Hey guys! Enjoy my latest update(: Feel free to leave a review! We're almost at the end now. Two more chapters to go!

-CL

It was a Sunday, and Vale was teeming with those relaxing after an eventful Saturday and not looking forward to Monday. It was not a very exciting afternoon. Most people were lazily going about their business, some pausing to examine shop windows, others focused on their scrolls.

"You're going to love this little restaurant!" Signe chattered, skipping down the sidewalk with Arya by her side. They looked comical together, tall redhead strolling casually with short wiry-haired faunus girl skipping merrily. "It's Mistralean food. The owner is actually from Mistral, or close by it. It's authentic!" her hands came up, gesturing on the final word as though to emphasis how important that was.

"I'm sure it's great," Arya responded. Her smile was so genuine and dazzling that Signe couldn't help but respond likewise.

"You can show me your favorite foods from home!"

Favorite foods. What an easy subject! Arya took it and ran with it. "Oh sure! I love these deep friend rice balls. You can get them in all kinds of flavors. Some people really like them spicy, but I like mine in a rich peanut sauce with cilantro. It goes great with chicken."

The small faunus's smile became rather fixed. "Um," she said awkwardly. "I'm actually allergic to peanuts."

Arya froze, dismay flashing briefly across her face followed by worry. "I'm sorry," she coughed out. "I didn't know."

"It's okay," Signe said easily, clapping Arya's shoulder with her hand. It was quite a stretch. "I like spicy."

Arya smiled, clearly relieved, and the two of them continued down the sidewalk.

The building looked like a Mistralean construction, which Arya loved, actually. Wooden with sharp edges. It felt like a small piece of home, out of place surrounded by so many buildings in the flashy yet tacky structures that Vale favored.

There was a menu in the window, which was highly convenient for figuring out what foods they would want to eat. They did not have a wide variety, nor did they have the deep-fried rice balls that Arya loved so much. But they did have a couple of delicious meals one might get in a street restaurant in Mistral. Arya had decided on a soup made with some vegetables that were most certainly imported, and helped Signe decide on a club sandwich. Smiling, the atmosphere less tense now than it had been, the two girls walked in.

The bell above the door chimed to signal their arrival. It was a seat yourself diner, so Arya and Signe made their way to a lonesome table against the wall where they would have prime access to look out the window onto the streets.

A young man with a gray moustache approached their table, not looking up from his pad as he went. "Hello ladies!" he greeted warmly, "How may I- "

He cut off, finally looking up from his notepad to see the two girl's smiling at him, Signe's wolf ears pricked in his direction. They watched in surprise as his color changed, paling from pleasant plum to stark white.

"I think there's a misunderstanding," he said coldly, glaring from Arya then over to Signe. "We don't serve your kind here."

Signe's ears drew back and down in a distinctly sad manner. "What?"

"Faunus," the man grumbled. "Get out."

"You can't kick her out like that!" Arya said, jumping up. "She has just as much a right to eat her as the rest of us!"

"Yeah, I used to eat here all the time," Signe added, looking at him in shock.

The man's moustache twitched in distaste. "That was before the White Fang started stealing from every Dust Shop in the city. I can't have your kind scaring away my customers. No Faunus allowed."

The two girls stood there, eyes wide, jaws agape. Around the diner the patrons were watching with unease, some looking downright scared, others looking angry. At last, Arya unstuck.

"Let's go, Signe."

Signe nodded, following her from a distance. Her eyes were hurt, her ears drawn back. Together, the two girls walked out of the diner and moved away down the street, the air between them silent and tense again.

"I'm sorry we weren't able to eat there, Signe," Arya said after a while. "I'm sure there are other places in the city we can eat. You can show me your favorite Vale food!"

Her attempts to cheer the faunus girl up were not met with great success. "Yeah," Signe said quietly. "Maybe next time? Let's just go back to campus."

Arya nodded, frowning but not arguing.

…

Things seemed to change over the next couple of days, and not for the better. While Signe was not actively avoiding her, Arya had a bad feeling about whatever was going on between them. She never once mentioned their would-be date, and didn't ask to go out again.

Arya wasn't sure what to do to salvage the situation. Should she suggest another date? Should she talk to Signe about it? No, clearly Signe didn't want to talk about it with her, otherwise she would have already.

Her other teammates did not ask after that first day. When Arya had entered their room at the end of the day, they were waiting for her.

"How was it?" Raina asked, turning from her desk to smile at her.

"Well…" Arya struggled to find the right words. "It could have gone better."

"What happened?" Song turned from where she'd been recalibrating her weapon to look. Even Titan, the goliath, looked at her with interest.

"It was…let's not talk about it." She winced as she echoed Signe's own words.

Song did not seem disturbed. "If that's what you think is best," she'd said, turning back to her work. Arya tried not to notice, but couldn't ignore Titan and Raina sharing a long look out of the corner of her eye.

Now, almost a week later, they hadn't brought it up again. Nor had Signe. And both those things bothered Arya beyond belief.

Not that she didn't appreciate her teammates giving her space. It was clear that they cared about her, were probably worried and definitely curious. They were giving her her space, minding their own business. It was extraordinarily kind of them, their distant concern.

Signe on the other hand just wasn't talking to her at all. At lunch she sat as far away as possible and, what with living in a different building, managed to avoid any direct contact. This fact scared Arya quite a bit. It had never been her intention to push Signe away.

One week. It came and went so fast.

Arya was walking to her locker from the track. Well there wasn't an official "track" so to speak. But there was a running path that crossed all of campus. Running was a great way to blow off steam and clear her head. It had been her easiest coping mechanism since she was just old enough to put her feet forward without falling.

She pushed open the door, stepping into the changing room. There was a less-than-painful thump on her breastplate followed by a muffled oomph! Apparently she had tried to enter right as someone had tried to step out.

"Sorry," Signe said, then cut off, her eyes meeting Arya's for the first time all week.

For a long moment, that's all they did: stand there and stare at each other like a couple of idiots. Finally Signe seemed to snap out of it.

"Sorry," she said quickly, brushing past Arya seemingly in a hurry.

"Signe," Arya tried, but the little faunus girl was already gone.

Arya stood staring after her, feeling hurt erupt in her chest not like before. What she really wanted was for Signe to talk to her about it. Give her some kind of sign. Whether or not she realized it, Signe had just given Arya a message.

Just not a good one.

She sat down on the nearest bench and removed her first shoe, her thoughts on the girl probably just now leaving the building. Signe had not seemed angry, or hurtful. In fact, Signe had seemed almost embarrassed.

Arya froze.

That was it, wasn't it? Signe was embarrassed by what had happened. Once Arya thought it she couldn't banish the thought. Signe was humiliated, probably wondered what Arya thought.

A mixture of emotions filled her. Relief was the first, overwhelming. Signe didn't hate her. Signe cared what she thought! That meant something. The second feeling was indignation. Did Signe really think so little of her that the wolf-girl wondered if Arya was judging her for that? The last was frustration. What kind of life had Signe lived before Beacon that she couldn't trust Arya to stick around after what had happened?

Well if that's the way this world was, Arya only had one option. She was going to make it better.

A plan was beginning to develop in her mind. This was not something she could do by herself. She'd need the help of her teammates and other friends to accomplish this next goal. They would help her, she already knew. Who wouldn't?