maybe time wouldn't pass and that if she found a way back, she'd suddenly snap back in at the moment she left, but she doubted it. Furthermore, thinking about that threatened to send Ruby into a panic, since it would be just as likely that Ruby would spend only a few months here, yet on Remnant several dozen years might pass. What if she got back and everybody she knew was dead? Or she arrives and the Grimm had won?

And with those thoughts, Ruby resolved to tie them up in a nice neat box in the back of her mind, then pour dust all over it and everything near it and make a nice big bonfire out of it. That kind of thought wouldn't help her, and might even send her packing if she let it distract her during critical moments. When, not if, she got back, that's when she'd let the box open, but for now, she was stranded in Skyrim, and she'd just have to make the most of it. Of course, the first step in arriving in a new world, make yourself comfortable.

So, first stop, Eorlund Grey-Mane.

The fact was that, while it was a comfortable enough ride, and wasn't too inconvenient in travelling in general, Ruby riding on Halva's shoulder like that simply wouldn't work in the long term. So they enlisted the help of Eorlund, the blacksmith for the Companions, who seemed all too happy to help a Dragonborn, companion, and now, at least according to the eternally grinding rumour mill, a "dragon-tamer".

And he was almost finished with the new project.

So far, Eorlund had made a flat hexagonal plate that was slightly larger than Ruby, made out of Malachite for durability and lightness, and fitted with straps and various other fittings to the underside. He was most of the way through forging a shoulder-piece which would act as the stand for the plate to sit on to of, still allowing a full range of movement.

But, the cherry on top, with a large thanks to Halva himself for being a kleptomaniac, and the court-wizard of Whiterun Farengar Secret-Fire, was the system constructed by the Wizard, using a Dwemer gyro and some spare Malachite, which would balance the plate, both allowing the plate to remain level in most situations, but would also keep the weight evenly balanced across Halva's shoulder using the myriad fittings and straps under the plate, despite the plate mostly hanging off the edge of his shoulder.

Though Ruby had to pat herself on the back as well since she recognised the little device sitting on Halva's shelf as a gyroscopic stabiliser, and questioned him about it, bringing the entire idea into existence. Of course, the story spun to Farengar was simply that Halva thought of the idea whilst looking at the gyro, but that didn't change the fact that, without Ruby, the plate would have been far smaller and much closer to his neck, since otherwise the plate would unbalance his shoulder, even made out of light-weight materials, which would make the entire idea an exercise in futility, as the plate would simply be too small to be comfortable, and would hamper Halva's movement.

Finally making their way up the steps of the Sky-Forge, both Ruby and Halva let out slight gasps at the beautiful piece of equipment sitting on the worktable. While they'd both seen Malachite in its ingot form before, having it sculpted into a custom shoulder-piece like that was incredible. Though Halva had no frame of reference to judge it on, he still thought that the careful slopes and hooks seamlessly flowing into the main body of the armor was a masterpiece.

Ruby, on the other hand, had to stifle her laughter, both at Halva's face, but also the fact that the armor in front of her resembled some kind of really bad grapple hook system. There were loops and hooks covering the shoulder and even extending partway down the arm, which she knew was meant to allow the gyro to keep the plate level and redistribute the weight, but it still made her giggle at the thought of Halva extending his arm, and suddenly zipping away like Torchwick.

However, before either of them could comment on it, a hand found itself on Halva's other shoulder and Ruby's back, causing Halva to spin around, leaving a disoriented Ruby to spin her head twice, as Halva turning when she also tried to turn made her very dizzy and facing the wrong way, before both of them focused on the rather peculiar sight of an almost ecstatic Eorlund, who looked as though he'd found the holy grail and was going to receive 3 wishes.

"Well you two, what do you think of it?" He let out with a bellow.

Throwing a glance back over his shoulder at the Malachite masterpiece awaiting him, Halva could only grin back at Eorlund, while Ruby tried her best to simply look happy. "It, honestly, looks like a masterwork. I mean it Eorlund!" Halva yells when Eorlund fixed him with a sceptical gaze, before breaking down into loud laughter, drawing a few eyes from the companions milling around the training area near the forge. "And I'm sure Ruby appreciates it as well, right?" Halva says with a roll of his shoulder, before realizing Ruby had already left his shoulder to approach the armor. Sighing at the casual forgetfulness of the rules once again, Halva simply crossed his arms and watched as Ruby carefully approached the armor, before she turned her neck around to look over at Eorlund, who simply nodded.

Satisfied, Ruby hopped up onto the table, gazing carefully at the armor and the gyro mounted atop it, before then going carefully over each and every strap and crossed rope. Apparently happy with the state of the armor, Ruby gently laid a paw on the plate, watching as the ropes slightly shifted to keep the plate as level as possible, before applying more pressure and watching as the fitting and ropes once again shifted to compensate for the new weight.

Finally, Ruby hopped up onto the plate, lowering her torso as the plate started moving more, finally settling at an almost perfect level. Finally, she curled herself up on the plate, and, to the laughter of Halva and Eorlund, and her embarrassment later, managed to fall asleep atop the plate, trilling her contentment like a kitten.